I just dropped $1420 on a flux

[sgm182]

Jeeez. That stinks.

HPI needs to come out with some super heavy duty gear sets.... This stock "HD Diffs" are not cutting it.

 

[FluxedSavage]

Well I've been doing a LOT of thinking and I just said the heck with it lol. I bought the CEN diffs and a new radio. I really don't like the stock radio at all honestly. I bought the Spektrum DX3S 3 Channel DSM Surface Radio w/Telemetry for $230 shipped. Seemed like a great radio and it came with 2 recivers and I need one for my Revo. I decided since my Savage servo did a good job turning the 12.5lb. beast it would do an even better job in my 9lb revo. I needed a new throttle servo becuse it blew in my revo so this should work perfect. I'm going to take one of my revo's steering servo and use it as the throttle. The other I'm giving to my friend for his t-maxx. I'm putting my savage servo in the revo and buying a nice servo for the savage. I also got a good deal and a better tuned pipe for my revo also.

What parts do I need to make this all work, I heard of some shims, bearings, parts ect. for inside the diffs, to make the cens bullet proof. Also what diff weight oil are you guys running? What steering servo? Lots of basic but any help would be great!!!:jamout:

 

[88gtanotchback]

http://cgi.ebay.ca/Ace-R-C-DS1313-S...3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=66:2|65:3|39:1|240:1318
theres a nice servo. a little pricey but it doesnt seen like money is too big of a concern. lol.

as for the diffs
http://www.rcbasher.com/savcendiffs.html

i heard whip say he used 10k weight inthe diff and he likes it and I'm sure thats make badasz uses in his that he builds and sell, and uses. as for the radio great choice I'm sure you'll love it. Hope this helps and good luck with everything sounds like alot of fun ahead of you.

 

[Cwheeling]

My buddy got several of the lrp 1015's. he uses them in everything he has and they are impressive. Pricey but well worth it. Bought one from a local track and it broke during its first race and he sent it back within a week had a brand new one.(the reason it broke was not the servo's fault) I also have the spektrum on my flux and I love it!!! I am staying away from the big lipos until I get back from the World Finals in May. Hopefully there will be more optionsthen? I hope your luck changes, but that is one fast monster truck!!!
:resp:
Here is a link to the servohttp://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXTCX9&P=SM

 

[FluxedSavage]

I need to stop spending money lol. I like the specs on that servo so I went for it thanks. 200oz. tq. and .10 sec @ 6V is fast!!!

So I also ordered a castle BEC so I can run my new servo @ 6V and take some pressure off my ESC.

This week I'm adding the following to my savage flux.

-Cen Deff's w/rubber sealed bearings ($72 brand new)
-Spektrum 2.4 DX3S
-lrp 1015 steering servo 200oz. tq. .10 sec @ 6V
-Castle creations BEC

My revo is getting a few updates also to keep it fun lol =]
-Savage steering servo
-High tq. th/br servo
-2008 racing tuned pipe
-150cc fuel tank
-2008 radio/battery box (my carbon fiber one is comming off)

I think thats it for this week and for a while I hope. Everything should run really good after these updates are made.

 

[Snuffleupagus]

After getting all the gears that went poof fixed in my FLUX, I've ran it as I did before the incident...Racing, jumping, etc. with no issues so far. I honestly believe there are 3 things causing all of these problems. 1., Landing on power. Sometimes to bring the nose up this happens. 2., The standing backflip. Looks cool as hell, but plays havoc on the driveline. 3., Running on 6S. If bad things can happen on 4S, imagine what the possibilities are here. I have a goooood feeling that hpi will be offering some new heavy duty, almost bullet proof replacements in the next few months.

The CEN diff mod. is something I've never heard of. Can you give me some info. Does it drop right in?

Thanks,

Bryan @ SMC

 

[FluxedSavage]

The CEN gst diff's are much stronger than the savage ones inside and out. They will result in a 15% increase in gearing so you may want to adjust the gearing. It's about a 90% drop in part.

http://www.rcbasher.com/savcendiffs.html

 

[FluxedSavage]

***I found out why my flux went through 2 front pinion gears. It all makes sense now. I'm in the middle if doing a full tear down after my last run. I found one of the front bearings cracked and totally blown to bits. It must of been a faulty bearing from the factory and thats why the first diff went. I didn't catch it on the 2nd one so boom again..I'll have pics soon enough. I did notice that under accel it pulled to one side so yeah my bad for not catching it after the first one.

Now i need to decide if I should buy another bearing and pinion and give the stock ones another go. Then I'll have my cen diffs as a back up. I don't want to waste good diffs, and the rear diff 100% fine, no wear at all.

 

[FluxedSavage]

Here are some updated pictures. =]

Cracked bearing/front diff.

Front ring gear, slight wear, case damage.

Rear diff on the left, front diff on the right.

Cracked bearing again.

Rear pinion on the left, non-HD pinion #2 on the right.

My revo after 1 tank at the track broken throttle servo.

My mess.

Outdated tuned pipe and screw in header.

Torn apart and cleaned with my savage steering servo installed. Waiting on parts.

And this is how I clean/check for worn parts. =] My savage flux.

 

[FluxedSavage]

I decided to tear into my CEN GST diffs and they are every bit of what I heard. Even the red loctite. I put them in my oven for a few at like 400*F and they came right apart. I cleaned all the old grease out of them and have 10,000wt for the front/7,000wt for the rear waiting. The only thing left would be to drill out my diff cups the 1/8" but I'm going to give my stock diffs one last try. I'll get some pics tomorrow because I'm tired. I'm still waiting on parts.

Those of you flux owners with the GST diffs, what pinion gear are you running. I was told the diffs increase gearing 15% so dropping 2 teeth would be close to stock gearing, is this true?

 

[FluxedSavage]

My new servo rated at 200oz. and .10 sec at 6v.

Flux drivers. The ESC stand only has 2 screws but a hole for a 3rd screw is just to the left of the one on the TVP. You cannot take this one out unless you take off the battery box but I'd rather have it locked down.

Mounted.

 

[whipnet]

Nice looking servo man. It'll help big time.

*

 

[FluxedSavage]

Thanks for letting me know about it, this servo is really really fast lol. =]

Update on my savage**

I got it all back together and did some more tuning with my castle link. I lowered the throttle curve and the brake curve a little more, set the punch controll to 100%, Brakes at 60%(Going to step down to 50%), And took it out for a test. The roads were a little wet and I could hear my spur slipping. I went back inside and made it snug, not tight, and went back out. I think I finially hit the sweet spot. Although I would still love to be able to turn the power down more, like 25% more lol but it's ok. When the weather clears time to let it rip.
Is there a way to make it only have 80% power at full throttle? I understand how to lower the curve and what not but I don't want 100% power...or do I just never go WOT on the transmitter?

 

[88gtanotchback]

comment from Joe at Castle Creation:

Do not limit your endpoint EVER. The ESC MUST see full throttle in order to unload some of the current building up on it. You will damage the ESC if you do that. Limit speed by voltage of your battery and gearing only.

i think this is what your asking kinda. so maybe a smaller pinion may help you out

 

[what the FLUX]

The DS1015 is an awesome servo I'll be getting another one when the stock sh its it's self.
Have you given up on the HPI diffs? Where did you get your CEN's from?

I got this from CC's faq section'
1. I bought the Monster Max system and it's way too fast! How do I "tone it down"?
Answer 1: Lowest timing advance, smallest pinion and largest spur gear, and experiment with punch control. Always do these three things FIRST. It's not a good thing to dial down the top throttle endpoint, especially when you can re-gear, or just go down in cell count. The batts, the ESC and the motor will all run hotter than normal in a system with turned down endpoints to slow it down. The ESC is thermally protected, but the batts and motor are NOT.


Answer 2: We're working on RPM limiting, and some other software to soften the extreme nature of the system until the users get used to controlling this much power.


Answer 3: If you owned a Ferrari, would you have to drive it full throttle through your neighborhood? The system is not uncontrollable; your finger just needs time to learn how to control the throttle trigger on a high power setup.


Answer 4: We also have more great tips for slowing the systems down, and generally tuning them to your preference in our Monster Max tuning guide.


Answer 5: Drop down to a lower voltage, or install a lower kv motor.

Cheers.

 

[whipnet]

your finger just needs time to learn how to control the throttle trigger on a high power setup.

I will add that a digital radio will help a lot with this.

*

 

[FluxedSavage]

Thanks for the tips guys.

I do have a Spektrum DX3S 3 Channel DSM Surface Radio w/Telemetry comming any day now, I ordered it last monday. I'll be able to watch my motor RPM/Temp with this so overheating is my least worry. On the one and only full run I got with this thing the motor was like 90* and my LiPo's were at 85* at the end of my run using a Duratrax heat guage. I never went WOT either haha.

I'm going to try out my stock diffs one last try before I contact HPI and send them all my broken parts with less than 1 run on them. I have a feeling it was all related to the bearing being cracked and it's all fixed now. I thought that by turning the punch control down was a way to turn the power down. When this happened I was at 80% P.C. Now I'm back to 100% with a slower rising power curve, and looser slipper. I did somehow slightly twist one of my rear drive shafts(not the center this time, one of the main shafts) I broke a rear center drive shaft at 80% and then After finding my new center one twisted along with the front one I went with the silver HD bones from HPI. I hope they hold up better.

I got my CEN GST diffs of the bay for $70 shipped brand new. I had to cook them in my oven at 400* to break the red loctite but it was easy. I have the shims already and I bought 8 rubber sealed bearing for less then $8. If my stock one's blow again they are being sent out to HPI and all I have to do is drill out my flux drive cups to 1/8" to install my cen diffs. After it's all said an done the mod was $80. And they look a LOT better than the stock diffs.

I also won the tranny top gear that wears out on the bay for $4.50 shipped as a back-up. I hear people sayting they have 50-100+ packs on their flux with nothing but normal wear, I don't see how. I think my 12,000 mAh and 25volt set-up is just a little more powerful than theirs, and it's wayyy too much power. Anything over 1/2 throttle is useless and on the track it's so hard to keep it straight. I'm hoping that with my new tune and some better tires (I'm going to test my revo tires becuase they have a much lower profile) that i can finally drive it with out it breaking.

 

[FluxedSavage]

I have more questions about lipos. I just ran my 2nd pack without any issuies Wahoooo lol. But now I'm recharging them and here is what I don't understand. Ok I have my voltage cut-off at 3.2 volts per cell or 9.6 volts per pack. According to my Hyperion they were at ~10.8 vlots per pack or 3.6 volts per cell but 0000 mAh. Is this because they are brand new and fresh? I'm a bit confused because I thought being at 0 mAh ment they would be at the cut-off or they would of cut out before they ran down to 0 mAh? OR does it mean that the higher the voltage per cell after running to 0 mAh tell you the quaility of your packs?

 

[xll-SavageX-llx]

i was thinking of the flux but i dunno i mite later !

 

[FluxedSavage]

Today it stoped raining for a bit so I did some more tuning with my castle link and put my revo 3.3 tires to gear it down a little and have the lower sidewall flex. They are MUCH better and it makes me not want to put the stock tires back on it lol. But anyway today was the first time I got to run an intire pack without any problems!!!!

Here it is after only one pack and a full rebuild with my revo tires.

After pack #2...Notice the front tire is blown off the rim..I have to re-glue ALL 4 tires haha. They were fine on my revo haha.

 

[FluxedSavage]

I think I'm doomed lol. My chassie is bent?? I found a weak spot on the Flux chassie. I'll have pics tomorrow but I'm blaming HPI on this one aslo.

On the side where the motor is mounted in the rear their is an opening where the motor sticks out a little. On the other side where the ESC is mounted the hole is smaller and it's much thicker on the top were the 2 ESC holes are drilled and looks strong. But on the motor side the opening is much larger and the top area is a lot thinner. To top it off they drilled 2 holes here (same spot as the other side but its not as thick) making it weak as @$. Look close I just noticed it and I'm not happy.

The red is where it bent and the yellow shows where the 2 holes are and where it kinked in both of them. Because of this my pinion gear is chewed up pretty good. Why would HPI do this?! I have no idea how this even happened, too much torque??? This is crazy.

 

[FluxedSavage]

I took these pictures when it was new to show off the motor and the other picture to show the 3rd srew that you can add to hold down the ESC tower. In this one you can see how thin the TVP is...WHY? Mine bent right where the 2 holes are...

This is the side thats not bent and this is why...it's nice and thick with a small opening..

 

[pinkducky]

I think 6s lipos are too much for the Flux. Not that it can't handle it but from what I've seen, the flux can't event run properly without flipping and crashing. That would be my guess as to why you have all these issues. I am thinking of picking one up but upon reading your thread I now have second thoughts!!!!

 

[Snuffleupagus]

Pinkducky,

Don't have second thoughts. The FLUX is pretty uncontrollable with 6S installed, I don't care who's behind the wheel and how much experience they have, the truck is far more powerful than anyone can control. Things do break, just as with any vehicle when you put a truck of this size and this WEIGHT through not so normal running conditions something has to give. Unfortunately we don't have a good digi camera or even a video camera so I can't show you the insane jumps I've been doing but I'll give my best description and how much damage I've done.

We have a loading dock about 4 ft. above ground level, then we have a loading dock ramp that has a massive kick at the top, almost skateboard ramp equivelant about 1 1/2 feet tall. I've launched 2 FLUX Savages off this thing @ least 30-35 times over the past week. We measured the landing distance and the height(compared to the height of our building)...From the take off ramp to the landing point I mostly landed about 50-55 ft. out with the longest being 63ft. which went along with a HORRIBLE wreck...Height wise, from ground level 15-17 ft. I've done backflips, frontflips, pancakes:duh::duh::duh:...I've landed more than I've flopped but here is the damage report. My personal truck has a broken right front shock, right front lower arm, servo saver, front shock tower, 2 front upper arms now look like rainbows, and a rear center driveshaft...On my co-worker Scott's truck(he doesn't like to go big as he can't stick the landings that well) I've broken the rear gearbox case where the right rear link connects to it and a rainbow looking left rear upper arm...Lots of damage?? No, not considering the massive abuse the trucks are taking. There is no down ramp, just flat landing. The ONLY reason my truck has soo much damage is b/c I missed the ramp on my last attempt of the day and slammed into our building @ about 35+. All of these jumps were done on 6S. No damage to the drivetrain or the electronics! hpi made a great truck, yes there are a few slight issues(battery box, drivetrain weak points), but overall I'm totally satisfied with the truck!!!

Thanks,

Bryan @ SMC

 

[pinkducky]

Thanks Brian. I see you sell lipos. What would you recommend for the Flux I'm going to buy soon. I looked at your website and you don't have 11.1v only 7.4s? What charger are you using now?

 

[Snuffleupagus]

Pinkducky,

We do have 3S but only in 18C form. We have ran these several times with no issues even though everyone gives the red flag when we mention running them. Several of the hpi boys have these packs and will be doing some extensive testing for us. This will be the true test as to if they can hold up over time and under the extreme load. 15+ runs here with no loss of performance or swelling of the packs. If you would go with 2S, which I would def. recommend, we just released some 6000mAh 28C packs. Part # 6028LD and 6028LT, Deans or Traxxas. These will offer more power than even necessary and will have incredible runtime. As for the charger, we only use the Hyperion line of chargers. Our current model is the Hyperion EOS0610i Duo. It's around $275, but is not a must have for everyone. Hyperion chargers start @ around $130 and go up. All are exceptional!

Thanks and GO GET YOURSELF A FLUX SAVAGE!!!!:Radioactive:

Bryan @ SMC

 

[pinkducky]

Thanks Brian. Where can I purchase your 6000mAh 28C packs Part # 6028LD? I need to bookmark it do that I have the links.

 

[Snuffleupagus]

Pinky,

Stormer Hobbies, Spec Point Concepts, Superior Hobbies, The Track in Gaithersburg Maryland. World Class racetrack with great hobby shop, ask for Mimi Wong. She will hook you up!!! The Track's # is 301-675 0029.

Thanks,

Bryan @ SMC

 

[pinkducky]

Awesome Bryan. Already bookmarked those sites!