Running a Savage in the snow

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polarman

Active Member
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50
I've heard many people say that you can't or shouldn't run your nitro powered Savage in the snow.I can tell you that is utter and complete nonsense if you properly prep your truck for winter fun. Here's some tips so you can enjoy your Savage year round:
Get yourself a package of wide mouth balloons. You can slide a balloon over your servos, seal them off with a small zip tie where the wire comes out. Use a scratch awl or similar pointy object and poke a hole in the balloon where the screw holds the servo horn onto the splines. Use a dab of grease or Vaseline on the base of the splines to seal it, then screw the servo horn back on. Repeat for the throttle servo(most exposed), steering servo and reverse servo (if equipped).
The same wide mouth balloons can be used to bag up your receiver and failsafe.
A silicone cover can be purchased to seal up the on/off switch.
Use RTV gasket goop to seal up any charge wires, gaps, and seams in the receiver box.
All of that snow roosting up from the tires is going to prevent the engine from running at proper temperature. Knock down a toddler or an infant and steal their socks. ( better yet, ask a family member with young, growing children to donate some tiny socks to avoid incarceration.) Cut a small hole in the toe of a sock (to put the glow plug igniter through) and slide the sock down over the head and cover as much of the block as possible. If it's snug enough to fit, it fits. If it's a little loose, use a zip tie around the base of the head to hold it in place. This will allow the engine to retain enough heat to maintain (at least close to) operating temperature.
It's going to be cold out, so you have to richen up your settings. Cold air is more dense,so if you try running the same tune you ran in the summer months, you're going to squeak your engine. Tune for the temp.
You'll want some decent tires. The nobbies you use at the track will not do! I've found that the original Savage 21/25 tires work great in the white stuff, if you can still find them.
If anyone else has any snow running tips, please feel free to add them. Some of the best times I've had with my Savages has been in the winter months. Don't shelf it, run it!
Did I mention that running in the snow has a great cleansing effect? You'll have the cleanest Savage in town!
 
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to post pics from PB use IMG copy and paste right into the post you are making....

as for running in the snow it looks like fun but my Old Body acts up in the cold and makes it no fun to be out in that....
 
to post pics from PB use IMG copy and paste right into the post you are making....

as for running in the snow it looks like fun but my Old Body acts up in the cold and makes it no fun to be out in that....
I'm getting there myself. At least a tank of fuel only lasts about 15 minutes, then it wood stove time! I did the "copy image" and paste,but I don't see the pics. Matbe next time I'll just save and upload them. I haven't been on a forum in a long time and forgot how to do things I used to do.
 
I've found that putting the receiver in a balloon and ziptieing it as well as the battery pack is a better waterproofing method. After dropping them in a balloon, I wrap them in a couple layers of electrical tape to protect the balloon from getting wear holes/punctures in it. Then I make sure to put foam around it for cushion to lessen the likelihood of a wear hole even more.

As for servos, I quit trying to make standard ones waterproof and just run ones that have case o-rings as well as an o-ring on the output shaft. Had way to many WOT runaways in the winter back in the day due to the balloons and/or plasti-dip not holding up on the servos.

Also, I use a piece of bicycle inner-tube wrapped around the cooling head. It doesn't retain snow/ice/water like a sock, but still blocks air from going through the head.

Personally, I just got tired of snow bashing with nitro with bad tune and whatnot... so I started running brushless rigs. Sure is fun to rip it up in snow piles though. Go all summer trying to find places to bash, but after a snow fall, there are piles everywhere you can hit!

Winter 2.5R revo:
2005-1204-RevoSnowDayTop.jpg


Winter savage:
2005-0105-SavageSnowTop.JPG
 

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