Traxxas Slash 4x4 track setup #3

#3 Set the basics: toe, camber, ride height

OK, your truck is in decent order, you have the parts you want on it, it's time to actually do something.

Set your ride height so that arms are level. Better yet, get yourself a ride height gauge and set the ride height front and rear. For the LCG chassis with normal race tires, somewhere around 27-28mm is a good place to start, but whatever you do, set it and stick with it. Each day you drive your car, check it before you run out and make sure your ride height is the same as before. 1mm makes a big difference believe it or not. To set it, pick up the truck with body off and electronics on, drop it from about a foot off a flat surface, and then measure the height under each diff.

Set your camber to -1 degrees. You will need a camber gauge for this. You can use various degrees of camber, but -1 is a good safe number that will work in 95% of cases, so just go with it. Again, drop the car from a foot, measure, and then roll the car back and forth and check again. Tires are not totally round, so different spots on the tire will measure differently. Just make sure the average of the different spots is about -1 degrees (1 degree pointing inward on the top).

Set your toe-in to 0 degrees. This means your front tires should point straight ahead. You never want the front tires pointing inward. Pointing outward (toe-out) can sometimes be beneficial in some spots, but zero degrees is a good, safe number that will work in 95% of cases. I usually just eyeball toe, there are various ways to measure it, but eyeballing seems to work fine for me.

Set your rear toe-in to 2.5 degrees. This means using the stock black plastic rear hubs, and not the Traxxas aluminum carriers. The aluminum ones only do 4 degrees or 1 degree which is way out of whack unless you're doing speed runs or you're running on the loosest, lowest traction track in the world. 2.5 degrees is pretty close to ideal in 95% of cases, so use that! If you have a Platinum or Ultimate, it came with aluminum ones, but should have also come with the original plastic parts in the box. Put those back on.

After all this, make sure your truck still drives straight (set your steering trim) and it's not a bad idea to re-check your EPA/dual-rate on your radio.

Traxxas Slash 4x4 track setup #2

#2 Put whatever parts you want on, now!

Tuning is an iterative affair, meaning you will go through it, get it working well, make a change (new motor, center diff, etc.) and then have to start all over. Lather, rinse, repeat. If you're going to get an LCG chassis, put that on now! If you're going to use a lightweight battery, put that on now! If you're always adding new heavy aluminum parts, changing tires, moving your ESC around, etc., you are changing the weight balance, weight basis, roll, etc., and you'll often have to start over.

So get that stuff, put it on now, and then we can go about actually tuning the truck. Else you will get it working pretty good, change it, and then have to start messing with springs, roll centers, etc. again.

How-to Guide: tuning your Slash 4x4 for the track

I've been posting a long multi-part series on the Traxxas forums on tuning your Traxxas Slash 4x4 for the track and thought I'd repost it here for everyone else.  The goal was to write a fairly comprehensive guide to how to setup your truck for driving to its full potential on the track.  It's meant for anyone that doesn't understand what all of those little adjustments are for and to try to get the up to speed as easily as possible.

There's very little discussion of aftermarket parts in this guide.  Most people think tuning your truck means buying a bunch of aluminum and bolting it on.  That's not true -- tuning means using the adjustments that are available to get the truck to drive the way YOU want it to.  I'll try to put one up per day.

How to tune your Slash 4x4 for racing on the track

I'm kinda bored, so I figured I'd start a new thread on tuning your Slash 4x4 for racing. I don't claim to be some pro-driver or awesome racer or something, but I have a reasonable amount of experience in getting RC cars to drive pretty well and this is the part of the hobby I enjoy the most, so I figured I'd start it.

Words of warning: it's quite possible I'm going to say something that offends people (don't use aluminum A-arms), so I apologize, but I am giving my opinion and I will always explain to the best of my ability why I think that way. I'm also sure to be wrong on something, but we can't always be correct and hopefully I will provide more good in this thread than bad. This is also going to focus on racing at a racetrack (dirt, indoor clay, carpet, whatever). It's not mean for speed runs, crawling, jumping 30 feet in the air, etc. However, if you just drive at your local BMX track or homemade makeshift track, this should also apply.

This is going to be a multi-part series of posts, and if people have specific questions, I'll be happy to answer them as best I can. A lot of it will be obvious, but I'm going to start with the easiest/simplest stuff first and move on to more esoteric topics if people are interested. The Slash 4x4 is a pretty good platform, because it has a nice blend of adjustments, without having TOO MANY that you can get lost trying to navigate.

So...

#1 Get your truck in order!

Check all your bearings, set your end points, make sure none of your hingepins are bent, your shocks have oil in them, you shocks shafts aren't bent, etc. etc. Remove the shocks and make sure your arms move up and down freely by gravity alone. Clean out your halfshafts. Remove a camber link and spin a halfshaft/axle/wheel in the wheel bearings and make sure they move freely. Those bearings go bad really easily, so replace them often. Disconnect your servo draglink and make sure the bellcranks move smoothly left/right. Remove your motor or pinion and roll the truck on a flat surface and make sure nothing is binding/dragging. Hold down the center driveshaft and turn one wheel and make sure the other wheel turns smoothly (your diff is working properly). If something is not moving smoothly, it will be impossible to tune your car and you'll be chasing your tail trying to figure out why.

Team Associated ProSC10 review

Overview:
Team Associated has come out with a new line of rear-motor RTR vehicles, the ProSC10, the Trophy Rat, and the Reflex DB10.  All three vehicles are the same kit, just with different bodies.  I decided to get the ProSC10 version, which is a short course RTR based off of the B5.  It's a rear motor, plastic chassis, metric RTR.

Build: 4
For the most part, the truck was assembled properly, but there were a few things that were issues.  One rear shock was mounted with too short of a screw.  Fortunately I found it before it stripped out and replaced it with the proper length.  The shock cap o-rings were excessively large and had to be replaced.  The gear diff also was assembled almost dry -- it just had a dollop of anti-wear grease in the middle of the pins.  Finally, the motor mesh was set too tight.

Other than that, the build was put together fairly well and was certainly driveable out of the box.  The radio controls were setup perfectly.

Design: 9
The ProSC10 is basically a plastic chassis rear-motor version of the SC5M with some simplification of parts.  Most of the B5/SC5M pars will mount right on -- there is a long list of factory option parts in the manual if you so choose to upgrade.  The plastic chassis is light and durable, overall it's a big improvement over the previous generation of trucks; the SC10/.1/.2/.3 which were based on the B4.  Rear motor helps in loose traction surfaces, and also allows a full size lipo to be used in the chassis.  The truck can run 2S or 3S right out of the box.

The kit is also fully metric which is a welcome change.  Overall, I think the design lends itself well to bashing and some light racing at the club level.  It performs well, has waterproof electronics and a lot of tunability.  Team Associated removed some of the adjustments that are available in the SC5M -- the spindles no longer have adjustable trail or caster and the rear hubs do not have adjustable inserts.

The parts also seem to be made of a softer composite from normal Associated race kits, which makes it a little more durable and able to handle crashes better.

Performance: 9
The truck drives great and handles well.  Overall, it's very light on its feet and jumps and lands well.  For outdoor rough terrain, the stock suspension works well, but you will want to upgrade the springs and shock oils if you run on higher traction surfaces.

Stock tires are only suitable for the street, for dirt, grass or clay you will definitely want to get new tires.

I did not test out the stability control, opting to turn it off, but it is there if you want it with 7 different levels of engagement.

The stock servo is reasonably quick and seems to have enough torque for the stock tires.  On 2S, stock gearing was a little low, but should be perfect for 3S.

The radio is not the greatest, but has all of the adjustments you need for setting up your truck and actually surprised me with how decent it was.  There's a fair amount of play in the wheel and trigger, but for some bashing and light club racing, it's actually not that bad.


Durability: 9
I found the truck to be very durable and did not break a single part.  The body is made of PVC or some other type of plastic, and is not going to hold up to serious bashing, but that's really the only durability concern I had.  Overall it's proven to be a very durable truck and even after letting my 10 y.o. son drive it, nothing broke.

Value: 10
The basic ProSC10 sells for $299 in the U.S.  It's main competitors are the Slash VXL ($319), the Kyosho SC6 ready-set ($349), the Losi XXX-SCT ($329), and the HPI Blitz Flux ($315).

It's the cheapest of the group, and definitely the most modern and durable and capable truck.  There is no other brushless RTR out there from a major manufacturer that is this capable, durable, and low in price.

Support: 10
Team Associated is a major force in the U.S., and availability of parts and support is hard to beat.

Maintenance: 6
Short course trucks in general can be a bit difficult to work on because of the amount of body mounts, bumpers, and stuff that gets in the way, but the ProSC10 is reasonably easy to work on.  The rear transmission comes out fairly easily leaving the arms and chassis intact, and the diff can be split without removing the motor from the motor plate (leaving your mesh the same).  Overall, a pretty good truck to work on.

And the big one -- the whole kit is metric, which is a huge improvement from the SC10 line of trucks.

Dislikes:
I wish the truck came with the V2 shock caps out of the box, the stock shock caps have no bleeder holes which makes it impossible to properly build your shocks.  Other than that, I have no real grips with the truck.  It's a great platform.

Conclusion:
Overall, the ProSC10 is a welcome update to Team Associated's line of RTR short course trucks.  It brings it into the modern era in terms of durability, easy of maintenance, and performance and is a huge upgrade from the SC10.  It also performs extremely well on the track and is the perfect blend of bashing and racing.  If you want an RTR truck (heck, ANY short course truck) that can do both, I think the ProSC10 is the top choice out there.

I'm a big fan of this truck and think it makes an excellent first, second, or even third RC car.  It can do everything you could want, provides excellent performance, durability, and value, and really has no faults.

Overall rating:  9

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Tekno EB410 review

Overview:
The EB410 is Tekno's first foray into true 1/10 scale racing, and they built upon the lessons learned from their 8th scale line of kits.  I've always been a fan of Tekno, because they are definitely one of the underdogs in the RC world who try their hardest to just get it done.  Their kits are known for high performance, extreme durability, and high quality parts and instructions.  I had been watching this company for a while, and they finally produced a kit that I felt I needed to get.

Build: 5
The Tekno manual is very well done, clear with high quality full color schematics.  The only thing missing was explaining what wheels fit the car, I wish they included that information.  Out of the box, the kit is designed for TLR 22-4 wheels, although Associated wheels will fit with the +1 front wheel hexes.

However, there is one area that really brings down the score -- the plastic shock caps were a bit ovaled for me and made out of a soft, plastic material that was really difficult to thread on properly.  They also stripped out on one of the bleeder screw holes -- I think the plastic should be made a little harder with more glass content.  The o-rings on the bleeder screws are also ridiculously small and difficult to get on.

Other than that, the build was quite fun and everything fit together well.  If they included aluminum shock caps, I could easily give the build a score of 8, but the plastic ones definitely drop down the score several notches alone.

Design: 7
The EB410 is a unique design, and you can see there were certain things Tekno focused on.  First and foremost is an emphasis on extreme forward weight-bias.  Everything, and I mean everything, is pushed all the way forward with the back 1/3 of the chassis completely empty.  This is unusual -- the 22-4 has a balanced weight distribution, the B64 has a classic rear-weight bias, but the Tekno team decided that a heavily forward weight bias worked best.

There are also lots of little details Tekno built in to improve the durability and tidiness of the truck.  Almost all of the bolts and nuts are captured, requiring only one tool to tighten/loosen.  For example, the shock standoffs are mated into the shock tower, so you don't have to hold down the hex side while you spin off the nuts.  Shock cups are captured into the eyelets, and there are tidy wire holders throughout.  The chassis nicely accommodates different size servos (standard and low-profile) and you have the ability to use both of the most common wheel offsets (TLR and Associated) on the same buggy.

But at times they got a little overkill -- Tekno has left-handed hex screws to hold in the shocks, which I found unnecessary and replaced them with standard button heads.  The electronics can also be a bit difficult to package in such a small place.

The area I was a bit surprised they didn't build into the design is adjustable axle heights.  There are diff shims to raise or lower the gearboxes, but the latest competing designs also allow you to raise or lower the axles in the hubs.  There also is no slipper clutch option -- this buggy is center differential only.

Performance: 9
I tested the buggy with the stock setup and it was a bit squirrelly.  There is gobs of steering, but the rear end was a little unstable and twitchy.  I then put in Ryan Lutz's Ohio RC Factory setup, and the kit was perfect.  Removing the short rear chassis brace as well as raising the inner ballstuds tamed down the rear end and softened it and made it more stable.

Highlights of the buggy are excellent steering while still maintaining good rear traction.  I think the value of the front weight distribution is that it uses the front end much more.  Both for steering, but also on throttle has more of a 4WD effect where all of the wheels are driving the buggy forward rather than having more of a rear-wheel bias.

Transitions with the stock setup were a little erratic, but with the additional sweep from the Lutz setup it seems to have improved quite a bit.

Jumping and landing is also very good.  The buggy has a slight nosedive, but nothing unusual for a 4WD vehicle.  Landing is where this buggy really shines -- the 13mm shocks irked a lot of people for having non-standard springs, but I can honeslty say this buggy lands better than any 10th scale buggy I've driven.  It's phenomenal -- it lands very plush and stable, and you can instantly get on the power as soon as this thing touches down.

Braking can be slightly unstable, but it makes it easy to land a jump, get on the brakes, and pivot around a 180.  Short landing pads become long ones with this buggy.  I did notice the buggy has very little rear droop -- both front and rear have about the same amount of droop, presumably to tame the rear end under braking.

Overall the buggy drives amazing and I'm not sure it could be any better.

Durability: 7
4WD buggies are the most difficult class to keep durable, but I think the Tekno does a good job.  The plastics are forgiving, but I did break a couple of things.

Smashing the right side into a wall in a high-speed sweeper resulted in a bent inner hingepin and a tweaked shock standoff.  It seems like the plastics do a good job of absorbing impact without breaking, but there are reports that the metals tend to bend.  The shock standoffs stick out further than 12mm shocks, and I think this contributes to them being more prone to getting bent.

The body does stick out more than most buggies, which means that landing upside-down tends to focus most of the forces onto the front top of the body, and I've noticed it starting to break down.

I was worried about the lack of side rails on the chassis, but it's been holding up pretty well with no signs of fatigue.  The bottom of the chassis also seems quite durable with minimal wear.

Value: 6
The EB410  sells for $399, which is quite inexpensive for a 4WD buggy.  There's not a lot of carbon fiber (read: none) and limited aluminum in the kit, you can tell they did their best to lower the price.  You will need to supply your own wheels however.

On the plus side:  machined aluminum A/B/C/D blocks and motor mount parts, parts made in Taiwan (rather than China), and high quality plastics and chassis.  On the down side, lots of parts on parts trees, steel hexes, and no carbon fiber anywhere.

There are a couple of pieces that I think are a must have -- aluminum shock caps and aluminum servo horn.  Most people will also want to get the carbon top plate is nice because it has an integrated fan mount.

Overall, I think the kit is a good value being priced lower than most kits, but it definitely is low on the bling chart.

Support: 3
Tekno is a small company, but if you're outside of California it may be hard to find local support.  I imagine outside of the U.S. is especially bad.  Setup sheets are limited, but parts are easily available online and from Tekno themselves.

Maintenance: 7
Maintenance on the EB410 is pretty good, for the most part.  The diffs are easy to get to, requiring 4 screws to unbolt and it's nice that the underside of the front and rear diffs are sealed.  Shocks are easy to bleed, and with the machined caps are not an issue.

The only area that can be tricky is the electronics.  It's difficult to place the electronics so that wires are out of the way, and still have everything serviceable.  In my buggy, I can get to the receiver plugs, the bind button, the ESC power button, access to the transponder and still remove the motor fairly easily, but I have a hard time getting to the motor sensor wire on my ESC.  So if it fails, I have to remove the capacitors and then shoe goo them back into place.


Dislikes:
I wish they had provided a little more real estate to the electronics, and provided aluminum shock caps in the box.  Other than that, I can't really complain much about the kit.

Conclusion:
The Tekno's extremely high performance, good durability, and low price is hard to beat.  I'm sure this kit has its competitors going back into the lab and re-thinking their buggy strategy.  At the 2017 IFMAR 1/20 World Championship, the TLR guys did something Tekno-like and moved all of their electronics forward on the 22-4 2.0 and left the back half of the chassis open.

I think Tekno has moved the bar forward in the 4WD 1/10 scale buggy world, and everyone else is scrambling to catch up.  This is a very, very good kit.  If you're considering buying one, don't hesitate and pick one up.  Just make sure you get the aluminum shock caps too!

TLR Spring chart

Standard Springs
Front Rate		Buggy	Truck
2.3	Pink		TLR5178
2.5	Red	TLR5172	TLR5179
2.9	Orange	TLR5173	TLR5180
3.2	Silver	TLR5174	TLR5181
3.5	Green	TLR5175	TLR5182
3.8	Blue	TLR5176	TLR5183
4.1	Black	TLR5177	TLR5184
4.4	Purple
4.7	Brown	TLR233020
5.0	Light Blue
Rear Rate		Buggy	Truck
1.6	Gray	TLR5165	TLR5162
1.8	White	TLR5166	TLR5163
2.0	Yellow	TLR5167	TLR5164
2.3	Pink	TLR5168
2.6	Red	TLR5169
2.9	Orange	TLR5170
3.4	Silver	TLR5171
Low Frequency Springs
Front Rate		Buggy
2.86	Pink
2.96	Red	TLR233012
3.03	Orange
3.18	Silver
Rear Rate		Buggy
1.96	Gray
2.02	White
2.06	Yellow	TLR233013
2.11	Pink
2.16	Red