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

Bigger tires, thicker diff fluid

Just a random thought I had today as I was working on my Hyper TT.

I think if you go to bigger tires on your car, you also need to increase the diff fluid weight to compensate.  Bigger and heavier tires seem to require thicker fluid to get the same diff action as with smaller and lighter tires.

Team Associated B64D review

I had a lot of fun running my TLR 22-4 2.0, so when Team Associated announced the long-awaited successor to the B44, I knew I had to get one.  What you get is a car completely different than the 22-4 2.0, and much more like other 4WD buggies on the market.

Overview:
The B44 was Associated's first 4WD buggy, and was basically an offshoot of the BJ4 prototype buggy.  It lasted a long time in the Associated lineup, and there have been rumors of a new platform for literally years, but nothing showed up.  Finally in early 2017, the B64D was released.  It's an all new, thoroughly modern, fully metric, 1/10 scale 4WD electric buggy.

Build: 4
Team Associated has been taking some slack lately for their latest kits.  The B64D was not a hard build, but there were some tricky parts to it that might confuse a new builder.  All of the transmission screws are extremely tight, and I definitely had to use black grease in all of them.  One of the kingpin screws in the camber block impinged on the hinge pin hold, such that it was hard to thread it in all the way.  Finally, the diff shims call for 5 shims on one side and 2 on the other, but 7/0 fit much better for me.

The manual is pretty clear for the most part, but the slight machining error on the caster block and the requirement to cut parts off parts trees was a bit of a bummer.  This is the first Associated kit I built that didn't quite build properly out of the box, so I have to give it a below average score.

Design: 9
Team Associated took a long time to release the B64D, and boy is this a nice design.  The diffs (front/center/rear) are very easy to get to -- they just require 4 screws.  The layout is very elegant and clean, with plenty of room for the electronics.  This is one of the easiest cars I own to work on, it's even easier than the B6 in my opinion.  The sliding motor mount is nice, and there are lots of carbon fiber and aluminum parts sprinkled about.

There are tons of adjustments to the car -- axle heights, 3 diffs, front mounted rear arms, slipper option, Ackermann plates, in addition to the usual shock locations and hub spacing.  They use the pill system in the front and rear arms to adjust kickup, track width, anti-squat and toe.

About the only complaints I have are that the front bumper is practically non-existent, and the rear bumper is completely non-existent.  The chassis seems to take a lot of abuse as a result, moreso than most buggies.  The kit also uses a funky C-clip in the diffs, which is a bit annoying, but not a major issue.

Overall, the design is awesome and a joy to work on and look at.  Even if it is an X-ray clone...

Performance: 5
It's a little bit difficult to judge performance, and I'll explain why.  I think the kit setup isn't that good, and definitely needs some work.  Out of the box, I would give it a below average score.  The B6/B6D have amazing setups, as do most modern day kits in the U.S.  I run on high-traction indoor clay, which is similar to the tracks the U.S. manufacturers run on (TLR, Team Associated), so I kind of expect the kit setup to be close.

It's not terrible, but it is quite edgy.  With some tuning, it can get a lot better, and so that's why it's hard to rate the performance.  I ended up going to 200k center diff oil, stiffer rear springs, a higher ride height and different axle heights just to get the car in the ballpark.  And I still have many more hours of tuning to do.

I'm pretty confident that eventually setup will be really, really good, but it will take time and testing to get there.  There are enough adjustments to be able to get the car to drive any way you like, but for the purposes of this review I'm going to give it an average performance rating because the kit setup isn't really there, but has the potential to be there.

Pros:  the steering on this buggy is amazing out of the box.  Team Associated said they wanted to make this drive more like the B6D, and I would agree that the steering and the way it gets into and through the corner is very good.

Cons:  it doesn't jump or land very well, partly due to the cheap shock internals, and also due to the low ride height.  Rear traction is a little suspect until you increase the center diff fluid and go to stiffer rear springs.

Durability: 3
The B44 had notoriously weak front arms, to the point where most people replaced them with RPM super rubbery arms.  You would think this would be the one area they would make sure they got right, but in my experience, the arms are once again the car's weakness.  I've broken 3 front arms in the first 6 weeks of running.

The B64 also uses the same rear hub design as the B6D, including the much-maligned little plastic inserts for the camber link.  I've broken that piece 3 times in my B6D, and I also broke it in my B64D.

Some people have broken the diff cases, but this has not happened to me.

Finally, the wing is super flimsy and will only last a few crashes before it needs to be replaced.

Value: 6
The B64D sells for $429, which is on the low side for a 4WD buggy.  It comes with a lot of nice factory aluminum parts -- caster blocks, caster inserts, all 4 hinge pin braces, front axles and rear hexes, center brace, and a spiffy motor mount.  It also has thick carbon fiber shock towers front and rear.  All of the driveshafts are CVA's.

So a lot of value in the box for a fairly low price.  My main complaints are the molded shock internals and a fair amount of the parts still come on parts trees and need to be cut out.  The polycarbonate pieces (wing especially) are a little thin.  And there are no wheels or tires in the box.

It's still one of the better deals on the market though.

Support: 10
Team Associated parts are the easiest to find in the U.S., and there are lots of sponsored drivers out there providing setup sheets and tuning tips.  There is no better supported platform in the U.S.

Dislikes:
The flimsy front arms are a major issue for this buggy.  I've gone to the hard arms to see if they last longer.  Other than that, it's a fun buggy and I look forward to getting it working as well as possible.

Conclusion:
Team Associated took a long time to come out with the B64D, and they've released a very good buggy.  If they can fix the durability issues with the front arms, this may be the buggy to be beat.  The design is elegant and has a plethora of tuning options.  While I don't think the performance/setup is as good as some of the other buggies on the market (i.e. the TLR 22-4 2.0), it's still early days for setup with this buggy.  Give it a few more months, and I think the performance will be right there if not better.

Hyper TT front-mounted shocks

I spent a few hours at the track testing some stuff.  The initial plan was to work on my B64D, but I also wanted to test the plastic steering knuckles on the Hyper TT, so I started with that kit.

(Boiled) plastic knuckles held up great, and removed a lot of slop, so I'm going to stick with that and just keep extras in my parts box.  I also tested 10k rear diff oil and 5k, still not sure which I like best.  10k gives more forward traction and stability, but loses a bit of steering.  7k is probably going to be perfect.

But I tested out one change that made a MASSIVE improvement in the handling of the TT --

I noticed the Hyper TT has a ridiculous amount of rear toe-in (probably 4 degrees or so), and that the arms add about 0.5-1 degree of toe-in.  My theory was that this was adding a lot of push into the car.  So I flipped the arms around, and mounted the rear shocks on the front of the arm.

Bing blang blaow, this added a SICK amount of corner speed.  The truck enters the corner with way less push and rails through the corner much better.  You need to add 2mm of spacing on the shock mount (I used a TLR ballstud spacer), and you'll want to mount the rear arms all the way forward (spacers all in the back) because the hubs are moved back when they're flipped.

What this modification does is a few things:

• reduce rear toe-in (main thing I was after)
• forward mounted shocks, which centralizes the mass better.

The only downside I see is that the body doesn't fit right over the shocks, so you'll have to trim the covers on the shock towers from the body.

Try it, I think you'll like it.

22-4 one-way clicker

I spend a few hours at the track testing out some springs for the 22T 3.0, some diff fluids and front springs on the B64D, and I also tried out the one-way clicker for the 22-4 2.0.

The one complaint performance-wise I have with the 22-4 is that it doesn't like to land cockeyed on one wheel.  The one-way clicker works by allowing the front wheels to freewheel (or at least rotate at a faster rate than the rears) under deceleration, or when landing jumps.  This smooths out the landing if you're off throttle, at the cost of straightline deceleration.

Overall, I found the buggy to be more forgiving and smooth on landing jumps (and you can still power your way on landing like you should with a 4x4), but more unstable under hard braking.  I'm thinking of leaving it in since my son is the primary driver of the buggy, but for sure if it were my car I would take it out.  It's too much of a braking loss to justify the landing performance.

I also put up a review of the 22-4 2.0 on YouTube.  It's a bit long, but let me know what you think!

Team Associated RC10 B64D

I ordered this kit back in December, and amazingly it showed up on my doorstep the day after I got my 22T 3.0.  I didn't plan it that way, they just got released basically on the same day.

So I put together an unboxing video.  Got tires glued up, just need to assemble the kit now!

Review in video

For those of you that are illiterate, there's a YouTube version of my 22T 3.0 review.  😁

Getting your house in order

I cleaned up the wiring my 22T 3.0 a little, partly to drop a few more grams, but also because I'm planning to shoot a review video of the truck in the next few days.  The funny thing with shooting videos of your car, is that it's a bit like inviting people over to your house for a party.

You want to have everything nice and tidy, because it's kind of embarrassing to show off a really messy car (or house).  So this is probably the nicest wiring job I've done in any of my cars.

TLR 22T 3.0 review

It seems pretty early for me to do a full review of the 22T 3.0, as I've only had the truck a week, and this is definitely the quickest I've decided to do a review, but honestly I feel like I know the truck well enough after having put in about 300 laps this week on a track layout I'm very familiar with.  So I've decided to do a review.

Initially I was going to do a video review (and that will come later), but for you guys who faithfully read my blog, I figured I'd reward with first.  So here it is, my review of the TLR 22T 3.0!


Overview:
I owned a 22T 2.0 for about a year and a half, and enjoyed it a lot.  It was a huge improvement over my other TLR, the SCT 2.0 and really got me to enjoy the stadium truck class.  I raced it occasionally as a second class to my 17.5t stock buggy, but I never took it that seriously.  Towards the end, I upgraded it with an Exotek chassis, 3-gear transmission, and some lightweight parts.  I feel like the 22T 3.0 is similar to my evolved 2.0 in many ways and features similar improvements.

The 22T 3.0 incorporates most of the changes I wanted to see -- transverse mounted battery, 3-gear transmission, and the option for a laydown.  I always felt like TLR needed to share components between the stadium truck and the short course, and it's nice to see the 3.0's now share arms, hubs, and steering blocks.


 
Build: 8
The build is quite clear and typical TLR.  The manual is an international version, and maybe not as easy for newbie to digest, but if you've built an RC kit before, you should have no trouble with the 3.0.  Though I feel Associated does a better job of hand-holding you through the build, for those who are new to the hobby.

Frank Root has a series of build videos on the TLR Facebook page that I highly recommend you watch.  There weren't really any build instruction errors (there's a phantom washer on the top of the transmission case, but that's about it).  In terms of manufacturing, there seems to be two things to watch out for -- the servo mounts need to be sanded down a bit to sit flush, and my kit was missing a screw/nut for the rear wing (3 instead of 4).  One thing I thought was done well, was that the kit bags contain all of the parts for the kit setup, so you don't have to figure out what pill inserts to use or Ackermann insert to use, etc.  You just use the parts in the bag and you'll be at kit setup.  Overall, I give the kit the same rating as my 2.0 build.


Design: 8
The 3.0 platform has been simplified overall from the 2.0 line, and I think it's more clean and elegant now that they don't have to worry about rear motor.  Oh yes, this truck is mid-motor only.  Not a big deal, as mid-motor will outperform rear-motor at most tracks, but this could be viewed as a downside to some.

Nice improvements are the transverse and inline shorty battery positions (the 2.0 was pretty much square/saddle pack intended), the simplified rear shock tower and camber block and the adjustable front suspension (variable length arms, adjustable trail, adjustable Ackermann).  The rear hubs are now the gen II aluminum/plastic hubs that are more durable.  The chassis features more milling than before, although weight is probably close since it is quite a bit wider.  Finally, the 3-gear transmission is a welcome improvement over the previous 4-gear.

The body is a huge improvement over the 2.0 body, which was just plain ugly and weird.  It seems to be very thick Lexan, although there are a lot of sharp angles which you may want to cut down to reduce leverage on weak points.

The only area I wish TLR fixed was the slipper.  The HDS spring is tons better than the previous spring, as you can now actually get enough tension on the slipper, but the 2 pad setup is still lacking.  There isn't enough bite, and the pads glaze too easily.


Performance: 9
The 22T 3.0 has more rear traction than before, probably due to the stand-up.  It accelerates and brakes more smoothly due to the 3-gear transmission. 

It steers way better than before.  Like, way better.  I think there is more steering travel lock-to-lock, which was a weakness of the previous truck in my opinion.  It enters the corner with more steering, has much more mid corner steering, and maybe even a hair more exit steering.  It flies through the air straighter (I think due to the massive wing that channels air down the center).  Landing seemed to have too much pack initially, but going to different springs helped quite a bit and it now lands very smoothly.

It is better than the 2.0 in every way.  Period.

The only area I that let me down is the slipper/topshaft.  The HDS spring makes it tolerable, but it doesn't grab enough and you have to put on a ridiculously amount of tension to get it to work.  If they upgraded the slipper, I would confidently give this truck a 10.  It is that good, only marred by a weak slipper system.  If you put garodisc pads and an MIP topshaft, you will love this truck.  I imagine there will be a lot of big races won by it.

The rear wing is also kind of goofy -- it is way too big and caused my truck to slap the chassis on the face of jumps, but after I cut it down by 50%, it flew beautifully.

Durability: 10
My local tracks currently features a ridiculously huge double that I can only make about 8/10 times.  This means I've crashed the truck A LOT, and in pretty much every conceivable way.  I've lawn-darted it, I've hit walls, I've carwheeled the truck multiple times, I've even hit a steel pole at full bore.  Nothing has broken.  Literally nothing.  A ballcup popped off once, and that's basically it.

The body is getting beat up, and the giant wing also tends to crack the body, but it thick and is holding up with some shoe-goo.

I give the truck a 10 in durability, it has been basically indestructible so far.  This number may be revised if the plastics don't wear as well as I think they should, but only time will tell.

Value: 5
The 22T 2.0 sold for $299, which was an amazing value.  The 3.0 sells for $349 which is quite a bit more, especially when you consider the previous version came with both rear and mid-motor parts and bodies!

The 3.0 has a more adjustable steering system and some nice durability updates like an aluminum idler gear and aluminum rear camber block.  But overall, I feel like it is only a fair value compared to its competitors.  If it included aluminum rear hexes, I would consider the value pretty good, but you will need to buy those on your own.

Support: 8
With the advent of the TLR build videos in addition to the online forum support, I feel like TLR has really stepped up their game.  They will post setup sheets from time to time and their staff is always available on social media and online.  They are definitely well above average in this category.

Dislikes:
The slipper is really the only weak part on the truck.  It would also be nice if they included aluminum rear hexes, as the plastic ones really suck.  I pretty much consider that a necessity, it's pretty absurd that you have to worry about losing drivepins every time you take off a rear wheel.  Other than that, I have no complaints.

Tips:

• The 4-gear/3-gear composite idler will also fit this truck if you're racing stock class.  Part number:  TLR2966.
• Garodisc pads will also make for a huge improvement in the performance of the truck.  It will engage/disengage more smoothly with less spring tension. 
• Cut down the rear wing.  It's way too big.  Also trim down the rear wheel well overhangs, and this will reduce the amount of cracking on the rear wing mount.
• Make sure you motor spray the set screws in the CVA's before using threadlock.  They are not captured, and definitely need to be tight.

Conclusion:
The TLR 22T 3.0 is better in every performance category over its predecessor.  It drives better, is more durable, is easier to work on, has more tunability.  It comes at a bit of a price increase, and you no longer can go rear motor.  But if you're racing on medium-high traction dirt, I think this truck will be putting you atop the podium.

Highly recommended.

...of mice and men!

Today was a 180 degree turnaround from yesterday.  The truck is dialed!

I got about 6 battery packs in on my 22T 3.0 and found the stock wing has a ridiculous amount of drag and downforce.  Trimming it down by 40% allowed my truck to jump about a foot further on the giant double, and it no longer chassis slaps on the face of the jump.  I think they made it too big, it's about 2" tall and is like a giant parachute on the back of the truck.

I also installed my trusty Avid Triad slipper with garodisc pads, and it works way better.  The garodisc pads are more consistent, smoother on/off, and don't glaze over like the stock pads.  The slipper also drops rotating weight on the drivetrain and gave me another foot on the jump.  I can now consistently make the big double, even down to 7.8v on the battery.

The last thing I tested was TLR low frequency springs front and rear.  I'm still playing with front springs, but the rear LF yellow springs are working well.  I got the front colors messed up and accidentally put on the softest (pink) front springs.  It gave ridiculous front end grip, but it's definitely too soft, lol.

The best laid plans

Today was a pretty frustrating day at the track.  I was pretty excited about trying the 22T 3.0, and actually got a lot of laps in, but lots of things conspired to make the day pretty rough.

The current layout has a gigantic double, that is tough to make in a 17.5t dialed buggy, and pretty much impossible to make in my 13.5 22T.  So lots of crashes.  I had a heck of a time trying to get the gearing, timing, and slipper adjusted to get maximum drive for the jump.  It's better, but still extremely hard to make.  Also, my sensor wire came loose.

I had to trim the body because it cracked and was dragging on the rear shock, and I sliced open my trigger finger trying to trim it.  It turns out it's pretty hard to control the throttle when your finger is covered with a shop towel and electrical tape!  😂

On top of that, a couple of guys kept overwatering the track, making it pretty difficult to get in clean runs.  The coup-de-grace was when I broke the shorty servo and had to retire.  Note to everyone reading this -- a Savox 1251mg is NOT an adequate servo for a stadium truck!

I got the truck shoe-goo'd back together and my 1257tg reinstalled, so I will try again tomorrow.  I also installed my Avid slipper and garodisc pads which worked a lot better in my 2.0 than the stock slipper.

On the plus side, the 22T 3.0 kit setup is pretty dialed and handles loads better than my 2.0.  I was getting some chassis slap off the face of jumps, so had to go up to pink springs in the rear.  Other than that, I'm still at kit setup.

Speed secrets!

My 22T 3.0 weighed in at 1912g, but that wasn't going to cut it.  I put on titanium shock mounts (-4g), removed the ESC fan (-8g) shorty servo (-9g), and the SECRET WEAPON?

Smaller body clips (-4g).  😂

Currently sitting at 1887g.  I'm going to bring it to the track tomorrow to test it all out.

22T 3.0 build is going, going...

Almost there.  Just gotta do shocks and electronics.

I also did an unboxing video on YouTube, check it out here:  https://youtu.be/T7SwyboHtJo

Hyper TT tuning session 42 (of infinity)

I spent the afternoon at the track alternating between testing springs and oils in the Hyper TT and building my 22T 3.0 when they were watering.

Current setup on the Hyper TT is:

Ride height:  
27mm front/rear

Front shocks: 
kit silver springs, 37.5wt TLR oil

Rear shocks:
Losi 2.5" blue springs, 32.5wt TLR oil

It'd be nice if someone made a stiffer rear spring than the Losi blue, but I haven't found one yet.  The firmer oils helped, and I may go even stiffer, especially in the front.  The truck is very composed now.

Diff fluid:
Front: 10k
Center: 40k
Rear: 5k

The 40k center diff oil is a big improvement over the 7k I was using, but I definitely had to up the front/rear oils to 10k/5k.  I'm also running a little more toe out, probably 1-2 degrees.  It helps, and with the thicker diff oils it still drives fairly consistently down the straightaway.

The springs I've found so far that fit that are a decent rate:

(from soft -> hard)

Front springs:

• Losi 2" black
• Kit silver
• Ofna Hyper 10SC white (hard)

 Rear springs:

• Kit silver
• Ofna Hyper 10SC white (hard)
• Losi 2.5" blue

New kit!

I had a very long day, driving 4 hours through a snowstorm to get back from a ski trip, unloading the car, car wash, and helping my parents move a projection TV from upstairs to the garage.  But I managed to drop by the local hobby store and pick up the brand new TLR 22T 3.0.  I liked my 2.0 a lot, and sold it in preparation for the 3.0, so I'm super-excited I was able to get the only one at the shop.

I shot an unboxing video, it probably is going to suck, but oh well, it's a one take thing.  What, you think we do more than one take at Razor RC?  Don't confuse us with the professionals!

The tuning continues

I did a little more testing with the Hyper TT yesterday.

I lengthened the wheelbase another mm by moving the front arms (top and bottom) forward another mm which helped the stability and overall ease of driving.  I also am running a little bit of toe out which helps immensely in the small, tight U-turns.

Not sure on how many degrees of toe out, it was 1/4 turn of the turnbuckles from 0.  I try not to use toe out if I can at all avoid it, but I don't think you can on this truck.  It just doesn't have enough steering lock and Ackermann.

I also dropped ride height to 27mm front and rear (from 28mm).

I'll be testing some diff oil changes next time out.  7k seems too thin in the center, I'm going to try 40k and then go up or down from there if necessary.  I'm also thinking of upping the shock oil weight -- currently at Associated oil 32.5F/27.5R.

So you want to own a 22-4?

I have a couple more videos posted today.  The first one shows what it takes to get to the heart of the beast, the spur gear inside a TLR 22-4 2.0.  Remove the servo to change out a spur, say what?

The second video is a review of the Sanwa MT-S.  The nice thing about videos is it's a lot easier to show something, rather than talk about it.

Deuce

Video 2 is up!  It's a walkthrough of some of the steering challenges that the Hyper TT poses.

That's about it for the Hyper TT for a bit, the next couple of videos are going to be radio reviews, since those are the most popular hits on this blog.  Look for an MT-S review first, and then a 3PV review after.

For those loyal readers of my blog, don't worry.  You guys get to read about all the good stuff first before I make videos about it.

Hyper TT steering links

I was using Traxxas turnbuckles as an upgrade for my Hyper TT, but I recently switched to Associated B5M links.  They clear the servo saver a little better when the suspension is compressed at full lock.  The Traxxas parts were binding a little bit and restricting full steering throw.

Here's what it looks like:

I happened to have an extra set of titanium B5M turnbuckles, but here are the part numbers if you want to build your own.

• ASC6263 - 2.06" turnbuckles
• ASC91453 - HD ballcups
• ASC91048 - 8mm ballstuds
• ASC25612 - M3 locknuts

Two steps forward, one step back

I spent a few hours dialing in the Hyper TT (again!).  This is the most challenging car I've had to setup so far.  It's definitely been fun, but it seems like every time I work on the car, I find some new problem to solve.

The new diffs definitely made a HUGE difference in driving.  Before, the car was diff'ing out all over the place, and very inconsistent on power delivery, and handling.  With the 5k/7k/3k (front/center/rear) combo, it's tracking quite nicely.  It'll pull a small wheelie down the front straight, but the center diff is still bleeding power front to rear under acceleration and braking, which makes the truck more controllable.  I'll probably leave it as such for a while, this seems like a good starting point.

I also tested a heavier front shock weight oil which worked better -- 30wt. was too light, I bumped it up to 32.5wt Associated oil and that's better.

Finally I tested lowering the ride height, but at least with this shock package, there is too much chassis slap off the face of the jump and landing.  I tried 26mm front and rear, but it was not working as well, so I'm back to 28mm.  That seems to work better.  With the heavy weight of the truck, you'd have to use pretty heavy shock oil and springs if you want to lower it.  I'm already at the stiffest springs I can find that fit the shocks.

So I feel I made progress, but I ran into an issue where shock compression was causing me to lose steering travel.  At full lock, I have pretty good turn-in, but as the shock compresses, the steering knuckles were forced inward (negative bumpsteer), which was straining my servo.  You can see in this video, that when I compress the suspension, the servo is forced back a bit.

I think it's a combination of the steering links and the Integy steering knuckles.  The knuckles don't have as much articulation as the stock knuckles, so I ended up grinding them down a bit to get more articulation.  It's still not perfect, but it's better.

The steering knuckles have a square cutout where the pillowball goes through, but the original knuckles are beveled so they have more articulation.  You can see where the pillowballs are already rubbing on the sides of the window, so I ground them down a bit more.

That helps quite a bit, make sure you look into it if you pick up these knuckles.

The struggle is real

I spent the day at the track messing around with my Hyper TT and my B6D.  The weird thing is I built a new B6D with almost exactly the same setup as my old B6, but it drives completely different, and not in a good way.  The only differences are ceramic diff balls, hard arms, and Pucks + a heavier C-block to offset the weight difference.

My guess is the issue is the new springs are probably a different rate.  It looks like Associated springs are of relatively poor quality and consistency, so I'm going to test the springs tomorrow and maybe try another brand.  Or maybe pick up another set of front springs and pick the set that are closest to true rate.

On the Hyper TT front, the suspension package still seems good, and the main issue I'm having is some serious inconsistency in traction and handling.  I'm pretty sure the issue is the diffs -- they are basically open diffs from the factory with just a tiny bit of grease.

I tore down the truck and put in 5k/7k/3k front/center/rear.  Just on the bench, the rear seems a little too light.  I suspect 7k/7k/5k would probably be about right, but we'll see how it goes.  I should be able to get some testing in tomorrow.

On the plus side, this is the first time I haven't broken anything on the Hyper TT.  Someone mentioned the rear droop screws cause the rear arms to break.  I backed them out and didn't break an arm.  The last two times I was out, I broke a rear arm each time.

I've gone YouTube!

I put up my first YouTube video, covering the Hobao Hyper TT.  Check it out if you get a chance, and let me know what you think.  Like and Subscribe if you'd like to see more videos!

Exotek B6 / B6D battery strap review

I spent the evening doing some touch up work on my B6D, and installed the Exotek battery strap.  I'm a big fan of Exotek stuff, but I'm really not a fan of this strap.  The fit is super tight on my shorty battery and pretty much impossible to get the battery in or out of the chassis.  You'd have to shave the parts down a bit to loosen the death grip they hold on the battery.  Also, the brace presses down tightly on the motor wires, so you would probably want to reroute them from their normal location.

Exotek makes really great parts, but for me, this battery strap is a miss.  I will be taking it out and selling it.

No replacement for displacement

That's a well known phrase in motorsports, which basically means horsepower is going to help you more than anything else you can do to your racecar.

Even in the RC world, I find that to be true.  I spend a lot of time tuning the handling, traction, and responsiveness of my cars, which definitely improves the consistency of my lap times.  But honestly, every single time I stick in a faster motor, or use a fresher battery, or drop some weight off the drivetrain, it drops more tenths off my lap times than any sort of new shock package or roll center change.

The last time I went out with my 17.5t B6D, I was doing lap times consistently in the 16.3/16.4 second range with some old, worn out Lipos.  I removed the car, put in one of my newer batteries, and the first lap out I did 16.0 seconds.  Literally no other changes, just put in a better battery with more punch and dropped 0.3 seconds.

So to that end, I finally decided to get some MIP pucks and a lightened/cut topshaft, along with the Exotek battery strap for more rear traction and some bling.  I was already running MIP bi-metal outdrives, but the Pucks have dropped another 9 grams of rotating mass on the driveshafts and aluminum outdrives, so the buggy should be faster.

The current layout at my local track has a tight right-hander directly into a monstrous jump.  With a slow 17.5 buggy, you need to take a wide entry line and a long run-up to make the jump  With a fast 17.5, you can apex the corner and immediately go up the jump, so horsepower definitely helps a ton in your lap times.

Hobao Hyper TT tuning

I spent the afternoon at my local, indoor clay track tuning the Hyper TT.  It's now driving WAY better than the stock setup.  Note that that these changes are for indoor clay on slicks, it's probable that a looser surface would require a different setup.

I got rid of the front swaybar the second day out, and this time I ditched the rear swaybar which made the truck come alive.  It does roll a bit, but I'm now running pretty stiff springs, and you need that roll to generate traction.  With the rear swaybar, the only way you can get the car to drive is to huck it into a corner and slide the rear around, but that's really not the best way to go about driving.

The stock setup has really soft rear springs, and overly firm front springs.  The front damping is actually pretty close, but the rear damping is too firm.

What I'm currently running is Black Losi 2" front springs, and Blue Losi 2.5" rear springs.  Front shock oil at Associated 30wt and rear oil at 27.5wt.  Guys in the past apparently were running 25wt in the rear, but I found too much movement and it was pretty unbalanced running 30/25.  30/27.5 is much better.  This shock package makes for a more composed, balanced, and stable vehicle.

Shock package:

• Front:  Losi Black (LOSA5135), Associated 30wt oil
• Rear:  Losi Blue (LOSA5160), Associated 27.5wt oil

The other main issue with the truck is that it pitches forward and back way too much.  The stiffer springs and shock oil help, but I ended up moving the rear arms back 1 spacer (1mm) which lengthens the wheelbase a little bit and keeps the truck more stable.  I also added 1mm less droop in the rear from full extension which keeps the truck from pitching forward so much under braking.  So I'm at full droop front (no limiters) and 1mm less droop in the rear.

The other area I spent some time developing was my electronics package.  Normally I run cheap $50 Hobbywing Justock ESC's, but this Hobbywing SCT Pro I'm running has a lot more adjustments than I'm used to.

Changes I made to the ESC:

• Coast is at 10% (up from 0)
• Braking at 75% (down from 100)
• Punch at 6

The Hyper TT tends to nosedive when you let off the throttle, but the Coast % smooths the off-throttle setting which keeps the truck more flat through the air.  This is the first ESC I've had with this setting, and it definitely helps smooth out the truck and the way it flies.  Highly recommended if you have the adjustment.

The last thing I did was replace all of the steering bushings with bearings and add a 1mm TLR ballstud washer on top of the posts.  For some reason, the top screws like to back out, I'm hoping this alleviates it a bit.

Overall I found the truck has a fair amount of slop and movement, but you just have to trust it and muscle it around and ignore the fact arms, hubs, and wheels are moving around all over the place.  It will stick.  It always drives better on power -- even in the air, a tiny bit of throttle keeps it stabilized and flying flat.

I still broke a rear arm and that ended my day, and I also forgot to get the dogbone, so I'll be upgrading to rear CVA's this week.

Futaba 3PV / T3PV transmitter bag

I found this lunchbag at Target that makes a perfect radio bag for the Futaba 3PV.  It zippers closed, has a little bit of padding and only cost $5!

http://www.target.com/p/embark-insulated-cooler-lunch-bag/-/A-51359801

No titanium needed

I threw my B6D on the scale.  The only lightweight parts it has is the slipper eliminator and AE lightweight body.  Everything else adds weight (brass C-block, aluminum D-block).  It's amazing how light the latest buggies are!

Hobao Hyper TT / Ofna Hyper 10TT review

After enjoying the TLR 22-4 2.0, and its quirks, I decided to try another unusual vehicle.  Ofna was a company that was around a few years back, and they sold the Hobao Hyper TT under their brand and called it the Hyper 10TT.

Well, Ofna is no longer around, but Hobao has decided to sell their vehicles directly in the U.S., so they brought back the Hyper TT.  It originally came out in 2010 and is now currently sold by Tower Hobbies again.

Overview:
The Hyper TT is a 1/10 scale Truggy, which is basically a 4WD stadium track.  It's a close cousin to the Hyper 10SC and the mini-ST that used to be sold.  They are essentially the same vehicles, with different length chassis and different bodies, but use the same arms, drivetrain, shocks, steering, etc.  So about 90% of the parts are interchangeable.

Now, this truck is really the only vehicle in its class.  Nobody makes 1/0 scale truggies.  The Traxxas Stampede can be converted into something similar, but has nowhere near the performance of the Hyper TT.  Trust me, I've had a Stampede truggy, and the high-center gravity chassis makes it fairly unsuitable for racing/track applications.

Build: N/A
The Hyper TT comes as either an RTR or 80% almost ready-to-run (ARR), which means the rolling chassis is pre-built.  I chose the latter and added my own electronics and glued up my own tires (it comes with wheels and tires unmounted) and painted the body.  The kit was reasonably well built by the factory, the only thing I would suggest is to make sure you thread-lock all of the screws threaded into metal.  They don't use loctite on most of them, and I found my steering post screws backed out.

Design: 5
The Hyper TT is essentially a 1/8 scale buggy scaled down.  It's got a 1/8 style drivetrain utilizing 3 diffs (front, center, rear), steel Mod 1 gears, dogbones down the center of the aluminum chassis, and a centralized motor on one side and the battery on the other.  It also uses pillowball suspension, which is the only 1/10 scale vehicle I know of that features this.

The drivetrain is extremely durable and loud and is probably the highlight of this truck.  It's got steel dogbones in the rear and CVA's in the front.  I ran a 4500kv 4-pole SMC Racing motor on 2S and it could definitely take more power.  I think there are guys out there running 3S with no problem.  The drivetrain is very beefy.

The pillowball suspension up front is a first for me, and honestly I'm not really a fan of it.  There's no camber link adjustment to modify roll centers, so you have to rely on springs and ride height.  The pillowballs are beefy steel units, but the arms and steering knuckles are pretty fragile.  More on that later.

The steering is a little archaic, and there's not enough Ackermann built into the steering at full lock.  This makes the truck not able to carve around sharp 180's very well, and I think it's more suitable to a medium sized track.  Unfortunately, the Ackermann is not adjustable.

Overall, I like the general idea of scaling down a 1/8 scale platform to make a beefy little truck, but some of the design choices could have been better, namely the pillowball suspension.

Performance: 5
The out of the box setup is rather poor, and there are definitely some changes you need to make to the factory setup.

The shocks are actually reasonably good units -- they're full aluminum small bore shocks with bladders.  Not my favorite design, but they're smooth and don't leak and work fine.  The front silver springs are too stiff, and there is too much damping, so definitely get yourself some Losi black or blue springs and lower the shock oil wt.  In the rear, the springs are actually way too soft -- Losi blue is the firmest I could find that fit, and are a lot better, but maybe still a little too soft.  Rear shock damping is ridiculously stiff, go with 25wt or 27.5wt Associated oil.

In the front, you need to ditch the front swaybar and add a little toe-out, and then you'll have a decent amount of steering and can move onto more tuning.

The truck jumps OK -- it tends to jump nose-high to me, I'm not sure why, and landing is adequate.  While the drivetrain is beefy, throttle control is a little iffy because there is a fair amount of slack in the drivetrain.  So it's hard to be precise with the throttle and braking application.

I have to say that the performance feels a little bit dated to me.  The truck originally came out in 2010 and it doesn't quite have the super taut, connected feeling that today's vehicles have.

There's also a fair amount of pitch front/back due to the short wheelbase and vast amount of power most guys run.  This isn't really the truck's fault, but it would be nice if the design allowed you to dial in more anti-dive or anti-squat.

So overall, I have to give the truck a mediocre score.  It's not great, it's not terrible, it's OK once you do some tuning.

Durability: 1
Honestly, this is my main issue with the truck.  It is extremely fragile.  It was fragile back in 2010, but fast-forward 6 years, and today's vehicles are super durable, and this truck feels like it's made of glass by comparison.  I pretty much break something every time I run the truck, which is a shame, because it's pretty fun to drive.

On the first battery pack, I broke the steering knuckles.  The second time I drove it I broke an upper arm.  The same day I was there, another kid broke the front top plate/hinge pin brace.  The third time I drove the truck, I broke a rear arm.

Fortunately, there are some upgrades you can make to the truck to make it more durable, but no matter what, the arms will still periodically break, so just expect that.

Durability upgrades that are pretty much mandatory:

1. Aluminum steering knuckles.  Integy still makes them, and STRC used to.
2. Aluminum top plate.  Made by Hobao, Integy, STRC.  The top plate also functions as the top hingepin mount, and that's the part that will crack.
3. T-bone Racing front bumper.  If you lawn dart this truck, this bumper will go miles towards preventing breakages.
4. Boil all of the arms and the rear hub carriers.  I did find that this helps quite a bit and softens the plastics so they are more resilient.

Rear CVA's are also a good idea.  When (not if) you break a rear arm, the rear dogbone will pop out and be a pain to find.

On the plus side. the body and molded plastic wing are quite thick and durable and I suspect will hold up very well in the long run.

Value: 5
At $219, the Hyper TT seems like an amazingly good deal.  I mean, where else can you get these kind of specs for $200?  Aluminum chassis and shock towers, fully aluminum shocks, pillowball suspension, front and rear gear diffs with a center diff.  Wheels, tires, body, wing all included!

But once you start going through the truck, you notice where Hobao cut some corners.  The steering rack uses bushings.  The rear driveshafts are dogbones.  They use self-tapping screws to mount the servo.  The turnbuckles have holes in them instead of square/hex shaped so you can't use a standard turnbuckle wrench.  It uses battery straps.  The shock towers are cast pieces.  The plastics are brittle.  The body clips are a joke.  The wheel nuts should be tossed directly into the trash.

At the end of the day, you're going to have to spend $20 on new turnbuckles, $30 for aluminum durability parts, $15 for a bumper, and about $30 in spare parts for when things break.  Throw in some miscellaneous wheel nuts and clips, and you're in for over $300.

This is about what it would cost to get a Stampede roller off eBay and build a similar truck.  The Hyper TT will have better performance, but the Stampede will be way more durable.  So kind of a wash.

Support: 3
There aren't a lot of places to get Hobao parts.  Your local hobby store isn't going to carry parts, so you'll have to get stuff from the Internet.  Hobao carries all the spare parts online, but the stuff ships from Taiwan and takes about 8 days to get to my house in California.

Dislikes:
Really the fundamental flaw with the Hyper TT is that it's not very durable.  With upgrades, it's at least adequate and won't break every time you hit something, but I would still consider it not very durable.  The steering has some geometry issues as well.

Conclusion:
If you want a 1/10 scale 4WD race-style stadium truck, this is pretty much the only game in town.  The Stampede is the closest competitor, but can't touch the Hobao performance-wise.  I can't really recommend the truck for most people because it just isn't very durable.  But if you want something unique, and you're OK will being your own parts warehouse, the Hobao is fun to drive and pretty cool.

I always get people asking me about the truck whenever I bring it out to the track, because there really is nothing else like it.

Which do you choose, a hard or soft option?

I was working on my B6D and Hyper TT, and thought it was rather funny.  On the B6D, I'm trying hard arms front and rear on the new build.  And on the Hyper TT, I was trying to soften the plastics by boiling them in water for 20 minutes on the stove.

B6D parts transfer

I'm partway through my build, and have pretty much all the parts transferred over from my B6 to my B6D.  You can see them in the pics.  I don't have any bling parts -- all of these are performance-related and have helped my buggy tremendously at my local, small, indoor clay track.  A quick review of the hop-ups and the situations I found them to be useful:

• Aluminum steering rack (less slop):   The stock plastic steering rack has a lot of slop that this eliminates.  Be sure to get an aluminum servo horn also to go with it.
• Schelle Type 1 steering arms (small, tight tracks):  They add more Ackermann at full lock, allowing you to rotate around tight 180 degree turns more quickly without pushing mid-corner.
• Laydown transmission (mid-high traction tracks):  The laydown helps  by allowing you to carry more corner speed into and through the corner.  It also allows you to mount your shocks on the front of the arms which lets you carry even more speed by centralizing the weight.
• Slipper eliminator (17.5 buggy):  Drops a bunch of weight from the drivetrain for quicker acceleration and top speed.
• MIP bi-metal outdrives (17.5 buggy): Drops a bunch of weight from the drivetrain for quicker acceleration and top speed.
• 12g brass C-block (used with Laydown):  The laydown transmission gives up a bit of forward traction.  This adds it back.  If you have a heavy motor (like my Reedy M3), the 12g block is good.  If you have a light motor, go with the 25g block.
• Aluminum D-block (more adjustments):  This D-block allows you to use the insert pills to give more adjustment for track width, toe-in, and anti-squat in the rear.

B6D

Time for a new kit!

My B6 was getting rather worn, and rather than buy all the parts and replace everything, it was cheaper to buy a new kit and sell my old one.  My B6 had basically been converted into a dirt version, so I got a B6D to replace it.

Hobao Hyper TT parts

One thing I'm getting to learn quickly is where to get parts for the Hyper TT.  My local hobby stores don't carry Hobao parts, so I'm reliant on the internet to get stuff.

Current sources for Hobao Hyper TT parts:

• Hobao eShop - this is Hobao's online store where you can get parts.  They have everything in stock, but the downside is that the stuff ships from Taiwan.  Shipping is crazy cheap though, I think I ordered 10 parts and shipping was fixed at $6.  In California, parts take about 8 days to get here, which is the main downside.
• Tower Hobbies - they are starting to carry the basics, like A-arms, shock towers, and steering knuckles.  Selection is very limited though.
• Nitrohouse - they are/were Ofna themselves, and they still carry a good amount of parts.  They're located in Southern California, and are probably the quickest source for stuff Tower doesn't carry.
• STRC - they used to make a bunch of Hyper TT hop-up parts, but most of them are discontinued.  As of the time of this writing, they still had some good stuff like hardened driveshafts and some aluminum parts.
• Integy - this is the place to get aluminum steering knuckles, rear hub carriers, basically anything you want to upgrade to aluminum.  I think they are still producing their full line of Hyper TT parts.  Make sure you stick with the billet aluminum stuff;  the cast aluminum parts are very weak.

Note that most Hyper 10SC and mini-ST parts also fit the Hyper TT, so oftentimes the same parts is listed as being for those vehicles.

Setting up a car for the first time

The last couple of kits I've bought have had remarkably good kit setups, so there wasn't a lot I had to do to get the car working pretty good in very short order.

But the Hyper TT out of the box is not quite at that finished level of setup, and requires a fair bit more work.  I'm not done with tuning, but I thought I'd share my thoughts on what I'm focusing on initially to get a base setup.

1. Setting up the steering.  Your goal here is for the car to track straight, have equal steering links front and right, and equal throw left and right.  Steering should be maxed out on each side so that you are getting full steering.  Your servo should be centered, and EPAs set with nothing hitting at max steering lock.
2. Tires.  The proper tires mounted for your surface need to be on the car, else the rest of the tuning process is not going to go well.  For me at my local track, this means Pro-line Primes in the winter, and Pro-line Electrons in the summer.
3. Gearing.  You want to have the right gearing (and motor timing) so that your motor is running at the right RPM for the track you're on and not overheating.

Ok, now you have a car that at least works and is not going to break on its own.  Next up is some basic tuning to get the car in the ballpark.

1. Ride height.  You're going to have just start with some number, and refine it over time.  For buggies on dirt, something in the 21-24mm range is typical.  For trucks, somewhere in the 28-30mm range.  Just pick something off a setup sheet or start with one of the above numbers and do your tuning with that.
2. Shocks.  The goal here is just to get some reasonable springs and shock oil wt in the car.  The springs need to suspend the car decently and have some forward/backward pitch under acceleration/braking, but not too much.  It should also not slap when landing jumps.  The shock oil will need to match the springs -- the stiffer the springs, the thicker the oil you will need and vice-versa.  The oil needs to be thick enough to land jumps and not slap too much, yet light enough so the car is still supple on the bumps and ripples of the straightaways.
3. Swaybars.  With the shocks working decently for the surface, you need to consider the swaybars, if they came with the car.  The only time you should need swaybars are generally either on super-high grip (carpet/astroturf), or if you're running a short course truck or bigger vehicle.  I pretty much never use front swaybars on my local, small, indoor clay track, and only sometimes use rear swaybars.  Buggies and stadium trucks on dirt shouldn't generally need them unless something is really unusual.

These things may take a couple of tries to get it close; it doesn't have to be perfect, you just want stuff in the ballpark so that you aren't trying to do the setup with something completely out of whack.

After that, you'll be messing with roll centers, and shock positions and Ackermann and such.  But in my opinion, this is the stuff you need to do first before you worry about more advanced tuning.

Hyper TT initial thoughts

Got to run a couple of packs through the Hyper TT today.  My session was cut short by the break of the day, in this case I hit the pipe and sheared off the pillowball on the upper arm.

Initial impressions of the Hyper TT:

• Cheap
• Mini 1/8 scale truggy
• Fragile

Beefed up 22-4 2.0 steering link

The stock steering linkage between the rack and servo horn is a little wimpy.  Some people have reported that it strips out.  I'm not sure that's the case, but I was having issues with my trim getting knocked out of alignment after a hard crash.  So I looked into beefing up the drag link, (as it's called)...

You just need a couple of Losi/TLR parts:

• LOSA6025 - old school Losi HD ballcups for 3/16" ball studs
• TLR234038 - a 3.5x75mm TLR HD turnbuckle

You can re-use the stock ballstuds, here's what it looks like installed:

 

Also check that the ballstud clears the belt tunnel.  Add a 1mm ballstud washer if necessary, mine was gouging the plastic a bit.

Hyper TT electronics weights

Still waiting on some parts to put my Hyper TT back together, but I'm getting ready for suspension tuning.  The proper springs and shock fluids are going to depend on the weight of the car, and my Hyper TT is (I think) on the heavier side.

On the left side, I have the battery at 306g.

On the right side, I have the motor (201g), ESC (86g), and servo (52g) = 339g.  So the right side is a little heavier than the left side, just from the electronics alone.  When you add in the aluminum motor mount, servo mount, and wiring it's probably a fair bit heavier.

VRP pistons and Yokomo springs

I spent the afternoon testing some parts in my B6.  First up was a set of VRP EU pistons, 3x1.4 front and 2x1.7 rears.  That's the normal size I use in my B6, so I did a direct swap and replace, leaving everything else the same.

These are the EU pistons intended for high-bite/carpet.  They basically separate compression and rebound damping.  Compression damping is normal, but they have additional valves that open for rebound, giving you quicker rebound.  From what I understand, the EU pistons differ from the original VRP pistons in having a smoother, smaller sidewall, resulting in less drag.

Unfortunately, they didn't work very well in my B6.  They were pretty good on landing jumps, but on any sort of straight away I felt there wasn't enough rebound damping and the energy from the rear end was not getting damped enough and the rear end was bouncy.  I couldn't tell much of a difference in the front, but the rears were definitely not right.  I tried softer and harder springs, and heavier oil, and it got a little better, but still not right.

In the end, I put my original machined AE pistons back in and it was back to being really good.  It's possible I need the older original-style VRP pistons which are more intended for loose dirt conditions.  But we run slicks on damp clay, so I thought the high-bite pistons would work.

The other part I tested was Yokomo rear springs.  A friend let me borrow a few sets to try -- the Yokomo Green rear spring is really popular among B6D drivers, and I can see why.  They basically feel like the low frequency TLR springs I sometimes use in my TLR cars.  They're a little smoother and give a little more traction and feel more linear with less bounce.  Green felt pretty good and I also tried a slightly stiffer spring (Orange), but that was too stiff.

If you're still running Associated rear springs on dirt, I recommend you give the Yokomo Green spring a try.  Part number:  YOKYS-A1200