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!