A few hop ups for my new savage!

Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2012 1:18 pm Post subject: A few hop ups for my new savage!

Hey guys. I have been thrashing my savage round for a while now and loving it. Im just wondering now about a few hop ups, Is it still a good idea to do the hot bodies diff mod even though it is a Flux HP with bullet proof diffs etc? I have also become very keen to do some hanling mods as like thay say its a brick on wheels at the moment, I have been tossing up whether to just buy another vehicle (truggy, buggy) for some better handling or just mod this one and i think i like the latter. Im not racing just bashing and i want a bit better handling for bashing.
And is 100 000 weight diff oil too thick?? All i do is bash on mostly hard pack surfaces. I do love drifting around and absolutely hate the body roll it gets going into a high speed corner and it just lifts the inside tire up and spins the *censored* out of that with bugger all forward drive. If 100000 is alright for my rear what would guys suggest for the front?
Im also going to order the sway bar kit, the handling kit and the XL lengthening and widening kit. I also have a bigger metal gear servo 18kg i think.
Anything else you guys reckon is a good idea? Does the bell crank or anything need upgrading going to a heavier steering servo etc?
Cheers
Simon

First off, a buggy can never bash like a savage. But a savage can never handle like a buggy. They are from completely different worlds. If you like bashing, use the savage and mod it to get some better handling.

I would recommend lowering the suspension a tad. Use stiffer red springs with tube spacer. Use RPM upper arms with -2 degree camber, that will help alot. And widen the stance, either use XL axles or use wheels with 1/2" offset.

If you do those really simple mods your savage will do a lot better.

No im not expecting buggy like handling at all, just some thing that will help the truck turn a corner under power doing 40+kph rather than just leaning into it and spinning the back tire. I got some aliminium traxxas shocks and springs there (that i bought for the summit but havent put on cos i keep breaking it. (Thats why i had to sell some stuff and buy the savage)), but they are pretty short and stout and very very stiff! I did buy the other day for a measly $15nz is a set of 4 standard non big bore shocks and i thought about just bolting them on too and seeing how that goes for a stiffen up. And i have a servo sitting there for the steering upgrade so may aswell use it, i was just wondering if servo saver set up as well as spring would need upgrading or would just a heavy duty spring be alright? Or better still can you just crank the standard one up and it work fine as long as not thrashed too hard obviously!

Ok so no need for handling kit? I still want to replace rear hub carriers so wondered if maybe while i was doing it do it once and do it right other wise ill just end up with unused parts. And im definitely keen to get the XL chassis with widening kit. Its only $70us which i think is a pretty good deal for what you get. And im pretty keen to try some sway bars. I dont have a LHS here where i live so i order all my parts online from american sites cos its a lot cheaper and to only pay one lot(plus wait 7-14 days for delivery) of shipping i just save up and buy lots of parts at once. Gonna get diff oils etc too. What do people think about the 100000 in the back diff? If i want it to grip and handle a bit better in the front maybe i should just run some 30000? Speaking of diffs, is the diff mod a good idea still on the hp with bullet proof diffs? Yeah i have some rpm arms in my sight too. And can pinch the big joes back off my summit with 1/2 offset wheels.

I have wrecked my body on my truck already and have only been through several batterys, im a fitter turner by trade and was wondering about building an external cage to protect my new body, tigging up a little one out of maybe 5-6mm stainless solid rod and mount it too the truck the same way as the summit one is. Which also brought on the idea of using a summit body when the chassis is extended to XL length and the big joe tires on it should look pretty cool! Though the summit cage will wear away pretty quick skidding down the road on its lid at 60kmh! Ill give the stainless one ago after work tomorrow and post up some pics if it looks any good.
Any help and feed back greatly appreciated.
Cheers

I have done some mods to a nitro X to improve handling. I Got the swaybar kit and innovative RC low center of gravity TVP's (normal length). Over it improves the handling a great deal, it turns tighter without tipping over and at greater speeds. I have not lowered the suspension which may help further.

On my homebuilt flux XL I have alza Racing TVPs and the work Well (5mm thickness). I have no swaybar kit on it and the turning radius and speed is really lacking compared to my nitro. So the swaybar is very noticeable.
One thing that did help thou was to ducttape the inside of the tires and the foam inserts. It feels as once you get "spin" and balloning on the inner wheel you need to let off the throttle for longer to regain tire control.

I Think youre fine with your BP diff. Just check that small 10mm bearing often for slack and change it when its worn. If you blitz the diff then do the upgrade Smile

One almost free mod you can do that will greatly reduce traction rolling and body roll is to reduce the droop.

To do this, take the shock shaft out of each shock, and slip a piece of fuel tube on the shaft from the bottom and slide it up to the piston disk. You will need to estimate how much lower you want the suspension to sit, but usually a good starting point is the fuel tube at least 1/2 inch long.

After all shocks are done, naturally put in new oil and re-mount the shocks. You will notice the truck sits some lower. I think the a-arms should sit level as a result of the tubing.

You will find the truck handling so much better on the hard pack you are running on. Best part of it is, this mod is almost free and you can tune by changing lengths of tubing inside the shock, or return to stock with no harm done.

Dennis

Cheers guys thanks for the ideas! That droop mod sounds awesome i might have to give that a go! I didnt have a go at a cage yeat as i realised there is not alot of point until i get my XL chassis and make it to suit that length!
I stripped it all down yesterday cos i had a day off work sick, and spent the better part of 4hrs stripping it cleaning it all putting the new HD drive gear in and then just as i get finished about to go for a good bash session the bloody weather packs it in. This is a pain in the arse cos it doesnt stop my summit(when its not broken of course) and it got me thinking about water proofing the truck a bit. Not to take the thing swimming like some clowns do with there trucks i just want to be able to splash through a puddle if i cant avoid it and not absolutley s**t myself about frying my ESC/receiver.
Which are these red springs i have heard so much about?? I have searched on tower hobbies and can find bugger all!
Simon

The red springs are from the hellfire.

Yes i will definitely be doing the droop mod. I was trying to think the other day of a good way of lowering it. I was going to take the shocks apart and turn the shafts and outsides down to shorten them up but this is a much easier way of doing it. Ill machine some wee nylon spacers up tonight for that. I have a sway bar kit ordered too and the heavy diff oil.

Thanks very much for that Synk
Cheers
Simon

What weight shock oil is suggested to run with the hellfire springs?
Well im placing the big order today,
Everything from, XL conversion kit, all the stuff to do Hot bodies diff upgrade, diff and shock oils, sway bar kit, HD springs, RR Slipper(mine must have been run with it no cranked up and plate is all disinergrated), RPM arms all round, RC screwskit, Castle link, HD ali Rear hub carriers, rebuild kit for my big bores, a set of road rage ashphalt tires on desperado rims(so i dont wear my big joes out) and lots of little spares.

And i made the shock spacers to lower it yesterday, i made them 20mm long the A arms should sit just a smidge above dead level. I cant wait for the bits to all get here and i can put it all together and see the transformation!

I do have one concern, i do a bit of bashing on ashphalt and was wondering whether the 100k diff fluid in the back is gonna load the drive line up to much with the grip on the road? Is there anything i need to be wary of going to the heavier diff oil?
Cheers
Simon

I can address the 100K silicone in both the front diff and rear diff while on asphalt. I run this all the time and mostly on asphalt. I can tell you there is no apparent stress on the diff because of it.

Also, the truck turns easily on high traction asphalt. Only thing I noticed, is when one tire loses traction and spins up, there is still an abundance of torque going to the tire with traction to pull you forward or get out of the hole.

I would not worry about it in the least for the type of use you are going to put it to.

Dennis

Cheers Big Grump thats what i wanted to hear!!
Well i lowered the truck yesterday, went to take it for a play and low and behold there is a horrible clunking coming from in the trans there is something in one of the gears, i was very thorough cleaning all the bits of gear out of it when i put in the HD drive gear but now what im thinking may have happened is that perhaps abit of the Crud ground off the wrecked gear got into one of the bearings and has caused that to colapse and now a wee ball has found its way into the mesh on the gears. My new parts should be here mid to late next week so i think im just gonna spit the dummy with it till then.

I noticed too that the whole spur gear slipper unit etc is running out horribly! Wobbling from side to side when its turned. Has anyone else encountered this problem? If so how is it remedied?

For the toughest truck you can buy i seem to be having endless problems with it! And im only running it on 4s.
Cheers

Well i had a bit of a win yesterday. I was mucking round on ebay buying a couple new diffs for my summit and also bought a new Trans for my Savage. $42 i thought was very friendly. Then i decided to pick my bottom lip up and go strip the tranny out of my savage and see what the source of the horrible noise was. I cant have had enough Lube on the gears when i put it back together as the final drive gear(in the tranny) and the one that drives both had some dings chips and chunks out of them so i cleaned it all out nicely applied copious amounts of grease and reassembled it(all up took about an hour, getting quicker now) spun it up and it all sounded good.
So now i was stoked again as i could test the handling of the lowered truck! And jeez what a difference! For something that took me 10 minutes to machine up at work and then half hour to fit, what an extraordinary difference. Double the cornering speed and the front is alot easier to keep on the ground also. It probably really helped the cornering speed putting the big joes back on too and got rid of the horribly soft, spongy and rolly factory tires!
I really cant wait for thursday now when my new parts get here and i can put the heavier oil in my diffs, fit the sway bars, fit the new hellfire springs, fill the shocks up with 40wt oil, fit the lengthening and widening kit and fit the road rages and then see how she handles!!
Thanks for all your help and suggestions guys!
Simon

Well i fitted the 100k diff oil to the rear diff and jeez its got some good drive out now! I also fitted heavier springs, 40wt shock oil all round, RPM arms with-2 camber arms, sway bars and road rage tires. Wow its a completely different truck now. It drifts and slides all over the place now instead of rolling on its roof, you can give it full throttle now and it doesnt just flip over on its roof, i havent fitted the XL length chassis plates yet so that should be another improvement. I also really need to improve the servo steering power, this had become much more apparent now the handling is improved so much and it can actually be kept in a straightish line under power. I have a HD MG servo here that i need to get round to fitting and that should sort that out. I have fitted the 1/2" a side wideners and the road rage wheels i bought have got serious offset i think the truck is now wider than it is long!

I now have on order a Vorza center diff for it, i was wondering if anyone out there can tell me what would be a good pinion size?? I wanna do about 45mph and i only run 4s not 6s.
Cheers for all your help guys you have made my introduction into the world of savages a very smooth and pleasant one!
Simon

P.S i need to get my camera sorted so i can post up some pics for you guys!

P.P.S Does anyone know much about the CEN GSR 5.0? I was bashing my truck on the side of the road yesterday when a guy pulled over and had one in the back of his truck, he said he had seen me playing and was wondering if i was keen to buy another one, this one is nitro powered and not going but going to spend the day today trying to get it going. It came with glow starters chargers spares rotostarter, 1/2 gallon of nitro all sorts and i only paid $160 for it. When i paid for it i had no idea what it was i could just tell from the beefy chassis and A arms etc that it was reasonably good quality and probably worth the money so i bought it then looked it up on the net.

Get an ERCM Picco and you would smoke that CEN.

Isnt that truck a 1/5 scale?

Nah i wouldnt say its 1/5 it is slightly bigger than my savage thopugh, XL length. LLkoolskillet, can you advise me on what pinion? Would a 9t be a good starting point for the vorza diff? Whats an ERCM and a PICCO? I no nothing about nitro, but considering i paid so little for it i think it will be worth a play, see if i can get it going today.
Cheers
Simon

Well I hate my computer cause I wrote out this great reply and then my comp said screw you... anyways here goes again

The stock Vorza CD comes with a 48t spur. I run a 46t on mine. I personally would recommend a 9 or 10t pinion. It will keep your temps down.

I run 6s with 12/46t and it will make a man out of any driver, however during the summer is runs hot but in the winter it runs normal, wierd I know

Heres the part number for the 46t spur

Hot Bodies C8027

ERCM is Extreme RC Mods and the best nitro engine modder out there! and the Picco is a high end nitro motor


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