Dave145's gold pan build.

[Dave145]

Well I have a simple problem that seems to have a complex answer. My Goldpan weighs in at about 4.25-4.5 pounds and is really quite the piece to try and power. I have the aluminum chassis that has braces on the top and bottom made out of aluminum that go the length of the car. I also then have two 1" tall vertical strips of aluminum running the length of the car to resist rolling up in a front end crash. They cause the chassis to be around 11-12 ounces which seems little heavy to me. I then have aluminum front and rear bulkheads that I made. Each one is about 1/4-1/2 of an inch thick (I kept breaking the fiber ones in front end crashes or rollovers off of small jumps. Overall the car justvseems heavy and clumsy seeing as how according to Castle creations only 4wd buggies weigh that much. Maybe I'm crazy, but It seems heavy and hard to steer/ accelerate quickly. Any suggestions for replacement parts that are cheap and durable that could lighten my car? My transmission is currently the 6 gear, but outweighed the same with the stealth in it. Help?

[slotcarrod]

I think you have answered your own question. Get rid of all the extra bracing and run the car as it was designed!

[Dave145]

I tried... but it rolled up like a pringle when it hits the ground too hard after a jump or after it slides into a tree due to bald tires and a g litchy servo (I cant afford a new one right now. I still need to get a job )

[Lonestar]

I tried... but it rolled up like a pringle when it hits the ground too hard after a jump or after it slides into a tree

Dave, sound like you have time available.

1- disassemble the car completely, especially the shocks
2- clean it up thoroughly... use a few gun barrell brushes, you can pick them up cheap
3- check for any damaged part... especially any bent axles, pins, or shock shafts. Replace if necessary...
4- follow the building manual TO THE DOT
5- bin any non stock part, that car won MANY big races in stock form... no need for further braces...

Et voila, the car runs properly now!

Paul

[Bent]

I tried... but it rolled up like a pringle when it hits the ground too hard after a jump or after it slides into a tree

Dave, sound like you have time available.

1- disassemble the car completely, especially the shocks
2- clean it up thoroughly... use a few gun barrell brushes, you can pick them up cheap
3- check for any damaged part... especially any bent axles, pins, or shock shafts. Replace if necessary...
4- follow the building manual TO THE DOT
5- bin any non stock part, that car won MANY big races in stock form... no need for further braces...

Et voila, the car runs properly now!

Paul

X's 2

[Mikeyboy]

What turn motor are you running? Are you just bashing or trying to run on a track?

[Dave145]

Primarily bashing, and my motor is the Castle Creations Sidewinder SCT edition with the 4 pole motor.

[Mikeyboy]

Its sounds like your just beating the old girl too hard These things were made for racing on groomed tracks. I gave my little brother my old RC10 when I went off to college and he jumped it over my moms Suburban! Taco'd the poor thing. I would remove all the extra bracing and go find an easier spot to drive it. Maybe gear that motor down a little. If you want a bashing rig, go get a Slash.

[Dave145]

Actually I own a slash and it broke pretty quick. Nerf bars, rear arms, caster blocks, steering knuckles, two shocks, rear hub carriers, and the rear bumper. My Goldpan has actually proven to be more durable, but it Is getting up there in years, miles, and rigged parts.

[Charlie don't surf]

Actually I own a slash and it broke pretty quick. Nerf bars, rear arms, caster blocks, steering knuckles, two shocks, rear hub carriers, and the rear bumper. My Goldpan has actually proven to be more durable, but it Is getting up there in years, miles, and rigged parts.

Ok, jokes over- you know that there is steering on radio controlled vehicles as well as a linear throttle and brakes? Or are you driving against traffic in the local.bowling lanes?

[Dave145]

Ha ha funny. What did all those parts in were trees, a cement pole, another cement pole, parked car, and pavement. The high center of gravity and the 2wd made it slip and roll into plenty of objects. I tried three different series to adjust the steering throw and speed but it didn't work very well. It also spun out a lot which is what took out the rear arm.

[kaiser]

after trying to help out in dave's other thread i figured i'd bump this up and try to help him out.

first of all the rc10 DOES NOT have a high center of gravity, if yours does then there's a big issue right there.
like above strip it down, and rebuild per the manual to the tee.

what kind of tires and wheels are on this car? stockers? see the thread "how to run 2.2 wheels on the rc10" and do that. (even though the stock tires shouldn't cause any of this, it's a good mod if you are running it alot)

you need a good servo.
that motor is too much.

at the end of the day you may need driving lessons by the sounds of what you hit and all.

got any pic's of this thing?

[Dave145]

I'll post some up with some more Info when I get back from the hardware store.

[Dave145]

Okay in 45 minutes the video will be uploaded to youtube so i can post it here. In the meantime, I can start by describing my car. The car has upgrade wheels, but they are not 2.2's. Instead, these wheels are 2.0 Jammin' wheels that have a step pin tread design. These were always my "go to" tires, because they never wore even after racing them for two years on my rc10 graphite. They are now starting to go bald because of the car sliding so much on the clay, grass, and sand. The front tires are I believe 2.2's. These are wide Losi 4 rib tires that are mounted on I believe Losi 2.2" rims. I have other sets of tires which include a pair of large lugged 2.0's that has around 75% tread left. These I think are for loose dirt and are made by Losi. I then have a set of Proline "Flat 80's" 2.0 inch tires that have long hard pins. I have a set of proline road rage tires for the street only. They are starting to wear funny due to the spinouts and fish tailing. Then as for the front tires, I have the set above and then two sets of 1.9" or 2.0" three rib tires (the fourth was cut off by the previous owner) (it is the second rib from the left on both tires), I have a set of wide proline front tires on B4 rims (they are 2.2"), and finally I have a bald set of Dynamite tires that used to have spikes on the front. Now on to the shocks. As I mention in the video, the shocks do leak. They have 70wt oil in them and three hole pistons. They are the bottom load shocks. They have the springs tightened all the way down to help with the fact that about 1/4 of thew oil has leaked out of them. The right front shock also has a lower broken pivot end. The bulkhead/shock towers are Aluminum as you may have read above. I always broke the fiber ones in crashes. My servo is a Hitec steel gear ultra torque servo that came out of my USA-1. It isn't very fast, but it has survived all the accidents to date. The radio is a cheap futaba that I got new off ebay for $20. It works when it wants to. It commonly loses reception about 200 feet out, but some days it loses reception at 3 feet out. The motor has capacitors and the esc is giving out 5v to the BEC, so it is getting power and a clear signal. Then again, my transmitter is a Futaba Magnum Junior from the 1980's. Maybe that's the problem (could it be broadcasting too short of a range?) My battery is a cheap Traxxas power cell 300mah 7 cell battery thta is almost dead (it's covered with duck tape because the casing fell off) I had to resolder the leads on twice. The system is a Castle Creations Sidewinder SCT system with the 4 pole 1410 motor for the extra torque. It runs great but the car doesn't like it. My transmission was a stealth until the dif gear melted from the car "diffing out" while it was spinning out and it melted the diff. (How can that be prevented? New shocks?) Now I run a 6 gear tranny and it really really sucks. The diff has burned through two washers on the spur gear side so the diff starts to ride on the other gear. The tranny also has some issue I forgot to mention in the video. The bearings are shot (well its that or the shafts are now ovals). The bearings and gears waddle all over when the transmission has a load on it (that's just a load from me spinning it with my fingers) The idlers are the worst, because the shaft moves in the motor plate and the bearings wobble on the shaft, making the idlers rock quite a bit. The drive gears on the bottom also waddle quite a bit, but their shaft is still mounted solid on the motor plate. The top shaft bearings let it move around quite a bit as well. All these bearings also barely turn. I still have yet to take off the dust shields and repair them and re-oil them.

Now on to the steering. The steering is what I believe to be a Losi aluminum steering kit. Let me be honest here. I have NEVER gotten a screw to stay in it while driving. I have used thread lock and super glue and I have gotten nowhere (that's what causes the majority of my crashes). The steering is cracked and bent on the right side, but that doesn't affect the car that badly. Other than that, the car usually has a TON of oversteer and it just plows when it tries to steer. It either does that, or it decides to let the front wheels grab and turn the car, but it the either spins out to do a donut, or it does an end over. One lower kingpin does pop out of it's hole on the end of the left arm (the pin that holds on the C hub).

The video may detail this some more, but this is an overview of my car before the video uploads fully to youtube.

[Dave145]

Okay here we go. Mods don't worry I'm compiling all my questions into one thread so I don't have to keep piling up the board with each question individually. I'm actually starting to lose track of all my posts even when I"m just looking at my own!! Anyway, I have more questions about my goldpan that I hope to have answered so I don't wreck it again after going through all this work to rebuild it. So lets get moving:

1. This one's for steering. What am I doing wrong with it? I've used both the stock plastic setup and the aluminum Losi setup. Neither of these seem to work. My screws fell out causing tie rods to flap loose and the car to crash and they don't even make the car turn. I have a plastic upgrade bell crank steering set on my graphite that never failed me. It hit every tree in my old yard and never cracked. It also some how allowed the car to steer a bit more reliably (I don't know I haven't driven the car in years so it might just be my imagination or my memory glorifying my car). What's a good steering system for my car? Bellcranks, or two individual pieces? Should I use ball joints or tie rods that use screws like the Traxxas style? Should I point the wheels inward towards the center of the car or should they be straight? I know they shouldn't be pointed outward away from the car.

2. Let's move to shocks. Since I"m building a runner, should I find top load shocks instead of the bottom mount shocks? What weight oil would be good for a 4 pound buggy like mine? Do tires without inserts make a difference with the bounciness of the shocks and the car in general? Do bad shocks allow the car to spin out easier or do end overs? Any upgrade springs I should put on the car instead of the stock ones? I know my graphite had green shocks in the rear and I think the stock ones in the front and it handled real nice (it was like it floated and the rear end never touched the ground even on powerful starts but the car could pull a wheelie if I wanted it to).

3. Camber. Should the wheels point inward toward the car or again be straight up and down? I know they shouldn't be pointed away from the car. Does the camber of the wheels affect the steering or shock performance? I thought it did.

4. How can I keep my stealth diff from melting again? I had it set to factory specs, but what did I do wrong with it? Did the shocks allow too much squat as the car spun out or tried to round a curve allowing the wheel to come up and spin too fast? I'm still kind of lost about that.

5. How can I keep the fiber shock towers from breaking so easily in a crash?

6. How can I make the car stop spinning out? Is weight causing it? Is my steering dual rate too high causing the car to turn a little too fast?

7. What would be a good CHEAP 2.4 ghz radio system to replace my cheap/old AM radio system currently in my car?

8. How can I make my ball bearings spin like new again? Most of the are CRAP and are pretty locked to be pretty similar to bushings. (again)

9. What is the BEST possible way to make my car suitable for grass without spending too much on upgrades (if there are any)

Thanks for putting up with my numerous questions. Without you guys my car would probably still be in pieces and I never would have gotten into these old dinosaurs.