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- Arrma RC's
- Typhon 3s
Truly the title is not a humblebrag (nor an exaggeration), it's more a fun, lighthearted yet cautionary start of a tale for newcomers like me. Word and image heavy post to follow. You've been warned. You can look up my post in the Member Intro section if you'd like to see how I got into the hobby. Bear in mind that things are inflated because I had zero RC gear to start with.
I went with the Typhon 3S fully expecting to run 2S because I'm a new RC driver. That didn't happen, and I jumped in feet first with 3S per my LHS' recommendation. Day one I had a ball with it bone stock.
The only place near my home to bash is all grass with a parking lot, so initial modifications were made off that terrain. The stock servo was weak on grass, I was struggling to turn. I wanted more stability and traction. I widened my stance with the Redcat Racing hub extensions and bought some Badlands Buggies. I swapped all bearings except the motor and diff bearings. I then installed a 20kg ANNIMOS servo and the HR Bellcranks since I was in there.
You have to drill these Redcat extensions out to fit the stock pin, otherwise it will not secure onto the axle. You also should shim it, because there's play versus the stock hubs. I used 0.5mm stainless shims from Amazon.
Bashing became an addiction. Then I had my first of many crashes. I nosedived, then cartwheeled, then ran into a tree in such a way that my front right shock shaft bent. Bought a replacement, fortified my buggy with TBone Basher front and rear bumpers.
I bashed to my heart's delight with this setup for a while, it was solid. Bought some Duratrax Triggers as beater bashing tires since my Badlands were wearing down. I swapped the near-empty shocks with 50K fluid, tried 60K diff fluid front/rear before settling on 32.5W front/15W rear. Then my shocks started leaking. Inherently I had no problem with the shocks outside of the leaks, so I searched for ideas on how to remedy it and found a bulletproof solution on Reddit:
All was well in my bashing world - until my next accident. The day I installed the HR adjustable motor mount and Robinson Racing 18T pinion, I hit a lightpole head on. It sucked. My battery's forward momentum broke the front brace off. I glued it back in after. My T-Bone front bumper also snapped, the hingepin brace broke (of course), and the front end of my chassis cracked. This was the start of what I think is a big problem with just the Typhon's TBone front bumper. Every other model has a cross support mounted on the diff cover's 2 front screw holes, while the Typhon's just acts like a lever whenever the bumper hits something. There was is a thread here discussing this in detail. Lots of superglue was had.
Weeks later, I found the solution thread and I purchased a replacement, well-designed brace from @Camaroboy383, and warrantied with TBone. In the meantime I was using the stock bumper. I also replaced the stock STX2 with a FlySky GT3B for a bit more customization and range. Bash bash bash.
Then, I tried a front flip off a jump at a new dirt spot a friend and I found, and the small damages and cracks I previously inflicted finally gave way.
You can see my gaffer tape there that I superglued across the previous crack.
If you look closely you'll see my driveshaft is broken.
To Jenny's I went. Sometime in the middle of the rebuild I noticed my wing was also broken in the crash, so I ordered a Kraton wing. I also moved my ESC to the tub because the caps on the battery leads were cracking my body.
All better, right? Wrong. Lol. Just my luck my motor bearings went out. Sounded like a banshee with all that screeching. I didn't realize the Jim's main kit didn't come with motor bearings, so I went to VXB which has a local office near me.
And now we're at today. I've been testing my rebuilt Typhon for 2 days and so far it's smooth sailing. I actually just hit this with some Banditos:
I don't think it's entirely accurate, but it's the only GPS I have and progress is progress. Lol.
Here's my parts list, which doesn't include the tools I needed to buy.
Some parts I got deals on, some I overpaid, but I tried to support my LHS as much as I could.
I guess the moral of this post for newcomers is, you're going to break things, you're going to want a little bit more, and your upfront costs are just that - upfront. I am having so much damn fun that while the costs hurt a bit, I'm learning a lot and more importantly driving a lot. Wouldn't change a thing. I don't have any plans to further modify it as I'm super stoked with how it's set up - though maybe I will try 2.8's one day.
Elephant in the room, if I could do it all over again would I have gotten a Typhon 6S? Well, do you see the damage I inflict on 3S? I'm totally not ready. Haha.
Day 1 of owning my Typhon below. It feels like years ago. Thanks for reading.
I went with the Typhon 3S fully expecting to run 2S because I'm a new RC driver. That didn't happen, and I jumped in feet first with 3S per my LHS' recommendation. Day one I had a ball with it bone stock.
The only place near my home to bash is all grass with a parking lot, so initial modifications were made off that terrain. The stock servo was weak on grass, I was struggling to turn. I wanted more stability and traction. I widened my stance with the Redcat Racing hub extensions and bought some Badlands Buggies. I swapped all bearings except the motor and diff bearings. I then installed a 20kg ANNIMOS servo and the HR Bellcranks since I was in there.
You have to drill these Redcat extensions out to fit the stock pin, otherwise it will not secure onto the axle. You also should shim it, because there's play versus the stock hubs. I used 0.5mm stainless shims from Amazon.
Bashing became an addiction. Then I had my first of many crashes. I nosedived, then cartwheeled, then ran into a tree in such a way that my front right shock shaft bent. Bought a replacement, fortified my buggy with TBone Basher front and rear bumpers.
I bashed to my heart's delight with this setup for a while, it was solid. Bought some Duratrax Triggers as beater bashing tires since my Badlands were wearing down. I swapped the near-empty shocks with 50K fluid, tried 60K diff fluid front/rear before settling on 32.5W front/15W rear. Then my shocks started leaking. Inherently I had no problem with the shocks outside of the leaks, so I searched for ideas on how to remedy it and found a bulletproof solution on Reddit:
Disassemble your 3S shocks. Open the bottom shock case. Remove the top o-ring, then remove the plastic spacer. The bottom o-ring might come out with the spacer. Insert a total of 5 o-rings (search 2.6mm x 7mm x 2.2mm on Amazon or your preferred vendor) into the case, Green Slime or Super Lube O-Ring Lubricant, and close it back up. Be generous with the lubing. Fill your shocks and reassemble, enjoy leak-free great performing stock 3S shocks.
I've had zero issues after doing this mod, and I think the stock shocks perform great. Here's my son making sure.All was well in my bashing world - until my next accident. The day I installed the HR adjustable motor mount and Robinson Racing 18T pinion, I hit a lightpole head on. It sucked. My battery's forward momentum broke the front brace off. I glued it back in after. My T-Bone front bumper also snapped, the hingepin brace broke (of course), and the front end of my chassis cracked. This was the start of what I think is a big problem with just the Typhon's TBone front bumper. Every other model has a cross support mounted on the diff cover's 2 front screw holes, while the Typhon's just acts like a lever whenever the bumper hits something. There was is a thread here discussing this in detail. Lots of superglue was had.
Weeks later, I found the solution thread and I purchased a replacement, well-designed brace from @Camaroboy383, and warrantied with TBone. In the meantime I was using the stock bumper. I also replaced the stock STX2 with a FlySky GT3B for a bit more customization and range. Bash bash bash.
Then, I tried a front flip off a jump at a new dirt spot a friend and I found, and the small damages and cracks I previously inflicted finally gave way.
You can see my gaffer tape there that I superglued across the previous crack.
If you look closely you'll see my driveshaft is broken.
To Jenny's I went. Sometime in the middle of the rebuild I noticed my wing was also broken in the crash, so I ordered a Kraton wing. I also moved my ESC to the tub because the caps on the battery leads were cracking my body.
All better, right? Wrong. Lol. Just my luck my motor bearings went out. Sounded like a banshee with all that screeching. I didn't realize the Jim's main kit didn't come with motor bearings, so I went to VXB which has a local office near me.
And now we're at today. I've been testing my rebuilt Typhon for 2 days and so far it's smooth sailing. I actually just hit this with some Banditos:
I don't think it's entirely accurate, but it's the only GPS I have and progress is progress. Lol.
Here's my parts list, which doesn't include the tools I needed to buy.
Some parts I got deals on, some I overpaid, but I tried to support my LHS as much as I could.
I guess the moral of this post for newcomers is, you're going to break things, you're going to want a little bit more, and your upfront costs are just that - upfront. I am having so much damn fun that while the costs hurt a bit, I'm learning a lot and more importantly driving a lot. Wouldn't change a thing. I don't have any plans to further modify it as I'm super stoked with how it's set up - though maybe I will try 2.8's one day.
Elephant in the room, if I could do it all over again would I have gotten a Typhon 6S? Well, do you see the damage I inflict on 3S? I'm totally not ready. Haha.
Day 1 of owning my Typhon below. It feels like years ago. Thanks for reading.
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