Notorious First bash with Notorious...broken

[doolin64]

Ok...little background. Been playing with R/C's for 30 plus years off and on. Last "real" monster truck I had was an HPI Savage Flux. I've had a Traxxas VXL Ralley on the shelf for a while. But I recently upped my game and picked up an Arrma Notorious for me and a Granite 4x4 for my son (7 years old).

Yesterday I played in my yard for 10 minutes and jumped a few times off of rc/skateboard ramps that Santa brought for my son (and me). I was impressed!

Today at lunch I went to a local softball field / skate park. 30 degree weather didn't play nice with my wing mount. A couple of hard landings and it snapped off. I can't complain...it was cold, I was driving terrible and it was landing on concrete. Something has to give.

Here's my thoughts to far after 30 minutes of play time:

1. This truck absolutely rips on 6s.
2. The sparks from the roll bar on my driveway at dusk was a bonus.
3. It is very controllable in the air. Much more than my Flux ever was. I need work here!
4. This truck doesn't steer worth a d@!n when on the power. The flux was better in that aspect.
5. The chassis makes a nasty slap when jumping and landing. I think I need to crank the preload up at a minimum. What are some of your preferred chassis setups/shock setups?
6. Amazing how much easier it is to work on than a truck with TVP chassis.
7. Can't wait to repair it and get back out there.

When I got back to my desk I ordered 2 oem HD wing mounts and a spare wing. Figured a backup isn't a bad thing. I also grabbed RPM rear mud guards and rear skid plate. I wish they made a front skid as well.

Now for some post run pics of the damage.


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[bicketybam]

Crank the servo saver down to get it to steer better. An aluminum servo mount for Voltage Hobbies or Hot Racing will help as well. Definitely crank the preload down if you are going to be jumping. Congrats on the new truck!

 

[olds97_lss]

RPM does make a front skid. I have one on my outcast that bolted right on. The outcast and notorious are the same truck. As for the rear, you should have went with the t-bone rear skid and wheelie bar combo. That helps a lot with breaking the wing mount. From what I read when I first got my outcast was that people kept the mount, but removed the wing as it just added leverage. I'm still on my stock wing mount, but I removed the wing and added the tbone rear skid/wheelie bar. Been running it hard since last July 2018.

As for your horrible steering, check your servo saver as the nut on that likes to walk down the post and then you lose all your steering. Using plumbers tape on that will help. I just put red locktite on mine this weekend as the blue gel loctite stopped working. Also, stock oil in the center diff tends to cause the front tires to unload. Might want to up the weight to 200K oil, stock is 100K. I run 500K.

If you do take the front end apart to mess with the servo saver, get some bearings to replace the bushings in the steering posts. They get sloppy over time and bearings just work better.

As for the suspension, I'm still trying to find a happy medium with mine. The shocks come with 1000 cst oil in them, which is roughly associated 80wt. For my shocks, I've removed half the stock oil and added associated 2K to fill them up. That combined with screwing the shock collars down seems to work ok for me. Flat pan chassis trucks are meant to slap the ground. If you go too stiff with oil/springs, you just break shock shafts, rod ends and upper mounting bolts.

Check out my latest bash video here to see what the stuff I listed above does, skip to the second half as I run at a different park with bigger jumps:
https://www.arrmaforum.com/threads/first-bash-videos-of-the-year-2019-01-05.9278

I only run 4S with a top speed around 42mph I believe. I run a 15T pinion and proline trencher 3.8's which are a hair taller than the stock tires.

 

[slick2500]

I really wish Arrma would have designed this so that we could remove the wing mount completely. This wing mount has seriously got to be the stupidest design I have ever seen.

 

[doolin64]

Thanks guys!

Anyone have the part number for the RPM front skid?

I almost went with t-bone wing mount. I'll have to look into the skid wheelie bar mount .

Which direction do I spin the servo saver to "crank" it down?

 

[Yonic]

Definitely crank the preload down if you are going to be jumping. Congrats on the new truck!

What? how's the preload going to effect landing?
The extra spring tension is negligible vs the impact of a landing. Landing is all shock oil weight. you can be at min or max preload, it wont effect a thing.

 

[Jimbobjr]

I really wish Arrma would have designed this so that we could remove the wing mount completely. This wing mount has seriously got to be the stupidest design I have ever seen.

just cut it off and use a tbone wheelie bar.

 

[Notorious J]

Yours looks exactly like mine, but black, after my second run. I switched to an RPM wing mount, and added the T-Bone Kraton XV4 2.0 front bumper with skid plate. I'm also holding out on bashing while the temps are near and below freezing. I learned with my Slash that plastic and cold don't mix, but couldn't resist a maiden voyage. I'm not in the mood to replace any more parts because of it. Hot Racing servo mount, chassis braces, motor mount, dif mount and dif upper bracket ordered or already installed. Made my own t2t brace and have a new servo on order to replace the weak stock one. Fast Eddy rubber sealed bearings at all four corners and waiting to do the rest shortly. Hope you and your son continue to have a blast.

 

[doolin64]

@Notorious J do have picture of you truck with TBR xv4 2.0 bumper?

 

[Notorious J]

@Notorious J do have picture of you truck with TBR xv4 2.0 bumper?

 

[slick2500]

just cut it off and use a tbone wheelie bar.

Now that I have the Alza center brace I can run without the wing mount completely. But stock the wing mount should be removable without having to cut it.

 

[crimsonfancy]

Servo saver may be my issue with the noto steering. I blamed it on the stock servo for so long now.
I should be asleep but now go play trucks? I do need it fixed

 

[bicketybam]

What? how's the preload going to effect landing?
The extra spring tension is negligible vs the impact of a landing. Landing is all shock oil weight. you can be at min or max preload, it wont effect a thing.

So the lowest ride height is better when jumping? I didn't know that. I figured a higher ride help would be better. I also thought shock oil was to control rebound?

 

[Krathead]

This is the way I see it: The shock oil will control rebound and compression. That said, having the preload down farther will increase ride height. That will cause you to have to push more oil when compressing the shock. The spring itself will not effect landing but giving the shock more travel sure will.

 

[Yonic]

Yeah but while the car is in the air, the suspensions extends to the max - regardless of the ride height. So on landing you always get the maximum travel of the shocks.

 

[Yonic]

So the lowest ride height is better when jumping?

As I said on the previous post, it’s not related, high or low, it’s the same.

One area that higher ride height will help is the start of the jumping when you go on the ramp a low ride height might bottom out earlier, so you can get the back kicked off by the ramp, which can be reduced with higher ride height.

But for the landing it doesn’t matter.

 

[bicketybam]

I’m no expert on suspension tuning, but chassis slap isn’t the worst thing in the world. Tuning your shocks so that the chassis does hit during big air is going to result in busted shock rod ends and bent shafts. This is where going too heavy with shock oil is going to take you.

In any event, if you are jumping the truck a lot I think it would be better to raise the ride height like every big YouTuber does. Make sure you service your shocks often.

 

[doolin64]

I’m no expert on suspension tuning, but chassis slap isn’t the worst thing in the world. Tuning your shocks so that the chassis does hit during big air is going to result in busted shock rod ends and bent shafts. This is where going too heavy with shock oil is going to take you.

In any event, if you are jumping the truck a lot I think it would be better to raise the ride height like every big YouTuber does. Make sure you service your shocks often.

Good to know chassis slap is not the end of the world. I'm going to keep running it stock for a while and work on my control more than anything.

 

[bicketybam]

Good to know chassis slap is not the end of the world. I'm going to keep running it stock for a while and work on my control more than anything.

When I go to the BMX track, my Kraton routinely smacks the ground on the really big jumps. I just have to tighten up some screws after the session.

 

[olds97_lss]

Thanks guys!

Anyone have the part number for the RPM front skid?

http://www.rpmrcproducts.com/shop/b...kid-plate-for-the-arrma-kraton-durango-dex8t/
RPM 81472

That's what I have on my outcast.

I forgot, I do have the RPM wing mount on the rear because my stock one turned into an S. I don't run a wing though, just the little wheels. I run this wheelie bar from t-bone:
https://tboneracing.net/products/10061-tbr-rear-bumper-with-wheelie-arrma-outcast