Mojave Learning with the Mojave EXB

[Sandracer_NL]

Without locktite my M2C hexes come off easy. Pins also, maybe you shimmed the hex too tight? If the pin needs quite some force to get in the hex it’s to tight.
Add a bit of bearing grease (about 1/3rd of the bearings) instead of oil. Oil slowly leaks away/ dries leaving your bearing without lubrication. Although without grease and a drop of oil it feels super smooth, it’s good for speedrunning (no dirt and usually very high maintenance level; oiling bearings every pack/run), for offroad conditions and less maintenance not so good IMO.

 

[KnowAir]

Update: Scorched Fenders​

My fenders finally arrived! With them in hand, I better understand their value. I also appreciate that scissors are included! I didn't own any special scissors for trimming RC shells yet.

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Trimming was easy. As suggested by others, it is better to flip them upside down and see a better trimming line. Then keep Scorched RC's video handy for reference. I had no issues at all and the results look great. I haven't taken it out for a run yet because, at the time of this post, I'm still getting some things back together after too much fun in the water. I had several seized bearings which resulted in two unhappy diffs.

Update: A lesson learned.​

This looks fun, right?

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Well, it is! (A friend owns the UDR.) But alas, it resulted in this:

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5 bearings were seized. This resulted in this...

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You can see how black the diff oil was in my rear diff, along with some of the gears missing pieces. My centre diff survived, but the oil was dark and I swapped out the oil to 50k. Curious to see how 50k will work in an LSD. The rear I left with a minimal effect setup and 10k. The front looked good and is still stock. I might go back in and change the oil anyway.

Circling back to the bearings, I bought some new replacements at my local hobby store along with bearing oil. I found two more bearings seized late last night, so I thought I'd try to fix them myself. Low and behold, I did! Getting the cover off was easy. Used Brake Cleaner. Toothbrush to get the grime out. Add bearing oil. Used plyers to gentlely break them loose. Worked better than expected and saved myself from having to get more.

Looks like y'all had some fun! Been trying to talk my brother into getting either a mojave or udr..so we'll have another matchup of rigs to race each other with.
Seems to me like it hardly matters whether the bearings are rubber sealed or shielded, water gets in regardless. I buy them in sleeves of 10 off amazon or wherever. Get the dimensions of the bearing and shop for them by size rather than Arrma or whoever's part number. Much cheaper that way I find.
Also, I run the bearing till it starts feeling crusty and then toss and replace. I know many have a routine of cleaning and oiling them, but they're cheap enough to just replace IMO.
Scorched fenders sure do look convincing.. I'm still holding out. I have my homebrewed fenders, which seem to work well enough.

 

[Knightfall]

Without locktite my M2C hexes come off easy. Pins also, maybe you shimmed the hex too tight? If the pin needs quite some force to get in the hex it’s to tight.
Add a bit of bearing grease (about 1/3rd of the bearings) instead of oil. Oil slowly leaks away/ dries leaving your bearing without lubrication. Although without grease and a drop of oil it feels super smooth, it’s good for speedrunning (no dirt and usually very high maintenance level; oiling bearings every pack/run), for offroad conditions and less maintenance not so good IMO.

I don't know what to tell you. My M2Cs went on the axles smooth as butter on all four corners. The pins did too. I assumed playing in gravel, dirt, sand and water just caused rust, buildup or other and made for a rough time getting them off.

Thank you for the FYI about bearing grease. I'll try to pick some up and add it to the two bearings I fixed myself.

 

[Knightfall]

Looks like y'all had some fun! Been trying to talk my brother into getting either a mojave or udr..so we'll have another matchup of rigs to race each other with.
Seems to me like it hardly matters whether the bearings are rubber sealed or shielded, water gets in regardless. I buy them in sleeves of 10 off amazon or wherever. Get the dimensions of the bearing and shop for them by size rather than Arrma or whoever's part number. Much cheaper that way I find.
Also, I run the bearing till it starts feeling crusty and then toss and replace. I know many have a routine of cleaning and oiling them, but they're cheap enough to just replace IMO.
Scorched fenders sure do look convincing.. I'm still holding out. I have my homebrewed fenders, which seem to work well enough.

The Traxxas UDR looks awesome. I love the scale details. It's wild to look at. But after driving his, I was happy I went with my Mojave. We zipped around a baseball diamond and he just couldn't keep up without spinning out or rolling. I apparently can drive a bit better than him with his own RC because when we traded, I quickly saw that slow and steady was the way to go. But the Mojave and the 4-wheel independent suspension just handle better overall.

One drives like a scaled-down trophy truck. One drives like an RC desert truck. Both are awesome. It's just which is better for you or your bro.

 

[KnowAir]

I don't know what to tell you. My M2Cs went on the axles smooth as butter on all four corners. The pins did too. I assumed playing in gravel, dirt, sand and water just caused rust, buildup or other and made for a rough time getting them off.

Thank you for the FYI about bearing grease. I'll try to pick some up and add it to the two bearings I fixed myself.

Most likely the dirt and rust making things difficult I'd guess. I've had to drive the pins out with a punch and hammer quite a few times myself..just the way she goes sometimes.

The Traxxas UDR looks awesome. I love the scale details. It's wild to look at. But after driving his, I was happy I went with my Mojave. We zipped around a baseball diamond and he just couldn't keep up without spinning out or rolling. I apparently can drive a bit better than him with his own RC because when we traded, I quickly saw that slow and steady was the way to go. But the Mojave and the 4-wheel independent suspension just handle better overall.

One drives like a scaled-down trophy truck. One drives like an RC desert truck. Both are awesome. It's just which is better for you or your bro.

Yup, that sounds about right from my research on the 2. A part of me wants him to buy the udr so I can beat him easily, is that wrong? I mean, he is the "older" brother by 5 years..he's put me in my place so many times growing up!?
But honestly, I would rather see him with the mojave because I know it's a better overall design, and MUCH easier to work on. Ever see what all is involved in getting to the guts of the udr? There's a whole lotta screws to get the body and cage off that thing..no thanks. Then there's the matter of price, again, no thanks!

 

[Sandracer_NL]

I don't know what to tell you. My M2Cs went on the axles smooth as butter on all four corners. The pins did too. I assumed playing in gravel, dirt, sand and water just caused rust, buildup or other and made for a rough time getting them off.

Thank you for the FYI about bearing grease. I'll try to pick some up and add it to the two bearings I fixed myself.

The rust on the axles can easily be removed with some sandpaper (grit 1000-1500). When you wrap a piece of the sandpaper around a stick (cocktail stick of tooth pick) you can grind off any rust inside the hex.
Should be smooth again afterwards.

 

[Knightfall]

Update: Lightbar, fans, and spare tire​

I bought an LED lightbar off Amazon.ca and installed it today. It was rather easy to do once I disassembled the roll cage and interior portion.

I also picked up an RC light switch, also off Amazon.ca. This lets me use my remote to turn the lightbar off and on.

As others have done, I liked the idea of making the fake fans into real ones to help cool the chassis area. So I picked up a couple 30mm Arrma fans from my LHS.

My hole saw is nearly the perfect size!

Test fitting. Looks good! But I had fans die from debris, and although I have the Scorched Fenders now, I still wanted to protect them. So using mesh from a bacon splatter shield I got from Dollarama, I cut up the squares I needed.

And since I was doing this, I felt I better do the same for my motor and ESC fans.

I know, the blue zip tie should be over, not under, but I didn't feel like it mattered.

As for the spare tire being mounted, it was as simple as drilling one hole in the body and using a nut, bolt, and washers.

 

[305HemiGuy]

Update: Lightbar, fans, and spare tire​

I bought an LED lightbar off Amazon.ca and installed it today. It was rather easy to do once I disassembled the roll cage and interior portion.

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I also picked up an RC light switch, also off Amazon.ca. This lets me use my remote to turn the lightbar off and on.

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As others have done, I liked the idea of making the fake fans into real ones to help cool the chassis area. So I picked up a couple 30mm Arrma fans from my LHS.
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My hole saw is nearly the perfect size!

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Test fitting. Looks good! But I had fans die from debris, and although I have the Scorched Fenders now, I still wanted to protect them. So using mesh from a bacon splatter shield I got from Dollarama, I cut up the squares I needed.

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And since I was doing this, I felt I better do the same for my motor and ESC fans.

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I know, the blue zip tie should be over, not under, but I didn't feel like it mattered.

As for the spare tire being mounted, it was as simple as drilling one hole in the body and using a nut, bolt, and washers.

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Nice job. I've been wanting to give my Mojo a makeover and you've definitely inspired to go ahead and do it. That LED light bar is sweeeet! Right now I have the green body/wheel combo. But I want to either go with the EXB body or the Silver flag body. I've read that tire on the back disturbs the handling, have you found that to be true?

 

[Knightfall]

Nice job. I've been wanting to give my Mojo a makeover and you've definitely inspired to go ahead and do it. That LED light bar is sweeeet! Right now I have the green body/wheel combo. But I want to either go with the EXB body or the Silver flag body. I've read that tire on the back disturbs the handling, have you found that to be true?

I'll let you know. I did all this today and then had other things to do today. Tomorrow morning (Saturday) I'm meeting up with friends for a bash, so I'll find out then just how badly (or not) the spare tire affects things.

My shocks are on 80w from stock 45w, so I hope that helps. I also adjusted the preload on the rear springs to have more tension.

 

[Knightfall]

Update: 1 AM Spare Tire Mod​

I couldn't sleep, and while looking at my phone I remembered how some others out there actually went for it and cut their Mojave shell/body to fix a spare tire. And as I saw my own effort from earlier, mine just looked like a tire popped on the body, not something actually integrated or more true to trophy trucks.

And so, with inspiration from some others, I came up with this using one zip tie and two battery straps from my Typhon Mega that's just a parts car.

This looks better than I expected! I made sure to cut inside the lines ("tubing") where the fuel cell was to maintain that curved shape surrounding the area. Then I added my Gorilla tape around the edges which I use to strengthen the body.

I'm happy the sizing of the tire worked out too so I could keep my fire extinguishers.

 

[Matt05]

Looks much better like that. Really like the fan mod as well!

 

[Knightfall]

It's been a while since I updated this thread.

Update: New transmitter/receiver​

A couple of friends have the RadioLink RC6G2 v2 and I liked the number of features one can have vs the stock RTR Spektrum I used from my Vorteks. It's effortless to use and straightforward. The receiver I bought with this package also has a gyro, which I prefer to use on my RCs.

Update: Rear Lighting​

The lightbar is working great, and as the days are getting shorter, it's come in very handy so I don't have to cut my evenings short. However, the grey/black body isn't helping me much and I sometimes lose sight of the RC a little as it drives away from me. So it was time to add some rear lights.

Yup, tiny holes and a lot of hot glue and that's enough to keep those in there. Plus the roll cage when installed presses up against those wires, and nothing has moved after quite a few runs.

Update: Centre Diff - I gave up on the LSD...​

The motor mount from StupidRC just isn't compatible with my 1250 kV motor due to the mounting holes not quite lining up. I tried to MacGyver it together, but it kept coming loose.

So I decided to give up before wasting more money elsewhere and picked an RTR center diff, which then allowed me to buy and use Arrma's 46t spur gear. If you recall from earlier in this thread, I was limited in finding a smaller spur gear because of the EXB's center LSD having holes spaced differently than the RTR's centre diff.

Now I'm running 27t/46t on 6s with my 160 ESC / 1250 kV setup and she's damn quick. I've had some fun races with friends' RCs and beat two 6s UDRs, X-Maxx on 8s, and a few others. The only ones to get me were the street RCs like a friend's 6s Typhon on hoons and loads of upgrades.

The system is running very cool, so I'm tempted to pick up a 30t pinion now that it would fit. I'm aware this would reduce runtime, but for fun, why not see?

Update: On-road tires. Not good luck with Duratrax Thrush.​

I bought Duratrax Thrush C2 tires for when I'm having fun on the street with others. On the first day, one of the tires broke loose and tore. I never left the concrete. Horizon Hobby may be good at honouring the warranty on rims with the Mojave hex issue, but they denied me on the tires. Rather disappointing considering how quickly I made the claim.

Aside from this manufacturing defect, I will stay the fitment of these rims are great. No rubbing, and no body trimming needed. Direct bolt-on. And the grip these provide are almost too good! Don't get these to try and hoon with. They bite hard into the ground and this was the first time I was seeing my Mojave wheelie!

Update: Trick or Treat​

I found a couple of skulls at my local Spirit of Halloween.

 

[SrC]

Nice build! Nice write up too. Must be an animal with that combo in it?
I run mine on a cheapo rtr 150a esc with a 10 year old tenshock 4274 (2200kv) and it's a blast for me. I've found 5s to be perfect for what I do.
Enjoy that awesome rig!!

Edit: I love it! Just to show how different we can be, here you (and many others) are enjoying the modern luxuries of telemetry and AVC.. meanwhile, the caveman that is I, am using 15 year old tech and disabling LVC so I can run 5s!!
What a great and diverse community we have here at AF!

^^^
I predicted myself that 5s is just about right. For gearing reasons also.

@Knightfall , Very nice thread here.
You bring a lot of experience and information with the Mojave no doubt. Much to learn from your build.
My Mojave is still my Fav Arrma.

 

[KnowAir]

Indeed great info! Thanks for sharing, nice rig too!
I prefer treats myself

 

[305HemiGuy]

Super bada$$ Mojave sir! Keep up the great work

 

[Knightfall]

Update: Proline Trencher LPs!​

After seeing several others get these, I decided to follow suit. These are AMAZING. Wheelies on grass and the gravel! Run time dropped a bit and the heat went up a little, but I could gear down to my 23t from my 27t if I wanted.

I did not get the 0-offset aluminum hubs. Those will cost me $70/pair, which is the same price as the wheels and tires. I'm going to see if I really need them or not with how I drive, and how my suspension has been setup. Aside from a light trim on the body (see pic above), I'm not yet certain more trimming or the offsets would be needed. Plus, I like the wider stance since it improves handling.

I went through 3 packs yesterday while testing and having fun and saw no cutting in my tires from the body or vice versa.

 

[KnowAir]

Update: Proline Trencher LPs!​

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After seeing several others get these, I decided to follow suit. These are AMAZING. Wheelies on grass and the gravel! Run time dropped a bit and the heat went up a little, but I could gear down to my 23t from my 27t if I wanted.

I did not get the 0-offset aluminum hubs. Those will cost me $70/pair, which is the same price as the wheels and tires. I'm going to see if I really need them or not with how I drive, and how my suspension has been setup. Aside from a light trim on the body (see pic above), I'm not yet certain more trimming or the offsets would be needed. Plus, I like the wider stance since it improves handling.

I went through 3 packs yesterday while testing and having fun and saw no cutting in my tires from the body or vice versa.

Dang.. it sure does look good!! I've been trying different tires on the mojave, but as most everyone knows, finding something just right is tough. I really wanted to try and keep them tucked under the body for authenticity (silly perhaps) but those Prolines do look really good hangin out!! I'm too cheap to pony up for the Prolines myself, especially since I've heard many complain of broken hub adapters.
Perhaps I'll have to throw a set of backflip LP's on..
Thanks for the inspiration!!

 

[Knightfall]

Dang.. it sure does look good!! I've been trying different tires on the mojave, but as most everyone knows, finding something just right is tough. I really wanted to try and keep them tucked under the body for authenticity (silly perhaps) but those Prolines do look really good hangin out!! I'm too cheap to pony up for the Prolines myself, especially since I've heard many complain of broken hub adapters.
Perhaps I'll have to throw a set of backflip LP's on..
Thanks for the inspiration!!

I'm only hearing about the hubs breaking now after buying them. I guess I'll just keep them as is and if/when one breaks, then I'll pick up the aluminum hubs.

Just hard to drop the full $300 on four wheels, tires, and hubs. That almost gets you a brushed Arrma here for that price. lol

 

[KnowAir]

I'm only hearing about the hubs breaking now after buying them. I guess I'll just keep them as is and if/when one breaks, then I'll pick up the aluminum hubs.

Just hard to drop the full $300 on four wheels, tires, and hubs. That almost gets you a brushed Arrma here for that price. lol

Yeah, you ain't kidding!! TBH, everyone uses their stuff differently so just cuz some are breaking the plastic hubs doesn't mean everyone will. Hopefully they hold up for you. As to the Proline tires themselves, I think they're great. Just not a fan of this modular design wheel/hub they've come up with myself.

 

[Knightfall]

Yeah, you ain't kidding!! TBH, everyone uses their stuff differently so just cuz some are breaking the plastic hubs doesn't mean everyone will. Hopefully they hold up for you. As to the Proline tires themselves, I think they're great. Just not a fan of this modular design wheel/hub they've come up with myself.

I just checked... I have 2.8 Badlands for my Vorteks with 17mm hexes. The hubs themselves are identical. So if a hub does bust, I have more. Haha

Two of the old Badlands have tears in them anyway.