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FTX Outback Ranger


t2boats

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Hi John, welcome to the forum! And Outback ownership!

 

Glad you enjoyed the vid, there's another one on YouTube of it along with a few other RC's I made in a local quarry.

They're an impressive crawler, I'm chuffed to bits with it. Definitely convert the battery to Lipo, much longer run times than the stock nimh battery. In fact I didn't even use the stock battery.. More oopmh too! 

Can't say I noticed any grease inside the axles, didn't take the bearings out if I'm honest, but I know where you're coming from with the shaft sealing! I did the same on my rc boats. Only fitted the wider stub axles which were an easy fit. Some of the lads here have moved the battery to the front and the electronics to the rear, seems a worthy mod keeping the weight forwards. I'm happy with mine where it is, it looks good enough for me and performs above my expectations. The little motor is surprisingly good too, though perhaps I'll fit a 540 in future if I'm bored and have the time. All the mods I've done so far have been effective, probably the one I like best is the clipping of the shock shaft tubing. I took 2mm off each piece of shaft tube, helped travel no end especially with wider axles, raising the shell to allow the wheels to disappear into the arches. 

I love the fact that they're waterproof too, certainly opens up the scope where these things can be used and abused!

 

Have a read of the other Outback and ECX Barrage threads, the lads have gone into great detail about them :good:

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Hi t2boats,

Many thanks for your quick reply.

I have started to do some of the suggested mods and so far Raised the body swapped the battery to the front removed some decals and painted the wheel arches matt black !!!

I intend to get a Lipo but not sure where from or what make as I'm not sure what will fit the battery holder ? so any help would be gratefully received.

I like the idea of widening the track and changing the wheel for ones like you have fitted, but again not sure where to look so any info would be great.

Did you have to remove and dismantle the shock's to cut down the tubing or did you carefully cut them down with a Scalpel ?

Now off to find your other video.

Many thanks Again.

John

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26 minutes ago, spiderman said:

Hi t2boats,

Many thanks for your quick reply.

I have started to do some of the suggested mods and so far Raised the body swapped the battery to the front removed some decals and painted the wheel arches matt black !!!

I intend to get a Lipo but not sure where from or what make as I'm not sure what will fit the battery holder ? so any help would be gratefully received.

I like the idea of widening the track and changing the wheel for ones like you have fitted, but again not sure where to look so any info would be great.

Did you have to remove and dismantle the shock's to cut down the tubing or did you carefully cut them down with a Scalpel ?

Now off to find your other video.

Many thanks Again.

John

 

I just bought the Lipo's off eBay. Originally I had a 2S 4000mah in there, but it was sat on a slight angle between the shock towers - which was ok as it didn't interfere with the shock movement. But it's a fairly weighty battery, so I picked up a pair of smaller 2S 2200mah lipo's, they are a perfect fit between the shocks under the tray keeping the CofG as low as poss in that set up. Run times are still decent too!

Just choose your battery connection to suit the esc, I chopped the small tamiya style connector off and replaced it with deans (which I use on everything else).

 

I removed the shocks and inscrewed the cap at the bottom of the shaft, slid off the tubing and cut them all equally. Easy peasy!

 

eBay for the alloy wheels, they arrived so quick I couldn't believe it. Only around £15 too. They're nicely finished, neat, and I think they finish the purposeful look off.

 

keep us all posted on what you get up to with it!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Been fiddling around sorting out a box of old wheels/tyres and come across an old set of Tam' MB tyres, so put them to a set of 12mm hex rims and they were soon sat on the Ranger! Lift the bodyshell another notch or two and they'll travel no problems :D

 

 

 

K, I've been trying to upload 3 pictures and it keeps coming up with this message:

 

There was a problem processing the uploaded file. -200

 

anyone else have this problem? Whenever I try upload pictures it's a 50/50 chance whether they upload or not... :unsure:

 

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Had the Ranger out today, give it a good test run up the quarry again. Originally I was going to make a few videos of various other rc's but they had other ideas.. the large scale petrol suddenly developed a faulty on/off switch the moment I lifted it out the car and placed it on the ground, and the Outlaw ran amazingly well for approx 2mins - it went through a tiny puddle, the esc got went that was it :ack:  though I can say it was mental and pleasing seeing it finally run. There'll be a video up shortly of the Outback in the videos section.

I'm still amazed how good these are for the money, a real competent crawler.

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No heat from the Outback either as yet, motor can be touched without losing finger prints and the combi esc/rx isn't warm at all.. the can is just warm really, not as hot as other motors I've ran over the year. 

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I've always had the throttle duel rate very low, so it gives a nice crawl speed and then there's still some throttle in reserve if it needs it to climb. When I first bought it I was trying different settings and even with the duel rate set to half way the poke it has it's nuts, and on max the thing does wheelies :huh:  impressed though how it doesn't get hot. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi All, 

 

After modifying just about every part of my SCX10 over the last few years I fancied a new project, and something to keep it company - so yesterday I took delivery of a nice shiny Outback ranger.

 

Having read up on it, I already have the replacement ESC and a 13t pinion is on it's way, 

 

I decided to have a play with it just as stock.   There is something wrong with a crawler that can pull wheelies!  but didn't stop me from spending 20 minutes with it spending most of it's time on 2 wheels.  ;)

 

One thing I am unhappy with is the steering, the servo seems very week - and everything is very sloppy.  Going in reverse is a bit of a gamble as the wheels turn either way on their own accord and refuse to allow it to back in a straight line,  I bought the universal drive shafts with the car and hope these will help.  WIll know more when I strip it down.

 

The Steering bar also seems very soft and bendy, has anyone found a suitable replacement yet?

 

Now don't start me on the wheels, nice tyres, but the wheel......

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Yes the stock servo is pants and not fit for purpose. Turnigy 1501MG is a lot better. ;)

 

Not had any problems with the stock steering arm so I haven't bothered doing anything about it. Mine backs up stright but of course has the upgraded servo. Fortunately the wheels are the standard 1.9" so plenty of choice for something nicer. The tyres are surprisingly good though. 

 

             John

 

 

Edited by johninderby
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Turnigy 1591MG servo ordered!

 

I have read that the tyres are good.  Will get some new wheels, and may look at putting some weights in the front ones now I have a Servo that can turn them!

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I'm yet to encounter any steering problems (going forwards or reverse), still using the stock servo and it's performing just as well as it did when new. Got a 9kg waterproof metal geared servo waiting in the wings to go in if and when the stock servo dies. 

I quite liked the stock Ranger wheels, still have them to one side which I'll probably fit to my sons Outback Tundra. I picked up a set of alloys which are on the Ranger now using a set of stock tyres. Though two sets of alloy & steel wheels arrived this morning in the post which I'll try on the Outback too.

Edited by t2boats
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  • 2 weeks later...

Hello, thinkingof getting an Outback, even more after following your posts, just 1 vital question - what is the run time on Nihms, and how hard would it be to convert to lipos, asyou have, I need to have a long a run time as possible, 

 

Thanks

 

:wheelchair:

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