Markswebpages Axial Yeti

[Markswebpages]

So I couldn't decided between an Axial Yeti and a crawler. I had been looking on here but the right one had never popped up, then this one appeared on eBay.

 

It's the kit version with a 5.5t Tekin motor, Castle Creations 10amp uBEC, Savox 1268SG servo, Quickrun 1/8 150a ESC, Spektrum DX4 tx and SR300 rx.

 

Allegedly built six weeks ago buy a buggy racer and only used once it all seemed right so after an exchange of messages a deal was done.

 

It arrived on Tuesday but I was away so I had to wait until yesterday to actually open it.

So my first impressions are it's very interesting machine, I've never had a buggy with a solid rear axel and the setup is very impressive, some of it does feel very fragile though.

 

It has some issues one of which I know was the previous owner, the other I'm curious to hear if is just a Yeti trait.

 

The plastic nuts at the ends of the bottom front wishbone bolts where missing resulting in the bolts moving forward and two bent bolts. The seller was very good about this once I'd sent him pictures he refund me more that the cost of the parts for my trouble.

 

The shocks also look like they're leaking from the top, not 100% sure about this, they just kind of look wet if you know what I mean.

 

The other slightly disappointing thing is unless you're very lucky everything has to be ordered from the states. The only bolts I could find in the UK where on amazon and

Edited January 12, 2017 by Markswebpages

[shaunm]

Right the plastic nuts you refer to need to be replaced with 3m nylocks the plastics will just strip thread! Shocks do tend to be leaky zombi covered this extensively in his thread and I also had issues. Ive now got new shocks on there way from asiatees and yes the pins are bent in mine to awaiting parts from the states! Apart from that read zombis thread he covers pretty much everything I unashamedly usued most of his ideas because they just work! I didn't however go to the same expense Ive mostly used asiatees for parts and covered most of my mods in the yeti thread. Hope that helps any thaughts or questions fire away.

Edited July 2, 2015 by shaunm

[Markswebpages]

Right the plastic nuts you refer to need to be replaced with 3m nylocks the plastics will just strip thread! Shocks do tend to be leaky zombi covered this extensively in his thread and I also had issues. Ive now got new shocks on there way from asiatees and yes the pins are bent in mine to awaiting parts from the states! Apart from that read zombis thread he covers pretty much everything I unashamedly usued most of his ideas because they just work! I didn't however go to the same expense Ive mostly used asiatees for parts and covered most of my mods in the yeti thread. Hope that helps any thaughts or questions fire away.

Cool thanks, I'm away right now but when I have time I'll look for ideas on some of the other treads.

It will be interesting to use it for the first time.

It doesn't seem as well made as some of the other stuff I've had (Traxxas, Hpi and Losi). However I've seen plenty of videos of people giving them a good bashing.

I can't believe the prices that some places seem to charge for parts.

Have you any experience of the two speed box?

[mond]

Asiatees stock Yeti part and they ship pretty quickly. 

[Theodore Bagwell]

Very nice,enjoy.

[shaunm]

Cool thanks, I'm away right now but when I have time I'll look for ideas on some of the other treads.

It will be interesting to use it for the first time.

It doesn't seem as well made as some of the other stuff I've had (Traxxas, Hpi and Losi). However I've seen plenty of videos of people giving them a good bashing.

I can't believe the prices that some places seem to charge for parts.

Have you any experience of the two speed box?

As far as I know the two speed box isn't yet available and to be honest it wouldnt interest me I went to the yeti after having tried rick crawling and found it a little slow for my taste lol.

As others have said asiatees is the place for reasonably priced parts.

[Zombi]

Once you iron out the common issues you'll love it.

 

2-speed is out, SSD had made one. The Axial offering supposedly comes out this month, but I wouldn't hold your breath.

 

In truth, I think a 2-speed is absolutely pointless in this thing, especially if you have good electronics that can handle the low-end crawling and also provide top-end punch.  But as Shaun said, not everyone can shell out for that sort of gear, hwoever if you're going to pay for the 2-speed gear you may as well get top line elecs instead.

[Markswebpages]

Once you iron out the common issues you'll love it.

2-speed is out, SSD had made one. The Axial offering supposedly comes out this month, but I wouldn't hold your breath.

In truth, I think a 2-speed is absolutely pointless in this thing, especially if you have good electronics that can handle the low-end crawling and also provide top-end punch. But as Shaun said, not everyone can shell out for that sort of gear, hwoever if you're going to pay for the 2-speed gear you may as well get top line elecs instead.

Thanks for the information.

It's all new to me, I need to have a read through some of the other treads see what's what. I'm hoping this will be another keeper so I can try and work my way through it as I go. One of the reasons I got it is I love the range and diversity of parts, just a shame most are in the states.

Only been out once so early days and only on grass which is completely the wrong environment for this. But very pleased so far.

Sent from my LG-D855 using Tapatalk

[Zombi]

Very good. Well take a look through my build thread and by all means ask any questions there.

[Markswebpages]

Not much of an update, I'm afraid as funds are zero at least until payday.

However I didn't like the fact that when read the instructions I discovered that for some reason the person who built this had decided to put the receiver in the fuel cell. That meant all the wiring went across the top of the battery tray.

So I set about trying to do it by the book and putting the receiver in the chassis. It went reasonably well, the BEC ended up on the side of the ESC which I'm still not 100% happy with but can't find a better solution as it's just too big to fit underneath the ESC. The switch has also ended up on the side of the chassis as I couldn't fit it in the stock location. But I think it looks loads better and the tank will be useful when I get round to trying to sort out some lights.

Also removed the spektrum stickers and added a couple of hobbywing ones just to break it up, I will be looking for something different at some point but I've rather spend money on upgrades that a new shell.

Slightly miffed at a couple of things I've noticed, one is I'm completely missing the grill and the inserts behind the lights. Also seem to be missing the spare wheel carrier from the back. The little rubber seals for the side of the receiver box are also missing. Can't understand why you wouldn't have used any of this stuff.

So until I get some funds I doubt I'll have much more to add.

My only other thought is that I might swap the ESC from my Losi as it's a censored esc and I noticed the Tekin motor I have is censored. So thinking this may improve the smoothness from a slow crawl. But then again not sure if u can be bothered.

So maybe next weekend I can at least get out and enjoy it!

[Zombi]

About the BEC - you're right it won't fit under the secondary ESC mounting plate that you get with the Yeti in the parts bag, the one you're using. When using the stock ESC mount I was able to put it under there though.

 

Alternatively, speak to Banners on this forum and have him make you one of these. This is my ESC mounting plate made from 3mm ally, you'd be able to fit your BEC under it no problem.

 

 

 

Lastly, it will fit into the RX compartment with a bit of creative spacial awareness, as that's where I have mine along with my RX.  Without the rubber seals for the RX compartment though, be very wary of running it in water - you'll fry your elecs if they're not waterproofed as it'll leak easily.

[Markswebpages]

About the BEC - you're right it won't fit under the secondary ESC mounting plate that you get with the Yeti in the parts bag, the one you're using. When using the stock ESC mount I was able to put it under there though.

Alternatively, speak to Banners on this forum and have him make you one of these. This is my ESC mounting plate made from 3mm ally, you'd be able to fit your BEC under it no problem.

Lastly, it will fit into the RX compartment with a bit of creative spacial awareness, as that's where I have mine along with my RX. Without the rubber seals for the RX compartment though, be very wary of running it in water - you'll fry your elecs if they're not waterproofed as it'll leak easily.

Cool thanks again for the advice.

I might treat myself to one of those. It looks really neat.

Yeah I'm going to have another go at it soon as the glaringly obvious option of soldering it to the ESC end passed me by until someone pointed out on my other thread.

I'm using Spektrum receiver so should be OK, however I'm not a big fan of soaking stuff since ruining a complete set of bearings in both my Summit and Slash by giving them a bath in some puddles LOL.

I'm not convinced about the motor choice either. I have a motor kicking around from the Slayer I broke I think it's a HPI Tork but I don't know it is a 2200kv or 2650kv either way I'm not sure it will fit because it has those cooling fins on the actual casing of the motor.

Scratch that, I am going to have to find a better place for the uBEC as it wouldn't stick to anything [emoji35]

Screws arrived today and it's my say off, win win all round for a change [emoji2]

Can't remember the name of the US shop but I'll be using them again.

Edited July 10, 2015 by Markswebpages

[Markswebpages]

Took it out of a shakedown of sorts, they've built a big dirt bank along my local playing field which I thought would be a perfect test bed.

Sorry it's a Chinese GoPro copy and I'm not very imaginative at filming videos LOL

https://youtu.be/kSzp3RdKuKY

17370002: https://youtu.be/GP4gdXIYYOM

17420004: https://youtu.be/ty2gWqmyjAY

17460005: https://youtu.be/8WJN-GuQg7g

Edited July 18, 2015 by Markswebpages

[Markswebpages]

So a few things to sort out, need to move my esc power switch as it get knock off occasnaly and I need to see if I can change the LiPo cutoff on the ESC.

Otherwise I'm happy.

I think I'll upgrade as I break things because I have a budget of nothing to play with. However I would like to get some lights on it as my mate wants to take some dusk video of it from his hex.

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[Markswebpages]

Right again not very performance orientated, but got two LED's kits from RCbutcher today.

So hopefully I can get these installed for use at dusk today.

Never put LED's on a buggy before. Not overly fond of the shell it came with from the seller so don't mind if I don't get it quite right first time. But I'll try my best.

Sent from my LG-D855 using Tapatalk

Edited August 7, 2015 by Markswebpages

[Markswebpages]

Reasonably happy, some of the installation could be better but that's just shoddy workmanship on my part.

Thanks to RCbutcher for speedy delivery and great value products

Sent from my LG-D855 using Tapatalk

[Markswebpages]

Finally got down and dirty with the Yeti

If I'm honest when I first got it I wasn't 100% sure I'd done the right thing chopping in in half my fleet to pay for it. However out In the woods wandering around some byways this suddenly became one of my most favourite buggies, it just loves going over rough terrain at high speed, it can be used like a crawler when you want and it loves a bit of jumping and bashing around if you can find the right places on your travels.

Very happy!

So what next? Well my best mate is off to the States on business in September, so I shall be drafting up a list of parts for him to bring back.

What would everyone recommend, I have a limited budget so let's call it

Edited August 11, 2015 by Markswebpages

[Markswebpages]

Well unfortunately financial constraints mean that upgrades are slow for my RC collection. But with Christmas comes gifts of cash

So a few minutes on AsiaTees resulted in this arriving today.

So first up was some cheap aluminium bead locks.

Compared to the real deal I'm sure they're not great, but as long as they're true and hold the tyre better than the stock ones I'll be happy.

I'll get the other bits and pieces on tomorrow.

Edited January 5, 2016 by Markswebpages

[Markswebpages]

OK who really waits until tomorrow to finish stuff like this off, not me lol

So that's it for a while, just want to go out and get it dirty again. But it's a bit too wet at the moment, but maybe on Sunday

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[shaunm]

12 hours ago, Markswebpages said:

Well unfortunately financial constraints mean that upgrades are slow for my RC collection. But with Christmas comes gifts of cash

So a few minutes on AsiaTees resulted in this arriving today.

So first up was some cheap aluminium bead locks.

Compared to the real deal I'm sure they're not great, but as long as they're true and hold the tyre better than the stock ones I'll be happy.

I'll get the other bits and pieces on tomorrow.

I'm running those wheels all good, however I would recomend taking out all those perimeter screws and locktighting them in I lost several on the first outing!

[Markswebpages]

Well unfortunately financial constraints mean that upgrades are slow for my RC collection. But with Christmas comes gifts of cash [emoji4]

So a few minutes on AsiaTees resulted in this arriving today.

So first up was some cheap aluminium bead locks.

Compared to the real deal I'm sure they're not great, but as long as they're true and hold the tyre better than the stock ones I'll be happy.

I'll get the other bits and pieces on tomorrow.

I'm running those wheels all good, however I would recomend taking out all those perimeter screws and locktighting them in I lost several on the first outing!

OK will do (great more screws).

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[Markswebpages]

Small update in never got round to fitting this.

 

 

I know I'm probably not supposed to have trimmed it down, but other that hacking the ESC mount around I couldn't see how it could have fitted. 

 

Either way a small improvement. 

 

I need to find some stronger springs for the rear as with my 3s pack in its basically sat on its stops. Any suggestions? 

 

[shaunm]

If I recall it's the green dot spring, they are still painted grey with a green spot of paint at one end. I ended up changing out all the shocks and springs for the gpm units from Asia tees they work realy well with 3s set up.

Edited June 5, 2016 by shaunm

[Markswebpages]

10 hours ago, shaunm said:

If I recall it's the green dot spring, they are still painted grey with a green spot of paint at one end. I ended up changing out all the shocks and springs for the gpm units from Asia tees they work realy well with 3s set up.

Now that's a good looking rear end lol

 

I'll have a look into the springs, for the time being I've used a spare set I had kicking around. It's good enough for now so maybe I'll look at getting better dampers complete like you have. 

[Markswebpages]

I'm not really sure what's going on with my Yeti but something doesn't seem right with the rear end setup. to the point where lm losing interest as it seems like I can't see a way of making it right. Oh How Original sold me a Losi crawler and we got around to the subject Ian pm  and he suggested that the shocks might have been built wrong, I didn't built the kit but purchased the built so I have no idea.

 

Anway here is a short clip.

 

 

There is nothing unusual really just a 52000mha 2s hardcase LiPo, brushless motor and ESC.  The adjustment is wound completely own yeti it's sat almost on the bottom of the shock travel and unless I'm missing something it can't ride like that as stock surely? If I set the adjustment to stock there's hardly any travel.

 

All completely stock  (kit) apart from  a few small ally upgrades.

 

When it's running it seems okay because the suspension is quite sloppy so if you run it the go press it down its often sat a bit higher up.

 

So any ideas? or is this just how they are and I'm worrying about nothing.

Edited November 6, 2016 by Markswebpages
Couldn't get YouTube link to work