HPI Trophy Truggy / Buggy Flux bible.

[PH001]

So the other HPI Trophy Truggy / Buggy owners thread seems particular to the nitro cars and is also 500+ pages long!! Thought a thread dedicated to the electric models with as much as possible condensed together was well overdue.

 

Link to .pdf user manual... https://www.hpiracing.com/assets/documents/instruction_manuals/101874_trophy_truggy_flux_glb_m_v1.pdf

 

Link to exploded parts view... https://www.hpiracing.com/assets/documents/exploded_views/101874-trophy_truggy_flux-glb-e-v1.pdf

 

The HPI Trophy range is basically a rebranded Hot Bodies Lightning Stadium Pro and as such it's actually quite an old design. HPI did improve and upgrade several parts as time went on (and downgraded others!)but it still remains that much of the hop-ups from the HB LSP will fit the HPI Trophy cars... http://www.beatyourtruck.com/forum/showthread.php?20449-lightning-stadium-hop-up-list

 

Got my Truggy Flux in Jun 2018 and it has proved pretty tough with some serious jumps and bashing. I will update this thread with others thoughts and recommendations as time goes by to save having to read hundreds of pages. This is what I have learned so far:

 

 

RECOMMENDED PREP / MODS (4S)

 

1) Go around all the screws and tighten / threadlock, paying particular attention to the grub screw on the motor shaft pinion, allen bolt on the c-cups, screw on the servo horn and make sure the wheel nuts are tight. They are not truly RTR as they arrive!

 

2) Ride height is not set at factory and comes with no shock spacers fitted. Most people don't fit enough spacers for bashing. Would suggest a minimum of 1 large on the front and 2 large on the rear.

 

3) Rear spoilers break off very easy! (and the plastic washers on the fixing screws usually go awol in the process). Use plastic hinged screw cover caps with a metal washer inside for the win.

 

ESSENTIAL MOD

4) Front, centre and rear diffs are a major weak point. They don't seem to strip teeth but the gears wear badly meaning very poor drive. Essential to fit the hardened gear set HPI part#101142.

 

5) HPI just put grease in the differentials from the factory meaning no real LSD action. This can result in pretty poor handling in terms of turn in on power and also ballooning of the front tyres under hard acceleration. The following diff oils seems to be good for all round handling and hook up (general bashing):

 

F - 7,000 wt silicone oil

C - 30,000 wt silicone oil

R - 3,000 wt silicone oil.

 

There is a great little article on diffs here... https://site.petitrc.com/Tech/XRC_1-8thDiffTuner/

 

NOTE - it is essential that the planetary gear axles are put back in the correct order!!! The slots in the differential casing are not the same for each.

 

6) The std ESC is only rated at 80A with a BEC of 6.0V 3A which can struggle when using very low resistance / high C batteries (>60C). You can get occasional over-current cutout with aggressive full power launches, esp if 'punch' level is set high. Knock the punch level down a notch if problems remain. 

 

7) The factory steering servo is not really up to the job. Savox SC-1256TG is a sound recommendation with a good mix of torque and speed. Being coreless it’s also not overly power hungry - but it still has a stall current of 5A at 6.0V which will brown out the BEC. Fit a glitch buster cap in the receiver box to help stop jitter on the servo at idle. Ideally, to take full advantage of the servo you should fit an uprated BEC such as... https://hobbyking.com/en_us/yep-20a-hv-2-12s-sbec-w-selectable-voltage-output.html. Saying that, the standard 6V 3A BEC on the factory ESC will run it quite satisfactorily.

 

8 ) The servo saver has the spring tension adjuster wound quite far out from the factory which again can result in a lot of understeer at speed as the servo torque just opens up the servo saver rather than turning the wheels. Adjust the knurled wheel close to the top of the adjustment range to preload the spring more and tighten up the mechanism. This is of course at the risk of stripping the standard servo in a crash (the Savox is pretty invincible though).

 

9) There is a fair amount of free play in the steering due to crappy plastic bushes in the servo saver and steering tower. Upgrade them to 6x10x3mm bearings very cheaply and easily as per this Youtube video... 

 

 

 

10) The 1965KV flux scream motor can get pretty hot on 4S with prolonged full speed runs and benefits greatly from a bit of heatsinking. The motor diameter is 40mm and there do not seem many heatsinks around that fit perfectly. Also note that fitting extra fans here push the marginal BEC even more. Many of the 36mm diameter heatsinks are flexible enough to spread around a 40mm motor though. UPDATE: check out my 'cool' chassis plate heatdump mod here....  

 

 

11) I noticed a distinct step up in performance by changing out the Deans T connectors to XT90. Maybe this is because the previous owner didn't do a great job on soldering them but getting 10AWG wire (don't be tempted with 12 or 14AWG) to solder well onto Deans is very difficult and the clearance between + and - is small. XT90's are a breeze by comparison and seem to give much less volt drop when pushing big current through them.

 

12) Not much is waterproof on the Truggy flux from the factory. Buy some ACF50 / CorrosionX and liberally spray the receiver, servo and  ESC (poke the straw through the rubber grommet where the servo wires come out). The servo gearbox can be waterproofed pretty effectively with a rubber o-ring + silicone grease on the spline which then gets squashed by the servo horn.  

 

13 ) The shell soon starts to crack around the front mounts after a couple of roll overs. Stick some plasterboard joint tape over the crack first and then cover with hot melt glue for a super tough and durable repair. Apply adhesive magnetic tape (A/B polarity) along the chassis edge and inside bottom edge of shell to help keep it in position and also stop water / crap getting inside as easy.  

 

14) If you find the truggy hard to turn-in, try loosening the anti-roll bars off front and rear. This is not obvious but the ARB are adjustable by setting the grub screw out at the ends of the ARB which gives a weaker effect then with them further in. I initially removed the ARB's completely which made the car turn much better but also made it susceptible to traction rolling in slower corners. Refitting the bar and adjusting it to the loosest setting was the perfect compromise.

 

15)  Steering arms HPI#101075 - the aluminium threads strip on the lower fixings at the mere mention of a jump. It is essential that the lower screws are thread-locked in which helps a little but they will still fail. The upgraded part is HPI# 101767 but it is very expensive and rather unavailable.

 

 

 

***Check out BSR Beserker 1/8 parts over on Hobbyking.com. Lots of stuff like shocks, springs, body shells, rear wings are pretty much compatible with the Truggy flux with minor mods***

 

 

 

Other people have reported:

 

> Driveshaft failures 

 

> Buggy Flux rear shock shafts bend very easily. They can be switched out with thicker Hotbodies Lightning Pro shafts, you just need to swap the plastic bushes over to fit the thicker shafts (included in the kit).

 

> Rear hub carriers HPI#101015 (aluminum upgrades HPI#66797)

 

> Shock caps & shafts,  HPI#101752 & HPI#101093 respectively. Unfortunately the alu shock cap part HB24501 seems pretty unavailable now. Recommended shock upgrade is the Vorza Flux big bore shocks, part no. 101115 (front), 101116 (rear). Update... the Trackstar shocks from Hobbyking do fit with some very minor mods... https://hobbyking.com/en_us/1-8-alu-shock-absorber-set-126mm-2.html?___store=en_us

 

> Plastic hinge pin holder at the bottom back of front diff HPI# (aluminium upgrade Vorza#67384 or HPI #101768)

 

> Servo horns (aluminium upgrade #HB-67169)

 

> Centre diff casing overheats HPI#101026 (aluminium upgrade HPI#86827). 

 

> Hinge pins - people hate the e-clips on the std pins but there are threaded ones available. Inner, Front+Rear #109848 (75mm), Outer, Rear#68184 (48mm), Outer, Front #66795 (38mm).

 

>Want to convert to 17mm hubs? You'll need these HPI parts:

101785
101061
101067
101082

.and 4X 5x4 grub screws

 

 

...and of course, everybody should have a spare screw set HPI#101096.

 

...but I've had no issues with any of these parts despite some pretty horrific crashes! I think on balance it is a pretty tough truggy all things considered, very fast and lots of fun. Some people recommend upping the motor pinion to 18T (from 15T) HPI#100917. This will result in a higher top speed but will increase motor temps so a heatsink is essential.

 

 

Edited March 18, 2021 by PH001

[PH001]

Added some part info for the hinge pins and a few other bits and bobs. Anything else that needs highlighting do you think?

 

 

[everclear1984]

Is worth mentioning that the stock Buggy Flux rear shock shafts bend very easily. They can be switched out with thicker HB D812 shafts, you just need to swap the plastic bushes over to fit the thicker shafts (included in the kit).

 

Edit: It's the Hotbodies Lightning Pro shafts that fit!

Edited October 4, 2018 by everclear1984

[PH001]

Great info - thanks, have added. My intention is to keep all this info on page one so we don't end up with everything spread over a 500+ page thread like the last one. I'm just about to try these Trackstar shocks on my Trugy flux...4mm shafts, alloy end caps, unbelievable quality and value at £6 ech, but they are a bigger bore so just not sure if the will clear the driveshafts yet. Will report back this weekend...   https://hobbyking.com/en_us/1-8-alu-shock-absorber-set-126mm-2.html

 

They should of course also fit the buggy rear (but not the front).

 

 

 

 

Edited October 4, 2018 by PH001

[everclear1984]

27 minutes ago, PH001 said:

Great info - thanks, have added. My intention is to keep all this info on page one so we don't end up with everything spread over a 500+ page thread like the last one. I'm just about to try these Trackstar shocks on my Trugy flux...4mm shafts, alloy end caps, unbelievable quality and value at £6 ech, but they are a bigger bore so just not sure if the will clear the driveshafts yet. Will report back this weekend...   https://hobbyking.com/en_us/1-8-alu-shock-absorber-set-126mm-2.html

 

They should of course also fit the buggy rear (but not the front).

 

 

 

 

 

They looks great.

You'll need to edit the shock shaft info, I just found the packaging and it's the Hotbodies Lightning Pro shafts that fit, NOT the D812 ones. My bad.

[PH001]

No worries, do you know the part number by any chance?

[PH001]

UPDATE - Added some recommendations on loosening the ARB's front and back to help turn-in but still stopping traction rolling.

[projektzwo]

@PH001, do you know if you’re using this Yep 20A SBEC is it still necessary to use power cap also? 

 

And one more question about the servos - do you think that the Savox 1256 is good enough in its price range and if the price doesn’t matter what would be considered as best servo option - Savox 2290 or Spektrum 6290

[PH001]

The standard ESC will run the Savox 1256 just fine (OK maybe not fully optimised) but good enough. You shouldn't need the powercap with the 20A SBEC. The Savox 1256 is just a great servo all round, it's super durable, fast, great torque. I've tried tons of others in the Truggy flux and none give anywhere like as good performance (even though they state they have identical or better specs). It's all the servo you will ever need.

Edited June 19, 2019 by PH001

[PH001]

Added tip regarding BSR Berserker 1/8 parts over on Hobbyking.com

[Relativenewbyseb]

hi guys not used my buggy in a while due to stripping the centre diff last time I used it, went online to look for spares and couldnt really find much, and it also reminded me why i didnt get hold of any last time. I have two spare diffs in my parts bin but from what i could see at the time the internal gears are a different size to those in the centre diff, hence wouldnt work in the slightly different sized diff case also... is this correct? (I mean im not sure how i couldve looked wrongly but you never know) In which case there is the part number for the hardened internals up top but is that the same for all?cheers

 

[PH001]

I’m fairly sure all the diff internals are identical so grab them while you can. In stock here.... https://sriremotetoys.co.uk/HPI-101142-Hard-Differential-Gear-Set-4339

 

***EDIT*** It appears this company has now closed down!!!!

Edited September 25, 2019 by PH001

[Relativenewbyseb]

So I went and checked and I'm now not sure whether they are actually different between front/rear and middle or I have two completely different spare diffs from another model [emoji1787]
Hopefully attached are photos of what I mean
The internal gears are different between the current centre on the left and the spare rear /front (yes two of them are swapped on the wrong side)
But yeah I'm confused

Sent from my VOG-L09 using Tapatalk

[D4v3]

28 minutes ago, Relativenewbyseb said:

So I went and checked and I'm now not sure whether they are actually different between front/rear and middle or I have two completely different spare diffs from another model
Hopefully attached are photos of what I mean
The internal gears are different between the current centre on the left and the spare rear /front (yes two of them are swapped on the wrong side)
But yeah I'm confused

Sent from my VOG-L09 using Tapatalk
 

The internal gears that you are using in your centre diff look like the correct ones for all three diffs, but the internals in the front/rear diff look to be ones from a Pulse 4.6 imo. Hope this helps.

[Relativenewbyseb]

Ah this is annoying then, looks like I've got two pointless diffs, and some shopping to do [emoji106]

Sent from my VOG-L09 using Tapatalk

[PH001]

Just a note that it would appear that SRI Remote Toys (the link for the hardened diffs above) seem to have closed down permanently 😞

 

Anybody else found a source for the 101142 hardened gears in stock?

[stevo2551]

Hey guys and gals, not been on the forum for 2 or 3 years lol I forgot all about it tbh, I was part of the origional trophy page discussion back yesteryear. I'll have a read through what you guys have been on with and a bit of a catch up. 

I took my flux up to the local quarry for a bash with friends and their cars....and I managed to do a jump and trap my battery wire with the pinion cutting into both +- wires and erm halting play....quickly pulled the body and batteries out as the were sparking and allsorts, scary moment lol. One batt is fine but the other I'll have to snip and 're solder another plug on and it'll be good to go again luckily 

[Ryan.j96]

Can anyone please help me !! I have hpi trophy flux and when i turn the controller off first with the car still on its revs full throttle. So im thinking if the car cos out of range or batterys die on my controller its goin to run off full throttle. Can anyone who has any info please get back to me thanks

[PH001]

The fail safe should apply brakes when out of range. You need to setup your esc again. Go to first post on this thread and click link on pdf user manual. Follow instructions in pg.13.

[Ryan.j96]

Thanks alot for the help

[Ryan.j96]

Iv just tried it i defo calibrated it right and i got the green led flashes an beep sounds after doing it. Still when i turn the controller off the car goes into full throttle. Please help thanks 

[Ryan.j96]

Does it have anything to do with the knobs on the radio controller ? What is st.d/r adjuster? I dont know what that is? Its like the car or controller is in reverse ? 

[Ryan.j96]

Also i have the tf 11 controller which isnt the original one 

[Jeroen]

Hello , I’m from the Netherlands so excuse mee i’ff I‘M mistake writing.

I have 2 truggy -vorza-buggy-Apache.

Now  upgraded the esc to a new hobbywing ezrun max6. And I drive on 6S. My question is witch motor would be the best combination for the truggy ? At this moment 2200kv engine is on. With spur50/pinion18. Diff silicone fr/150.000ct/center200.000/rear150.000ct.

the power is unbelievable , but I can’t keep the front on the ground!? Witch adjustment would clear this problem? 

[PH001]

Your diff oils look far too thick. I wouldn’t run the centre any more than 50,000. This will allow it to bleed more power to the front when it wheelies. You might have to take it right down to 20,000 to control it adequately.