light weight crawlers?

[Lone-wolf]

I spotted a thing on youtube, a guy had built a superlite SCX10, and it got me thinking (yes i do sometimes) Is there a good reason to have a superlite crawler, so instead of loading up the weight, actively reducing the weight...........your thoughts please

[turok007]

13 minutes ago, Jack Reacher said:

I spotted a thing on youtube, a guy had built a superlite SCX10, and it got me thinking (yes i do sometimes) Is there a good reason to have a superlite crawler, so instead of loading up the weight, actively reducing the weight...........your thoughts please

if it is light then you need less power and less grip to move it

if i wanted a super lite crawler i would try pinion to drivetrain  totally get rid of the gearbox   electrics are so good now  so it might be possible

Edited September 25, 2021 by turok007

[PraetoR]

Lighter crawlers do have several advantages: Much easier for inclines & declines. More likely to slide and hop over obstacles. Work the tyres, suspension and drivetrain less.

They do lack the ability to push through mud, overcome snagging, have less traction and are less planted, though.

 

Adding weight down low is an effective way to lower CoG, but then... so is reducing weight up high! It's the proportion of weight down low and far forward that matters, not the total weight.

However, it is much easier to add weight, in order to shift balance and bias, than it is to reduce it.

EDIT: Although adding some weighted parts to a light truck obviously make a far bigger difference than adding to a heavy one. You can make a larger proportion of the weight work for you, if that makes sense?

Edited September 26, 2021 by PraetoR

[Lone-wolf]

6 hours ago, PraetoR said:

Lighter crawlers do have several advantages: Much easier for inclines & declines. More likely to slide and hop over obstacles. Work the tyres, suspension and drivetrain less.

They do lack the ability to push through mud, overcome snagging, have less traction and are less planted, though.

 

Adding weight down low is an effective way to lower CoG, but then... so is reducing weight up high! It's the proportion of weight down low and far forward that matters, not the total weight.

However, it is much easier to add weight, in order to shift balance and bias, than it is to reduce it.

EDIT: Although adding some weighted parts to a light truck obviously make a far bigger difference than adding to a heavy one. You can make a larger proportion of the weight work for you, if that makes sense?

Nice reply, it seems how heavy you run a crawler really depends on the type of terrain most likely to run it on

[PraetoR]

That too 

[Tucker427]

I'm thinking it would be prone to tipping over unless all the weight is in the wheels

[PraetoR]

2 minutes ago, Tucker427 said:

I'm thinking it would be prone to tipping over unless all the weight is in the wheels

If you added axle/knuckle weights, or heavier wheels, then it would be less prone than a heavy rig.

[Tucker427]

6 minutes ago, PraetoR said:

If you added axle/knuckle weights, or heavier wheels, then it would be less prone than a heavy rig.

 

Yes, less prone than a top heavy rig. If you work on reducing the weight above the axles/chassis, then that's a good start. Softer tyres and softer shocks with less travel on the rear shocks, will also help reduce tipping.

[Lone-wolf]

I may put this to test at Xmas, and get a Carisma Coyote v1 kit, build it light, the coyote has always done pretty well

[Tucker427]

I've been out of the crawling scene for several years, so I don't know what new rigs are unsing worm drives. A worm drive is more suited for crawling and has several advantages over standard gearing.

[stimpy]

22 hours ago, Tucker427 said:

I've been out of the crawling scene for several years, so I don't know what new rigs are unsing worm drives. A worm drive is more suited for crawling and has several advantages over standard gearing.

Losi used worm drives in their night and comp crawler rigs to good effect. Sadly it never took off really, in part due to the motor type required to run the gearing so never fell into the populous applications. Had a few Losi's, I liked them.

 

With regards light weight rigs, that is how I try build all my trucks. Even for mud I would say it possible to tune a light rig as it would run over the top instead of digging in - In the 1:1 world I always ran Suzuki SJ/Samurais and could get to most places the landies could - and some other places due to size!. Where it would struggle would be in landie 35/37" tyre ruts! But most of the time you could straddle them... That said, I also had one Sammy on 35s - though it was a heavy bugger with them!..

 

That said, where the light weight - and focused weighting  really helps is in crawling. For me my passion is rock crawling, but even the trail crawling discipline benefits from this design philosophy!. My "Scale" crawlers built around carbon chassis weigh in at 2.2/2.4kg whereas most folk would be running 3.5 to 5kg!!! I can't remember the figures now but even my RC4WD Trail finder and Marlin on leafs weigh about 1kg less than most folks!...  Do they work? Oh yes!!

 

Light weight can definitely be harder to tune in some applications mind. For scale realism for example, sometimes more weight makes the rig react and drive in a better realistic way. I'd also say that for general trailing a lightish rig is useful but too light and it would be wasteful and just bounce around a lot...

 

At the end of the day; Horses for Courses but I shall keep building lighter rigs no doubt 👍

[BashingBrian]

I'm off to weigh my SCX10lll cause I'm sure it's really heavy 4kg+ I'm thinking..

I like the idea of a lighter rig, I've heard the Gmade trucks are quite light ??

It's shopping time 🤣

[C tay]

I’d say my element ecto is a light rig especially up to my trx4 bronco. 

 

[Fat Freddy]

1 hour ago, C tay said:

I’d say my element ecto is a light rig especially up to my trx4 bronco. 

 

That’s crazy light, the way they float up to the roof of that cave!

[Fat Freddy]

Interesting thread as it’s something I’ve been wondering about myself. Fingers crossed I’ll be planning a new build soon and can’t decide which way to jump.

 

 

 

[Lone-wolf]

I weighed my FS racing SCX10 and its 3.3kg, so its borderline light-weight, i figure i could do a carisma coyote at about 2.4kg but not much of a saving

[C tay]

1 hour ago, Fat Freddy said:

Interesting thread as it’s something I’ve been wondering about myself. Fingers crossed I’ll be planning a new build soon and can’t decide which way to jump.

 

 

 

Well I did say it was light😄 my bad, must’ve took pic with phone wrong way round👎

[Stormbringer]

11 minutes ago, C tay said:

Well I did say it was light😄 my bad, must’ve took pic with phone wrong way round👎

And here was me thinking you were Australian as well lol 

[Fat Freddy]

4 hours ago, Jack Reacher said:

I weighed my FS racing SCX10 and its 3.3kg, so its borderline light-weight, i figure i could do a carisma coyote at about 2.4kg but not much of a saving

Interesting you’d call that borderline lightweight. I just weighed my SCA-1e and it’s 3.13kg….  and that’s with steel bead locks, homemade metal bumpers and the battery in. It also has about 15 coats of paint, a driver figure, extra LEDs and the shell is lined with duct tape… all extra grams.

I thought it was heavy??? But maybe not 🤔

Can’t help wondering how light it would be with original plastic parts and a cut back shell and @turok007s idea of a worm drive?

 

[stimpy]

6 hours ago, Jack Reacher said:

I weighed my FS racing SCX10 and its 3.3kg, so its borderline light-weight, i figure i could do a carisma coyote at about 2.4kg but not much of a saving

1KG SAVING!?!?!?!?!?!? NOT MUCH?!?!?!?!?!?!

 

Thats a significant save if you think you could do it....

 

For info, my Toyzuki is weighted at 2.2kg. Just the weight is where I want it. My own frame option is slightly heavier due to the parts on it at around 2.4kg...

 

My 2.2 comp crawler ( NOT SCALE) is tubby currently.... Weighing around 1.8kg, should be nearer 1.6kg but hey ho....

 

 

[PraetoR]

On 27/09/2021 at 22:20, BashingBrian said:

I'm off to weigh my SCX10lll cause I'm sure it's really heavy 4kg+ I'm thinking..

I like the idea of a lighter rig, I've heard the Gmade trucks are quite light ??

It's shopping time 🤣

 

It seems that way. My Gmade GS02 Komodo is significantly lighter than my HPI Venture, despite having the SSD brass knuckle weights and Gmade steel front links fitted.

[Lone-wolf]

6 hours ago, stimpy said:

1KG SAVING!?!?!?!?!?!? NOT MUCH?!?!?!?!?!?!

 

Thats a significant save if you think you could do it....

 

For info, my Toyzuki is weighted at 2.2kg. Just the weight is where I want it. My own frame option is slightly heavier due to the parts on it at around 2.4kg...

 

My 2.2 comp crawler ( NOT SCALE) is tubby currently.... Weighing around 1.8kg, should be nearer 1.6kg but hey ho....

 

 

yours at 2.2kg sounds ideal, i may well do the coyote  as i could use a small lipo like an 1800mah 2s to drop high up weight, still gonna get 45-50 mins run time, another light option is the FTX outback 1/10th models but they need a lot of upgrades to make it worth while........of course i do have a light crawler in the FTX ranger XC 1/16th

[turok007]

just put my stock Gmade sawback on the scales  as it's the only one to hand  and without shell it is 1700G  It's a bit long for real crawling so could cut it down & remove a few useless parts to save even more weight.

[stimpy]

8 hours ago, turok007 said:

just put my stock Gmade sawback on the scales  as it's the only one to hand  and without shell it is 1700G  It's a bit long for real crawling so could cut it down & remove a few useless parts to save even more weight.

Wow that is light, but better with body measurement. Is that the leaf sprung one or links and coils?..

 

My listed weights are with batteries. That said, I run 850mah 3S on the LCG Scale crawlers and 450Mah 3S on the 2.2 comp crawlers....

Edited September 29, 2021 by stimpy

[stimpy]

14 hours ago, Jack Reacher said:

yours at 2.2kg sounds ideal, i may well do the coyote  as i could use a small lipo like an 1800mah 2s to drop high up weight, still gonna get 45-50 mins run time, another light option is the FTX outback 1/10th models but they need a lot of upgrades to make it worth while........of course i do have a light crawler in the FTX ranger XC 1/16th

 

Yes, significant weight saving possible with battery changes. I run 1500mah 3S units in my TF / Marlin leaf sprung crawlers C1 & C2 respectively. Those batteries still give an absolute age 👍