1/10 Budget Crawler

[Richard77]

Hi All,

 

I’m still very new to rock crawling, but I’m looking to move on from my little 1/18 FTX Fury, to a 1/10. Apologies in advance for the length of the post, but I wanted to include a bit of detail.

 

I’ve set a budget of £210 (excluding charger) and the following are on my radar for different reasons:

- FTX Ravine - under £100. 4 wheel steering and I can tinker with it entirely without fear that I might mess up something expensive. I know the Ravine doesn’t much love, but I’m yet to see another 1/10 crawler anywhere near this price range, with these steering functions.

 

- FTX Mauler - again, I’ve seen that FTX as an entire brand doesn’t get much love, but for £150/£160, this seems decent.

 

- RGT 18100 (Trample) - £210, huge looking 1/10 crawler, with what seems a nice chassis. Parts availability in the U.K. might be an issue though.

- Carisma Coyote 2.1 (SCA-1E) - £210, seems to come highly rated and I anticipate this will be the pick of the bunch.

 

- Temper Gen 2 - £160. This is marketed as 1/18, but with those massive wheels, it looks a lot more like a 1/10, with a small cab. Looks like a fairly capable caged crawler.

 

I’m really after maximum crawling capability, not scale details etc, so I fully expect to be tinkering with home brew modifications that can be made without too much investment in aftermarket electrics/drivetrain etc.

 

Lastly, if anyone knows of a “budget” crawler with dig function, or any other capable crawler at £210 budget that I might have overlooked, I’m all ears.

 

Any advice would be most welcome 👍

 

Thanks,

 

Richard

 

Edited March 1, 2022 by Richard77

[stretch]

Are you after a dedicated crawler or a trail/scale rig that can can do some crawling?  For dedicated I had a maverick scout and with some cheap/free mods it did performed very well I have a coyote (see owners thread on here) and it's great for taking out on family walks etc.

[wombat]

Hi Richard, as you say a lot of people seem to look down on FTX but i would not hesitate to suggest the ftx mauler . I bought a modified one second hand but a standard one is very capeable out of the box ( check youtube) The only weak points are the diffs which can be easily and cheaply replaced with metal units, a better steering link and servo are good ideas for more lock

Hpoe this helps, Ian

[Shergar]

An FTX Mauler or a Maverick Scout are both surprisingly tough, I’ve enjoyed mine.  

How about an FTX Outback 3?

[Lone-wolf]

Mauler can be tough but needs some upgrades, comes with combined esc/rx get it wet and it will stop working, needs metal diff lockers but not bad for money, it same chassis as trample

[stretch]

my old scout thread 

 

[Richard77]

14 hours ago, stretch said:

Are you after a dedicated crawler or a trail/scale rig that can can do some crawling?  For dedicated I had a maverick scout and with some cheap/free mods it did performed very well I have a coyote (see owners thread on here) and it's great for taking out on family walks etc.

I’m after more of a dedicated crawler really, although I appreciate that some that I’ve been considering are probably more like trail bashers.

 

it seemed to me that apart from a few exceptions, dedicated crawlers fall into the higher price bracket, so as a result, I was also looking at trucks that were also “capable” crawlers.

 

Thanks for the recommendation. The scout is also on my short (long) list.

 

 

[Richard77]

11 hours ago, wombat said:

Hi Richard, as you say a lot of people seem to look down on FTX but i would not hesitate to suggest the ftx mauler . I bought a modified one second hand but a standard one is very capeable out of the box ( check youtube) The only weak points are the diffs which can be easily and cheaply replaced with metal units, a better steering link and servo are good ideas for more lock

Hpoe this helps, Ian

Hi Ian,

 

My actual shortlist is littered with FTX models (not all that surprising, as entry level seems to be their target market) and the Mauler being about bang in the middle of the price range looked one of the most appealing.

 

The only thing that put me off a little, was the poor turning circle (which you’ve mentioned can be addressed with some upgrades/mods).

 

if I had a little more money, I really like the Texan, but at £275, it’s verging on straying into bigger brand territory.

 

Thanks for the recommendation.

 

Richard

[Richard77]

6 hours ago, Shergar said:

An FTX Mauler or a Maverick Scout are both surprisingly tough, I’ve enjoyed mine.  

How about an FTX Outback 3?

All of these are on my shortlist.

 

The Outback 3 seems very capable for the price, but I must admit, I much prefer the lightweight Defender styled body of the v2, rather than the Jimny with all the plastic guff and blinking lights of the v3. I wonder if I could just throw a v2 body on the v3, with some more aggressive tyres and get the best of both worlds?

 

Also I saw a pretty favourable review for the RGT EX86010 and I’m just wondering if you know what the FTX equivalent of this is? (Maybe the outback 2 or 3?)

[Richard77]

3 hours ago, Jack Reacher said:

Mauler can be tough but needs some upgrades, comes with combined esc/rx get it wet and it will stop working, needs metal diff lockers but not bad for money, it same chassis as trample

Ahh, I didn’t know that is the same chassis as the Trample. I knew that the Mauler is a rebranded RGT Rock Hammer.

 

Thanks.

[Richard77]

3 hours ago, stretch said:

my old scout thread 

 

That looks like fun. Not sure I have anywhere to take my crawler swimming 😂

 

I like the scout, I just can’t quite get over how tall it looks (I’m sure most of that is just shell though, so not high COG).

[stretch]

2 minutes ago, Richard77 said:

That looks like fun. Not sure I have anywhere to take my crawler swimming 😂

 

I like the scout, I just can’t quite get over how tall it looks (I’m sure most of that is just shell though, so not high COG).

 

You can lower the body by making holes above the existing ones.

[Shergar]

1 hour ago, Richard77 said:

That looks like fun. Not sure I have anywhere to take my crawler swimming 😂

 

I like the scout, I just can’t quite get over how tall it looks (I’m sure most of that is just shell though, so not high COG).

Why not its practically amphibous 🤣

 

 

[Richard77]

30 minutes ago, Shergar said:

Why not its practically amphibous 🤣

 

 

Wow, did it make it out under it’s own steam?

[Richard77]

1 hour ago, stretch said:

 

You can lower the body by making holes above the existing ones.

I would have to lower it, but I suppose one benefit of it being that raised, is that it probably hardly ever snags on anything.

[stretch]

6 hours ago, Richard77 said:

I would have to lower it, but I suppose one benefit of it being that raised, is that it probably hardly ever snags on anything.

 

I lowered mine a bit with no I'll effects.

[voorsk]

11 hours ago, Richard77 said:

Ahh, I didn’t know that is the same chassis as the Trample. I knew that the Mauler is a rebranded RGT Rock Hammer.

 

Thanks.

It's not the same chassis.  Maybe they're the same overall shape, but the Mauler/Rock Hammer appears to have a drilled chassis which looks like it could be adjusted in many ways, whereas the Trample is way more basic, with the stupid (almost) Autobot logo on it..

 

Mauler:

Trample:

They do look similar overall, but the Trample has more shock mount positions, and might be a little bit sturdier?  I might also be a bit biased, coz I've ordered a Trample from AliExpress, and it's slowly making it's way to an airport at the moment.  🙄

Edited March 2, 2022 by voorsk

[Trunkle]

I 2nd a Mauler, i got one a couple of months ago and its been great. Like others say they do need some mods but i think the biggest is to replace the ESC with something that doesn't slam the brakes on as soon as you lift off putting a lot of stress on the plastic diff gears. The FTX rx unit that lets you keep the same controller is also starting to come back in stock in places. All parts are cheap too

[Trunkle]

Here is the owners thread  

 

[voorsk]

I'd also recommend a Mauler, unless you feel brave enough to run the gauntlet of HM Customs.  I have a feeling I'm going to regret that choice.  😬