FREE upgrades you can do to make your stock micro t or DT better and faster.

[Alexxx]

Myself and mt2iiow got our Micro Desert Trucks last weekend, and we were disappointed with their performance out of the box. So using only parts from the box and some bits and bobs that any R/C enthusiast would have lying around, we managed to increase their performance significantly.
 

Steps:

1: Remove the gear cover and check the gear mesh. Some are badly adjusted from stock, and lots of power is lost here. Adjusting the mesh is simple, requiring the adjustment of two small screws. Try using some gear grease if you have any. Make sure to replace the gear cover as to prolong the life of the gears.

2: If you are disappointed with the top speed of your new micro, then put the largest pinion in the box on. This increases the top speed, but don't think that it will slouch in the acceleration department. It accelerates to its new top speed in about a second, and still spins the wheels upon launch.

3: If you want even more throttle response, tighten the slipper clutch using a 4.5 mm nut driver or a pair of pliers. I recommend using the driver as the pliers do damage it a bit, but the pliers do just as well.

4: The stock range on the Micro T is quite poor. So if you are into other R/C cars grab some spare aerial tube, then cut it to the length of the micro's aerial. Then remove the receiver / ESC cover and drill a hole the same size as your aerial tube on the flat part of your casing. Then you may need to drill a larger hole in the top of the body shell to avoid the tube pushing the shell.

5: You may have noticed that the shocks on the Micro T are very soft, and even if you drop it from a low level it still bottoms out. First, remove the shock and unscrew the shock cover. Then get some nitro fuel tube, cut off a small segment. The size of the segment in relation to the shock determines your new suspension's stiffness. Slide it onto the shock, then screw the top part back on. If you try a drop test now, you will notice the increased damping. 

6: This upgrade is for Micro Desert Truck owners only. Remove the battery case and take out the foam spacer. Then cut it in half with a pair of scissors. Then put one half on each side, and insert the battery length ways. This centralises the weight and can improve handling.

If anyone wants to make any additions to this they are welcome.

Edited April 16, 2013 by Alexxx

[ben_rc]

Brilliant stuff. Will try some of these Mods on mine.

I snapped my aerial yesterday, so will need to solder it again.

[boze]

Excellent! I should have my Micro T on saturday hopefully so ill try this out.

Damo

[Alexxx]

Thanks for the input guys! Another tip is to go for the micro desert truck, because they have more space. This means you have more space for the rx and esc if you want to do a brushless upgrade. Also because there is extra space in the battery case you can make much larger packs with higher voltage. You can get 400mah 7.2 volt batteries for the desert truck. Pm mt2iiow for info about that.

[mt2iiow]

After doing the fuel tube mod at the same time as alexxx, i have found that a better way is to use small cable ties instead of fuel tube, works just as well and is alot easyier to do. it make the suspension a lot stiffer

battery wise

i can get 400mah 4.8volt L shape battery packs for use if you cut out the wasted chassis space behind the esc on the DT

also i can get 7.2volt 160mah packs that are like 1 1/2 stock batterys and require no cutting of the chasssis

Another

Free is using velcro rather than body clips for the body shell

Edited February 14, 2008 by mt2iiow

[Alexxx]

After doing the fuel tube mod at the same time as alexxx, i have found that a better way is to use small cable ties instead of fuel tube, works just as well and is alot easyier to do. it make the suspension a lot stiffer

battery wise

i can get 400mah 4.8volt L shape battery packs for use if you cut out the wasted chassis space behind the esc on the DT

also i can get 7.2volt 160mah packs that are like 1 1/2 stock batterys and require no cutting of the chasssis

Another

Free is using velcro rather than body clips for the body shell

Yeah using velcro is a good idea. Those pathetic body clips are a pain in the *** to find all the time

[Furious]

Where abouts is the gear cover? Could you make a little guide on how to do it for me?

[mt2iiow]

the gear cover is just a bit of plastic that covers the spur and pinion, all you need to do is remove the 3 screws

i will get pics of all these mods asap

[Furious]

the gear cover is just a bit of plastic that covers the spur and pinion, all you need to do is remove the 3 screws

i will get pics of all these mods asap

Ok thanks mate that will be loads of help!

[Furious]

I just opened that part up and there is alot of white dusty stuff which i'm guessing is small bits of plastic because the pinion and the bit the pinion touches are both worn down, what could have caused this?

[Spoonmeister]

Dodgy/incorrect meshing of the pinion & spur gear. Or too much power (which i doubt ).

Just check the mesh when u get the new parts.

Also, if the slippers too tight & u land from a jump with the throttle on, i think it can strip the gears.

Hope this helps

Yes i do no micro's r quick & I want 1 !!!! :D

EDIT: I've got 1

Edited April 17, 2008 by Spoonmeister

[Spoonmeister]

5: You may have noticed that the shocks on the micro t are very soft, and even if you drop it from a low level it still bottoms out. Nobody sells shock spacers for the micro, you need to buy upgrade shocks. But we came up with a solution to this. First, remove the shock and unscrew the shock cover. Then get some nitro car fuel tube, cut a small segment off then slide it onto the shock. Then screw the shock back on. You will now hav e fully adjustable shock spacers which you can slide up and down to put more tension on the spring to make it stiffer. You may notice the spring bending a bit if you move it far down, but this is only cosmetic. The suspension is still made more stiff and the springs will return to their original state.

The shocks have sliding collars on them so you don't need spacers

Don't know how well they work as I've not adjusted the shock yet.

[Stock_Nitro]

The shocks have sliding collars on them so you don't need spacers

Don't know how well they work as I've not adjusted the shock yet.

I see no sliding collars on mine, which version did you buy?

I'm guessing that it is a new development....

[Mr Terminator]

I see no sliding collars on mine, which version did you buy?

I'm guessing that it is a new development....

They dont have sliding collars mate,some people just dole out poor info like its a free gift or something.At least my Micro-t doesnt and neither do any that i've seen apart from the ones with aftermarket shocks....

[Spoonmeister]

I've got the micro-dt. They look like sliding collars though

[pieman5]

anyone got any updates to this.

I reallylike peoples ideas and would love some more free upgrades to do to my micro t

[rush-evo]

anyone got any updates to this.

I reallylike peoples ideas and would love some more free upgrades to do to my micro t

Invert the wheels, this gives a wider stance so there is better handling and less grip roll

[pieman5]

i was playing around with the suspension om my micro t and wanted to make the rear springs harder because it kept bottoming out. I grabbed a couple of biro pens that i had and noticed that the springs are roughly the same size but they are a lot stiffer. I put 2 pen springs on instead and it makes it much better

Obviously it depends what pens you have to how much stiffer the suspension but almost all springs i have tried will fit.

Worth doing i'd say, and its free (minus the cost of the pens lol)

[thrilling speed1]

Hi guys

wondering what the average speed out the box stock is faster micro t or dt ?

thank you

[Hyperhumding]

Hi guys

wondering what the average speed out the box stock is faster micro t or dt ?

thank you

I just got my micro t today Wheelies out of the box (re-meshed and slipper reset of course)

The T is faster out of the box than the DT because it weighs less (DT has a longer chassis), there is also a 12 and 14 tooth pinion supplied in the box so more speed can be achieved at the exspense of wheelies

Supposidily it does 7- 10mph out of the box but can be raised to 14mph with the largest pinion (don't know if this is fact or not but I read it on the micro t forums)

[Bibby]

anoyone got any cool upgrades for the high roller? ive got on coming in the post along with a 300 mAh lipo pack

[menor95]

i was playing around with the suspension om my micro t and wanted to make the rear springs harder because it kept bottoming out. I grabbed a couple of biro pens that i had and noticed that the springs are roughly the same size but they are a lot stiffer. I put 2 pen springs on instead and it makes it much better

Obviously it depends what pens you have to how much stiffer the suspension but almost all springs i have tried will fit.

Worth doing i'd say, and its free (minus the cost of the pens lol)

or u can just go to barclays and get free pens from there lol

[skree]

while you're tuning your micro up, most of us have some tubes of grease around. Strip and relube the transmission as losi seem to be very tight with the amount of grease they put in. I find it also helps to put a little lithium grease on the back of the bearings if you've gone for ball bearings.. the sides inside the knuckles on the rear wheels.. just helps things run a bit smoother, the front bearings are smooth enough as it is. DONT put grease on the outside surfaces of the bearings, it'll just be a grit magnet.

loosen all the screws on the transmission casing including those holding it to the chassis half-to-a-full turn.. takes a lot of the binding out of the stock plastic trans, makes the diff a lot smoother. I've also done this on the shocks and suspension links.. when refitting such screws i hardly put pressure on the screwdriver and turn the screws till they nip and the screwdriver starts to slip out, then loosen them 1/4 of a turn.

Got any micro Deans unused? change the battery discharge lead, the esc power lead and the motor connections for these. You'll get a touch more runtime, a touch more power, less glitching, and they're easier to disconnect/reconnect.

CAT5 computer network cable makes a far superior antenna to the original. If you haven't got any unused, short LAN cables can be got on the internet for less than a pound. cut the cable open, select one wire, cut to length, and solder in place of the original. Cat5 is also thinner, so it fits in the tubes that come with spray cans of wd-40, IPA170, etc. This just requires the original aerial hole in the stock ESC to be drilled out slightly.. get a flexible enough tube and you'll be able to glue it in as you probably won't ever need to change it. enlarge the hole in the body slightly and hey presto. You can also use the cable from the AM radio antennas that come with stereos.. the ones that are like a plastic square with wire wrapped around it.

Has the mod where people plug a 12v wall wart mains adaptor on the stock battery charger been posted? i can post this if necessary.. most of us should have a few wall warts lying around unused.. i did.. and it means you only have to use batteries when no mains power is available.. and you get a slightly better charge into the battery than you do using cheap AAs, dunno about energizer types

[goldblades7]

ok, me and mt2iiow got our micro desert trucks last weekend, and we were dissapointed with their performance out of the box. So using only parts from the box and some bits and bobs that were lying around, we managed to make them perform much better.

ok here they are.

1: Remove the gear cover and adjust the gear mesh. Some are badly adjusted from stock, and lots of power is lost here.

2: If you are dissapointed with the top speed of your new micro then put the largest pinion in the box on. This increases the speed by a lot, but don't think that acceleration will be lost. It accelerates to its new top speed in about a second, and still spins the wheels.

3: If you want even more speed, tighten the slipper clutch using a 4.5mm nut driver or a pair of pliers. I reccommend using the driver as the pliers do damage it a bit, but the pliers do just as well.

4: The range on the micro t is not very good. So if you are into other rc cars grab some spare ariel tube, then cut it to the length of the micro's ariel. Then remove the rx/esc cover and drill a hole just next to the hole where the ariel tube comes out. Don't do it on the same level, do it on the low part. Make sure the hole you drill is just smaller than the diameter of the ariel tube or it will be floppy. Then you do need to drill a large hole in the top of the body, or otherwise the ariel tube will just push the shell and make it lobsided.

5: You may have noticed that the shocks on the micro t are very soft, and even if you drop it from a low level it still bottoms out. Nobody sells shock spacers for the micro, you need to buy upgrade shocks. But we came up with a solution to this. First, remove the shock and unscrew the shock cover. Then get some nitro car fuel tube, cut a small segment off then slide it onto the shock. Then screw the shock back on. You will now hav e fully adjustable shock spacers which you can slide up and down to put more tension on the spring to make it stiffer. You may notice the spring bending a bit if you move it far down, but this is only cosmetic. The suspension is still made more stiff and the springs will return to their original state.

6: This upgrade is for micro desert truck owners only. Remove the battery case and take out the foam spacer. Then cut it in half lengthways with a pair of scissors. Then put one half on each side, and insert the battery lengthways. This in theory gives better weight balance and therefore better handling.

If anyone wants to make any additions to this they are welcome.

great work lads very frugal. does anyone own the desert buggy does the same apply?

[seanmcgrath48]

Just got meself a micro DT..loads of fun