My First New RC: Savage Flux

[JThiessen]

Today I came home to find this nice brown box sitting on my doorstep!
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Things I noticed as I unpacked it:
1) New RC smell stinks!!

2) Some assembly is required.

3) Their body clips are EXTREMELY hard to remove or put in. Have a pair of needle nose handy.

4) Radio is cheap. Give Traxxas the nod for a better feeling more solid transmitter.

5) HPI couldn't figure out how to mount the MMM either - see zip tie.
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6) Aftermarket or homemade battery trays will be easy to make and mount due to the 4 horizontally oriented and equally spaced mounts (notice my Revo history coming out here!)
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7) On the reciever cover there are two removable plugs that you have to put in - what are these?? Seems odd to not have them molded in.
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More to come...have to go eat...

[What's_nitro?]

Nice...

[JThiessen]

Couple comparison shots with my 3.3 Revo conversion
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hmmm - Flux is supposedly 1/8th scale, Revo 1/10th....doesnt look any different to me...who's right?

A few misc pics:
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Manual is nice - much better parts list and diagrams than I've seen from Traxxas. Down side is the multilingual crap. No offense meant to those who need it!

Good lot of some spare parts included.

Included tools are on the cheap side, and not all tools required for assembly/dissassembly are included (which I beleive Traxxas does provide).

After scrounging for some AA's that actually worked, I proceeded to try to program the ESC - didn't go nearly as smooth as my MMM. Not sure if that's due to the difference in 75Mhz vs my 2.4. Anyway, it took about 5 tries before I was happy with it.

Another note - these battery trays could really use some help. First, what's up with those rubber caps for the latch's? They dont fit under the tab very well, and come off too easy when you forget that they dont open the case.
Second, the doors dont open far enough - the latch's hit either the ESC, or the radio case, preventing them from opening far enough to easily put a battery it. Next, I was using a pair of 3S Zippy K's (4300). Very, Very, very tight fit. Even the wires going through the wire opening were tighter than I liked. Part of that is due to the nice braided wrap I have on them, but I'm also glad it was there due to the tightness.

Wheel nuts are extremely tight from the factory - I was going to swap off the rims/tires right off, but after rounding off the first nut, I decided I wanted to RUN the damn thing first!!! I'll tackle those rims next time.

[BL_RV0]

Very nice.

[JThiessen]

Now for the Run:

Very little if any glitching at low throttle - I expected some with the 75mhz.

Wheelies, wheelies, wheelies....much more than I have experienced with my Revo (MMM/1515 2.5D). Just guestimating - at about 45, give it a blip of throttle, and its on its lid...guess I should have put the included wheelie bar on, huh?!?!

I ran it for about 10-15 minutes up and down the street. Probably achieved 100 yards or more on its lid. And it now has the road rash hole to prove it.
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The slipper seemed to loosen, and it was getting dark so I pulled it into the garage, spent about 7 minutes finding my needel nose (to remove those damn clips!), and took a couple pictures, and then remembered to take temps. The motor and batteries were 70 deg F, the esc 110 deg F. Ambient temp was around 45 at the time. So I think the ESC may run a little warm with the setup I was running - but I'll have to run it a little more to really know. I did not hear the fan come on at all while running it.
BTW - thank God for Spektrum, as my antenna is already shot from skidding down the asphalt on its lid!

My opinion right now is that its a decent truck, REALLY needs more length and width. It is far too fast for its handling capabilities (on 6S). I do think this will run good on 4S, so I'm in the market for a pair.
Battery trays need some serious improvement/expansion.

Originally Posted by JThiessen

7) On the reciever cover there are two removable plugs that you have to put in - what are these?? Seems odd to not have them molded in.

The compartment is the exact same part as on the Nitro Savage. The large piece is for an optional battery gauge for the receiver battery, the other piece however I couldn't fit an option for. My guess is it's for some sort of charging port. That extra servo location was for throttle control on the Nitro Savage. I've been trying to think of clever uses for it on the Flux and the best I can think of so far is for a mechanical switch for lights or something. (And that seems needlessly complex.)

Edit: I did a little checking. It is a charge adapter port. It's stock on the Savage XL. I think I'm going to see if I can use it as a programming port for the Castle link.

[lincpimp]

Truck looks good JT. Any chanve you could snap a clear pic of the exploded diagram for the tranny. I would like to see what the internals look like, and see what part numbers they list... I have a feeling my flm chassis will get one of these trannies.

Thanks!

Nice truck! I got mine in at the store this morning! Can't wait to play with it!

[JThiessen]

Originally Posted by lincpimp

Truck looks good JT. Any chanve you could snap a clear pic of the exploded diagram for the tranny. I would like to see what the internals look like, and see what part numbers they list... I have a feeling my flm chassis will get one of these trannies.

Thanks!

Yeah, I was actuallly going to scan those for you. Should be able to get to it tonight.

[lincpimp]

Originally Posted by JThiessen

Yeah, I was actuallly going to scan those for you. Should be able to get to it tonight.

Sweet, many thanks!

[Arct1k]

http://www.hpiracing.com/products/en/102246/

MACHINED SUPER HEAVY DUTY BEVEL GEAR 43T/13T SET
Use your arrow keys to move through the images. This Machined Super Heavy Duty Bevel Gear Set is an official HPI replacement part for the diffs on the Savage Flux HP. It's designed to handle the extreme torque and horsepower of the Flux brushless system. This set is also a popular upgrade for Savage X trucks using high horsepower engines. Includes a machined hardened steel 43T and 13T gear, washers, grease, thread lock, gasket and screws.

[Arct1k]

http://www.hpiracing.com/products/en/102272/

COMPOSITE GEAR BOX/BULKHEAD SET
Use your arrow keys to move through the images. This Composite Gear Box/Bulkhead Set is an official HPI replacement part for the Savage Flux HP truck. It's molded from stiff composite material for extra strength that helps hold the differential firmly in place, perfect for high horsepower applications. This set is also a popular high performance upgrade for Savage X trucks. Includes the molded gear box/bulkhead parts tree and mounting screws.

[lincpimp]

HMMM, I may give the hardened gears a try, but I think I will skip the HD bulks and go with something flm. And since flex usually kills gears (when they are shimmed correctly) the al bulks may not require me to use the machined gears.

Does anyone here have experience with the flm savage bulks? Only flm bulks I have used were the hybrid bulks for maxx trucks, and they left a little to be desired...

[Finnster]

I haven't used the bulks, but I do know that they are not EZ access diff style. Something to consider if you plan to get into your diffs often, you will have some major dissembly.

As said, it reuses the RX box from the nitro version, adn there are plugs, switches and servos that get deleted that need plugs.

Zip ties on the body clips are a must. Great for finding them if you drop them in the grass/dirt too. The upside is I never lose body clips on my savvy. Zip ties sometimes get ripped off, but clips stay on...

Sorry to hear about the batt boxes sucking, but if the mounts are good that is all that matters. I can make good trays, but mounting something on the TVPs would be a pain.

lol @ the zip tie for the ESC. Why CC didn't mold a screw mount into the cases like even the EVX1 had back in the day is beyond me. The esc is the last thing I want bouncing around, servo tape eventually gets weak and usually just rips off the sticker they have on bottom of the esc case anyway. Can't remember how many times I've retaped my MM.

It sounds like crazy power. I know even ~40mph out of my midpowered nitro XL is plenty for the stock chassis. Can't imagine the 1Y on 6S in a stock savage....
I'm surprized they didn't go w/ the ext XL size off the batt, but I'm sure they will release a BL one soon enough (soon after the sales slow down a bit.) They basically have all the parts for it already.

You def want a 8mm socket for the wheel nuts. They have teeth in the back of the flair that dig into the wheel and really hold it. Nice for not loosening up, but can be a trick to take off.

[JThiessen]

Originally Posted by Finnster

Zip ties on the body clips are a must. Great for finding them if you drop them in the grass/dirt too. The upside is I never lose body clips on my savvy. Zip ties sometimes get ripped off, but clips stay on...
........

lol @ the zip tie for the ESC. Why CC didn't mold a screw mount into the cases like even the EVX1 had back in the day is beyond me. The esc is the last thing I want bouncing around, servo tape eventually gets weak and usually just rips off the sticker they have on bottom of the esc case anyway. Can't remember how many times I've retaped my MM.

I think the body clips are the item that bugs me the most! I tried using one finger to push one out, and jammed it up under my finger nail....ouch!

Even Traxxas figured out a custom mounting clip for the MMM, HPI had plenty of time to see it and make their own version.....