XTM Rage 1/18th Monster Truck

[rschoi_75]

I didn't really know where to put this thread so, I figured here would be fine enough. I have this same review on a few other forums. so if you've already seen it, please bear with me.

This is going to be a pretty long review, so go grab a drink and some popcorn before you read this. Here's a fun appetizer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKcXs9cQW9A

[rschoi_75]

Just got mine in today! It looks good so far. At first glance it looks exactly like a Mini Quake chassis, but there are indeed a lot of little differences. I plan to break down the chassis tonight, but before I do that, I want to get at least one run in with the truck in box stock form. I'm currently waiting for my first charge to finish, so I'll give you guys a little feedback of what I think so far.

Shocks:
As most of you already know, this truck comes with 8 oil filled shocks with aluminum caps. The shock bodies are made of plastic and they are filled with what seems to be very light oil. The shocks are held in place by a 1.5mm st screw up top and a kingpin/e-clip combo on the bottom. nothing new here. Finally, the springs are similar to the stock white MQ springs in stiffness.

Lower arms
These look identical to the mini quake, yet are slightly different. The plastic seems to be made of a different compound, but is still flexible like the MQ arm (which is a good thing).

Upper arms
Simply stated, they rock. They are two piece arms with an aluminum tie rod installed. Camber adjustments are finally possible. This is a much appreciated upgrade. The plastic on the upper arms are also thicker than the Mini Quake upper arms.

Knuckles
Not much to say, except there is an additional ball stud hole for extra toe adjustments.

Shock Towers
Are very similar to the MQ, but have a slightly different design. More plastic is used and there is no upper chassis brace mount since the Rage uses an upper deck.

Upper Deck
Seems to be made of 2mm thick fiberglass. I like the concept vs the MQ upper brace, but it needs to be stiffer. A good 3mm carbon fiber upper deck would fit the bill nicely.

Wheels/Tires
Another high point of the XTM Rage. The wheels have a nice wide off-set and the tires have a pin type pattern with a very hard compound. Good for its main use: bashing. I also think these would be good in damp/wet packed tracks. For dry or loose dirt, you're going to want something else. MQ and Vendetta ST tires should work on these wheels. If you need tires for racing, I suggest a visit to the Vendetta forum and read Jaejw1's tire review.

Battery/Charger
The charger is your standard cheap-o wall type charger. It has no peak detection and there no led to let you know if its even working or not. The charger has an output of 0.5 amps. The battery on the other hand was a nice surprise. On the back of the battery you can clearly see the manufacturer: KAN. These guys are one of the better nimh manufacturers, so I expect some good results from this pack. *edit: A few other things. The battery uses a mini tamiya connector (?), so a standard 1/10th size tamiya plug will not work. The battery also comes with 15awg wires which is actually thicker than most. Not bad...


ok.... that's enough for one post. Here are some pics... enjoy.

[lincpimp]

Dude, you have the perfect salesman voice! You need to be selling pogo sticks to retired people (old farts) or maybe icemakers to eskimos!

Sorry if I insulted any of our "seasoned" or "experienced" members with that last comment!

I really like the duratrax rage, or xtm mini quake, or what ever that thing is!

[MetalMan]

Holy crap it looks fast (even if you say it's slow).

I just finished mounting the brushless stuff to my Rage, and still running with the stock battery. I also removed the crap stock servo that stripped its gears within the first battery, and replaced it with a Hitec 225MG - which is a fair amount larger than stock (required modding the chassis).

[rschoi_75]

XTM Rage Review Part 2....

Drivetrain:
The Rage comes equipped with steel cvd's in the front along with steel dog bones in the rear. This is a pretty trick feature if you consider the price. No other RTR mini features steel cvd's at this price point. Nice job XTM, you get points for that. The dog bones work fine, and upon closer inspection, seem very secure. I don't think they'll fall out unless you break the arm. Ok, I do have one gripe though. The steel cvd's are not the highest quality. They are strong and get the job done, but you won't mistake these for hudy spring steel. The cvd's are not very smooth and required a bit of sanding (by hand) and lubrication. I used dry teflon powder to lube, since this is an exposed part. Also, if you decide to take apart the cvd. You will need a .005 hex driver (I believe) and very steady hands. Don't strip the grub screw or you'll be kicking yourself. I also have a pic of an XTM cvd next to a MQ cvd below. Please note that in all the pictures, the XTM rage parts are on the left and the Mini Quake parts are on the right.

The Front and Rear diffs are open style gear diffs. These are actually thinner than MQ and are NOT compatible. Ok, everyone say it all together now.... "BOOOO, HISSSS, GRRRR, ....... Hey Batter... batter... Swing"!.... [&:]... I actually noticed that the diff housings seemed a little thin from the outside, so I was expecting something different. To be honest with you, I'm not impressed at all by their looks. They look cheap and brittle, and one of mine is white while the other is an off shade of yellow...? There are two things that can cause this during the manufacturing process. 1) not blending the plastic pellets well enough before injection molding, resulting in an uneven batch color. 2) melting or injecting at a very high temperature causing the plastic to discolor. Either way, the plastic used doesn't look good, but seems to work fine.

Ok, here's the silver lining in a so far dark cloud. The outdrives are made of steel and are fastened to the bevel gear with a screw. This is actually one of the high points on the diff. Good outdrives. Gearing on the diffs is significantly different from the Mini Quake. The front/rear diffs of the XTM Rage are geared at 12/41 vs the MQ's 15/38. This gives allows the Rage to have better low end performance and faster acceleration. Add another point for XTM.

Turnbuckles
Not much to say, they are nice. One thing to note. The ball studs have a tiny screw in them which prevents the turnbuckle from "popping off". I think that's a cool little feature.

Steering
Uses a dual bell crank set-up similar to the MQ, but like everything else.... slightly different. The outer plastic housing is identical to the mini quake... right down to the size of the bushings used. *Tip* to reduce steering slop, install four 4x7x2.5mm bearings in the steering column.** Ok, here's the difference. The alum support column on the Rage features a "half moon" mounting pattern vs the "hexagon" pattern of the MQ's support column. Obviously these are not compatible. You should, however, be able to use a GPM alloy MQ steering column with the XTM's support columns if desired. Since the outer part of the column is the same, there should be no problem.

Electronics/Motor
The XTM Rage features your "run of the mill" rtr electronics: 27mhz am radio, generic 400 size motor, low budget esc, and low budget mini servo. The Rage differs from the MQ in that it uses a lighter mini servo vs a standard size. Actually, I believe a standard size servo will NOT fit in this chassis. The chassis is molded for a mini servo and is held down by double sided tape and a little "L" brace on the top. One thing to note about the servo... its strong, but sssllloooowww.... you won't win any races with it installed... that's for sure.

The XTM Cirrus radio is similar to an old school kyosho mini-z Perfex radio or the current proboat rtr radios. I'm not sure who makes these... (ko propo maybe?) but its gets the job done ok. It has about a 50 yard range, and does not suffer from glitches like the MQ RTR futaba set-up.

The esc is actually pretty good. It has good throttle response, smooth brakes, strong reverse, and only got to 117 deg F after a full battery pack. The motor is geared at 16/41 I believe, but I'll have to double check when I start dropping different motors in there. Lastly, the motor leads are attached with a jst connector. Shame on you XTM. lol. These are obviously here to save money, and should be replaced post haste. Hardwire, bullets, deans, etc... anything is better than this.

Performance and Drive Testing
So far the initial performance is promising. The diffs are surprisingly stout and the electronics perform quite nicely. Although the diffs don't look good, the performance isn't bad with the stock motor. I honestly tried to bust the diffs last night and I couldn't. I was doing 3-4 foot jumps and landing at a dead stop, reverse, full throttle, etc... I was even going from full reverse to full throttle on deep carpet, and amazingly, the diffs held up with no worries. I even flipped the truck a few times doing that. Hmmmm.... not bad. We shall see if they can handle brushless power this weekend. Here's a nice piece of news for you all. I talked with a Global Hobby Rep and he tells me the XTM R&D guys have plans for a ball diff, but nothing in production as of yet. I hope they don't delay this too much.

The Rage is decently stable in the air and adjustments were easy. A little blip on the throttle to bring the nose up, or tap the breaks for an aggressive landing. The wider track also helps when landing off center. I found it pretty easy to recover from a missed jump. Also, please keep in mind that this was done on a street and not at a track. The truck should perform similarly, however.

I actually like the XTM rage over the MQ in pure box stock form. There is little to no glitching, and the truck runs very smooth. Top speed is around 18mph give or take a few, and acceleration is surprising. The truck does tend to push into turns and seems a little sluggish coming out of them. I believe it would be much more agile with the correct oil, springs, and a faster servo. The wide tires and low stance keep the truck firmly planted on most surfaces and does a pretty good job at reducing body roll. Again, slightly thicker oil and stiffer springs will help. And finally, don't plan on seeing a roll bar anytime soon. There are no mounts for one.

whew.... ok, that's enough for this post. enjoy the pics.

[rschoi_75]

Linc... I started out as a financial planner if that tells you anything....Now I sell wine.

Sorry this review is taking so long to post. Trying to cook dinner at the same time... I wrote the review last night, but cut/pasting is taking a while...


Anyways, Here's another video of some wheelies.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8X8j-OEH5DM

[lincpimp]

Naw, you don't sell wine, the wine sells itself!

Any chance you could demo me some wine, you know, for testing purposes.

[rschoi_75]

Originally Posted by lincpimp

Naw, you don't sell wine, the wine sells itself!

Any chance you could demo me some wine, you know, for testing purposes.

you know, Sonoma County r/c plans to release a vino powered engine late this year. I think its going to be a .21 so it'll be ROAR legal. They say it runs best off vintage 1987 Cabernet Sauvignon. They also plan to release a "sport" tuned engine than can run off Franzia box wine.




Almost forgot... more pics.

wait how the fuck did you get one. my hobbypeople store has not even got any yet. and my reginal manager says the warehouse has not gotten them yet.

[wallot]

would the xtm driveshaft work with miniquake?

[rschoi_75]

Originally Posted by drkros3

wait how the f-bomb did you get one. my hobbypeople store has not even got any yet. and my reginal manager says the warehouse has not gotten them yet.

I got it from hobby people as well. The Global Hobby allocations manager must not like your regional manager. He got shafted. j/k.
I pre-ordered online in October last year. So, maybe that's the difference? Mine probably shipped from their main dist warehouse.

Wallot,
I don't think so. The length seems ok, but the shaft adapter won't fit with the MQ input pinion adapter. If you own a MQ, you'll know what I'm talking about. Look on the first pic of post #8. Each diff input pinion has two parts. A shaft adapter and the pinion itself. The MQ and XTM shaft adapters are different, and by the looks of it, are not compatible.

Out of curiosity, why? is this just to have another source of spares? You would not gain anything from changing the center shafts. of either truck.

well i just looked and the warehouse has tons of them so we might be getting some in on wed.

[rschoi_75]

List of compatible Parts: MQ vs Rage
- upper arms
- lower arms (with slight modding... need to make the hinge pin holes larger)
- turnbuckles
- bumpers
- wheels and tires (w/ 12mm hex on MQ)
- shocks
- knuckles (but not the bearings)
- outer steering column.
- motor mount
- gear pitch
- battery brace (Rage to MQ is ok, but MQ to Rage will not work. MQ battery brace is actually 5mm too short to fit on the Rage)


List of Non compatible parts:
- Diffs (everything... input pinion, ring gear, etc)
- Diff cases
- Main Drive shaft
- Spur gear
- Driveshafts
- Main Chasssis
- Shock Towers
- Tower Brace

I'll be keeping this list up to date as we find out more. If you see anything on that list that needs updating, please let me know.

[rschoi_75]

A little tuning update:
- I found out the stock oil is 10wt. I switched it out for 40wt all around and switched the springs to white Mini Quake springs. The white MQ springs are actually softer... contrary to what I said before. I also found out that Xray M18T springs will fit, and work very well. The Black M18NT springs would be a great choice.
- I also modded the knuckles with some screws for extra strength. (pic is of a MQ knuckle, but same thing applies for the Rage)
you will need a 1/16" bit with a 2mmx10mm screw. You may also need to dremel off any exposed screw on the inside of the knuckle.

[MetalMan]

Originally Posted by drkros3

well i just looked and the warehouse has tons of them so we might be getting some in on wed.

Our store got them either last Wednesday or last Friday (a week to a week and a half ago). I'm sure it helps that we're right next to the warehouse, though.

Rich, how is the stock servo holding up for you? Your Rage has a lot more power than mine did when one of the servo gears stripped. Also, how are the temps on your Mamba 25 with that heatsink?

Last night I drove around my Rage with the KMS 2213 3200kv outrunner (about 28mm outer diameter and 25mm length) on the stock battery and with the Mamba 25. I had to change some settings around on the Mamba 25 to get it to run well, but then I ran into a problem - the stock battery can't dish out the power required by both a Hitec 225MG servo and the outrunner motor (even though it was only geared for ~20mph). Tonight I will see what my 3s Lipo options are from what's available at Hobby People, but I'm guessing there won't be much.