My First New RC: Savage Flux - RC-Monster Forums

JThiessen · 10:08 PM

Today I came home to find this nice brown box sitting on my doorstep!
[IMG]

[/IMG][IMG]

[/IMG]

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.
[IMG]

[/IMG]

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!)
[IMG]

[/IMG]

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.
[IMG]

[/IMG]

More to come...have to go eat...

What's_nitro? · 02.03.2009, 10:17 PM

Nice...

BL_RV0 · 02.03.2009, 10:51 PM

Very nice.

JThiessen · 02.03.2009, 10:48 PM

Couple comparison shots with my 3.3 Revo conversion
[IMG]

[/IMG]

hmmm - Flux is supposedly 1/8th scale, Revo 1/10th....doesnt look any different to me...who's right?

A few misc pics:
[IMG]

[/IMG][IMG]

[/IMG]

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.

JThiessen · 02.03.2009, 11:00 PM

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.
[IMG]

[/IMG][IMG]

[/IMG]

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.

02:09 AM

Quote:

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 · 02.04.2009, 02:45 AM

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!

JThiessen · 02.04.2009, 09:43 AM

Quote:

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 · 02.04.2009, 10:25 AM

Quote:

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!

02.04.2009, 03:26 AM

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

Arct1k · 10:40 AM

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 · 02.04.2009, 10:39 AM

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 · 02.04.2009, 11:16 AM

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...

Mikey007 · 02.04.2009, 09:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 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...

Hey Linc. I have the FLM hybrid bulks on my flm savage. Lets start with my diff setup

-Flm bulks
-Maximizer 7075 diff cups
-savage xl outdrives, and shafts.

First thing I noticed was the two halves of the cases would not close completely. After further inspection, I measured the stock plastic diff cups and the maximizers and there were no differences. It seems on my hybrids that the bearings were not countersunk far enough, .007" to be exact. My remedy was to machine the outer bearing race .0175" on each side of the bearing. After doing this to both diff cup bearings it fit like a charm. Make sure you give both bearings a thorough cleaning and lube after.

My next obstacle was using the savage xl outdrives. They will not fit through the bulks, so I assembled each side seperately with the bulks, then I noticed I needed a small access hole in the side of the bulk to screw the ring gear to the diff cup. I'm not going to lie, this was a bitch!!!!!!!!!!! After all that work I got them put together. If all there bulks are like this I would not recommend you buy them. Sorry for the hijack! Hope this helps.

Mike

lincpimp · 02.04.2009, 10:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mikey007

Hey Linc. I have the FLM hybrid bulks on my flm savage. Lets start with my diff setup

-Flm bulks
-Maximizer 7075 diff cups
-savage xl outdrives, and shafts.

First thing I noticed was the two halves of the cases would not close completely. After further inspection, I measured the stock plastic diff cups and the maximizers and there were no differences. It seems on my hybrids that the bearings were not countersunk far enough, .007" to be exact. My remedy was to machine the outer bearing race .0175" on each side of the bearing. After doing this to both diff cup bearings it fit like a charm. Make sure you give both bearings a thorough cleaning and lube after.

My next obstacle was using the savage xl outdrives. They will not fit through the bulks, so I assembled each side seperately with the bulks, then I noticed I needed a small access hole in the side of the bulk to screw the ring gear to the diff cup. I'm not going to lie, this was a bitch!!!!!!!!!!! After all that work I got them put together. If all there bulks are like this I would not recommend you buy them. Sorry for the hijack! Hope this helps.

Mike

Thanks Mike, great info! If only all of my questions could be answered so throughly...

Anyways, would you say the savage xl outdrives are a required mod over the ss kit parts? I am guessing they are significantly stronger, and I do plan to run larger wheels and tires on this truck. Most likely the big cen chevrons off the gst.