Skinny Tires, New Rollcage, and New Servo = FUN

[DemonRC]

Ok here's what I got. I built a new 4130 chromoly cage this morning. I didn't make it like I promised I would but I did lower the roof line 1/4" off the top of the engine. It looks so much streamlined IMO than the stock roof line. The front hooks into the stock holes on the steering plate, however, the rear cage mount curves directly into the rear body mounts. It's really stiff. Just for shits and grins I dropped it on it's lid from 5 feet up 3 times and all I did was get dirt stuck to my cage. I had my buddy Jeff jump on it a few times since he was skeptical. I'm not done with the cage just yet. I have to cut the plates for my Ramtech lights tonight. I'm thinking about mounting them on the roof right in front of the roof scoop thingy protecting the plug. I might weld in a few more 1/4" cross beams too. I'll get more pics up once it's done and painted.


Also, I tested running 4x front Bowties at a motocross track today. I need to go bash my head on a wall for not doing that since day 1. My buggy accelerated better, cornered better, top speed was better, and was lighter. I don't know if it was just me or what but I didn't nosedive any jump. I just mashed the thottle and it flew perfectly straight. I wanted to get some video but my buddy forgot him camera and mine is busted, at least the one that takes video is. Also, I would like to mention that the new HPI digital servo is hot shit. I ran my old rear bowties before I tested the skinny front bowties and it made a huge difference in the corners. The skinny bowtie sidewalls deflected slightly. IT actually made it stay flat in the corners instead of digging in which causes body roll. Also, if your concerned about traction problems, don't be, they ran great on all the hard pack, motocross bike churned dirt, grass, and even the rock road coming into the track. I'm ordering up 4 front Hostile hard foams right now. I doubt the rears tires will ever be going back on the TT again unless I'm running in sand. But that's what I got my sand paddles for.

 

[fastlane]

hell yeah that looks good and you have made up my mind for wheels and tires

 

[fastlane]

by the way have you ever thought about selling roll cages? If you do let me know

 

[kryptonite]

oh man.. now i got the "scratches".. im dieing to try out the bow-tie fronts. cant wait to get the order going.. i was still uncertain about how they would perform untill now. thanx.

 

[DemonRC]

I was waiting for somebody to review them also. I couldn't wait. If they didn't perform well I was going to stick them on my Baja front and give the other set to my buddy. Just for the hell of it I asked the LHS how low they could go on them. They dropped the price to $64 a set + tax. That's not too shabby. I'm also thinking about trying these out for hard packed tracks:

 

[pwaicon]

The buggy is looking good. Nice job on the cage I really like the low profile design. I can’t wait to see it when it’s all finished and painted. I also just finished building a new cage out of 4130 because I managed to reconfigure my previous one during my last bash session. I am in the process of converting my MT into a buggy for the track, I picked up some Badlands for it but I might just have to also pick me up a set of the narrow Bowties also.

 

[Sucram]

nice... The mcd's run a smaller and thinner tyre and they work fine! Perhaps some mini mx's will hold up better for longer?

 

[fastlane]

24mm hpi rear hubs right?

 

[Obeast44]

I ran Mini MX v2 rears on my TT with a 29cc headkit. It honestly was a beast.

 

[IMADMAN]

That set-up looks ideal! I was debating on using fronts instead of the rears. Anyone know if they make bowties of the 5T wheels?

 

[DemonRC]

Here's the final cage. All I did to finish it was add tabs to mount my Ramtech lights and paint it up. I was going to add all these crossbeams but I want to keep it light as possible.I saw the Mini MX v2's on DDM last night and honestly I think those would be an awesome setup with the hard foams. OH, fastlane, yes you do need the Baja 24mm rear hubs to run the Baja wheels. If you are going to buy them you outta just spend a few extra bucks and get the Vertigo axle extenders. That's going to be my next buy.

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[DemonRC]

SS pipe with a modded steel header. I was running it yesterday at the motocross track and put my gears to 29/31 from 31/29 and it performed really well. If it is still holding up in a few more weeks, which it should, then I'm going to get a new one without a dent in it and have Sprint extend it another inch in the belly section.





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[fastlane]

aw heck I won 2 sets of ss rear hubs on ebay for $25 shipped that's with nuts and pins also

 

[DemonRC]

aw heck I won 2 sets of ss rear hubs on ebay for $25 shipped that's with nuts and pins also

$25? That's a great deal.

an extra inch makes all the difference, you could get him to put a one inch diameter section of header on it instead of what's there now and make your header section 1" too, as sprint mentioned in another post the 2 mods combined work real well...i was more than impressed with the one he did for me performance wise, it was pretty much on par with the dom mod and the sound was awesome...just wasn't positioned in the right place for invunerability. Oh and I forgot to say that i like the low profile cage, nice work!

Thanks for the acknowledgement guys! I appreciate it. I tried to build more of a lightweight "race" cage instead of something indestructable. I think I need a few support beams here and there but we'll see how it holds up. I'm really suprised how light it is. The entire cage is much lighter than the HBZ center support.


Oh Moo. Did Sprint add another 1" of header length or did he add another 1" to the pipe's belly length? I thought somebody said somewhere that 1" on the belly would add a bunch of torque.

 

[hamster huey]

I also got some for $25 shipped. Be warned you guys myself and others all agree the HPI dirt busters (like stock on the rear of the 5B) wear out fast if installed on drive wheels.

 

[DemonRC]

I'll try the Mini MX's V2 then. Hey I just finished installing my Ramtech lights. I wired em to a switch so I can turn em on/off manually.

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[grf]

just my thoughts on the matter.


i believe the all rear thing is not good as the bajas use only 2 80mm and are fine why we need 4? we do not have double weight on the rampage.


for bashing i really like tall tires for ground clearance so i was thinking the rear 5T options or front. what i do not know is offset. what is the differences in offset between the rampage tt wheels the the front rear 5b, 5t and desperado ones. from photos i noticed that the baja options stick out a bit more than stock. maybe is the angle of the photos i do not know i hope someone does. i am very keen on trying 5t rims and the mx ones for it or the dune reapers that look really good (i do not know how they perform although)

 

[grf]

offset in the desparados is only.100" difference, for the best offset alot of people here use the 8mm offset vertigo rear adapters on all 4's, with the deps and vp adapters you get 20mm wider track in total, the tt wheels have a deeper offset so have less track width....i'll measure them tomorrow

i want exactly the opposite. i do not want my rims to stick out. i prefer the pivot to be as close as possible in the center of the rim as it is with the stock tt rims.


do the 5b 5t rims have different offset than stock tt rims?

 

[DemonRC]

I won't be able to power through a corner with 5t fronts. The sidewalls deflect too much. You'd end up wearing holes in the sidewall. Before I bought these bowties I borrowed stock 5t fronts and rears from a buddy. I ran in the parking lot and after 5 minutes he wanted me to take em off cause I wore the hell outta the front sidewalls and outer edge. They are just too wobbly. The rears looked ok though just not the fronts.

 

[grf]

I won't be able to power through a corner with 5t fronts. The sidewalls deflect too much. You'd end up wearing holes in the sidewall. Before I bought these bowties I borrowed stock 5t fronts and rears from a buddy. I ran in the parking lot and after 5 minutes he wanted me to take em off cause I wore the hell outta the front sidewalls and outer edge. They are just too wobbly. The rears looked ok though just not the fronts.

do you think that 4 rear 5t tires will work? or 4 rear hostiles for 5t?