The XT - XB - XB-E Improvement Thread

[amstel78]

This thread is scaring me. Just ordered an XB. I hope the latest version from the factory has corrected most of the issues!

 

[Guest]

Plan on some hopups for durability. But hey, that's part of the fun! I love to work on these!

 

[amstel78]

Plan on some hopups for durability. But hey, that's part of the fun! I love to work on these!

I agree. I'm already looking at replacing some parts with stuff from 7075RC once the originals have given up the ghost. It's just that from some of the posts here, it seems like my XB would blow up after the first 10 minutes of use.

 

[Inertia Racing Products]

This thread is scaring me. Just ordered an XB. I hope the latest version from the factory has corrected most of the issues!

i can understand where you are comming from, i just read through this entire thread and if i was a complete new guy to 1/5 gassers i would be a touch anxious myself...

here are a few of my thoughts as a guy who has been in RC since 1984, and large scale for the last 13 years, going back to my 1/4 scale days of racing, and as a manufacturer of hpi baja aftermarket parts for the last 5 years.

i currently own 3 hpi baja's, 1 1/4 scale car, multilple large scale boats, a shelf full of 1/10, and even a few 1/8 scale cars.

i also just picked up my 1st XB.

the one common thing about anything RC is there will be things that need to be addressed right out of the box 99% of the time, don't let that scare you out of the hobby, embrace it.

i am going to throw some numbers out there on just a couple of my cars, then go into my thoughts of the Redcat Platform.. these thoughts are from my personal experience over the years in large scale.

1) my baja's ( basicallly my bread and butter as a manufacturer )

bare bones minumum you will end up spending 1800.00 to 2000.00 by the time you get one to be reliable 90% of your trips out.

i wont go into detail but the least expensive , reliable baja i have in the fleet , i have 2000.00 in it, the most expensive rig i own baja wise i have right at 3500.00 in... now granted these are blinged out as well as functional.. initial investment , on the bone stock car , is relatively low , i guess, but still much greater than my Redcat.

2) my 1 last remaining 1/4 scaler car

minumum 1500.00 up front cost, competitive race ready car, 3000.00, not including spare parts for any given weekend race event.

3) this leads to the Redcat, brand new ,can be picked up for 519.00 RTR shipped to your door , retail price.

in my eyes that leaves a ton of wiggle room for upgrades and repair bills, and still not get anywhere near the crazy money mentioned above.

i have a build thread going on this forum showing what i am doing right out of the box to my new XB after reading through multiple threads.

this will be on going over the next several months, and it will be my honest experience on what i consider to be a very good Entry Level starting point into large gassers.

i basically want to show that you don't have to spend crazy up front money, i.e. Losi 5ive @ 1600.00 , MCD @ 1400.00 , Cleon @ 2600.00, and in each one of those , with the exception of the Cleon , still end up dumping a truckload of cash in them to make them reliable.

as it stands right now , as you will see in my build thread, i have added 200.00 on the 7075RC parts, another 100.00 in servos, and i just ordered the 7075RC motor/bearing plate @ 90.00.

these items were added up front to address the " common " known issues brought up .

i have a 990 carb and a HPI baja air filter assy sitting on the bench to be installed after i get a few runs on the stock carb for comparison so i have 1st hand knowledge of the difference.

so in closing i have added around 400.00 to the initial cost of the XB.

i have gone through the car and added loctite to the critical areas mentioned and now its time to go beat on the beast and see what shakes out from there with my personal driving .

this leads to my last statement / advice, that i always give to someone just getting into RC, don't get too wound up about parts failure reports, upgrade hype until you actually get the car and run it...everyone has their own style of driving and habits, what happens to some may never happen to you, and until something breaks leave it alone, then upgrade...

of course follow the common sense rule of thumb and go through any new RC making sure the bolts are tight and the proper oils, lubrication , and general overall status is taken care of before running it.

i hope this helps and you have as much fun as i have over the years.

 

[andyken]

Well done!

As you say, I run stock and then upgrade what fails.

So far other than bearings, gear plate and a throttle servo all has held up.

It came with a after maket pipe when I got it, went to a 990 carb...so far that's it.

My friend has a baja, and over the last three yeats has almost 6k into it!

It is a sick machine! but 6k?!

He just got a 5ive, no upgrade but outerwears so far.

Handles awsome, on speed I got him with my xb.

On the track his 5ive handles better [plus he has more time,better radio and exp than I]

But my now say $800 ish xb holds it's own to a $1500+ 5ive.

 

[rampagemt]

Ya these redcats can hold there own with a little upgrades!!! Now you just gotta upgrade driving skills to beat the losi haha

 

[amstel78]

i hope this helps and you have as much fun as i have over the years.

Thank you! Great post and certainly puts things into perspective. To be fair, I'm not new to RC although I am new to 1/5 large scale gas-operated stuff. I'm 34, married with 2 kids and a have full-time career so RC has sort of become a short-term stress reliever instead of a full-blown hobby like it used to be. When time permits though, I still fly my nitro Hirobo and Raptor helicopters. Now those things are a money pit... and not cheap to fix if you have an unplanned encounter with terra firma.

My last RC car was the XTM X-Factor 2 which is a nitro 1/8 scale solid-axle monster truck. I've got a lot of money invested in that one but it needs a new clutch so its been sitting for some time. Now I've just ordered an XB and as usual, I tend to read as much as I can on forums to learn; usually spares me the headaches and surprises in the future. For whatever its worth, I got into the RC hobby when the Tamiya Hot-Shot, Grasshopper and Associated RC-10s where the "it-things" to have.

I guess all I wanted to say was that some of the posts in this thread about durability gave me pause for concern, but you know what? I'll take it one step at a time and wait to replace things until they break. I'm not going to go wild with the upgrades like I did with the XTM or my helicopters, and instead use the XB to have some fun with my kids.

I will be paying attention to the most common problematic areas like bearings and drive cups though - thanks to this forum, I now know what to look out for!

 

[DdsInMyFace]

Do yourself the favor and get the throttle servo and Killer Bee Kill switch and get them on ASAP cheap insurance policy on your new toy!

 

[nitrohobbiest]

Sadly, I can't say I fully agree. I've got many hours into custom made upgrades that are not available in the aftermarket stores. Now I will say the mods I have done have lasted and I haven't had a reoccurrence of the blown diff case, etc. But, there are still several items that are poorly crafted that there are no upgrades for like axles. I'm also finding the "better" drive cups are still breaking, the front plate that captures the steering linkage arms is stripping out simply because the one rearmost screws threads into a plastic bracket, and without a center diff, it struggles to turn under power. I recently spiffed up the truck and challenged my Losi 5ive friends that I would keep up with them but I failed miserably. I could not make any of the sharp turns and after a few jumps I broke another front diff cup. The Losi's blasted around every turn and gracefully landed all the jumps.

I have concluded that this truck makes a nice backyard basher but it will never get the aftermarket support to make it a successful racer. It takes $2000 to make a Baja race ready but the difference is the aftermarket support is out there to make it a reality. I know. I own a Baja as well and it's decked out with the most common replacements. But I gave up purchasing the Redcat hop ups because I realized even if I firm up those sloppy rear bearing carriers, or replace those front knuckles for nice aluminum ones from 7075rc, I'm still gonna have a truck that snaps axles and cups, and has no center diff to make it drive like a competitive truck should. Not to mention, I patiently painted up a brand new Redcat body with stripes and all, even masked off my company's logo on the tailgate, brought it to an RC intermission show during a Monster Jam indoor event and by the time we were done doing some moderate jumps and some crazy stunt driving, my new body was shattered into a dozen pieces; completely useless. I never crashed it or rolled it once. It simply couldn't handle the abuse from landing the jumps. Surprisingly the truck did survive though. But the poorly molded Redcat body was so thick and brittle, it just fell apart. That's another $60+ that went in the trash after 15 minutes.

So I'm going to make the repairs to get it back to normal and then its hitting the market. The Losi is worth every penny when it means you can drive the thing lap after lap after lap. I have never made more than 10 laps with my truck nor have I ever survived a full tank of fuel except driving in my backyard where its wide open and no real jumps to speak of. Sorry, I'm just not impressed and if you've seen my build thread, you know I tried.

 

[alfred e numan]

Bought my little xb about 2 years ago.- here is my list of failures.- 1 front inner drive cup. hit a tree. xb came out better than the tree. 1 throttle servo failure- 1 hour to trace the problem- 1/2 hour to re-solder the control wire back to the p-c board.- remove-repair. shocks are not yet leaking either. Would i spring for another Redcat?- In a New York minute.

 

[92 vert]

I have had numerous Bajas over the last few years and in pure stock form they are no better than my TT buggy..

I think if we are labeling Redcat as a entry level largescale then we should also include the baja in that argument and they cost double what a XT does...for the upfront cost nothing beats a XB...XT...MT or TT..

 

[92 vert]

I have had numerous Bajas over the last few years and in pure stock form they are no better than my TT buggy..I think if we are labeling Redcat as a entry level largescale then we should also include the baja in that argument and they cost double what a XT does...for the upfront cost nothing beats a XB...XT...MT or TT..

And there is plent of aftermarket support...just look left..

 

[nitrohobbiest]

And there is plent of aftermarket support...just look left..

There's some aftermarket parts, sure. But as I said before, there's still a small handful of parts that don't exist like axles for example, that I haven't found. No one makes a beefier chassis or a new designed rear brace that eliminates the rear diff case from getting impacted by the center dogbone. I don't believe that long awaited aluminum diff case is out yet. What about a better designed top plate? I'm not aware of any aftermarket bodies that fit the truck. Heck, I need a better venting fuel cap cause mine pretty much shuts my truck down. I had to drill out the vent flap to keep the tank vented.

It's unfortunate that these parts and others aren't out there but I'm thinking there's not much potential market? If word got out that this truck could easily be made bullet proof. Everyone would save a pretty penny. I bet $1000 would cure this truck putting it in the stock price range of a Losi 5ive. But the correct support for that is just not available and what is available is getting harder to find. Even stock axles are very hard to find.

This truck can be driven and not broken. But if you like to hit jumps while racing, its gonna fail. It is entry level and it will always remain entry level. But clearly there are several owners that are happy with that and don't get the repetitive breakage like I and others do. I'd say I got a lemon but that would mean my replacement parts would also be lemons. Of course it could just be my poor driving skills, although I have yet to crash this truck and I tend to drive it cautiously expecting that it might break if I put it through the paces.

I have heard the MT Pro version is a much better design with less flaws. Maybe that is the way to go?

 

[bbuzzard]

There's some aftermarket parts, sure. But as I said before, there's still a small handful of parts that don't exist like axles for example, that I haven't found. No one makes a beefier chassis or a new designed rear brace that eliminates the rear diff case from getting impacted by the center dogbone. I don't believe that long awaited aluminum diff case is out yet.

What part of the internet are you using?

http://www.7075rc.flyingcart.com/?p=detail&pid=18&cat_id=

http://www.7075rc.flyingcart.com/?p=detail&pid=14&cat_id=0

http://www.7075rc.flyingcart.com/?p=detail&pid=15&cat_id=

I have posted before that I never had the diff issues most have had...

maybe I'm lucky or I drive better, don't know...I do know I still like my XB a lot for the price...I'm not a fanboy but let's say I have had my share of the major brands and I have spent way more time and $$ wrenching on them when they broke than my XB.

I hope you find your answer...

 

[Guest]

FLM has prototypes for the drive line components. If they come out, the drivetrain will be very strong.

 

[nitrohobbiest]

Well I take it all back, most of it anyhow. Clearly the market is catching up. None of that was in existence just last year when I did all of that work myself. There was only talk of aluminum diff cases and it didn't seem like it was gonna happen. But unless that list of drivetrain parts includes cups and bones, the truck still won't roll.

So now here is the question: do I keep waiting for more parts to be redesigned? Because I'd really like my truck to have a center diff. The more power this truck has, the more it wants to go straight.

Idk, I guess I'm just sour. Thanks for the links. I had given up looking but I guess more has made it. There's still hope for future owners.

 

[krebidoux]

my first large scale was a firehammer mt, then a baja 5b, then a xb and now a redcat mt. i still have them all and have to say that my baja in mostly stock form is the most durable. the only upgrades to the baja is a g290 with a 813 carb, steering servo, and a steel roll cage, but it will be getting a complete over haul this winter with all new parts. I have had my xb now for 1.5 years and have never made it through a full tank. due to piss poor rims that it came with i went to fg rims witch worked great for a long time but the aluminum square drives rounded the centers out so now i will be putting the baja wheels on it. (never had that problem with the stock rims on a baja after 5 years of bashing) next was shock shaft after shock shaft, even had a shaft snap just running it up and down the side of the road where there are no bumps. (bent my first rear shock shaft on my baja last week after 40 mins of high flying and very bad crashes) bearings bearings bearings, need i say more about that but yes the 7075 order will be going out this winter for the carrier hop ups. (bajas come with bigger bearings so no probs there) i have tried blue, red, and even losi tire glue on the set screws for the drive cups and still can't get them to stay tight threw 1 bash session. i have the most trouble with the centre drive line cups. even though i am saying not nice things about the xb i do love the car. when i get to play with it for the little time it allows me before something happens i think it's a great platform. it handles great, jumps nice and and is all around fun. but when i take it out i always have to bring a bake up car where as i don't with my baja. i hope when i get the hop ups that it will last a whole tank and not open up a new kettle of worms to solve.

 

[alfred e numan]

use red loktite on the grub screws. you will have to spring for a pencil torch- little guy-runs on butane. buy @ harbor freight -5 bucks.- heat the screws to remove. lots of drivers that have cars with a center diff either lock it up or replace it to be live 4wd.- gotta let off the gas to turn.- I do have a tb2 very modded- billet diffs-engine -gear mounts- tb3 suspension parts abound on this puppy- it has a center diff- grease is useless in it.- i run 500,000 weight silicone. running the same type of tires on the tb hybred-vrs the xb- on slick surfaces -the live 4wd on the xb- it will walk the dog on the tb on take off- short driving areas- the crnter diff makes the above mentioned car somewhat more forgiving once it starts hauling ass- but- there is still loss of traction- no free lunch!! -- the center diff has its places where it rocks- places where its about useless.

 

[alfred e numan]

forgot to say-a center diff requires 2 sets of brakes- advantage is- you can bias the braking- the disadvantage?- takes a 5755 to run it- weight ya know? and money.

 

[alfred e numan]

christ sakes, i am hogging this thread-lol! do this to the xb-xt-any car.- cut off small pieces of non reinforced automotive fuel line and insert into the drive cups- bottom out the suspension and tru trial and error - cut the hose so there is almost zero play on the dog bones. this helps. heres a can o worms- car set up- want the xb to turn? run zero toe in on the ass end. as the tires wear- run the ones with the least tread on the rear- this will loosen up the cars ass end - less wear and tear on the wheel bearings also. run lots of angle on the front end- tipped in like a road grader- this helps turn also- lots of members may disagree bout this- but it works for me-- sometimes anyways--lol!