My truck went for a swim...

moorerc · #1 05-02-2002, 09:56 PM

I had just changed the batteries in my GT after a runaway that ended peacefully (ran into some thick weeds, all was okay), and taken off my Throttle return spring that wasn't working anyway. I was going to get a new one tomorrow anyway, so I figured no big deal, I just put new batteries in, no worries. I started it up, warmed it up the old-fashioned way (spit test, my Temp gauge fried), and was having some fun going off a little 6-inch jump wich allows me to go about 20 feet at full throttle, and it's a lot of fun. I went off it once, no problems, I lined up to go off it again, and the truck did some mid-air somersaults, and landed bad, on it's back, flipped over onto it's wheels, and kept on going. But it wouldn't stop. The servos got stuck at full throttle and made a Bee-Line for my pond, which is also at the bottom of a hill. As you can guess, it went into the pond. It got there about 5 seconds before I did, and was still floating. The engine had stopped, and my TX batteries had fallen out on the run down to the pond. Luckily, there was enough air in the tires to keep it floating for a little while, but it started to sink. I grabbed it just in time. I was soaked, but my truck was soaked and the rear shock tower was loose.

The Damage: Rear bulkhead snapped in half, temp gauge is now definatly beyond repair, throttle servo is now crap, engine was soaked, and my transmission case partially seperated.

I put a lot of ARO in the engine, sprayed the truck with WD-40, and took apart the transmission and sprayed it with more WD-40.

Now I need to get:
New Rear bulkhead
Transmission case
Transmission (maybe, i'll wait to see if there's rust)
Aluminum screw set (all my transmission screws are stripped)
Battery case
Switch
New Tx & Rx (my tx is a tower hobbies, the steering wheel wont center anymore, and I lost the bottom battery cover for it)
Fail safe
throttle return spring
Air filter & oil for it

anything else?

Speedtester · #2 05-02-2002, 10:48 PM

Sorry but LOL. Thats some bad luck but hopefully it'll never happen again.

moorerc · #3 05-02-2002, 10:51 PM

that'd be nice, but i knew this was just a matter of time. I'll post pics soon

Speedtester · #4 05-02-2002, 10:55 PM

I know what you mean. I keep thinking my truck will get ran over or fly off a cliff one of these days, hopefully the will never happen.

t-maxxalltheway · #5 05-02-2002, 11:14 PM

i had 2 incidents that were like that. my electric stampede had a cracked antena wire that was about 1 inch from the reciever case. but with the rubber coating i couldn't see the crack. so i went out to play on my track which is built in my volleyball court. i pluged it in and took off wide open but when i let off the gas to turn around and come back it didn't. it was heading straight for my creek which is about 200 ft away. obviously i can't run as fast as it can go and i can remember seeing a red truck ramp off the side of the hill down into the creek. when i got there the truck was still running in the water upside down. i thought oh no all my electronics are shot, but to my surprise they weren't. i bought a new antena wire and it still works fine. my 2nd incident was with my nitro rustler. i was up in a parking lot which was reciently blacktopped. it was during winter so there was snow and snowbanks around. my brother were out for some high speeds on the parking lot. well i'm to cheap and lazy so i decided not to replace the radio batteries even though the l.e.d was blinking to indicate low battery power. so i was going wide open and it went out of range and stayed wide open and nailed a snowbank and jumped about 7-10 ft in the air and landed somewhere in the ditch deep down in the snow. when i got to it it was upside down and still running, but when i looked closer i found some damage. i had broken the rear bulkhead, shock cap, and bent the shock shaft. i thought it would have been more severe but i think the snow absorbed alot of the impact. now i change the batteries to prevent this again. i sure as hell do not want my t-maxx taking a little adventure anytime soon!

freeskiea · #6 05-03-2002, 01:39 AM

dude that sucks. do the fail safe things work well? or should I just go with a throtl return spring?

beauwoz · #7 05-03-2002, 04:24 AM

You should work for the gt team as a test driver becuase you can beat the h?ll out of a truck!

Speedtester · #8 05-03-2002, 07:35 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by freeskiea
dude that sucks. do the fail safe things work well? or should I just go with a throtl return spring?

Fail safes are only good if they have power from the batteries.
If someone were to happen to your receiver pack the failsafe isnt going to do jack crap. My suggestion would be to get a throttle return spring. Most hardware stores have a pretty good selection of sizes and spring strengths.

slotforce · #9 05-03-2002, 12:05 PM

Go for the failsafe. Throttle return springs don't work very good on better servos. I suggest zip tying the battery plug together so it doesn't come appart while running. This still won't prevent the pack from dumping, but it's extra insurance which guarantees that it wont unplug if you hit something hard.

moorerc · #10 05-03-2002, 09:13 PM

my big throttle return spring was putting too much strain on the servo, so that it wouldn't work very well when the batteries were half-dead. Here's some pics, sorry 'bout the delay, I couldn't get onto the BB or rccaraction.com/rcnitro.com weird.

moorerc · #11 05-03-2002, 09:16 PM

my WD-40ized transmission

moorerc · #12 05-03-2002, 09:18 PM

my POS radio

moorerc · #13 05-03-2002, 09:30 PM

here's my pond-grit dirty engine

moorerc · #14 05-03-2002, 09:34 PM

here's my shock tower w/ everything attached. It's not broken, but this picture just looks weird, so I posted it. the tips of the shock tower are melted down a little bit. it turns out that they melt when they scrap against asphault...

associatedGTguy · #15 05-04-2002, 09:51 AM

LOL ....man that sucks join the club My GT was ok after it went into lake erie ...but a bunch of sand made its way into the header ...you should take the engine COMPLETELY apart clean dry then oil all the parts and reassemble you eather need to stretch out your throttle return spring , get a new one or change the mounting position. I have mine mounted from the throttle arm to the top screw on the top of the steering servo mount nearest to the throttle servo

Make sure that WD 40 is dry when you put it together ..and a fail safe isnt a bad idea

moorerc · #16 05-04-2002, 10:52 PM

I got my truck put back together, cost $50. I got a RPM rear bulkhead, which is a lot beefier than the stock one. I got Green Slime, a new transmission case, glow plug, and new top shaft and drive pin (all i needed was the 2 cent pin, but I had to get the $9 gear too). and a new throttle servo. I'm getting balloons and new throttle return springs tomorrow, and I will never run it again with out one on. I'd get a fail safe, but that only works if you have some battery power, and batteries have a habit of just barely losing contact with the metal, which means zero battery power, so that's out for me, plus a spring costs a lot less

I also did a new thing to my truck, I put a T-Maxx receiver case on it. I had to drill some new holes, but it works, isn't in the way, and looks bulletproof. It's held on by 2 screws, which are attached to some threads I tapped on the chassis, the case, and by nylon nuts.

raderrustler · #17 05-04-2002, 11:03 PM

glad to see the submarine is like the abrahms tank water and land use. lets try to run uphill from lake in future eh? just jokin.

GojuKohai · #18 05-05-2002, 02:38 AM

Your colling head is facing the wrong direction. You want it facing the other way, so that air will cool both the fins and the top-of-the-head/ Glow-plug.

BuggyBoy · #19 05-05-2002, 03:37 AM

if your stripping out rear gears alot it could be because of your huge tires you got on there.. (just a tip)

the things you need are
1. a job
2. a bank account with $ in your savings( after you get #1)

lol

nice to have spare $$ if your into a expensive hobby.

most guys think oh a truck $300 !! RTR not bad. they crash it and got a $100 bill hehe

btw wana trade radios ? :P

BuggyBoy · #20 05-05-2002, 03:43 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by slotforce
Go for the failsafe. Throttle return springs don't work very good on better servos. I suggest zip tying the battery plug together so it doesn't come appart while running. This still won't prevent the pack from dumping, but it's extra insurance which guarantees that it wont unplug if you hit something hard.

Failsafe's have to be one of the biggest waste of $$. and added weight (big factor in 1/10th scale and smaller) if you want failsafe buy a quality radio with it built in. otherwise dont waste your time or $$ on one.

moorerc · #21 05-05-2002, 11:08 AM

Actually I haven't stripped a gear yet. I'm even running the original spur gear. And I have a job, I work for my Dad doing carpentry, but isn't starting untill next week, so I can't make any money untill then. And I allready have a bank account, but it's lacking in money right now.
As for a fail-safe, I'm getting a spring today, I wont run it until it's on the truck. Hey Buggy Boy, I'd love to trade radios with you. I'll give you my $40 radio, and you give me your $400 radio. It's all good

I know my Cooling head is facing the wrong way, But my screws are stripped, and I need to get an easy-out and new screws first. Maybe I'll do that today too. (after I see Spider-Man)