FH questions

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The people you spoke to may absolutely be right about the WD40. Most of the bearings are sheilded so its highly unlikely that they will get any sand in them. i was talking about using it more as a rust preventative then an actual lube. I suppose a white lithium grease would work if your worried about the WD40 washing the grease out of the bearings. they have the WL grease in a spray can at most auto parts places. The baja does just fine in the sand with the stock tires, packed or loose sand. It probably wouldnt be worth the extra money to buy the sand paddles if you were going to run only a couple times a year on the sand. I do like the way it drives in the sand with the paddles, the rear tires get so much traction, its awesome to see the 20 foot roost kicked up by the paddles. they do tend to make the buggy wanna go straight through a corner though, the buggy will actually slide around a corner better with the dirt spikes. the outerwears pull start cover i don't think is a needed item. I just pull my starter off occasionally and clean and oil it. the dirt and grass entering the pull start cover is not really going to do any damage to the engine. the problem is with the vents on the bottom of the engine, if you get a stone in there it could take out your flywheel. ive seen them pull in stones large enough to stop the engine and wedge between the flywheel and flywheel cover or get hung behind the flywheel. the ripping tires is a issue with the tire itself, the beadlocks i don't think are causing the rips. it simply just too soft a compound. M or H compound for the rear would be a better choice but they do not make them in those compounds only the S. just incase youre wondering S soft M medium H hard. probably figured it out though. i have not had an issue with a torn tire yet, my cousin however is on his 5th pair of rear tires. He drives alot harder than i do. if you keep it from pitching sideways off a jump and landing directly on the sidewalls of the tire you should be ok, and avoid the powerslides in shell driveways.
 
Should I put some sort of mesh where the rocks come up? Do you mean on the bottom of the chassis? So i guess the pullstart outerwear will lessen the times I have to crack open the pullstart and clean it? That would be nice.
 
you would have to remove the engine to see the air intake holes im talking about. there are about 5 of them they will suck up what ever gets into the frame under the engine. People have put a screen over the air intake vents and to great success from what ive heard. I don't know what method they use to attach the screen mess over the intake holes. A pull start filter would lessen the amount of service that you would need to do on the pull start true. Its only 4 bolts to take it off and then you just blow it out with compressed air or wash it with a garden hose and dry it then re oil its not that big a deal. if you think its worth the cost of the filter to not have to remove the pull start once a week then go for it. i actually like working on these things so when they break or need cleaning im all over it. I have a little work station all set up just for these cars. i haven't gone as far as buying the 1/5th scale floor jacks and jack stands, LOL but its pretty close to that.
 
oh okay i didnt know it was so simple. What is that tube on most large scales that leads out the back of the car? I don't like working on my savage, it is too complicated for me. is the baja pretty easy to work on?
 
I suppose your talking about the exhaust system. theres only 2 tubes that run to the back of the vehicle that i know of exhaust and fuel tank vent. the carbs on the gasoline engines have fuel pumps in them so pressurizing the fuel tank is not needed like on the nitro cars where they have a tube running from tank to expansion chamber. The baja has a silver tube that connects to the exhaust canister muffler. the tube is only to channel the exhaust flow cleanly out the back of the vehicle. the difference between the dirt on the back of the buggy with and without the tube is not that great. The tube in my opinion is a waste, it doesn't really make the back of the buggy any cleaner and it restricts exhaust flow so my advice if you have the stock exhaust system on your buggy i would take the tube off and see if you think its worth not having on the buggy. I thought it ran much better without the tube on there.
 
im sorry to say that the buggy is only slightly easier to work on than the savage and so is the truck, pretty much all of the gasoline vehicles are about the same to work on as a smaller vehicle. The only difference is you can just pick it up and set it in your lap to work on. Well i guess you could but its kinda akward. neither the truck nor the buggy will fit in my lap. I use to work on the nitro and electric vehicles in my lap, if your used to working on a desk then, the size wouldnt be a problem for you unless they don't fit on your desk. LOL Every part of the buggy and the truck is a like a daisy chain you gotta take something else off to get at what you want to pull off.
 
but on the lighter side you don't have to full with a ton of tiny parts, everything has got some heft to it and its easy to handle if you got big hands like me.
 
I guess you are talking about the "stinger"? Yeah I have herad you gain some grunt by removing it so I was going to do that. Should I also take out all the mesh and poopy out of the stock can or leave it in? I just realized the plastic tube I was talking about comes out of the fuel tank, so you just explained it. thank you. Do you think I will ever want to go back to nitro after I run a 1/5? I kind of wanted to try the firehammer but I have seen alot of people get this truck as a first 1/5 and sell it for a baja. I have sold far too many RC's for my liking and lost too much money so i don't want to sell the baja for awhile. Is the operating cost less or about the same? I know fuel is way cheaper, but the parts are more expensive and some things i don't even understand why are really pricey.
 
Well i sold all my nitros to buy my baja i don't regret it in the slightest. I haven't even had a thought about the nitros since getting the buggy in feb of this year. The only time i mention nitros is to say "man this is so much better than those damn nitros". So no you wont wanna go back there may be a nitro or two that you just cannot stand to be without sure but compared to the gas there is no contest. The parts are so expensive because it takes more material to make them. Have you handled a 1/5th scale before do you realize how large they are. I remember watching the videos and saying man those are huge. But until you open that box you don't even have a clue it just dwarfs everything else instantly. i remember driving my 2wd electric truck after the buggy and was so small a fragile looking compared to the buggy. Believe me once you get the baja the only reason you would ever think of getting rid of it, is maybe for a newer more hopped up baja if such a thing would ever happen.
 
as far as cost of running. I would imagine it would be about the same. the 30 bux for a gallon of fuel instead of going to fuel it would be going to a tuned pipe or a set of tires. Ok a couple or 5 gallons of fuel per 1 tuned pipe. They are worth it though, you have no idea how much a tuned pipe wakes up one of these gas 2 stokes. its not near the way a tuned pipe works for the nitros. On the nitros if you just listen and watch real close you may see a difference. On these its night and day difference. And you don't have to tune constantly, you tune it when you get it to make sure its not lean boggin on the low or high end, then you put the screw driver back in the tool box and continue to run for gallons apon gallons of fuel. Only when you change the exhaust or the carb or have a servere weather change do you need to touch that screw driver again.
 
Wow, page 4 didnt really think i had this many questions.. is the hpi radio good? What kind of range does it get? No I have never actually layed my hands on a 1/5, none of my hobby shops ever have them. I thought the genesis was bug wheb i first saw it a year ago so i am sure i will love this. Another thing i have been reading is that the shock shafts are weak? I guess if you slam into a tree well, it might break but from normal use are they ok? How are the brakes?
 
i use my buggy normally, when i jump i make sure it lands as flat as possible. i haven't bent a shock shaft front or rear. the brakes work fine if you adjust them correctly. there is a plastic knob to adjust tention just like the savage also you have metal shims included that you can put between the brake pad and caliper to make them tighter if you need to. The radio range and quality is quite good compared to most RTR radios. My cousin uses his factory radio without any issues with glitting or run aways. The stock reciever has a build in fail safe. My factory radio was faulty so i sent it in for repair and a month later its still in service as far as i know. HPI support is not doing so hot but this is only the first time ive ever used any customer support i usually don't worry about the warrenty stuff. I sure could use another radio system though.
 
Hpi has been good to me, maybe you should shoot em an email they are usually pretty good at that. On the hpi site it says to use 25:1, could I use 30:1 and still be okay or should I use 25? What part of the clutch shoes did you remove? The metal part or the black stuff on the on the outside of them? Is most of the hardware hex and if so should I get a good set of hex drivers? How long does the reciever battery last and should i get another one?
 
Ive emailed them a few times it usually takes about 3 days to get a reply back maybe more. Last i heard the radio was still being fixed. I would buy a set of hex drivers metric ones, if you find a good deal on a set of metric and standard get both. Some of the screws are weird sizes. the tools that come with the buggy actually work pretty well, but its kinda hard to get a T handle in some places like the exhaust bolts you could break loose with a T handle then spin out with a driver. The batteries last about the same as a nitro cars receiver pack a couple tanks of fuel maybe 3-4. Ive not had good luck with my batteries on my buggy for some reason. i think it may be my charger though. Probably don't need to buy another one. I thought my stock pack was messed up so i bought the 4200mah pack from davesmotors.com and its false peaking as well so it must be my charger. The clutch shoes i cut the metal part off. i only left the metal around the spring hanger and the metal around the bolt hole. its tough metal so if you haven't got a bench grinder and tough fingers i wouldnt do it. HPI sells a pretty lightened clutch assembly for 30 bux. it come with light shoes and a 8000rpm spring. I think i may try out the Elcon adjustable 4 shoe clutch when i get the spare money. I don't even know what ratio i am running. i usually just mix 3.5 to 4 ounces per gallon of 87 octane. Ive tried higher octanes of fuel 93 and 104 but when you run those it makes the motors run hotter so i quit running them. 87 works fine good power and not too hot.
 
those are not the right sizes, there are 3 screw sizes on the baja a 4mm a 3mm and another thats just slightly smaller than the 3mm i would guess 2 or 2.5mm. The pipes make more of a difference in torque than the modded clutches. You could absolutely get just the 8000 spring. the lightened shoes only add like 500rpm or so to the stalled enguagement. so light shoes and 8000 spring would probably kick out at about 8500 to 9000. the way to go is with an adjustable clutch. Thats why im going to get the elcon you can adjust from 6000 to 10000 with its adjusters and the shoes sling out in such a way that the entire shoe contacts the clutch bell so there is even wear and less chance of slippage. The stock clutch slings out and has a good chance to slip and produce uneven wear patterns. But it is a ton cheaper to replace so you gotta weigh the options. the elcon clutch is 100 dollars and i don't even know if you can get replacement shoes for it yet. the stock clutch shoes are around 20 bux the entire stock clutch kit with spring, shoes, hub, and back plate is 25 bux. these are just estimates i didnt feel like lookin the prices up. The pipe does make more difference like i said. Davesmotors.com has all the pipes you could ever want.

JetProV2 built in silencer, likely to be damaged in a hit to the rear end provides great mid range and top end performance slightly louder than stock

JetProV3 silencer removable, likely to be damaged in a hit to rear of the car also a great mid range and top end pipe same noise level as V2 with silencer on extremely loud with it off

DDM Dominator very unlikely to be damaged in a rear hit great low and mid range power noisest pipe not neighbor friendly

TGN Race Pipe likely to be damaged by a side impact provides the most bottom end of any pipe out right now fair amount of noise compared to stock

Msomething side pipe not sure how you spell it Mielke i think, likely to be damaged in a side impact good boost of low mid and high from what i hear it favors the mid and high range i would suspect by the design of it fair amount of noise over the stock

Works pipe not available at DDM and not likely to be damaged by an impact provides not so good performance from what i hear only a slight boost in power over the stock can and a substancial increase in noise

HPI pipe fits the best in the frame work but it only provides a slight boost in power and a large increase in noise

TGN XCAN impossible to damage without tareing up the buggy boosts bottom and mid range and noise level. the best choice for those who try to kill there buggies on a regular basis fair bit louder than stock
 
I don't really like the look of the jetpros or DDM hangin out the back like that.. I want to keep that shine shiney. Unless it is not that easy to scratch or hit them on a jump. I was thinking more X can or hpi pipe because they are protected. I like the looks of the hpi more but I don't know which performs better. I know I am just getting myself into trouble looking into these bajas because I see very few stock bajas here with alot of money into them. I also like that deep throaty sound more like a dirtbike than a weedwacker and I don't know if the X can can make that type of sound. I will try to find some hex drivers in those sizes.
 
The X can sounds like a hopped up weedeater it sounds like the stock can only multiplied by like 10. I like the sound of the jet pros there not too loud and they don't sound like weedeaters but they do get dinged and scratched up because the expansion chamber hangs parallel to the rear skid plate mine looks bad ill shoot a photo of it. It doesn't keep its original shape very long. My cousin has the Dominator pipe. where it is located it keeps it shine and doesn't get scratched up. It does move around and get into the plastic roll cage. it could burn though where ever it contacts and not hurt anything really it just ugly to have the melted plastic all over the pipe. and its extremely loud so if you get one invest in a silencer as well to keep the neighbors happy. the jet pro also melts the frame in some spots. The X can as far as i know does not hurt the frame at all even with the extended ports. The hpi pipe fits the best and is less likely to be damaged but it doesn't perform much better than stock from what i hear. Its also quite loud so you may need a silencer which will put the outlet past the protective roll cage and either get knocked off or sealed with dirt. Its basically a win lose situation with the pipes. low performance and complete shiny pipe or dinged and scratched pipe and high performance. Im getting the TGN's for both of mine they sound the closest to a dirt bike. they are also boast the most bottom end of any pipes out there.
 
between the xcan and hpi pipe i would say the xcan would deliver more bottom end. The hpi pipe looks to be a top end or mid range pipe. Once you learn how the pipes design effects the engine you can look at a pipe and tell if it will boost bottom mid or top end.
 
Can you wheelie with the stock 23 and the jetpro? It says "wheelie snapping power" and i saw a vid of one wheelying. If you landed almost verticaly on the rear wheels would it get damaged? I see the rollcage kinda protects it at the very back. I do want alot of torque but the jetpro doesn't look all that great to me like a big snail.
 
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