Fitting MadMax's to the Rovan

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Polar_Bus

Well-Known Member
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So I wanted to run the MadMax 180's both front and rear on my Rovan truck and it was initially a no go. Because of the different wheel offset on the MadMax rims the inner bead lock will come in contact with the outer tie rod ball end. I ended up having to buy the Rovan hub extender kit. Not a big deal, as i'm glad as the hub kits do away with the front hub "C" clip design and use a bolt and inner bearing flange to retain the axle within the hub. I like the Max's as the rim uses a reinforcing metal sleeve around the hub hex. The Max's have a very nice snug fit on the hubs. Here's some pics :

http://www.davesmotors.com/MadMax-Complete-Supergrip-Onroad-Tire-Wheel-Set-HPI-Baja-5b-Rear.html

The front:





Rear:









Looks great with the on-road sneakers :

 
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Cool. ?? Have you ran them yet? How do you like them? I have the same tires but haven't taken any of the cars out with them on.

Unfortunately have not run them yet. I still got 6" of snow on the ground but the weather looks good over the next week of temps of 45+ degrees so lots of melting. I still need to finish my engine break-in.
 
They do look crazy but, unfortunately the performance is well, mediocre at best. I bought them for my Baja hoping to destroy a few parking lots however, after 1 run, I'm at about 60 percent tread. No "Super Grip" here. Broke traction at quarter throttle. Spun, slid and skidded. I do admit that the spectacle was very amusing but, not very enjoyable. Could it be that my engine over powered them( stock Rovan 45cc with a roostertail full mod 990 ), possibly. Could it have been my suspension set up or a number of other things, possibly. I'll just say that I was not at all impressed. I did get the duratrax bandito b5's so, let's hope they are better.
 

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They do look crazy but, unfortunately the performance is well, mediocre at best. I bought them for my Baja hoping to destroy a few parking lots however, after 1 run, I'm at about 60 percent tread. No "Super Grip" here. Broke traction at quarter throttle. Spun, slid and skidded. I do admit that the spectacle was very amusing but, not very enjoyable. Could it be that my engine over powered them( stock Rovan 45cc with a roostertail full mod 990 ), possibly. Could it have been my suspension set up or a number of other things, possibly. I'll just say that I was not at all impressed. I did get the duratrax bandito b5's so, let's hope they are better.

Correctly matching your gearing is critical to achieving reasonable tire wear. Too low gearing and your just getting wasted tire spining, too high gearing and you overheat your clutch components , and don't achieve peak rpm's. Matching final drive gear ratios to your intended conditions is way more important than most people think.
 
Correctly matching your gearing is critical to achieving reasonable tire wear. Too low gearing and your just getting wasted tire spining, too high gearing and you overheat your clutch components , and don't achieve peak rpm's. Matching final drive gear ratios to your intended conditions is way more important than most people think.
I agree, however, the way they smoked and peeled off tread speaks more to the quality of the tire compound. I owe my neighbor a car was now because of all of the black circles and burn out streaks in front of his garage. But, I am open to any suggestions you have about gearing, trans ect. I just ordered a rear diff and a snapper clutch. I'm torn between the hardened steel 19/52 kit or the 3 speed transmission. Like I said, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
 
I owe my neighbor a car was now because of all of the black circles and burn out streaks in front of his garage.

Bro, with this being said I think you just need to ease up your throttle finger a bit. 45cc's is a LOT of torque, but i'd be willing to bet some higher gearing will allow less torque put to the pavement and less wheelspin. Is both rear wheels spinning equally or are you getting mostly inside wheel spin ? If when hard cornering and accelerating you are observing the inside wheel excessively spin this means you can up the viscosity of your rear diff fluid (adding stronger "posi" type torque applied to both axles) . Might help.
 
Bro, with this being said I think you just need to ease up your throttle finger a bit. 45cc's is a LOT of torque, but i'd be willing to bet some higher gearing will allow less torque put to the pavement and less wheelspin. Is both rear wheels spinning equally or are you getting mostly inside wheel spin ? If when hard cornering and accelerating you are observing the inside wheel excessively spin this means you can up the viscosity of your rear diff fluid (adding stronger "posi" type torque applied to both axles) . Might help.
The wife definitely agrees with you about this heave trigger finger condition I got but, I definitely need thicker diff oil. I wanted the locker diff with the hardened out drives but, it's currently out of stock so, I got the cnc aluminum 1. I'm definitely running 1000 in that one but, like I said, I'm torn between the hardened steel 19/52 and the 3 speed. I may need to go higher on the gears. I'm just trying to get the chassis, diff and transmission situated before I send this motor to OBR to get the full mod treatment and this pipe port matched. I'm a newbie so, everything is a learning experience.
 
I'm new to 1/5 scale, but I have many years of 1/8 Nitro under my belt. A word of experienced caution about "diff lockers". They work awesome provided you have very loose surface conditions. As long as one wheel can slip on loose dirt when cornering you will maintain good steering . If you try to run a locker on hard grippy terrain what happens is the rear tires fight themselves and cause the chassis steering to "push" when trying to corner. I'm not exactly sure if you are looking at a ratchet type slipping locker or simply a true diff "locked" coupling. A ratchet type locker will be more forgiving on the road. I tried a locked coupler in my 1/8 Savage nitro and it was great in soft loose dirt, but horrible in parking lots.
 
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