Magic is in the air as Redcat Racing prepares to bring forth a brother to the Terremoto 1/8th scale " T8"

Redcat Racing has announced that they will be releasing a new line of RC's that they are referring to as Team Redcat racing . 

They have stated that the first vehicle in the new lineup will be the   TR-MT8E Monster truck .

So what is it and where did it come from ? The OEM for this Truck is Team Magic and its model name is E6III HX .  www.teammagic.com

If you don't know who Team Magic is that's understandable they are best known for their onroad cars and don't have a huge following compared to many manufactures in the United States . The good news is that the E6 Series of trucks has been in production for a good while and the Trooper version seemed to develop a  decent following due to its durability . 

One rub that may develop is a lack of speed as noted by Aussie RC Playground while testing the E6III HX . Previous brushless E6 models that I have seen had 6s capable ESC's where the E6III HX has  a 4s capable ESC . 


All in all the truck should be a good platform and I hope they announce the MSRP and spec sheet soon so we can see how the cost stacks up compared to the other 1/8th scale trucks on the market from Traxxas,HPI,Thundertiger,Team Losi , Team Associated ,Arrma , and ETC.

Looks like Redcat Is getting ready to rerelease the Terremoto line

Redcat Racing released the 1/8th scale Terremoto  back in late 2013 / early 2014 and was hit with a lawsuit from Traxxas right before the release of the 1/10th scale version Dubbed  T-10 . 

It seems the hold the on the trucks has been lifted and Redcat is looking to have The Version 2.0 models out and available before Christmas . 

So what did they change ? well from these Picks lifted from the Redcat Racing sight and a little paint action hopefully you will be able to tell . 

Now color me confused but the manuals are showing a bell crank set up shown below .

So who knows how everything will end up but I'm still excited and hope to see if the T-10 is worth the wait . 

My list of recommended upgrades and modification for the Redcat Racing Ground Pounder ( part 3)

Lets see  for the third installment I'm gonna bounce around a bit .

Number 1:
Well the next thing on my recommend things to do is to lower the battery / electronics tray as low as it can go . and rotate 180 degrees. I pretty much took the chassis down to 2 bare plates took several measurements made sure my holes where going to be square and drilled away . I left about 3 mm worth of clearance between the spur and plate . Please note that moving the tray will lower the center of gravity a lot the only negative is that the motor will be lowered as well and the up travel of the suspension will be lowered .  I rotated the tray to move the battery to the front , it also corrects the motor rotation as the factory setup has the motor rotating opposite of its intended design .

Red is the factory holes Green is the holes I drilled and am currently using .

Number 2:
Body post are high on my list as the stock ones are pretty breakable . I have installed post by CRP they use slightly bigger screws so drilling will be required but they are about as beefy as you can get .

Number 3:

I think my next suggestion is to install a external BEC such as   Hobbyking YEP 20A HV (2~12S) SBEC w/Selectable Voltage Output  .  The speed control / most speed controls do not supply enough power for the stock servo to operate at its peak performance . In this case the stock ESC's BEC is rated at 2 amps and 5.0 volts the external BEC will provide 6.0 volts and will increase the servo speed by ruffly 24% . The increase number of available amps will help stabilize the voltage and increase torque . This will be even more evident when using 4 wheel steering .

Number 4:

I suppose my next recommendation would be to upgrade the rear driveshaft as under load the yokes can deform and separate leaving you will a front wheel drive monster truck . Redcat Racing has one available and the price is pretty reasonable but due to slop in the assembly and the soft aluminum used I do not recommend it in high powered applications or if lots of gritty mud is expected as I feel they will wear out fast . I find my self looking at steel driveshafts meant for crawler applications as a good replacement . under the right conditions the front driveshaft may need upgraded but so far I have not needed to upgrade .  

My list of recommended upgrades and modification for the Redcat Racing Ground Pounder ( part 2)

To continue on my recommended upgrade and modification list .

I figure the next area I want to focus on is the front and rear axles .

All over the internet you can read about people who have broke axle housings on the Ground Pounder but to be honest I feel most of the breakages could easily be avoided by making a few modifications .

Modification number 1:
Drill out all the screw holes in the axle halves so that 3 mm  screws will pass through with little to no resistance . Next install longer 3 mm screws that will allow a small diameter washer and a nut to be installed .

Reason's

The holes in the axles are small and require the screws to be threaded through both halves of the assembly .
Drilling out the holes speeds up assembly.
I also feel this clamps the axle halves better and increases the rigidity of the assembly and makes the halves act  more as one unit  .

Modification number 2:
Shimming the differential and ring and pinion is the next modification I would recommend . Shimming the ring and pinion gears is about give and take . I recommend adding shims to the side bearing of the differential till there is no side to side play . I then move shims from left to right and right to left till the pinion and ring gear mesh with just a tiny bit of play . Adding shims behind the pinion can move the pinion inward increase the contact area and the strength of the ring and pinion .  So moving the pinion inward is a good thing . The main cause of compromise in shimming is binding when the steering knuckles are turned as the dog bones are a couple millimeters 2 long for perfect differential placement  , at least in my experiences .  As a finishing touch I also shimmed the pinion on the outside so it can not move inward by putting a brass bushing between the bearing and the drive shaft yoke . I sanded the bushing to make it the right thickness .


Modification number 3:
Clean the Grease out of the differential  and fill them with silicon oil . Currently I'm  using 5000 wt hot bodies diff oil in the  rear and 3000 wt HB oil in the front . "I'm considering going to thicker diff fluid in the future"   Even using the 3000 wt and the 5000wt  oils I can say stability and drive ability have increased greatly due to the reduction in tire ballooning when weight shifts off a tire and for mud and snow it will keep you chugging forward with authority  .