ASK Cub Reporter, 08.23.2012, Version: You Ask The Right Question, I Give You A Free T-Shirt

I was reading your review on the new Pro-line transmission. I sent some questions to Pro-line yesterday regarding the problem I have been having with my standard Rustler gears. I was hoping you might be able to shed some additional light on the subject particularly since you have done the vigorous field testing. I got a little of mixed messaging so I wanted to forward you our email conversation which outlines the Q&A so far. By the way, my car is the electric rustler model #3705 with upgraded castle 4 pole motor #1406, running on a Venom 2S lipo 8.4v 5000, spur gear #86 with #22 pinion gear.

I appreciate any input you can offer.

Greg D.

Cubby– The above email is in addition to a series of emails we received between Greg D and Pro-Line customer service. To bring everyone up to speed, Greg had been bashing his Rustler for a couple months on a Castle 1410 using the stock tranny, then all of a sudden it started eating up the “top gear” on every run. Because Greg mentions “spur gear” separately during his emails, I’m going to assume he isn’t blowing up spurs, but instead he’s blowing up the top shaft gear.

The Magnum 272 tranny on a Rustler 3705 certainly has faults, but overall it’s solid and has proven capable of handling a 1410 on 2S. The fact Greg was able to drive it for a couple months with no issue eludes to this. The fact that he now blows a top shaft gear on every run leads me to believe one of these two things has happened- 1. the tranny case is cracked, or 2. the bearings on the top shaft are bad. If the tranny case is cracked it will allow the idler and top shaft gears to separate, causing the weaker of the two gears to be destroyed. The same can happen if the top shaft bearings are bad, but bad bearings will also cause the pinion/spur mesh to change, typically causing the spur to get eaten up before the top shaft gear. So if you are looking to fix the stock tranny I’d recommend grabbing the top shaft and trying to wiggle it around. Look to see if the top shaft wiggles because of bad bearings, or if the entire tranny case flexes because of a crack.

But my real recommendation is this- Buy the Pro-Line tranny! It’s worth a hundred bones on trick factor alone, but more importantly, overall it is better in every way than your stock tranny.

Many of your reviews seem overly positive such as the max amps power supply which had been said is good value when it would be possible to get one that is 15amps or higher easily for less money than that price.

Yours faithfully an avid reader

Lars

Cubby– What’s up Lars? Thanks for the email.

Yes indeed, there are lots of power supplies cheaper than the MaxAmps 12 volt 47 amp unit we reviewed a few weeks ago, absolutely no doubt about it. However… I don’t know of a cheaper “name brand” power supply that has the output capability of the MaxAmps for a lesser price.

15 amps might be plenty of output for most folks, but more and more people are charging multiple packs at a 2C (or higher) rate. Also, more and more people are charging 4S-6S packs at the highest rate they can get away with. A normal 12 volt 15 amp power supply just doesn’t cut it in those applications, they simply run out of juice.

To boil it down, we stick to our review of the MaxAmps power supply, it handles the monotonous daily task of powering multiple battery chargers of ours without fail. It does exactly what it’s supposed to do without issue, at a reasonable price. That’s a winner to us.

But… if you do run across a power supply with higher output at a lower price (that isn’t being sold on flee-bay by one dude out of a garage) feel free to shoot us a link.

Hey, question for you guys.
I m building an fpv (first person view) truck and would like to find what radio system will have the most range. I did read your article, but my question is: Have you ever range tested the spektrum DX3R/pro? They run on DSM2. No big deal right?
Spektrum’s “full range” DSM2 is advertised to go on average 1km+ …and there are guys all over the fpv flying forums CLAIMING 4mi ranges!!!
Proof of the longer range can be seen if you search long range summit fpv or fpv tonka summit on youtube. The guy is using a spektrum dx8 and ventures quite some distance!!
Thank You!!
MaxxMaster

Cubby– Yo to the yo, what’s up MaxxMaster? Hey, ya want a free T-shirt? Shoot Brian your snail mail as I’m proclaiming yours as the “letter of the month”. Don’t forget to include your size.

Have we ever range tested a Spektrum DX3R Pro? No we have not, so I will not speculate on its actual range. However…. I did run one for a couple months. Range was fine at the track, but when doing high speed runs on open pavement its range was shorter than the guys I was running with (who were using Traxxas and Futaba radios). We never stepped off any distances, so I can’t quote you how much better, all I know is I was always the guy doing the “walk of shame” to get within range of my car.

So… what I’m going to recommend to you is this- from our first hand testing, if you are looking for maximum range with a surface intended 2.4GHz radio, that would be Futaba. Also, we’ve got our second 2.4 GHz radio shootout right around the corner, and of course we’ll be posting range tests on a new batch of sub $200 radios, so keep an eye out for that.

And lastly… driving via FPV IS the future of rc. The “powers that be” in rc have yet to push it, but it is how we’ll be driving in the future. It’s simply more realistic and more exciting. Best of luck with yours, they are good times.

That’s it for this week, submit your questions, suggestions, and whatever else you have cooking in those brains of yours to Cubby at BigSquidRC dot com! Make the front page get free stickers, be letter of the month and get a freebie BSRC t-shirt to cover you bod.

YOUR Cub Reporter