ASK Cubby – In Come The Letters, Out Goes My Mind

“Steering

Hi Cubby, what is the best way to get more steering on my PRO-mt? When I first got it the steering was fine, now it seems like there isn’t enough?

Porter”

Cubby- Hey ya Porter, thanks for writing in, shoot me your snail mail for one of our very large, and very kick butt, sticker packages.

So… you have a Pro-Line PRO-MT. Congrats, the PRO-MT is a premium bash truck, without doubt one of the best to ever be released.

I don’t know if your PRO-MT started life as a kit, or one of their limited release RTRs, nor do I know what servo you are using. However, if the steering was good when ya got it, but has gotten worse since then, this is what I would do.

1. Check the servo saver. It is adjustable and located in the steering rack. Sometimes that style of servo saver can come loose, so you’ll need to check it. How do you check it? You use one hand to hold the servo arm stationary, then use your other hand to apply pressure on the front wheels to attempt to make the servo saver twist. If the servo saver slides easily with very little pressure on the front wheels, you will want to tighten it. This is easy enough to do by simply spinning the threaded portion below the servo saver spring.

2. Let’s say that your servo saver was working properly. Let’s say the servo saver was not too loose, yet was set tight enough to where it only worked on big hits. Then I would check your servo. Over time, normal use (and if you bash, probably a lot of abuse) will wear down a servo. Listen to your servo. Is it making death noises? Look at your servo, does it swing smoothly in each direction to full lock? If possible, grab a servo from another truck and install it in your PRO-MT. Did that fix the problem? If so, it is time to order up a gear replacement, or perhaps even an entirely new servo. If it is indeed time for a new servo, be sure to get one with metal gears and preferably 150oz (or more) of torque. I am a big fan of Hitec and can’t recommend their servos highly enough.

3. However… if your servo saver and servo are good, there is still something else to check. You didn’t mention what radio you were using, but from time to time settings on a radio can be accidentally changed. Make sure your radio is properly set. I have seen lots of radio have their settings changed by bouncing around in a gear bag, or from having someone else “take a look” at it and return it with different settings.

There ya go kid, I hope that helps ya out. Have fun, go fast, break lots of parts.

“Rc racing

Hey Cubby, What’s up? I read last Cub Report and you said you were delivering a very cool tricked out car. I noticed the guy in the back seat wearing a Corvette shirt. Was it a Vette? Do you get to see the car on the site? I have a 1966 convertible with original L79 327/350hp engine, side pipes, 4 speed, and my dad has 2002 convertible. I would do more with the Corvette clubs, but I am youngest one there at 44- you really don’t have a lot in common with retiree’s! Therefore I spend more time on RC and just keep the Vette running when something breaks- and since i have a one car garage- working on it is a pain!- The RC’s are easier!

Anyhow, I actually writing about rc racing and how to fix it. Here is my take. IGNORE ROAR AND ALL OTHER SANCTIONING BODIES. Call up Traxxas- have them shell out cash for some Traxxas approved rc tracks-around the country- (sort of the like the Tamiya TCS races where only Tamiya parts and cars are allowed, oil shocks and bearings!) But since Traxxas comes with that, run them out of the box. Why do I say this now? Because someone at the big T knows what is going on! With the news of the 4Tec 2.0 coming out with brushed version, no body for $225, and finally a brushless version with no body for $379! Most likely the best bag your buck ever in the history of RC. If that doesn’t ignite on road again- nothing will. But alas, someone shows up to the carpet track with one of those, and they will get laughed at because Joe smucky just spent $5000.00 this year alone trying to compete with his uber touring car that requires a $400 set up station to make it go straight! Then they announced the 2018 version with update suspension arms that are .005″ thinner and axles that are made of some rare metal that made the pro test drivers go .00006 seconds faster a lap. Good for Joe smucky.

Traxxas is probably the only ones that save RC racing in general-on and off road. Make fun of the Stampede – go ahead- change the body and change the color of the plastic- keep the price the same- and BAM- someone is making money to spend more on development-ie X-Maxx, 4 tec 2.0, and TRX-4.

Maybe Tamiya will fix RC racing- but since the TRF team was disbanded-sort of- do they know something we don’t? Tamiya seems to be reinventing themselves- I still think Konghead is awesome, and recently i drove a Gf-01 deep truck and couldn’t stop laughing how fun it was to drive.

Better yet- Bigsquid has there own sanctioned races- everyone- everything is allowed- even quad copters racing above the cars- or even get points if your car jumps into a quad copter- yes I know they call them drones- but technically they are quad copters. Scale truck scaling with X-Maxx’s crushing 4tec’s, Nitro, electric, even a boat pond in the middle of the track with m41 blasting around on 6s. Instead of losing a race if a lipo goes, you get points if there is a lipo fire. Have part of the track set up on a roof and you have to jump off it to get to the other part of the track. When the race is over you smash your radio to the ground and if it still works- than you win!

What is your take on all this??

Jimmy D.”

Cubby- Oh yes, the famous Jimmy D. Thanks for writing in again, always fun to read what is on your mind.

Actually, I was driving an older Ferrari. While it was a great road car, it was not a fan of driving less than 30 mph in the middle of the Mojave Desert. You’ve probably heard of the term “range anxiety”. This is best known by Tesla drivers when they get stopped in traffic and are freak’n out if they’ll have enough range to make it to their destination. Well, I was suffering from “old Ferrari anxiety”, the fear of locking up a very expensive engine because the state of California thinks that endless stop-n-go traffic is the cure for everything. Yes, the car made it just fine, but my mind (and eyes) may never be the same. I have never, EVER, stared at a water temp gauge so hard for that many hours in my life.

I have said for years that the only company that can fix rc racing, at the local level at least, is Traxxas. I have said that because I have seen it first hand! When Traxxas used to hold races at the TORC events it was super laid back, and much more importantly, super FUN! Their tracks were made from loose dirt, there were no triples, there were no high-bite sections, it was just people racing rc cars for the love of it. But like you mention, Traxxas has some very smart people, smart enough to realize that the ROI on rc racing most likely isn’t worth the considerable expenditure.

As far as BigSquidRC getting involved, we know we are a bashing website, but we are all about racing when it’s fun. Sadly, I think any track we design would be a bit too extreme for an average user. I could envision us having a real mud pit (where you might make it through, or you might not), gnarly whoops that would stop a Savage XL dead in its tracks, loose/sandy/loamy/dirt, and at least one 80’+ double jump, just to keep things really real. Oh and, we’d quickly ban anyone/everyone for cursing a marshal or throwing radios/cars/starter boxes, Those rules alone should quickly weed out exactly the type of people that we don’t want racing anymore.

But any which way… like I stated in THE Cub Report, I don’t know if racing can be saved. It might be a lost cause. There might be a point when the big names stop writing checks to factory drivers because they simply can’t afford to keep doing so. I still think companies that have the most to lose need to get together and totally reformulate the game. Anything new will excite the category, especially an all out change in how races are done. And if done properly, companies that used to make a good living selling racing gear can do so once again.

So there it is, another ASK Cubby is a wrap. You can shoot me questions, answers, rants, whatever really, to thecubreportrc at gmail dot com. If you are a lucky dog and your letter hits the big time you’ll get a free sticker pack. If yours is declared “Letter of the Month” we’ll get ya the hook up on one of our uber t-shirts (now available in sizes up to 4-XL!).

YOUR Cub Reporter