ASK Cubby- Your Questions, My Turkey Filled Answers

Battery Charging

Cub Reporter,

When I bought my truck a month ago I thought the RTR charger it came with would work but now I have four batteries and the charger takes FOREVER on just one pack. I want a good charger but it has to be under a hundred dollars, any recommendations?

Derek K.”

Cubby- Well hello there Derek, Happy Thanksgiving and thanks for the email.

You seem to have a reasonable enough question, but I have questions too. Does your new charger have to be an AC/DC unit, or can it just be DC? What kind of batteries are you charging- NiMH, LiFe, LiPo, LiHV, or goodness forbid NiCad?

Ok… so here is the scoopage. With nearly no input data I am simply going to throw out what charger I would personally buy if I only had a $100 bill in my pocket. And the answer is… wait for it… just a little longer… OMG here it comes… the Hitec X2 AC Plus. And just why do I recommend that specific charger?

1. It has two output ports
2. It can be run on AC or DC power
3. I have found that it does a great job of charging Lithium based packs
4. And most importantly, it is priced at $99

So there ya have it Derek, while you are resting up from eating all that turkey you can get on A-Main and order ya one up. And yes, you can thank me later.

Yeti XL Steering

I bought a RTR Yeti XL after reading your review but mine just doesn’t like to steer, at all! What can I do to give it more steering?

Harold T.”

Cubby- Yo to the you Harold, hope you are enjoying that beast and thanks for the email.

So here is the dealio, the biggest problem is that the servo saver on the Yeti XL is on the soft side. When we reviewed the kit version of the Yeti XL we installed a 2mm thick M8 washer below the spring to help stiffen it up. That was not a perfect fix, but it sure helped a lot. If I was going to uber-out the steering on a Yeti XL I would go with an aftermarket adjustable servo saver, a metal servo arm, and a high-end servo.

We have used the steering rack from Hot Racing on our Yeti XL and it worked really well. It runs around $50 but is worth every penny. It is adjustable, so you can really crank it down to keep the saver from flexing when you don’t want it to. There are a bunch of aluminum servo arms on the market, just make sure you pick one that is the proper length. Most aluminum servo arms run around $15. Finally, to make sure you have plenty of torque to shove those huge tires around, I would use a Hitec D945TW (about $150). It is one of my favorite servos and has more than enough power for the XL.

So there it is, another magnificent edition of ASK Cubby. Do you have a serious rc question? Perhaps a not so serious one? Can’t figure out why your girlfriend left you and your dog ran away? Email me- thecubreportrc at gmail dot com is my email address. If you hit the big time you’ll get a free sticker pack, if your email is named “Letter of the Month” we’ll hook ya up with a free t-shirt.

YOUR Cub Reporter