grampi

I sure could've used a fail safe today. Today, while having my best day of driving yet, I experienced a runaway that almost ended in disaster. After almost 2 hours of trouble free driving, I approached my RC 10 after doing some doughnuts in the gravel. I thought there was some kind of probelm, so as I walked up to the vehicle, I pushed in my transmitter antenna. After looking at the truck, there appeared to be nothing wrong with it. I then hit the throttle, and I was right, there wasn't anything wrong.......not yet anyway. In my haste, I forgot to extend the antenna, and the truck quickly ran out of radio range. Running wide open, the truck screamed across the field, headed into a parking lot, hit and flew over a snow bank at 40+ mph, flew about 10 feet in the air, came down and smacked into a curb, where it landed on its roof and eventually died from a lack of fuel. First of all, I thought the engine was probably fried because it ran at full throttle with no load on it for almost 1 minute until it leaned out and quit. Secondly, I thought for sure parts would be broken, and the frame bent. I pulled the body off and was totally amazed that absolutely nothing was broken or bent. Nothing. The only thing that happened was the super glue on one of the rear tire beads came loose. I even stuck it on the starter and the engine started right up and ran fine. I can't say enough about how tough this thing is. I still don't know how it went through what it did without busting all to pieces.

Brodie Sinn

*kinda wishes he woulda got a RC10 again instead of trying the XXX-NT*

nitroman88

My Feedback: (5)

heck ya RC10s are extremely tuff trucks.

carnuts

Failsafes are definately handy. LOL
Back in the 80's (dating myself) I don't think they had failsafes yet. Every once in a while a car would take off........Forgot the antenna or whatever, .... DOH, Running around like A Lunatic trying to catch the thing. Would have made for funny video.
I always use a failsafe now. They don't work in some situations, But they have saved me a bunch of times.
Pays for itself Quickly

Drat

Should have got a video grampi.

--Drat

Moonunit451

Trottle return springs don't do anything. I'm playin' with fire too gramps.

NitroAggie

I just recently was running my RC10 in the parking alot to get it warmed up for the track later that day, when i cut a donut the battery pack flew off the back of the truck and the throttle was stuck wide open. It went full speed into the curb. It crushed the frame like a beer can, stripped the spur gear, and dismounted a shock but i was able to save it. I was surprised that basically the only thing that was damaged was the frame.

Unstable

was doing jumps off a board set up on a chair, last jump I did it knocked a battery out of the battery holder.. of course it was WOT at the time...

well it did a nice backflip before it hit the ground and started tumbling, then .... ran out of gas before it stopped

talk about luck.. I was running after it because I KNEW it was going to end up on its wheels and streaking across the field towards the full drainage ditch on the other side. was I glad when the engine sputtered and died before I had to do the 100m dash

I need to get a nimh pack and a failsafe for it but budget is tight this month (stupid car insurance) but I will pick one up when i can.

WhiskyVR-4

when you say frame, are you talking about the aluminum chassis? I sincerely doubt the car has enough power to crush the chassis like a beer can. Maybe the body though.

WhiskyVR-4

My experience has been that while a failsafe isn't perfect and won't help you in every situation (like when the locknut on the throttle arm comes off and the carb is stuck wherever the arm left it), running without one is like begging to replace parts, at the very least a piston sleeve and rod. I've also found that the springs are a good idea in theory, add almost no weight, and might get lucky and work, but in most cases the spring lacks the strength to overpower the servo and actually close the throttle. They also wear your reciever batteries out faster because the servo is constantly fighting that spring.

If you are looking for a cheaper failsafe, check out the XTM failsafe from hobby people. It works as well as any other failsafe, its easy to set up, easy to stash out of the way, and most importantly, its under $20!

DSA.308

My Feedback: (6)

FAILSAFE IS A MUST!!!!!! The type that are in the radio with PCM is the best, but the in-line type are fine also.

I had a buggy with a .21 go full throttle over a hundred yards before contacting a Pontiac Grand Am going 40MPH down the street. The driver was too busy watching me and my buddy chasing it, than where he was DRIVING or he could easily had avoided it. I was a little more than pissed off. First, for being stupid myself, and second for the driver who had WAY TOO much time to see my car (Florecent PINK) coming at a perpendicular angle to his car for over a hundred yards. 50 yards while the buggy was completely in his sight.

Moral of my story: WATCH WHERE YOU ARE DRIVING, NO MATTER WHAT. IF my rc car had been a 3 year old child, the driver would be in prison for manslaughter. Think about it.:stupid:

grampi

I have a return spring on the throttle arm, however, it's job isn't to override the servo and pull the throttle closed. It's job is to close the throttle in the even the throttle arm comes off the servo, or any part of the throttle linkage becomes disconnected. It's my understanding the fail safe uses the servo to close the throttle in the even the receiver looses the signal from the transmitter. At any rate, it's a good idea to have them both. And if you lose the battery pack, nothing's going to be able to bring the throttle down.

KyleSch

Was your RC10GT your car with the fantom? I remember when I was running my RS4 2 a few years back the batteries fell out and it was going full throttle around the coldasac 5 or 6 times without crashing. It was kinda funny, but I was new to the hole RC thing then I didn't really know how to stop it, so i just pitched the fuel line...unfortunatly my other finger was on top of the flywheel. I didn't know it for about 5 seconds later when blood started dripping on my car...I didn't know where it was coming from...anyway it was pretty nasty took a while to heal but I never felt a thing!

Anyway I think you can get a failsafe for only 25 dollars on towerhobbies, its definitly a good investment.

NitroAggie

Yes im talking about the chassis. I wasnt literally "crushed", but it was mangled really bad it bent the whole front nose up and was bent again at the enging mount. The actual body tore up pretty bad too. I couldnt believe the chassis bent like that either.

grampi

Yes, mine has the Fantom.

WhiskyVR-4

Wow! Thats nuts! I've done all sorts of rediculous crap with RC10s and never had that kind of problem. Back in the day I had the original RC10 buggy (gold tub chassis with white nylon parts) and after that the original RC10T (black tub chassis) and used to run them off of 1/4 pipe vert skating ramps and empty pools and such (a good 10-15 feet of air each time) and even off of the roof of my friend's 2-story house once or twice and never once took any serious chassis damage. Now I have the newer RC10GT with the flat(ish) chassis and it seems just as tough. Maybe yours had a flaw in the aluminum stock it was manufactured from.

Moonunit451

No, I can attest to the fact. They will bend. I was able to straighten mine out pretty well, but the next time I crash it that hard I won't be so lucky:disappoin

DSA.308

My Feedback: (6)

I agree I hit a HUGE rock with my TMAXX at 40MPH. Fames bend after the front bulkheads and control arms are smashed out.