BrandonWilcox
04-12-2007, 10:15 AM
hey guys. now that our first comp of the year is over i thought i would post the review i did on the gecko 2. this article is a dual purpose crawler, meant for bashing and rock crawling, not just a sole blown out rock crawler. let me know what you think, the article can also be found on our page located here with larger pics:
http://www.ctrockcrawlers.com/dual-...ock-crawler.htm (http://www.ctrockcrawlers.com/dual-purpose-rock-crawler.htm)
article by brandon wilcox
photography by matt higgins
http://img260.imageshack.us/img260/8306/12340372aq9.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Let's face it; everybody loves 4X4 trucks with huge monster truck tires that can climb over anything. RC rock crawling is awesome, and building a truck is just as much fun as driving it. But spending over $700 dollars on a single purpose, slow rock crawler isn't what everyone wants to do with their hard earned money. Being out of rock crawling for a couple months, I decided I wanted to build myself another competition rig, but I still wanted to be able to bash, jump, and have fun with this truck, not just crawl slowly over things. I've decided to build a truck that can still be fun around the house, and still tackle the local rock crawling competitions. After looking around at a couple different chassis's, I've decided to build a gecko 2 kit from http://www.rcguy.com
The gecko 2 has many nice improvements over the original gecko, which is thee truck that started the rock crawling fad. An aluminum upper link mount that doesn't pivot, beautiful machined lower links, and adjustable body mounts really add to the truck. The wheelbase is 13.5 inches which will be great for bashing and still be good enough for rock crawling. This gecko 2 will definitely fit the bill for my dual purpose crawler, but I also needed some strong electronics to make this build successful.
http://img54.imageshack.us/img54/5568/82238514ig7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
After doing a lot of research and talking around to some local guys, I decided that the best speed control to use is the tekin rebel 2. Lots of guys use these to race, because the controller supports a nice 10 turn motor limit, but it is also the most popular used in crawling because it has a huge 5 amp rating at the BEC. What this means is I can easily run 2 servos and 2 motors and have plenty of power so I don't have to hassle around with a receiver pack and current regulators. The tekin rebel 2 is the only speed control I found that has such a good rating, most others I saw only had a 3amp rating at the most, which is mediocre at best for running dual motors and dual servos. As you can see in the picture below, the tekin rebel 2 has a huge heat sink that keeps it running cool, no need for a fan on this baby! To check out more info about this great speed control check out team tekin's new site, it really looks awesome: http://www.teamtekin.com/
http://img444.imageshack.us/img444/3198/41172320fr1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
For my truck I decided to run the following items:
Chassis - RCguy.com Gecko 2
Body - Custom painted Bigfoot Body
Axles - Clod axles with diff lockers
Motors - Integy lathe 35 turn w/stock pinion
Speed Control - Tekin Rebel 2
Radio / Receiver - Traxxas TQ3
Servo - Hitec HS-645MG x 2
RCguy.com Steering kit
RCguy.com Adjustable motor mounts
Rims - White clod buster rims
Wheels - Pro-Line Giant Trac's
Y-harness for true 4 wheel steering
I went with Integy lathe 35 turn motors because they have good torque, but can still provide me some good wheel speed with stock clod pinions. Right now I can almost wheelie from a stopped position with this setup, yet it has enough torque to rock crawl with. As long as you have good throttle control this setup works great for a dual purpose crawler. I may also try some 8 tooth pinions that RCguy sent me, to get a little extra torque on the rocks. For my wheels, there was only 1 choice; I needed a wheel that can tackle any terrain. Giant tracs by pro-line are discontinued, but if you see some on eBay snatch them up, they are awesome on all types of terrain.
http://img175.imageshack.us/img175/2838/48195375tl1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Setting up my gecko2 was easy, the kit comes preassembled, so all I had to do was bolt my axles and install my electronics and I was ready to go. The gecko 2 was machined with quality and durability in mind, its strong yet still lightweight, and the quality is superb. My tekin rebel 2 is sweet; it only took a couple seconds to program. I fashioned it to the chassis with Velcro, and it hasn't come lose yet. I decided to upgrade from the stock bullet connectors to deans, only because I have deans on all my other trucks and batteries. Once I got my truck built I headed to New Milford to tackle some new terrain I haven't been too before. There was snow on the ground so I was a little worried about traction, but the giant tracs, in conjunction with the soft shock setup I used worked great. The rocks that were peeking out of the snow I gripped easily, and was able to crawl up no problem. Right now im running 20 weight oil in the shocks, it seems to be pretty good, but I may go to a shorter shock and a heavier oil to reduce some sag, but still allow me to get that jacked down look for rock crawling. The gecko 2 works great as a rock crawler, I've been very happy with what it can do, but If you're just into rock crawling, and don't want to bash, then RCguy makes a beautiful pro kit that is a better crawler, that comes with everything you need for your project, you can find that info here: http://www.rcguy.com
Now that I know my truck can do great on the rocks, I decided to bash around in the snow and on some pavement. I set up a little jump to see if I had enough speed to hit the ramps with. I was surprised how quick this truck still goes. I flipped the truck my first jump. After playing with the throttle control I was able to do a couple jumps and land them. I was glad I can not only rock crawl, but still be able to have some fun bashing around. It's not a stable jumper like a stampede, but with 5 min's thru a pack you will get the hang of it.
http://img250.imageshack.us/img250/1891/78587438nz9.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Overall I am very happy with my new truck, I look forward to competing in an upcoming rock crawling comp we have every year. I am also going to be bringing some extra batteries so I can bash around once im done competing. Some changes I will be making in the near future will be to change the motors. The tekin rebel 2 can support a 10 turn motor, so (2) 20 turn stingers motors will look like (1) 10 turn motor to the esc. This will be incredibly fast, so I am definitely going to use those RCguy 8 tooth pinions. If it's too fast I can always go back to the lathe motors. I also think that shorter, stiffer shocks will work better on this setup. The only thing I didn't care for on the gecko 2 kit was the battery cup, its a little tuff to get the battery in and out, not really a big deal when battery times are upwards of 20-25 minutes. Here is how I rated my performance of this dual purpose truck:
http://img267.imageshack.us/img267/1275/94535215qw3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Design 9.5/10
Assembly 10/10
Durability 10/10
Rock Crawling 8/10
Bashing 10/10
Overall rating I give this truck a 9.5 highly recommend!
Where can you get the Gecko 2 chassis? Directly from RCGuy.com
Where can you get a Tekin Rebel 2 speed control? Directly from Team Tekin http://www.teamtekin.com/ or Tower Hobbies http://www.towerhobbies.com/index.html
http://www.ctrockcrawlers.com/dual-...ock-crawler.htm (http://www.ctrockcrawlers.com/dual-purpose-rock-crawler.htm)
article by brandon wilcox
photography by matt higgins
http://img260.imageshack.us/img260/8306/12340372aq9.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Let's face it; everybody loves 4X4 trucks with huge monster truck tires that can climb over anything. RC rock crawling is awesome, and building a truck is just as much fun as driving it. But spending over $700 dollars on a single purpose, slow rock crawler isn't what everyone wants to do with their hard earned money. Being out of rock crawling for a couple months, I decided I wanted to build myself another competition rig, but I still wanted to be able to bash, jump, and have fun with this truck, not just crawl slowly over things. I've decided to build a truck that can still be fun around the house, and still tackle the local rock crawling competitions. After looking around at a couple different chassis's, I've decided to build a gecko 2 kit from http://www.rcguy.com
The gecko 2 has many nice improvements over the original gecko, which is thee truck that started the rock crawling fad. An aluminum upper link mount that doesn't pivot, beautiful machined lower links, and adjustable body mounts really add to the truck. The wheelbase is 13.5 inches which will be great for bashing and still be good enough for rock crawling. This gecko 2 will definitely fit the bill for my dual purpose crawler, but I also needed some strong electronics to make this build successful.
http://img54.imageshack.us/img54/5568/82238514ig7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
After doing a lot of research and talking around to some local guys, I decided that the best speed control to use is the tekin rebel 2. Lots of guys use these to race, because the controller supports a nice 10 turn motor limit, but it is also the most popular used in crawling because it has a huge 5 amp rating at the BEC. What this means is I can easily run 2 servos and 2 motors and have plenty of power so I don't have to hassle around with a receiver pack and current regulators. The tekin rebel 2 is the only speed control I found that has such a good rating, most others I saw only had a 3amp rating at the most, which is mediocre at best for running dual motors and dual servos. As you can see in the picture below, the tekin rebel 2 has a huge heat sink that keeps it running cool, no need for a fan on this baby! To check out more info about this great speed control check out team tekin's new site, it really looks awesome: http://www.teamtekin.com/
http://img444.imageshack.us/img444/3198/41172320fr1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
For my truck I decided to run the following items:
Chassis - RCguy.com Gecko 2
Body - Custom painted Bigfoot Body
Axles - Clod axles with diff lockers
Motors - Integy lathe 35 turn w/stock pinion
Speed Control - Tekin Rebel 2
Radio / Receiver - Traxxas TQ3
Servo - Hitec HS-645MG x 2
RCguy.com Steering kit
RCguy.com Adjustable motor mounts
Rims - White clod buster rims
Wheels - Pro-Line Giant Trac's
Y-harness for true 4 wheel steering
I went with Integy lathe 35 turn motors because they have good torque, but can still provide me some good wheel speed with stock clod pinions. Right now I can almost wheelie from a stopped position with this setup, yet it has enough torque to rock crawl with. As long as you have good throttle control this setup works great for a dual purpose crawler. I may also try some 8 tooth pinions that RCguy sent me, to get a little extra torque on the rocks. For my wheels, there was only 1 choice; I needed a wheel that can tackle any terrain. Giant tracs by pro-line are discontinued, but if you see some on eBay snatch them up, they are awesome on all types of terrain.
http://img175.imageshack.us/img175/2838/48195375tl1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Setting up my gecko2 was easy, the kit comes preassembled, so all I had to do was bolt my axles and install my electronics and I was ready to go. The gecko 2 was machined with quality and durability in mind, its strong yet still lightweight, and the quality is superb. My tekin rebel 2 is sweet; it only took a couple seconds to program. I fashioned it to the chassis with Velcro, and it hasn't come lose yet. I decided to upgrade from the stock bullet connectors to deans, only because I have deans on all my other trucks and batteries. Once I got my truck built I headed to New Milford to tackle some new terrain I haven't been too before. There was snow on the ground so I was a little worried about traction, but the giant tracs, in conjunction with the soft shock setup I used worked great. The rocks that were peeking out of the snow I gripped easily, and was able to crawl up no problem. Right now im running 20 weight oil in the shocks, it seems to be pretty good, but I may go to a shorter shock and a heavier oil to reduce some sag, but still allow me to get that jacked down look for rock crawling. The gecko 2 works great as a rock crawler, I've been very happy with what it can do, but If you're just into rock crawling, and don't want to bash, then RCguy makes a beautiful pro kit that is a better crawler, that comes with everything you need for your project, you can find that info here: http://www.rcguy.com
Now that I know my truck can do great on the rocks, I decided to bash around in the snow and on some pavement. I set up a little jump to see if I had enough speed to hit the ramps with. I was surprised how quick this truck still goes. I flipped the truck my first jump. After playing with the throttle control I was able to do a couple jumps and land them. I was glad I can not only rock crawl, but still be able to have some fun bashing around. It's not a stable jumper like a stampede, but with 5 min's thru a pack you will get the hang of it.
http://img250.imageshack.us/img250/1891/78587438nz9.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Overall I am very happy with my new truck, I look forward to competing in an upcoming rock crawling comp we have every year. I am also going to be bringing some extra batteries so I can bash around once im done competing. Some changes I will be making in the near future will be to change the motors. The tekin rebel 2 can support a 10 turn motor, so (2) 20 turn stingers motors will look like (1) 10 turn motor to the esc. This will be incredibly fast, so I am definitely going to use those RCguy 8 tooth pinions. If it's too fast I can always go back to the lathe motors. I also think that shorter, stiffer shocks will work better on this setup. The only thing I didn't care for on the gecko 2 kit was the battery cup, its a little tuff to get the battery in and out, not really a big deal when battery times are upwards of 20-25 minutes. Here is how I rated my performance of this dual purpose truck:
http://img267.imageshack.us/img267/1275/94535215qw3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Design 9.5/10
Assembly 10/10
Durability 10/10
Rock Crawling 8/10
Bashing 10/10
Overall rating I give this truck a 9.5 highly recommend!
Where can you get the Gecko 2 chassis? Directly from RCGuy.com
Where can you get a Tekin Rebel 2 speed control? Directly from Team Tekin http://www.teamtekin.com/ or Tower Hobbies http://www.towerhobbies.com/index.html