I figured I'd start a new RC topic in the new year in order to be more inclusive of everybody's RC hobby.

My first RC outing of the year was at John A. Phillips Preserve. I was out for a couple hours. My battery ran out at the end, so I had to carry my Enduro Trailrunner for about 10 minutes. No big deal. I might have made it back to my real 4Runner if I didn't take a wrong turn towards the end of my outing.

I also redid the front end yesterday. I replaced the ball studs in the lower arms with hex cap screws last spring or summer. I eventually had to replace the ball studs on the upper arms in the same way but with additional springs and washers. This made my IFS more sturdy, but it also threw my steering geometry way out of whack. The lowers didn't affect it too badly, but the tops were a mod too far. I looked at what the plastic rod ends were doing in other parts of the truck, and I saw that they used little plastic balls that had holes for M3 screws. I was using M4 screws in my mod, so I took my pack of extra balls (giggity) and bored out the holes with the standard Dremel drill bit and a slightly larger drill bit in a regular drill. It took some doing, but I got the M4 screws in place with the balls and the balls in the rod ends. Nuts and threadlocker completed the mod. I also replaced the screws and nuts on the lower arms with stainless steel. Today's outing was good. However, I also found that I have a busted bearing in the right front steering knuckle. It was an expensive Fast Eddy sealed ceramic bearing, too. I may replace it with another sealed ceramic, but if it's going to be so prone to breaking then maybe I'll just use cheaper bearings in that spot. There's no use using sealed ceramics where they'll just break before regular bearings would rust. The matching bearing on the other side appears to be okay, though. In any case, the wheel's okay in the meantime. There's a dual bearing setup in the steering knuckle, so it rides well enough on the inner bearing.

I went to Julian L. Capik Nature Preserve today. It was supposed to be an epic snow day. Instead I broke a driveshaft. I already got an upgraded replacement. Besides that, there's not much to say. The pics aren't anything new. After the front driveshaft broke, driving the truck back was a pain. It also started snowing a tiny bit for just a minute. I just hope these upgraded driveshafts are better. They're pretty heavy. I got Hot Racing driveshafts. I had to grind down the tips to get them to fit, but they fit well after grinding.

And now I'm going back to work tomorrow. No more off roading until Saturday. Mini Z racing is Sunday.

So, my new Hot Racing driveshafts are great, but all this snow isn't so great! I decided to go to Raritan Bay Waterfront Park to see how much off roading I could get done. I got more done than I thought. There were some areas where the snow was just too deep, though. I also ended up messing up the motor again in a water crossing. I was able to revive the motor on the beach, but I don't know about this motor. It's rebuildable but not very hardy. The stock motor would have been able to take it.

I will get some current pics of mine, also need to do a trail hike with them this summer. My current list is:

XMAXX - extremely fun, but you need lots of space
2, 1/10 Summits - want to do a brushless conversion on one of them
Stampede - 2WD fun
1/16 Summit - brushless and needs a little work
1/16 Summit - 12yr olds car and she breaks it often, lol
2, Latrax Tetons - 4yr old enjoys driving these
Axial SCX24 - C10 body and pretty fun tiny thing to drive
RedCat Windigo Kit - need to finish assembling this so I can have more of a true crawler

Thinking of adding a couple more, but probably should put some money into my 4Runner first, lol

I have
Trx4 sport builders kit
Trx4 kit
Unlimited desert racer
Slash 4x4


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I went down to Toms River today. I stopped by Hobbytown for a bit first and picked up a few Mini Z parts. Nothing major. I just happened to be in the area. I also ran into the organizer of Jersey RC Racing Promotions who was setting up the Mini Z track there. I then went to Unreal RC and checked out the 1/10 scale crawler course there. It was very, very challenging for my Trailrunner with its still-stock tires, ride height, etc. I was able to get around much of the track without too much hands of god, though. It's a punishing track! That much is for sure! My truck was making all kinds of sounds. It's a good thing I got the upgraded driveshafts. I bet I snapped one of those wheel hex rod things at the course, though. I also briefly tried running my Mini Z 4Runner, and it was... It went as you'd expect. I want to try the course again with a Traxxas New Bronco if I ever get one. Maybe this spring. I also brought a couple Mini Z cars and drove around the track for a while. I actually ran into the same people I saw the last time I went there. We raced our cars a bunch. The one guy even picked up a Nismo Skyline R33 AWD while he was there. Really cool dude.

I then went to the nearby Cattus Island County Park in all of its freezingness today! A friend of mine said I was a madman! I just know that I have to get my Trailrunner time in when I can. Much of the snow has melted or washed away in the past week, so my Trailrunner was able to get around. The trails I took weren't super crazy or anything, but they were nice. There are plenty of trails that I didn't take, though. I'll have to get there again one day. I also had to change a tire while I was out. I think the busted bearing that I had been running was the main culprit, but there was a sharp point on my lower arm modification. I've since smoothed over the sharp point and inserted an older but functional bearing in place of the busted one. I'm glad I kept it after I made the switch to ceramics last spring.

I went to Jamesburg Park Conservation Area for the first time today. I entered the trails at Locust Street. I didn't realize that the entry trail is actually a super tiny thing that you can barely see on the map, so I ended up being far less along in my hike than I thought I was, and I ended up taking a turn that took me to a dead end but I didn't realize it. It was super cold to be lost in the woods, no more than 20 degrees but it was all good. I had layers on, and I got myself back on track. I also ran into a weird sidewalk in the woods. It doesn't make any sense. I don't know why it was there. Maybe it was made in the very early 1900s. This is one of the bigger areas I've ever been to, and it's going to take many visits to see it all.

I was going to go to Ireland Brook in the morning, but my oil change ran long, so I went to John A. Phillips Preserve after lunch instead. It was a cold outing. Everything's frozen. I could feel and hear the ground crunching under my feet if it wasn't simply frozen solid. There were lots of frozen puddles, and even some of the water crossings were frozen and passable when they normally aren't. I mostly stuck to the main northwestern loop, but I also gave the side trails by the entrance a look. Funny enough, I ran into the same couple I saw at Raritan Bay Waterfront Park a few weeks ago. They remembered my Trailrunner. I told them I wasn't kidding when I said last time that I take it everywhere! I also found a small mound of snow at the very end that was interesting to play on.

Sooooooo... This happened yesterday. Maybe it shouldn't have, but it did. But the good news is that I've got the last AWD cars I want! Now I won't have to buy another AWD car ever again 😃 Seriously, I expect to stick to this. I have four now. What might be my personal workaround is getting autoscale bodies and swapping them onto one of the chassis.

I already did my own recommended durability upgrades like metal swing shafts and metal motor heatsink clip. I unfortunately can't find the two packs of nuts I bought last weekend! I must have put them down somewhere, and I can't remember where. I have one more pack of nuts left from last summer, but I can't decide which car to put them on.

The Nissan Skyline R32 Calsonic came with a defective transmitter 🙁 It's got issues powering on. It's iffy about whether or not it does. I'm hoping something's just not sitting right inside the enclosure in the area of the power switch, but I don't have torx screwdrivers long enough to fit deep down inside the holes of the enclosure. I have plenty of torx bits for small screwdrivers, but none of those screwdrivers have a narrow enough bit holder to get in there. Kind of disappointing, but I do have an extra transmitter from my RWD 70 comp car. I use the KT432 with that car, so the transmitter that came with it is just collecting dust. I already paired it to the Calsonic.

Today I plan on doing a motor break-in procedure. I did run these cars but only briefly.

I didn't make it to Ireland Brook yesterday, but I made it today with my Trailrunner. It was about a two and a half hour hike in the morning in the winter. Really amazing! The offroading, while not super hardcore, was way more interesting than you'd think. Entire sections of ground sounded like breaking glass when you'd step on them. There were water and ice sections that were exciting. I even gave it the beans to outrun the ice collapsing under the truck. It was a real Dueling Banjos experience! I kind of regret not posting about going on the FB groups because it would have been a great outing. My battery even lasted way longer than I expected it to. It ran for nearly two and a half hours. I brought a spare battery, but I didn't bother swapping it in because the first one only ran out a few minutes from my real 4Runner

My IFS mods continue to perform admirably. I might even have to adapt the design philosophy of my IFS durability mods to the steering linkage, too. At first I thought I stripped the servo horn, but one of the plastic rod end/metal ball stud things popped apart. I didn't so much pop it back in place as position it in there and hope it stayed. It didn't feel very secure, but it stayed together when I needed it to.

Well, it finally happened. Mother Nature blessed us with all this snow. Now my Trailrunner's not happy. I'm not happy. Wake me up when the snow melts.

Mini Z Life is Good 🙂 I got my full lineup of Mini Z cars here. I'll probably move the 4Runner elsewhere once I get a fourth RWD car. The Civic Type R, Calsonic R32 GTR, and orange Corvette are newer additions. The Corvette will probably become a Liberty Works R35 GTR eventually. I have the body for it. I'll keep the Corvette body around as a beater body since it's a used body and already beaten on thoroughly. I have another blue Corvette body that I keep nice which I got with the chassis that half became my Calsonic R34 GTR and the other half became the R35 GTR. I frankensteined apart the original chassis with a used one and recombined the parts into two different classes of RWD cars.

I have soooooooooo much old Nissan in my collection 😃

I also got all of my wheels for my grip tires all sorted out tonight. My R33 has either stock or stock for the Nismo version wheels. I actually have so many bodies that I just let all of the wheels coagulate together. The AE86 has those PN wheels that look very close to stock. The Calsonic R32 has GL carbon machine cut wheels as does the Civic Type R. I just got a bunch of the GL carbon machine cut wheels. They're really cool. Way back before I knew what I was doing, I ended up getting myself the wrong offset of those GL wheels. It's good to have something more appropriate now that I know what I'm doing. All of these wheels are offset 1 except for the R33. That one's 1.5. Some of the bodies can take 1.5, but I'm happy with just 1.

Thank goodness for the rain washing away the snow last week! I took my Trailrunner out for a little shakedown run at NJ Devils Way. This is the first time I took it out after redoing the steering servo horn screw setup. So far so good. I think I'm going to have to manually adjust the steering linkages or replace the rod ends in the steering linkages, though. Some funny business is going on with the toe. Then again, it doesn't really matter that much.

The weather's nice today, so I went to Julian L. Capik Nature Preserve. I spent a bunch of time out on the trails. It was a mix of conditions. Sometimes ice, sometimes mud, sometimes leaves galore. I also saw some people on horses in the distance. I knew they had horses there, but I've never seen them there before. I also conquered the hill where I broke a driveshaft last time.

Tomorrow's supposed to be snowy and miserable, but I'm racing Mini Z cars so it doesn't matter to me!

Kyosho Mini Z - SnJ Max MOSFET Adapter Used With PN 50 Turn Brushed Ball Bearing Motor

I broke my thumb last week, so I've been out of the RC game. I did get the SnJ Max MOSFET adapter so I could safely run lower turn motors. The doctor said to try doing some work like this to see how viable it would be without using my bad thumb. I got it done, but it took FOREVER 😃 My thumb's still messed up.

I was going to enter this car into the 70 Comp class in the NJ championship race tomorrow, but I'm not going to be doing any racing for a while, so I figured I'd try the SnJ Max adapter to toss in a PN 50 turn brushed ball bearing motor to make a sort of Super Stock class car. So far so good. I don't have room to let it rip here, but it seems like everything's working right. The PN motor's awfully notchy which made me think I wasn't getting a good gear mesh at first, but that must just be how it is. I actually got a second motor, and it's the same way. I haven't tacked down the SnJ Max adapter, so it's just kind of floating in the car at the moment, but it works, nothing blows up, and I might just enter this car into Super Stock next time I'm out racing.



Video 1: Kyosho Mini Z - SnJ Max MOSFET Adapter Used With PN 50 Tur… | Flickr
Video 2: Kyosho Mini Z - SnJ Max MOSFET Adapter Used With PN 50 Tur… | Flickr