2020 ruckus rebuild by rookie

[tlo1360]

Hello everyone still on here,

I have noticed that a lot of the threads on here concerning the 2WD or 4X4 RUCKUS are more than a year old now I know and understand economics and why the truck is slowly fading. What I don't understand is why there is not more people on here showing there 5-6 yr old RUCKUS. This truck is fun as heck all around fully customizing it has been a fun venture in it's own, let alone the downtime from objects and miss calculated jumps. NOw it's time for me to pull mine out of the closet again get it overhauled with all the knowledge I now have on properly gearing, setting mesh, spur spring, etc.. By far my biggest mistake after getting this truck was not educating myself on proper break-in play. I have fried 2 motors both brushed. never seated or cleaned. So i have now tore the whole truck apart to see what all mistakes I have made with my truck to my drive style and this is all of what I have done and what I have planned for this truck over the next two months.

So first is the steering saver i have switched to HR aluminum steering saver to try and get rid of slop and get a little better response compared to the zip tie trick. Then it hit me there are all these shiny parts out there I can put on my truck and make it all shiny and it will all be metal so it wont break no more. HAHAHAHA Thus, began the training course... Youtube of course. How do I upgrade this, how do I do that, then i saw the posts set your mesh. oil your bearings,etc..

so then came these the famed HR steel axles for the 2WD RUCKUS now discontinued. unfortunate I have really enjoyed these axles I have had no issues with them while misusing the truck I have now sourced the updated HR steel axles which come with the rubber booting on them I see issues with the rubber tearing from use and sand debris getting inside the boot itself so looking ahead of time might use the traxxas axle mod if they break.

Then came a new spur gear and steering servo due to a intense head-on with a misplaced pallet along with a new chassis front bulkhead and some suspension parts then at that time. I switched the spur gear at the same time because i noticed a lot of slipping before the hit.

So now that I have band-aided the truck as much as I could for my learning mistakes I have now started to source parts based mainly on durability followed by price followed by necessity. I have reached this as an upgrade list and I am able to keep the total price to just under 300 U.S.

FR A Arms -aluminum for durability and weight disp. going to run plastic rear for now and upgrade when they break
FR/RR Shocks- need help looking at an aftermarket knock off 110 mm RR and 95-ish FR also looking at possibly getting a trax. slash aftermarket?
running 30/35 WT Shock oil in new shocks- up for debate
Metal transmission gear set from ECX with the full set - Should I put a lube compound on new gears or seal the case and run a full 10 WT synthetic?
FR Aluminum shock tower/ wheel hub/ wheel spindle -mix of off brand aluminum and HR parts mostly for weight displacement
New bearings all around
switching to a 81 T spur I currently have a 17/87 pinion/spur both metal and am looking to swap between the 17 T up to a 24 T 48 P pinion so I can try different gears with diff. mesh
new all metal transmission case and sourcing a 3900 KV motor to go with a 80 A ESC combo- up for debate in a small sense kind of sure on 80 A because I wont extra power down the road
going with the trax. wheelie bar mod to assist with getting proper gearing ( I do not want to just wheelie and flip the truck)
And last but not in the least I am sourcing all new linkage for turnbuckles to servo linkage looking at going full adjust and just buying a piece of all thread cut down to length and put metal heads on to make home made linkage for all of it

I am still looking to see what parts I really want over others I still need to source the power and the brains of the truck. I want to continue to run the RX that came with the truck I don't run it more than 50 FT from where I stand, so I don't need a Remote that is over-sized and bulky to carry around with me. I am open to new Remote options that I could resource and see if I would like them or not.

I have a lot of spare parts already for this truck because I always play it smart and buy the economy packs that have 2 or more items for a lower cost. Yes I am a budget basher.
If anyone still runs these forums that have had times with any of these parts always welcoming new information or parts to look at. Also I am looking for more ECX forums to join as well if any leads on that as well?

 

[Fabio casa]

Hey if you’re looking to do a bunch of upgrades and want to do it on the cheap. You could go the route I did. I got the app called AliExpress on my phone. It’s a Chinese distributor but they ship globally, anyways they would have all the parts you’re looking for. I would show you my build but I’m still missing some parts that haven’t come yet. I will attach a few pics for you to see. The quality is really good and you have a lot of choice in what colour you want ( I went with red). One more thing they have really nice affordable esc and brushless motor options I think I paid $40 CAD (Canadian) for mine

 

[tlo1360]

Are those an ECX brand shock that you replaced with or are you doing a traxxas shock? I ordered a slash 2 WD big bore for mine I found to use little plastic extenders on the screws to help with fitment around the other suspension parts,but then i also have RPM a arms coming in for the rear Figure go plastic on those cause I'll probably break a set each time I go out.
As for the aliexpress didn't know they had an app, but that's the website I'm using for the motor/esc combo spending like $38 ( US) on that with program card. Thinking of ordering 2 just in case I do get a faulty one might be better to take and get more expensive unit but then I'm down longer waiting on the exchange if part is bad.

 

[Fabio casa]

Are those an ECX brand shock that you replaced with or are you doing a traxxas shock? I ordered a slash 2 WD big bore for mine I found to use little plastic extenders on the screws to help with fitment around the other suspension parts,but then i also have RPM a arms coming in for the rear Figure go plastic on those cause I'll probably break a set each time I go out.
As for the aliexpress didn't know they had an app, but that's the website I'm using for the motor/esc combo spending like $38 ( US) on that with program card. Thinking of ordering 2 just in case I do get a faulty one might be better to take and get more expensive unit but then I'm down longer waiting on the exchange if part is bad.

Yeah the shocks are big bore but they are meant for the ecx line of rcs

 

[tlo1360]

Those look nice. I have a mix of red and blue's coming for my parts list. If you don't mind after you run those for a bit if you could let me or the community know how they work out and what WT you use on your's?

I will look into those a little more I was thinking of going Traxxas brand due to more known of a name maybe a better made part? IMHO.
But I base a lot of my upgrade choices on the reviews of the part not the seller. if it is a well known part like castle motors per se I youtube reviews as well before I purchase.

 

[Fabio casa]

I understand why you don’t trust the China parts I totally get that and I’ll tell you rite now I’m going to use a Losi 35 wt in the rear and Losi 30wt in the front but as for a review That’ll have to wait I won’t be running the rig till the spring because it’s super cold here in Toronto and lots of snow

 

[tlo1360]

I'm Washington state so we have a little cold weather here now might get some more snow after a while but, i have parts that are a month out on shipping. I will probably get all my parts around end of Feb. beginning of Mar. take a week get it all setup and, tuned properly this time. I went with traxxas linkage upgrade kits already but, finally found a post going against those because of impacts the round ball linkage that is stock on the ruckus will just pop off and is cheaper to replace at the cost of proper handling.

 

[tlo1360]

So just an update I have got all the RPM parts in and attached
Wheel carriers
spindles
A Arms
Protek metal/rubber sealed bearings
85 T HR Spur Gear 87 T spare
17 T-24 T pinion gears
Proline Chevy Blazer body mild modification
metal gear set
30/35 wt shock oil
new rear body mount set
new slipper pads
Reddy HD servo horn
Now as for in the mail i still have a few important parts
3800 KV with new 60 A ESC
New Redcat 2.2 tires
Traxxas slash big bore shocks
Traxxas steering linkage adjustable
Just so everyone knows with the metal gears I did take my time and replace all the bearings inside the trans. case along with the new bearings in the over-sized RPM spindles. I used a standard bearing grease from team assc. I ensured full grease packing into the case and on the driveshaft bearings as well. I have noticed as well with my servo horn it either sits at 11 o clock or 1 o clock position i cannot set it for the noon position the only thing i did not try was spinning the entire steering unit around. will be posting finished pictures at the end of this week on this post.
Now with the new pinion gear sets that I have available to use should I go for gearing or should i go for better mesh seeing how this is just a basher truck?

 

[tlo1360]

Here she be all finished up just waiting on the adjustable steering linkage

 

[Steve g]

Looking good. I have the same issue with both of my circuits with the steering servos not being perfect. All i did was adjust the steering centering knob on the transmitter. Mine do turn a little sharper one way then the other now, which it can be adjusted using the endpoint adjustment (not the dual rate knob), but my older dx2es do not have this option. But since my servo arm is longer then stock, it turns so much it isn't noticeable unless it's going really slow (and who drives these slow anyways?). You can take the servo apart and move the last gear a tooth or two, if needed.
What kind of pinions did you get? With the steel spur gear(s) you have, you'll need to run hardend steel pinions aswell, or your spur will eat them pinions up. Honestly I'm on the plastic spur gear side of the debate. I run the mesh a little tighter then the paper method, and haven't stripped one out yet running 2s and 3s on 2.8 badlands and 2.8 trenchers. Not saying to ditch your current spur gears, just noting a proper mesh on 48p plastic can take some abuse.
Those hot racing driveshafts are pretty robust, seems most of the people on here have had good luck with them. Just make sure your slipper is always working properly and it should all be fine for a long time.

 

[tlo1360]

as for the mesh I have mine at full insert with the motor adjustment mounting holes will need to add a small amount of loctite to my motor screws because they keep backing out as for the spur, running full tight 85 T with a 5 mm bore 21 T pinion gear. the only issue I currently have is no matter how i hit the throttle you can hear it clicking in the gear assembly somewhere for about 3 seconds then it takes off. the program card I received is not registering with the esc so I have to take it to the LHS to get there help with reprogramming the ESC punch and throttle settings. I have already fiddled with all the settings on the Rx as for throttle and steering. My traxxas adjustable steering linkage will be here by the 12th allowing for further steering adjustments. As for tires I got a set with these dimensions and they are smaller by 2/10ths of an inch. OD 4.72" (120mm); ID 2.76" (70mm);Width:2.17" (55mm) So because of the small difference I need a new washer set to keep them from wobbling on the axle pins at full tight. As for the driveshafts they have been through extreme jumping and alot of rough terrain driving at high speeds no inside sheering no busted knuckles either and as for drivetrain connection no issues exept for first time install I almost stripped the thread on the drive pin that holds the axles to drvietrain.

 

[tlo1360]

So update to the new build miscorrected a turn and put it in a curb did pop the lower shock mount hole completely out just popped back in with lite force no problems since but did end up losing the shoulder screws to the axle carrier on the passenger front end waiting to get in a new screw set to tighten everything back up

 

[Heyitsme]

I didn't have any luck with the RPM spindles. The material they use is too soft and the shoulder bolts don't have enough thread to bite into the plastic I ended up stripping them out just like stock. Go aluminum (Hot Racing or ECX) or get some steering bushings (I used some from a Redcat Volcano trimmed to fit) and some 3mm bolts instead.

I went ahead and went with 32p gearing on my Ruckus using a spur from an Arrma 2wd and slipper pads fits right on after making the center hole slightly larger. 32p pinions will be cheaper to resource also in 5mm bore rather than 48p.

A 60a esc is too small for that 3660 3800kv if you want to runs 3s consistently. You will be holding back the power by using a 60a with that motor and risk burning up the esc but if you mainly use 2s you should be fine.

I had shocks like those on my Ruckus while the rear was fine the fronts were too stiff.

 

[tlo1360]

As far as ESC to motor I only run on 2 s LiPo just to keep temps down and being able to do a solid 40 mph at full charge is plenty fast enough for the areas available to me to run it at. As for gearing I went with a 21 T pinion 48 P and a HR 85 T spur gear I get plenty of acceleration and good top ends for my play method I have played about 6 Hrs on this motor/ESC and so far the only hitch I have is the program card isn't working with the ESC (I have to do research into this still).As for temps I can run a full 7500 MaH LiPo and the motor is still cool to the touch., But other than that the only issues I have ran into is all of the screws in the rear end have threaded loose up to a full turn so I am switching everything to fine thread and adding locking nuts to any locations I can. I do some what high speed bashing with a mix of flat ground running. So I go a little extreme on my mounting. I did blow the bottom seal on the rear pass. shock not properly inspecting shipment before use. And had a slight run in with the curb that cost me my two shoulder screws.
I do however have 4 shoulder screws that are actually a 3/16 head on them I am seriously thinking of drilling the hub carriers to fit these slightly larger screws in it??? I know it will void the part warranty but I am not worried about that seeing how they are only 10$ U.S. plus shipping.

 

[badboymn]

Yeah the shocks are big bore but they are meant for the ecx line of rcs

Cool shocks. Would they work on a 4wd and what did you search for on aliexpress? are front's different from backs? Do you have to make any additional modifications?