New Hummer Evo not driving properly...

[Namuna]

Received my Hummer tonight and spent the last 3 hours putting it all together and doing the upgrades I got for it. Once I was finally done, I took it outside for hopefully a triumphant quick run before going to bed...

But not so triumphant was I, whenever I pull the throttle it either goes REALLY SLOW or not at all.

- I've Checked the AAA batts with a voltmeter and I KNOW they've all got a good amount of juice
- The Tx power light is decently lit, so the 9volt is fine
- If I pick up the truck and pull the throttle, it drives fine...As soon as I put it back down it might drive around a little (very weakly) and then stop.

These are the upgrades I've done:
- 4 Wheel Drive
- Stage 2 (with 8/25 spacer and 8/25 gears)
- Ground Clearance (and using the beefier tires)

I have to say that the included instructions with the upgrades were just subpar to near awful! Like for the 4x4 upgrade kit there's 3 drive shafts included...But no real clear instructions on which is the proper one to use with what truck you have.

Anyway, can anyone suggest what else to look for or try? I'm hoping I just missed something simple/stupid...Otherwise I'll need to rip the thing apart and start fresh.

Thanks.

If you rotate the tires while it's off the ground, does it feel like there is a lot of friction?

It might be that holding it in the air relieves enough stress that it appears to be spinning up to speed.

Batteries can still read regular amounts of voltage and still be dead. It sounds like this could be the case. They might read the 4.8 volts but still not have any capacity left to supply the needed amount of current.

Driving really slow doesn't sound like a problem with the remote. I would looke at the batteries and the friction of the drivetrain. Check your connections to the motor too.

[Namuna]

Good advise jazz, thanks.

I'm going to take the drivetrain apart and redo it, this time around I'll grease everything up well and do the different mods for removing gear slop.

I've also got 2 sets of AAAs that should be freshly charged when I get home (though I still think that wasn't my issue...I tried 3 different sets of batts, but I'll know for sure tonight with the freshest fresh sets).

Anyone interested in Hummer Evo in action vids if I get this thing workin?

[Namuna]

Good call on the Batts Jazz.

Tonight I got home and pulled apart the drivetrain and put liberal amounts of graphite powder on everything and used metal bearings in place of the plastic (at least for the 2 pieces on the drivetrain)...MUCH smoother.

So I took it out, using some fresh from the charger batteries and she runs like a CHAMP!

...Then I swapped in the alkalines I used last night (they average 1.35v each, which come to think of it isn't so good considering they're alkalines) and indeed the truck barely moved using these batts.

[Namuna]

And some pics...

Hummer looks good, I'm glad it wasn't a dud. I still have to get myself some of those trucks. I ordered a bunch of the super slicks I've been messing with.... and a 1st gen sort of truck (pictures probably later).

I really should call the one manager of one of the RS's I know and see if he is indeed saving me the floor models. This guy is awesome, he keeps all the store return and floor models and sells them to me for $10 each.

I ask every RS I go to and I've only heard of a few managers that actually do that. Almost all of them tell me they destroy them

[Namuna]

Originally posted by Jazz32
...Almost all of them tell me they destroy them

WHAT!!???

Man, I think I need to contact the manager at my local RS and see if I can't work something out too.

Even a total dud can be scrapped for parts! Destroying them is just a cryin shame!

I couldn't agree more... the last employee I talked to said the same thing. Their policy seems to be based on the idea that employees would take home items that were not fit being resold. Leaving the "not fit" part to be determined by the employee. This way, no one gets anything, and it really sucks. Some have said too that they don't have space to let stuff pile up.

Literally, they take a hammer to these things and bust them. It is so dumb. Every franchise owner should know this is poor business. I think a lot of us know how much the parts of xmods sell for on ebay.

At least I got my one guy.