2013 - Helion Animus
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(originally posted on UltimateRC.com on 2013-11-20)
I bought my Animus a couple weeks after buying my first hobby-grade RC, a Losi Mini Desert Truck, because the local hobby shop near my girlfriend's house had tried to talk me into buying an Animus *instead* of the MDT, and I was curious to compare.
A lot has been said about the Animus, mostly negative; it seems people expected it to be a much better vehicle than it is, out of the box at least, and when they started breaking under the high stresses inflicted on them by RC enthusiasts, they earned a bad rap pretty quickly. I've had my Animus completely taken apart multiple times, so I've had ample opportunity to see the weaknesses in its design. Because I value durability in my toys above (almost) all else, I entertained myself for a couple months by trying to make my Animus rugged and reliable. The result of that effort is what you see below.
It's pretty obvious from the blaze-orange color that I ended up replacing a lot of parts, but I didn't replace anything that didn't actually need an upgrade.
The stock motor was replaced with a Losi LOSB1218 motor, which still uses bushings, but has much better brushes and has quite a bit more torque as well. After a bit of testing, I decided to go with a 12t pinion, because that was the smallest pinion that would actually mesh properly with the spur gear.
The front diff was rebuilt with Duratrax Vendetta internals, which are a bit stronger than stock, and offer four spider gears instead of just two. That also helps reinforce the diff shell against flex which would allow the internal gears to slip; the four spider gears rotate on two shafts at 90 degrees to each other, and the ends of those two shafts press against the inner walls of the diff shell and prevent it from ovalizing under torque.
The rear diff was also rebuilt with Duratrax Vendetta internals, but instead of using a gear set, I used a one-way-diff insert. Now the rear diff always transfers its share of the torque to the slower-spinning wheel, which has only a minor effect on handling on pavement, but has a major improvement in off-road handling. Because the Animus has fairly low ground clearance even with the monster-truck tires, I often encountered situations where one of the front wheels *and* one of the rear wheels would lose traction at the same time, causing the truck to stall, especially going uphill. Now, as long as one rear wheel has traction, the truck will keep moving.
The stock electronics, notably, were *not* replaced (it was somewhat of a goal to see if I could keep them, just to see if I could do it), but I did modify them pretty extensively. I replaced a small voltage-protector capacitor inside the electronics box with a much larger one strapped to the side, I attached heatsinks to all four MOSFETs and cut holes in the box to expose them, I added a hookup for a fan to cool the motor, and I rewired a Hitec HS-5055MG servo to work with the stock electronics.
Also, I still run the stock NiMH battery packs, because you know what, they work just fine. I haven't noticed a lack of power in this truck since I replaced the motor, so I haven't bothered to upgrade to LiPo packs, because I'd have to replace all the other stock electronics too. In fact, this is still my fastest 1/18-scale truck despite running on NiMHs and using a brushed motor.
My most recent upgrade, and the last one I intend to make to this vehicle, was to fit a set of GPM front hubs intended for the Team Associated RC18. I had to drill and shim a bit, but it was totally worth the effort, because it eliminated the last flexible component in the steering system, and greatly increased the durability of the front suspension.
That's it for the interesting stuff. Now for the litany of boring little things I did to improve my Animus:
- The center driveshaft was replaced with aluminum to equalize the torque split between the front and rear axles; the stock plastic one was very flexible and caused the rear axle to get most of the torque, which was bad for handling.
- The dogbones were replaced with aluminum because the stock plastic ones were also flexible, and apparently had a bad habit of letting go of the drive pins, though I never experienced that myself.
- The motor mount was replaced with aluminum for the same reason -- I wanted a nice sturdy non-flexible drivetrain.
- The spur gear cover was replaced with aluminum because I had removed the plastic one so many times that the screw-heads were starting to damage the plastic.
- The bumpers were replaced with aluminum because they also hold the lower-arm hinge pins, and after ripping one of the pins right out of the plastic bumper in a crash, I decided they needed reinforcement.
- The steering bellcranks were replaced with aluminum because I wanted less slop in the steering. I had to drill-out the pivot holes in the connecting link so I could use better pivot screws with smooth sides.
- The rear hubs were replaced with aluminum for two reasons: 1) the aluminum ones have 2 degrees of toe-in, and 2) I didn't want to risk debris getting wrapped around the axle, causing friction, overheating the plastic hub, and melting it.
- The front caster blocks were replaced with aluminum because they offer 5 degrees of negative caster, which helps the steering re-center after turns.
- The shock towers were replaced with aluminum because the aluminum ones have an extra set of upper-shock-mount holes, which came in handy on the rear axle.
- The shocks were replaced with GPM aluminum shocks intended for the Losi Mini-T, because I couldn't ever seem to get the stock shocks to work the way I wanted, the Helion upgrade shocks weren't much better, and I just don't trust plastic shocks anyway. Also, infinite preload adjustment is a nice thing to have.
- The drivetrain was completely outfitted with Boca Yellow Seal ceramic bearings, which should last a good long time since the ceramic BBs are hard enough to grind-up any dirt that makes it past the rubber seals.
- And lastly, the stock "truggy" wheels were replaced with HSP wheels for the generic monster-truck variant of this vehicle; they give a bit more ground clearance, a bit more speed, and a hell of a lot more tread lifetime. They might be "old-school chevrons", but they work very well given the overall size and power of the vehicle.
So there you have it. I originally intended this to be a beater that I could loan to kids so they'd leave my *nice* trucks alone, and it ended up earning the title of Most Polished Turd In All The Land. It was a learning experience, that's for sure. I probably wouldn't have learned half as much tinkering on a vehicle that was bulletproof to start with.
Modifications made since the original post:
- I eventually gave up on the brushed setup, and I replaced the all-in-one electronics with a Spektrum receiver and a Turnigy Trackstar ESC (HobbyKing's rebrand of the Toro Brushless Micro ESC). The motor is also Turnigy, a 4300KV brushless motor that's a rebrand of the Toro Brushless Micro motors.
- I also replaced the stiff purple springs that came with the GPM shocks with the softer yellow spare springs. I overestimated how stiff the suspension needed to be, and now the vehicle handles small bumps better.
- Without the all-in-one electronics box to hold the servo, I found a little 9-gram servo bracket on eBay and mounted the servo directly to the chassis.
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