My re-re Grasshopper story & upgrades

[paul]

So my first "real" car was a grasshopper back in the day...my fondest memories were of running it around under pine trees at my dad's uncle's....the smell of the new tires....and..... the manual speed controller bursting into flames!! LOL That really happened, no joke!

Last summer, I got back into RC cars with a couple tamiya tamtechs...a couple months later I had picked up a re-re grasshopper. After assembling it and applying the decals, I took it out back and took a bunch of pictures and was actually afraid to run it. I ended up buying an extra body and decal set so that I could always have a "shelf" version should I destroy the body that it came with. This thing has been flipped, rolled and smashed numerous times, and I have yet to see anything break on it

After a few runs it struck me that one of the main giveaways that this was more of a "toy" car, was the rickety rackety sounds that came from the front end and the suspension. I then set out to eliminate as much slop and noise as I could with stuff I had lying around. I started by adding small red washers to the rear shocks and front wheel mounts/carriers. I also added rubber washers below the screws on the front "shocks", and also added rubber tubing onto the screws that are in the front springs. This gives much less travel to the suspension, but adds a TON more stability to the front end when running offroad (the only type of running I do). I just worked with cutting the rubber tubing to different lengths until I was satisfied with the results. I also put rubber shrink tubing around the ends of the bottom suspension(?) arms to quiet it down and tighten it up a bit. The biggest upgrade though was the rear oil filled shocks (from a duratrax cliff climber) that I fitted to the stock mounts by creating adapters from some small carabiner clips that I had lying around. It took me about 3 HOURS to make those 2 adapters by hand with a dremel!!! (yes, I'm insane!)... but anyway I didn't want to wreck the shocks, and I didn't want to wreck the grasshopper body. Creating the adapters was the only way around this. The tops of the adapters have holes that the screws go through, then the bottoms are drilled out and the lower screws go through the "eye" of the top of the shock mounts. I'm including pics that detail what I did. Oh and I also have a 540 motor in it...this thing runs AWESOME now...it's amazing how much the rear oil shocks and front end mods help. Maybe my ideas can help some other people mod their grasshoppers to be a little closer to "real" RC cars

[kaiser]

nice little hopper you have there.

if you really want it to handle try out crp's fx10 front suspension upgrade.
it's not an exact fit, it needs to be trimmed a bit but it really helps out the front end.

i'll get a pic of mine for ya.

[paul]

nice little hopper you have there.

if you really want it to handle try out crp's fx10 front suspension upgrade.
it's not an exact fit, it needs to be trimmed a bit but it really helps out the front end.

i'll get a pic of mine for ya.

Thanks! I'll have to look that up I'll be watching for the picture!

[kaiser]

as you can see from the pic, the included upper links are too long. i made new ones from threaded 4/40 rod and ball ends.

i'll see if i can get a completed pic.

[paul]

as you can see from the pic, the included upper links are too long. i made new ones from threaded 4/40 rod and ball ends.

i'll see if i can get a completed pic.

Thanks for the picture, that's interesting. Is this the kit you are talking about: http://cgi.ebay.com/SUSPENSION-PARTS-Vintage-RC-Futaba-FX10-Buggy-CRP-1632-/350360194375?cmd=ViewItem&pt=Radio_Control_Parts_Accessories&hash=item5193184d47

I also found a hardware kit under the same name on ebay. I'm assuming you need both and can't use any of the hardware from the grasshopper, is that right?

[kaiser]

thats the kit, and yup you need the hardware.

team crp split up all there kits. i also got their frog shock front shock mounts, when i went to install it i found out the hard way that i needed their harware kit. lol

the fx10 a arm mounts are a little long, you have to trim them. you'll see when you hold it up to the hopper chassis.

another thing guys like to do is mount a spare tire on the back of the roll cage and fill it with lead or sand, the extra weight in the rear helps out a ton.

[paul]

thats the kit, and yup you need the hardware.

team crp split up all there kits. i also got their frog shock front shock mounts, when i went to install it i found out the hard way that i needed their harware kit. lol

the fx10 a arm mounts are a little long, you have to trim them. you'll see when you hold it up to the hopper chassis.

another thing guys like to do is mount a spare tire on the back of the roll cage and fill it with lead or sand, the extra weight in the rear helps out a ton.

Yeah, I've seen people put tires on the back, but thought it was just for the looks

Well this kit mod is something I may do but it might be a little while...I've dumped a ton of cash into vintage rc10 stuff lately on ebay...wasted a bunch too b/c I had no idea what I was buying on the first deal and overpaid due to ignorance. All I had to go by was the "memories" of looking at the cars in rc car action at school back in the day. But yeah, I appreciate the info, I've never heard of this kit before. The grasshopper is a great car to just take out and BEAT. Of course I don't treat it like a kid would, but it does get a workout. I only have offroad terrain where I'm at so no pavement problems! The hardest thing it hits is an occasional tree...the offroad terrain really saves tire wear too.