Redcat Camo X4 Bash Session Review and Parts Damage Report

My son and I ran our Camo X4 again yesterday and have really started to enjoy it.  It took us a little while to figure out how to drive it (it doesn't like to do sharp turns on high traction surfaces) but now that we have, it's awesome!

The Camo X4 loves to jump.  We burned through six 5000mAh LiPo packs yesterday and virtually all of that time was spent jumping ditches and tree stumps.  The combination of massive tires and soft suspension helps the Camo X4 soak up the landings and it's very controllable in the air so we can bring the nose up with a blip of the throttle and even twist the chassis if needed with a combination of throttle and steering.  Did I mention that this thing is fun to jump?

Parts Damage:
We did run into some minor issues yesterday.

1.  The Diff Cup on the front drive shaft came loose.  The set screw backed off enough that the entire drive shaft and diff cup fell off of the input pinion.  Somehow, they were both still sitting on the chassis when I took the body off to inspect.  I simply re-installed the diff cup and we were good to go again within 5-10 minutes.  I may add some threadlock to the set screw before our next bashing session but we ran several packs through the Camo after the re-installation without trouble.

As as side note, it was nice to see that the diff cup uses a relatively large 3mm set screw (use your 2mm hex driver).  Also, I pulled the center spur gear cover off while doing the repair and the steel spur gear and steel pinion gear looked great.  I think these will stand up to a lot of abuse.

2.  Rear Upper Suspension Link.  I think we were on our fourth run of repeated stump jumps when my son launched the Camo approximately 4-5' in the air and landed it hard on it's side.  This broke one of the rear upper suspension links.

I glued the link back together with some CA glue.  I then wrapped the link with some strips of blue paper shop towel soaked in CA glue to essentially make a cast.  Once the CA set-up, I wrapped the arm in electrical tape (mostly to hide the blue color cast) and we were back to jumping.  We ran two more batteries through the Camo and so far the repair is holding up well.  If the repair fails at some point, I'll replace the link with another stock plastic one, just to confirm whether or not this was just a fluke part failure of f this is something you should watch out for.  If that link fails, I'll give the aluminum upper links a try.

Misc. thoughts:
Although we were running back-to-back batteries, the motor runs hotter than I'd like it to.  I haven't temped it with my temp gauge yet but I will next time.  I may look to add a cooling fan at some point to help protect the motor and make sure it lasts as long as possible.

Lastly, be sure to check the set screws on your diff cups from time-time-time to make sure they are still tight.  Also, the wheel nuts tend to get a little loose so be sure to tighten them before each run.

​So far, the Camo X4 has been a super fun bashing machine and I'm looking forward to taking it out again.  If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment below and I'll do my best to help.

​'till next time

​Rob