Vanquish Products VS4-10 Phoenix Portal RTR Falken Edition

The kind of vehicle the maker sells it as. It sets what the car is built to do and which cars it is fair to compare it with.

• Crawlers are built for slow, controlled climbing over rocks: very low gearing, flexible suspension and locked axles.

All four wheels are driven. That gives more grip under power, especially on loose ground.

• The cost is more parts to maintain.
• A crawler needs every wheel pulling to climb.

A brushed motor carries current through carbon brushes that rub on the commutator.

• It is cheaper and smooth at low speed.
• The brushes wear and the motor loses power over time.
• That low-speed smoothness is why so many crawlers use one.

Ready to run: built at the factory with the electronics installed.

• Some come without a battery or charger; the maker's box contents say which.

The maker's nominal size compared with a full-size vehicle. It works more as a class label than a measurement.

• A 1/10 monster truck is far bigger than a 1/10 touring car, so compare length and weight for real size.

The maker's product number for this exact version.

• A V2, a new color, or a kit instead of an RTR usually has a different number, and parts can differ between them.
• Check it against your box or receipt before ordering parts.

The small gear on the motor shaft. Fewer teeth gear the car shorter: quicker acceleration, lower top speed and a cooler motor. More teeth do the opposite.

• On this car one tooth changes the gearing by about 6.7%.
• Crawlers run small pinions for slow, precise wheel speed on climbs; a bigger one is quicker on the trail but harder to control on rocks.

The large gear the pinion drives. A bigger spur with the same pinion gears the car shorter.

• Pinion and spur must have the same pitch, or tooth size, to mesh.
• The Gearing parts table below shows this car's pitch and part numbers.

Spur teeth divided by pinion teeth: the part of the gearing that a pinion or spur swap changes.

• Here it is 3.467:1.

Whether the front axle is driven by the motor.

• The calculator uses this axle's own tire size and complete recorded gear path.

Whether the rear axle is driven by the motor.

• The calculator uses this axle's own tire size and complete recorded gear path.

Every reduction after the spur, multiplied together: transmission, transfer case and axle gears.

• That chain is why a crawler's figure is much higher than other classes'.
• It is fixed by the design; the gearing you change is the pinion and spur.
• This one is worked out from the tooth counts the maker publishes.

Every reduction after the spur, multiplied together: transmission, transfer case and axle gears.

• That chain is why a crawler's figure is much higher than other classes'.
• It is fixed by the design; the gearing you change is the pinion and spur.
• This one is worked out from the tooth counts the maker publishes.

How many times the motor turns for one turn of the wheels. A higher number is shorter gearing: more acceleration and pulling power, less top speed.

• Among 1/10 crawlers & trail trucks in the catalog, the middle half run between 30.7:1 and 49.8:1 on stock gearing; this one is 53.7:1, shorter than most.
• Crawlers run far higher ratios than other classes, so the truck can creep and hold on a climb.

How many times the motor turns for one turn of the wheels. A higher number is shorter gearing: more acceleration and pulling power, less top speed.

• Among 1/10 crawlers & trail trucks in the catalog, the middle half run between 30.7:1 and 49.8:1 on stock gearing; this one is 57.3:1, shorter than most.
• Crawlers run far higher ratios than other classes, so the truck can creep and hold on a climb.

How the driven axles are connected.

• Fixed gears set the relationship between axle drive paths. A mismatch is accommodated through tire slip or drivetrain deflection.

Front rollout divided by rear rollout, minus one, through the recorded gear paths.

• The front tires cover 6.7% more distance than the rear through the listed gear paths, using the listed diameters and reductions. Fixed gearing connects the axles. A rollout mismatch requires tire slip or drivetrain deflection. These figures do not predict vehicle road speed.
• Positive means the front covers more distance per input turn. Zero means matching rollout, rather than matching wheel RPM.

The outside diameter of the mounted tire, tread to tread. A taller tire covers more ground each turn, which gears the car taller.

• Crawler wheels are named by rim size, such as 1.9 or 2.2 inches; that is the wheel, not this tire diameter.

Distance at the front axle per motor turn through its recorded gear path.

• This follows the listed gear reduction and tire diameter; it does not account for tire slip or deflection.

Distance at the rear axle per motor turn through its recorded gear path.

• This follows the listed gear reduction and tire diameter; it does not account for tire slip or deflection.

Brushed motors are commonly described by can size and turns. No motor KV is published for this vehicle; turns alone cannot supply an exact value.

The highest LiPo cell count the maker rates the electronics for. Each cell is 3.7 V nominal and 4.2 V fully charged.

• 3S is 11.1 V nominal and 12.6 V off the charger.
• Running more cells than this risks the ESC and motor.
• Many cars also run on fewer cells, only slower.

The motor fitted at the factory, as the maker names it.

• Brushed motors are often named by can size, such as 540 or 550, and by turns: fewer turns is faster.

The electronic speed control. It feeds power from the battery to the motor as you work the throttle, and usually powers the receiver and servo too.

• An amp figure in its name is normally the maker's continuous rating.
• A brushed ESC cannot run a brushless motor.
• Crawler ESCs usually have a strong drag brake, which holds the truck still on a slope when you let off the throttle.
• Set its low-voltage cutoff for LiPo, so a pack is not run flat.

The plug on the battery lead. Your battery needs the same plug.

• An adapter works, but it adds resistance and another joint that can work loose.
• XT plugs are sold on packs from many makers.

The vehicle's weight as the maker states it, without the battery.

• Add your pack's weight for running weight.
• On a crawler, where the weight sits matters as much as how much: weight low and in the axles helps it climb.

Overall width as the maker states it, usually with the body fitted.

• A wider car is more stable in corners and harder to roll over.

Overall height as the maker states it, usually with the body fitted.

• Useful when checking it fits a shelf, a bag or a car trunk.

The distance between the front and rear axle centers. A longer wheelbase is steadier at speed and over bumps; a shorter one turns more tightly.

• On a crawler it also decides how well the truck clears a ledge without the chassis catching.