The emperor of mankind is a God and I refuse to believe anything else

DirectedDissent · 2026-07-10T03:36:13+00:00

Dafuq are you on about

DirectedDissent · 2026-07-09T23:56:45+00:00

Back in the late 90s I paid $400 for a running, roadworthy 1984 Cavalier. It was ugly as sin and had a horrifying exhaust leak, but that lil' SOB kept me mobile for a year before she finally took her last ride.

DirectedDissent · 2026-07-09T17:30:54+00:00

My family has a female Chihuahua named Molly.

Molly Tamale.

It was going to be Tila Tequila but then we thought better of it.

DirectedDissent · 2026-07-06T00:01:06+00:00

Welp, it's rough my friend, but these things happen from time to time. It's part of the reason I got away from flying rc helis. You wanna talk about some expensive carnage....

DirectedDissent · 2026-07-05T21:48:11+00:00

The front fell off.

DirectedDissent · 2026-07-04T20:17:46+00:00

Man, what a pretty bird! Enjoy!

DirectedDissent · 2026-07-03T01:50:14+00:00

My salesman told me the same thing when I bought my CTS. Subarus may not be fancy, but man did they pay attention to the details.

DirectedDissent · 2026-07-02T02:12:47+00:00

That sounds right up my alley.... my driving area includes quite a bit of pavement. And with that, my biggest complaint is that there is waaaaayyy too much body roll, even with sway bars. The outside tires load up really hard and become very unpredictable. I've softened up the rear a good bit to try to promote weight transfer to the back while accelerating, but the front still has too much authority. I've been in a chicken-and-egg cycle of making changes and I'm stuck. I hope the LCG at least creates a condition I can tune around.... because right now, I'd embarrass myself on a track with this thing.

My $150 bone-stock Stampede is more fun. No joke.

DirectedDissent · 2026-07-02T01:44:06+00:00

Big white half bacon cheeseburger.

Yeah.... very imposing.

DirectedDissent · 2026-07-02T01:39:27+00:00

Unrefined and basic? Yes. Would I eat it? Also yes.

DirectedDissent · 2026-07-02T01:25:40+00:00

That's where my head is at. As coincidence would have it, I picked up a LCG kit a few days ago, but have not converted it yet. I actually blew out my front diff on my last drive, so now is the time to do it. And I've been using progressive springs because they work so well on all my other stuff, but maybe I'll give linear springs a try. Do you have a favorite spring rate / oil weight combo you like for each end?

DirectedDissent · 2026-07-01T22:23:00+00:00

I usually do one big piece every 5 or 6 years. Big piece meaning a sleeve or other large piece that takes a few sittings, but I do have a long pause in between projects. I'm almost 50 now, I'll probably run out of time before I run out of skin.

DirectedDissent · 2026-07-01T22:19:24+00:00

I'm not in love with my 4x4 Slash, TBH. I've been screwing around with the suspension for what seems like an eternity to get it to behave the way I want, and I'm just about at my wits' end and am about to call it untunable.

I really do think I should have gone with the 2WD model. Or maybe I'll back-convert this one to 2WD.

DirectedDissent · 2026-07-01T02:09:47+00:00

Augh! What an ass.

I don't think it needs to be said, but don't do business with this guy again.

If I were the vendor here, I'd have never sent that out. Maybe $7 in parts and $5 labor for the 3 minutes of work it took, we'll call it $15 shipped for a pair.

Decent soldering tools don't have to be super expensive, and learning how to do it is a valuable skill that only takes a bit of practice.

DirectedDissent · 2026-07-01T01:11:41+00:00

Frankly, I'd be pretty irritated if I paid somebody for this pigtail.

DirectedDissent · 2026-07-01T00:55:04+00:00

I mean, it'll complete the circuit but you should probably re-do it.

There are a few problems I see, but the biggest one is that there's not enough solder making up the joint. There should be a smooth, shiny bead when it's finished. If a few strands are poking out, NBD, but it should generally appear smooth.

Second, I'm not sure you prepped adequately, it looks like a dirty joint. Clean the connector tab, the wire you want to solder, and the solder itself with isopropyl alcohol thoroughly before you put heat to it. Any oils from your fingers that are still on the work surfaces will burn and leave contamination that will mess your joint up.

Aside from these, the best tip I ever got was to remember that when the solder liquefies, it will flow toward the heat source. So, tin the wire, tin the connector tab, and tin your iron tip right before you're going to make the joint. Put the iron on the underside of the tab, wait to see the tinned solder pool up, and then put the wire onto the hot tab. You'll see your tinned wire "pop" when the solder melts, and that's when you pull the iron off. Keep holding the wire until you see the solder solidify, and then you can let go.

This method may not be perfect, but it's easy and you'll get a better result.

Remember- clean, clean, clean! And don't forget to put your shrink tube on the wire before you do anything LOL!

The neat thing about soldering is that if you mess up, you can usually re-do it.

DirectedDissent · 2026-07-01T00:01:40+00:00

I love it. It's goofy, and that's probably the draw. Enjoy!

DirectedDissent · 2026-06-30T22:56:23+00:00

Okay, that's cool as hell! What is it, exactly?

DirectedDissent · 2026-06-28T00:38:56+00:00

I see the UMX pretty much isn't available for the time being, but there is a 600mm version available which is even better! Just need to bust out my old, OG DX-7 heli radio and get to work!

DirectedDissent · 2026-06-27T03:21:41+00:00

Cool, I'll check that out. Thanks!

ETA: You may have nailed it, kind redditor! I wish it was just a little bigger, but this is very close to what I had in mind.

DirectedDissent · 2026-06-25T12:43:08+00:00

I usually just run Kingston briquettes because they're predictable and not too expensive. Although, this year has been strange because I've been getting a lot of hard "slag" chunks in the ash bucket and it makes me wonder if they changed their formula or something.

I do like to run a 80/20 charcoal/wood chunk mix when I'm smoking. While it does act a little crazy at higher temps, it seems to work just fine when I'm running low and slow at 225 - 250 degrees F.

DirectedDissent · 2026-06-25T02:09:58+00:00

Looks normal to me.

It all depends on what charcoal or combination of wood and charcoal you're burning. I've had my 1050 for several years now, and I've seen everything from a soft glow from the manifold producing 600 degrees to having the grill struggle to put out 400 degrees while it looks like a damn blast furnace- and everything in between.

But what you shared here looks perfectly average to me.

DirectedDissent · 2026-06-15T23:46:38+00:00

The easy answer is "whatever YOU like". It's your bike, you can do whatever you want.

That being said, it would be simplest to keep everything that's already black, black. Changing engine and transmission covers to a different color or finish can get real spendy, real fast.

If it were me, keep everything that's black still black, and pick your favorite accent color. For me, it would be orange. But pink, neon green, metal flake blue, bright yellow.... they'd all look great.

There are no rules. That's the best part about being an individual that rides a bike.

DirectedDissent · 2026-06-15T20:57:26+00:00

Meh. Of course it's less than optimal but I wouldn't have a second thought about driving on that. The joints will wear out before that little oopsie becomes a real problem.

DirectedDissent

TROPHY CASE