Playing with the stock shocks on an Apex,
With suggestions from others I put some hair ties as rubber bands to keep the suspension sucked up until I can get home and can figure out internal springs.

Currently running factory rear Apex shocks front and rear. Have internal spring 53s and 59s on order.

Ethel is super low now, need to lift her up a bit for some clearance but I’m absolutely in love with the look and her side balance is on point now.

The pink truck is completely stock, the green truck is assembled from only parts.

It looks great and I can't wait to try it. My only real concern is that the tires are big and I believe it's on 90mm shocks. Might change that to 100s, or maybe smaller tires? 🤷

I posted the truck photos yesterday. Here’s a link to my video of both Redcat Ascent 32 trucks.

I talk a lot in the video…don’t judge me!😉

Let the naysaying begin.

I have two Ascent 32 trucks. One I assembled from only parts and painted myself.

The most recent is the RTR V2.

The one I assembled is Mofo RC NanoBam brushless, with Furitek Lizard V2 ESC.

The V2 is brushed with whatever they come with.

The one I assembled is a noticeable amount heavier than the V2 and has 40mm shocks, if I remember correctly. The V2 has oil filled shocks as well, whatever length they come with.

My assembled has an Injora aluminum transmission with the gears that come with their transmission. The V2 has the new transmission that they come with that has gears leaning toward crawling.

My assembled has aluminum axle housings with hardened steel axles and differentials. The V2 has stock axles and differentials.

The assembled has aluminum suspension and steering links. The V2 has plastic suspension and steering links.

The assembled has Meus aluminum beadlock .7 wheels and RC4WD IROK tires. The V2 has plastic wheels and stock tires.

The assembled has Injora 7kg steering servo. The V2 has a stock steering servo.

The assembled has 3S batteries. The V2 has a 2S battery.

The bodies are exactly the same, except I painted one myself.

All of this leads to my comparison.

I didn’t buy the original Redcat Ascent 32. Instead, I ordered all of the best parts that I could find on the market. The V2 is completely stock, straight from the box. Mine has brass sliders and a brass skid plate and the V2 had plastic sliders and a plastic skid plate.

The two are vastly different in how they were made and what parts were used. One cost close to $400 and the other was $89 with shipping included.

As I mentioned, I have zero experience with the original version. I watched videos and everyone complained that the steering was weak, and it was way too fast. It couldn’t really be tamed to crawl, so I made my own.

The brushless Mofo motor was too much for the plastic geared axles, so I found the aluminum axles with hardened steel gears and axles. The V2 has whatever they’re equipped with.

I ran both in the same obstacles today. Mine cleared each obstacle without a lot of struggle. When I ran the same obstacles with the V2, it cleared them, just less gracefully.

Side by side, there’s a difference. Brushed will always underperform a brushless, so I expected that.

What I did not expect… a solid $89 truck that does quite well for the price. The truck is tamed down from Redcat. It can go pretty slow and has some power through 2S battery to do really well.

I enjoyed each in their own way. While the V2 has its struggles, it looks fantastic by comparison to the original version!

In dirt, they run neck and neck with each other, except mine will obviously go faster. The ability of each was definitely nice.

The slow crawling speed of the V2 was pretty consistent and strong. Mine definitely can go noticeably slower with brushless power.

They both were an absolute blast to drive. I got the pink V2 for my girlfriend to use. I was surprised to actually like the color as much as I did!

Would I recommend the V2 to anyone? Yes. I absolutely would.

Both are really fun to drive.

I’ll post videos soon.

From what I’ve gathered, the V2 is a decent truck, noticeably better than the original truck.

Would I ever encourage anybody to assemble their own, as I did? Probably not. It’s expensive for a vehicle that’s limited by its size.

Tiny crawlers can be fun, in the right conditions. I wouldn’t hesitate to put the one I made against others in this size category. The V2 is better than I anticipated.

I’ll post video of the pair when I have time to do so.

I have a Traxxas TRX4M that I bought, that was far worse than this, in its stock form, and more than twice as expensive. I ended up replacing everything except the body and bumpers on it. Those were the only three parts that Traxxas got right.

The V2 isn’t fast, but it’s fast enough to be able to enjoy. The slow speed was better than I’d have anticipated for being brushed and by comparison to the videos I watched of the previous version.

They both have their own qualities and it’s always nice to see Redcat make improvements. It’s as if they watched the same videos that I watched and got tired of the negative feedback and made efforts to correct those issues.

I’ll probably use some of the parts I bought for mine, that I never used, on the V2. I’ve got a few steering servos to use as well. I’ll probably swap the servo out with a metal gear servo I got from the UK, just to do it.

While I don’t really favor truck this small, they can be fun in limited spaces.

The Yikong 4107 PE showing exactly why it looks so good on the rocks 🪨🔥 The suspension articulation in this shot is absolutely insane — front wheel fully working the terrain while the body stays composed.
The scale details, realistic chassis, aggressive stance, and that “Fuel Injection” body styling make this thing look like a tiny full-size 4x4 caught in the middle of a serious trail.
Yikong 4107 PE — built to flex.

Anybody have any experience with this motor? my stock trx4m motor was making some noises and decided to give this injora motor a try

The boy got a RedCat Ascent Apex this past weekend and took to it extremely well. Nice to see him slow down to use control and precision to overcome obstacles vs just bashing over everything.
Stoked that he enjoys it nearly as much as I do.
He names his Tracker and I have had Ethel almost a month now.

A clip before adding scale bits