Losi Hammer Rey

Losi Hammer Rey Rock Racer

Losi Hammer Rey U4 Trophy Jeep

Welcome to our new section dedicated to the Losi Hammer Rey U4 Rock Racer.

Our primary focus is to evaluate how well the Hammer Rey performs on our rugged desert track, and how long it will tolerate the difficult, rocky terrain before completely falling apart.

We will not be bashing, jumping, or doing any “top speed” asphalt runs with the Hammer Rey; it’s all about Ultra 4 styled off-road racing.

After some thought, we decided to handle this section like a blog with the most current updates at the top.

Update 11/8/2022

Over the past few months we've spent several afternoons on the desert track, running through batteries and making small changes to the Hammer Rey’s suspension.

The new aluminum housing for the center differential arrived from EBay, and with a bit more tuning and testing, we arrived at 50k being the ideal weight for the center differential.

During this testing time, the OEM servo was fading fast, simply due to the extreme conditions of the rough desert track. The steering was slowing down and seemed unable to maintain direction under heavy load.

To remedy this, I decided to roll the dice and try out an off-brand direct-power servo to see if it would handle the rough conditions.

Accompanying the new servo, I purchased an aluminum servo mount and new aluminum servo steering linkage.

It didn’t make any sense to upgrade the servo and leave the rest as plastic, allowing it to bend under the increased torque of the servo.

Upgraded aluminum center differential housing installed.

Installing the new parts required wiring in the servo’s power to the ESC’s cables which draw power from the battery as well as grinding a bit on the aluminum steering linkage parts. It seems that Vitavon Racing released a set of steering linkages for the Hammer Rey which hadn’t been fully tested, but we were able to make it work. Being able to steer to the left is an important detail in our opinion.

Upgraded direct-power servo with aluminum mount and aluminum steering linkage.

We also needed to change out the Spektrum receiver and bind into our DX5 Pro transmitter. In the past I’ve had problems with AVC and direct-power servos, so I side-step all of this by using a new two-channel receiver.

With new parts installed and a recalibration of the ESC and end-point adjustment, we were ready to put everything back together.

Hitting the track with the new steering setup installed, the Hammer Rey was much more composed and immediately showed a markedly improved level of performance. The steering was precise and plenty of traction was reaching all four tires.

For the most part the Hammer Rey was proving to be a fun and enjoyable rock racer, capable of handling the harsh terrain and keeping things interesting behind the wheel.

With the drivetrain figured out and the steering solved for the time being, the remaining work was on the rear suspension, and there were a few things which aggravated me, mostly being the complexity of removing the rear shocks for tuning and adjustments.

When working on the Hammer Rey, you must accept that you will need to remove the side panels to access the shock mounting screws, but what I find troubling is that the upper screws on the dampener and shock are covered by the roll cage.

This is aggravating because fine tuning a rock racer requires frequent adjustments to the shock’s oil and springs, and having these screws obstructed is a vexing oversight.

For a basher, this is probably not a big deal in that most people just pick a setting and never change it, but for those who are using the Hammer Rey for rock racing competition, it’s a stumble in the design.

To access these screws, you need to remove most of the screws holding on the side cage assembly and bend it out of the way. This could have easily been designed around while developing this platform.

Proline Racing Power Stroke XL shocks fitted with Hot Racing springs.

After testing a few different spring setups on the OEM shock, I decided to switch to the Proline Racing Power Stroke XT 5” shocks.

These units had the right amount of travel and felt much more robust than the OEM shocks. Trouble was figuring out the right spring setup.

I went through all the Proline spring options for this shock, but even the stiffest spring setup was still too soft and had the rear of the truck sagging low over the rougher sections of track.

On a hunch I installed a set of Hot Racing ARRMA shock springs (ATF90PR148) and found the firm gold springs to be spot-on with 35cst oil and 25 cst in the dampener.

To help protect the shocks and reduce some of the impact from sharp hits on the track, I installed a set of bump-stops on the shock piston rods. This particular set is from the Axial Ryft.

Finally, there is the rear sway bar; it works but it’s in a terrible spot.

The rear sway bar is tucked up high on the trailing arms with the cross bar running underneath the ESC, but over the mounting bracket which holds down the center differential.

To service the center differential, you have to pull the ESC and mount out of the way, and then twist / slide the mounting bracket from underneath the sway bar.

Again, not a big deal for the basher, but highly aggravating for the driver who wants to tune their rock racer.

That said, the factory sway bar does a pretty good job at controlling body roll.

Red arrows showing rear sway bar location.

Upgraded Sway Bar Installed

Luckily a few manufacturers noticed the “faux” sway bar on the Hammer Rey and made a real and functioning unit which mounts in the same location.

Upon seeing this, I pulled the OEM sway bar off and installed one of the Vitavon units. About 1 month after paying far too much for the Vitavon part, cheaper versions appeared on Ebay and look to be just as effective.

This does not need to be a high-dollar part, so do yourself a favor and purchase a cheaper unit if you are inclined to make this change.

So far from our testing on the track, it seems to be working well, but I caution that more testing would be needed to approve of its use in high-speed situations with the OEM unit removed.

Update 11/1/2022

With the results of our last track session fresh in mind, we decided it was time to tear into the Hammer Rey and service the differentials as well as make a shock oil change in the front. As many of you are aware, working on any of the Rey series from Losi is a pain, and the Hammer Rey is no different.

After removing what seemed like nine thousand screws, we were finally able to remove the cage and get to the internals, and unfortunately that’s when our first bit of trouble started. With the transmission in hand, we could not remove the center differential outdrive driveshaft coupling. The screw was not hard to remove, but it seems the Loctite gremlins over-saturated this connection and the outdrive was stuck.

After 30 minutes of applying heat from a soldering iron, I still could not get it to budge. With that in place, I could not remove the center diff from the plastic transmission housing.

Mulling over my options, I decided it was reason enough to upgrade the transmission housing to aluminum and order a few extra differential bits and pieces. While I’m not a big fan of adding weight or random aluminum parts to any rock racer, upgrading the transmission housing is one of the few exceptions. I have found that aluminum supports the differential much better and holds up to repeated servicing over time.

Working on the Hammer Rey greatly increases my love for the Lasernut U4.

Nomad DB8 ( l ) and Hammer Rey ( r ) Differentials

Knowing the replacement parts were a few days out, I reinstalled the center differential without service and rebuilt the front with 30k weight in the front and then 20k in the rear. The front differential is also not much fun to remove, but easier than the center differential.

During the servicing, you’ll notice how small the differential is in comparison to the size of the Hammer Rey. In this photo I placed the Team Associated Nomad DB-8’s differential next to the Hammer Rey’s differential, and the difference is substantial. Keep in mind the Hammer Rey has a longer wheelbase, sits higher, and is overall a larger platform than the Nomad.

Thus, while the Hammer Rey has a size advantage over the 1/8 scale Nomad, it is actually uses 1/10 scale drivetrain components.

More lap time to test out a few changes to the shocks.

Short Update - 8/29/2022

After the first track session, we headed back to the shop to make a few changes. First was to test out a change in shock oil to establish a baseline and make any adjustments needed from there.

So far, the front had been handing the terrain very well with what felt like a lower weight oil, allowing the suspension to cycle quickly and absorb the difficult terrain. We pulled the front shocks, cleaned them of the old oil, regreased the seals with Noleen SF-3 grease, then refilled with TLR 30 wt shock oil.

For the rear we followed the same process, but selected a 50 wt TRL oil to help slow down the rear axle a bit. At times the rear end felt a touch jittery and blew through the travel a bit faster than I had wanted. My guess was to start with the 50 wt oil and adjust from there.

Gripe Time

As many of you know, working on the Rey series of trucks and buggies from Losi is a major pain in the rear.

I’ve joked about half the Hammer Rey’s weight is located in the hundreds of screws holding the Jeep together, and you need to remove a fair number of them to access the center differential.

I had hoped that Losi changed the layout to make accessing the interior easier, but this is not the case. Much like the Rock Rey and Baja Rey, the Hammer Rey is tedious to work on.

I opted at this time to take the easy way out and leave the diffs for the time being and see what changes to the shocks would do out on the track.

30 wt oil is just a bit too soft on this track for the Hammer Rey

Back on the track, the rear end of the truck felt much better, moving smoother through the bumps and choppy terrain, but the front was much too soft.

The front would quickly pack down in corners and then spring the front back up when I hit the throttle, often times breaking traction and causing some understeer.

In a straight line the setup felt pretty good, but any tight handling sections of the track caused me all kinds of grief.

After a second battery pack on the track, I decided to do two things back at the shop; increase oil weight and the slightly raise the front ride height.

Update 8/12/2022

First Track Session

We headed out to the desert track to get our first taste of what the Hammer Rey was all about. The new desert track is modeled after the King of the Hammers desert racecourse, blending aspects of rock crawling, high-speed handling, and tight, winding turns in rocky and silty terrain.

While the track is still undergoing a few final changes, it’s good to go for test laps and informal racing. During the development, we have logged a number of laps with the Losi Lasernut U4 to fine-tune the track’s layout.

The Hammer Rey is surprisingly composed on the track.

I’m not going to get into too much detail about the track in this blog; there will be a separate section on the website dedicated to the track itself. This text will focus on the Hammer Rey’s performance, looking to assess both the strengths and weaknesses on this challenging course.

Losi Hammer Rey in Action

For these first few testing sessions we continued to use the Spektrum 3s 5000 mAh battery, but a new batch of SMC Racing batteries were on order and should be arriving soon.

Installing the battery and rolling out from the pits, the Hammer Rey’s suspension was plush and stable, working smoothly over the rugged terrain.

I’ve never been a fan of the AVC technology, so I turned that setting all the way down and proceeded to run a dozen or so laps.

Overall the truck felt very good with the removed weight from the top and initial factory suspension setup.

The Hammer Rey wasn’t leaning to the side excessively and the rear axle walked nicely around the tight corners. It’s not Lasernut nimble, but pretty good for it’s layout.

I could tell that the diffs were either partially full or running a very light oil for two reasons; first it actually cornered quite well and second, it frequently became stuck in the rock garden when I slowed down.

Either the front or rear tires would spin while the opposite sat idle; most likely the center differential being empty or light on oil.

I made note of this and tried to carry a bit more speed through the rock garden, but the excellent cornering performance on the loose desert track actually made up for the inconvenience in the rock garden.

The rock garden will keep you on your toes.

Increasing speed, I found that it squatted a bit more than I cared for, striking the chassis on rocks down the main straight. On this track I would need to adjust the ride-height to cut down on some of the impacts.

The Hammer Rey out throwing rocks on the track.

The front steering was about what I expected for a RTR servo and plastic steering linkage, and with the large rock strikes peppering the front tires, I was already planning on a servo upgrade.

As for power, the motor felt plenty strong, although I really wanted to have a sensored system.

The slow-speed cogging was noticeable in the rock garden and made me cringe a bit when weaving my way among the larger boulders.

After draining the first pack, I let the truck cool off while I inspected it for any damage or parts out of position. Other than a few small rocks lodged here and there, nothing was amiss with the Hammer Rey.

I slid in a fresh battery and headed back out.

As the laps increased in number, my comfort with the Hammer Rey also increased, giving me confidence to push it faster on the straights and dive deeper into the corners.

A few times I entered a corner a bit too hot and ended up rolling when I cut the wheels, but it was clearly driver error.

Something else that was impressing me were the factory tires.

These had a perfect amount of traction and suppleness for the track, softening some of the smaller bumps while still digging into the rock and maintaining control.

The Hammer Rey Can Fly..!

It’s a shame that Losi doesn’t sell these as stand-alone tires, so I'm already thinking that at some point these Nitto tires were going to be sealed the acetone container to be removed from the factory plastic wheels and installed on a set of aluminum beadlock wheels.

I finished up the rest of the battery pack and called it a day. The summer weather out here in the desert puts a serious strain on the electronics, and typically I try to be done with any desert track racing by 10am. I will head back out tomorrow for another session. More updates soon!

Update: 6/21/2022

Back at the shop we had two specific items to address: center of gravity (COG) and front suspension setup. Of the two, we decided to start with lowering the COG by removing the spare tire in the back, as well as pulling many of the scale details.

We removed the spare tire and mounting hardware, the exhaust, bump stops, fake rear sway bar, fire extinguishers, and a few other small pieces. Initially we had thought to remove the rear fuel cell, but interestingly this plastic box does a great job in stabilizing the rear section of the chassis, so we opted to take the weight penalty and leave this on the truck.

Next was the removal of scale parts mounting tabs molded into the rear chassis rails. These were trimmed away and then lightly polished.

The joys of working with the Hammer Rey's tube chassis.

For the time being we decided to also leave the rear plastic fan housing behind the drivers and the lights on the roof, bumper, and head lamps.

On the Hammer Rey, I find the lights attractive and do a great job in bringing a “scale” look to the truck. After the first few photos sessions on the track, I might opt to remove them. I don’t drive at night, and again it’s just hauling extra weight. They also complicate working on the Jeep when servicing the center for front diff.

You can see that the tire is just slightly toed in; not ideal for RC steering.

With the first pass of weight removal complete, it was time to address the front suspension setup. From the factory Losi uses fixed-length camber and steering links, and while on paper these are most likely to be the correct lengths, in reality you almost always need adjustability in these parts.

This is why virtually every upper-end RC platform has turnbuckles and rod ends. This allows you to lengthen or shorten these links to set the desired camber and toe in/out for your needs.

This Hammer Rey needed specific changes; more camber to the front tires and more toe-out to settle down the steering.

I searched around in the parts bin and found a set of GPM turnbuckles for the ARRMA Senton that were close enough to set the camber to a negative 2-degree inwards tilt. This will help dig the tire in on sharp corners and maintain a flat contact patch for the tread while turning.

For the steering links, I used a set of Team Associated turnbuckles for the Nomad DB-8. I used the same rod ends from GPM, and these were just about perfect for the steering.

With these parts, I set a 1-degree toe-out for the front tires. This will help in cornering and remove the erratic feel of the truck's handling.

For reference, the camber links are approximately 72.5mm eye to eye, and the steering links are approximately 90mm eye to eye.

Keep in mind that these are approximate numbers; I don’t have a contact within Losi engineering to verify these measurements.

That said, this is the beauty of adjustable turnbuckles; a few turns either way and you’re set.

New adjustable camber and steering links installed. Mo better.

Now for a word on “upgraded” fixed camber and steering links; these are super dumb. I looked on Ebay and there are a number of these made from aluminum and called an upgrade, but they are doing nothing more than adding weight and giving you no ability to fine tune these settings. Here’s an insight on this topic; go check out a 1/8 buggy, Truggy, or SCT from any top company such as Tekno, X Ray, Kyosho, Serpent, HB, TLR, AE, or any others and you will not find a single fixed-length camber or steering link. None of them have this part as non-adjustable. You must be able to make adjustments in these key areas in order to properly set up your car. Don’t think these are just for racing platforms either, ARRMA uses them on every product from their EXB line, which are basically the ultimate Bashers on the market.

Plastic fixed links save on the price of the build for the manufacturer, and the plastic does bend / flex a bit to help absorb some of the punishment the Hammer Rey is surely going to experience. Switching these to rigid aluminum will only transfer this punishment to another part, which is probably more expensive to replace than a plastic link. Moral of the story; don’t buy a fixed camber or steering link made of any alloy, ever.

I did order additional turnbuckles and link ends to experiment with, and once I feel the most ideal combo is found, I will update this blog. For the time being, unless you have a decent bin of spare parts for link ends, pivot balls, and turnbuckles, you might want to swing by your local hobby shop to have access to any parts you may need. I reused the pivot balls from the Hammer Rey's link-ends so they would fit. Just keep that on your radar if you decide to make this change.

With all of the changes complete, back onto the scale for the Hammer Rey. The resulting numbers were quite pleasing; we dropped 321 grams resulting in a new weight of 4223 grams with a much-improved 47/53 split.

Keep in mind that we do not have a battery installed for these weights. We will get to that detail shortly.

From here it was time to head out to the desert track for our first round of testing in real conditions. Stay tuned for the next update!

Maiden Voyage for the Hammer Rey

Update: 6/20/2022

With the Jeep still shinny and new, we headed out to the local soccer field to check out the Hammer Rey’s handling characteristics before we hit the desert track.

This particular soccer is a favorite of ours to drive due to very short and dry grass.

The surface keeps the traction rolling to a minimum by allowing the rear end of the Jeep to break free in the corners, and the short grass height doesn’t drag on the bottom of the chassis.

By starting on the grass, if we end up taking a corner too hard and roll the truck, which was most likely going to happen, the grass keeps the damage to a minimum. We didn’t want to tear up the Jeep too much before our first photo session at the desert track.

I had a few Spektrum 3s 5000 mAh batteries in the rack which I selected for today, but later on I will end up switching to SMC Racing lipo batteries once we start fine-tuning the suspension for track conditions and running weight. The SMC batteries are lighter and pack a serious punch; it’s our standard racing battery for most “go fast” platforms in the fleet.

With the first battery installed, we headed out across the field at a moderate speed with an eye on the Jeep’s tracking and suspension. Right away the steering felt a bit squirrelly and looking closer at the Jeep, I noticed that the front tires were slightly toed inwards. I could feel it for how quickly the Jeep would dive into the corners. I dialed down the AVC completely, and still the Jeep felt twitchy. Unfortunately, the OEM parts are not adjustable, so I made a mental note to replace these with adjustable turnbuckles.

Increasing the speed, the Hammer Rey felt stable and a bit top-heavy, but this wasn’t much of a surprise. I could feel the cage and spare tire tug at the top of the truck, causing it to lean into corners at moderate speed.

Anything in the upper range of the throttle, and the truck would catch a tire during a turn and tumble over.

Losi states on their website that the motor will power the Hammer Rey “up to 40 mph”, and this seems about right from my observations. On the grass with some tire slip, the Hammer Rey felt it was in the mid 30 mph range.

Traction from the Nitto Trail Grapplers was ideal in that there was enough grip to launch the truck down the field, but not so much that the truck will immediately traction roll when you make a turn.

I also noticed that even at full speed, the tires didn’t balloon.

Very happy with these Nitto Trail Grapplers

By the time I finished the first battery, I had the handling down on the Hammer Rey, so unless I dug into a corner too fast or stayed on the throttle early into the turn, it wasn’t very hard to drive clean lines.

Like any solid-axle platform, you have to drive them with a bit more care than independent suspension setups. What I did like was the ability to put power down as I exited the corners, and the long wheelbase made this easy to drift and power out of these turns.

There is also noticeable torque-twist when you mash the throttle, and a real functioning sway bar on the back would most likely help that. The smaller internal sway bar seems to be a little undersized for the Hammer Rey’s size, but that’s just a first impression. It may feel quite different on the desert track.

The long wheelbase and long-travel rear trailing arms were a well suited for the Hammer Rey to generate a decent amount of speed in a straight line, but it’s noticeably slower than most off-road offering on the market. That said, any more top-end speed and the Hammer Rey would be a bit difficult to control on anything but a straight line on smooth surfaces, and completely useless on any challenging desert track.

In the 1:1 world speed does play a factor, especially with Casey Currie's Trophy Jeep’s ability to sustain an unusually high top-speed, allowing him to make up time on a large desert racecourses. In RC, we really don’t have such long straight-away sections where a high top-speed will help you close the gap or pull away during a race. If anything, on a proper desert racetrack for RC, chances are high speeds will result in far more damage to the truck when smashing into a rock than if you were going slower. When it comes to top-speed, the Hammer Rey is plenty fast for it’s intended use.

After draining two battery packs on the field, we headed back to the shop to trim some weight and adjust the front suspension and steering linkages.

Nitto Trail Grappler 2.2" Tire

Update 6/15/2022 - Nitto Trail Grapplers

Staying with the trend of supplying excellent tires on their RTR offerings, the Hammer Rey comes with an excellent set of Nitto Trail Grappler tires glued to a set of plastic KMC beadlock-styled 2.2 wheels.

The Nitto Trail Grappler is the very tire Casey Currie is running on his Trophy Jeep, which is the source and inspiration for the Hammer Rey.

Personally I was quite pleased to see the Nitto tire on the Hammer Rey due to the immense amount of support and effort Nitto Tire has given to the Ultra 4 racing series as well as their crown jewel event; King of the Hammers. In the 1:1 world, Nitto is one of the most respected tire makers on the market, and their off-road designs are stellar.

The rubber quality of this tire feels pliable but tough, something close to a medium softness similar to that of a Basher tire. It’s a good choice for something as challenging as rock racing, and my guess is that a softer compound would have a much reduced tread-life. The carcass feels firm but is not belted, and on the inside is what feels to be a very firm open-cell tire foam.

Adding to the sharp looks of the tire is a high level of scale-detail in the lettering and lug pattern. Losi nailed the scale aspect of this tire in that at first glance it looks just like the real thing. Much like the 1:1 version, the tread pattern is a non-directional reverse-mirror pattern.

Unfortunately for us as of this writing, there is no plan to offer this tire unmounted – and for what it’s worth I feel that’s an oversight. Knowing how abrasive rock racing is on tires, this being a true 2.2” tire, it lends itself to be reversible on the wheel, there by extending tire life and allowing an even amount of wear. With the tire glued to the wheel, you can only change direction of the tread, but you cannot flip the inner and outer sidewall orientation.

Looking on, the wheel and tire selection will play an interesting role in the performance of the Hammer Rey, as well as the longevity in terms of life span for the drivetrain and suspension components. My guess is that heavy wheels and tires will take their toll, and I’m also betting that the OEM wheels and tires will prove to be one of the best options on the market for optimal performance.

Nitto Trail Grappler Tire Specs

Height: 140mm tall
Width: 45mm
Weight: 176 grams

Looking in from the rear of the Hammer Rey.

Electronics

Under the umbrella of Horizon Hobbies, the Hammer Rey comes outfitted with a Spektrum 3150Kv brushless motor and 130A smart ESC with DX3 radio system. Overall, this is a decent setup and fairly standard for most Horizon products, but it is unsensored and gives a bit of the "coggy" startup racket when you get rolling.

The 3150kv motor puts this well in the 3s category, with running a 2s battery as optional. I’m sure someone will run this on 4s, but I don’t expect much life from the parts on 4s. 3s is most likely the sweet spot for this setup. The motor is outfitted with a nifty aluminum heat sink shroud which encases most of the motor can.

The OEM servo is the Spektrum S614S Metal Gear Servo handles the steering needs, and while it seems to be a good choice out of the box, I’m fully planning on upgrading the electronics at some point during this project.

As part of the scale details to the Hammer Rey, there are a small sets of LED lights mounted under the headlights, on the front bumper, and on a light bar spanning the top of the driver’s cage.

Looking at the Hammer Rey in totality, this is a good quality set of electronics for any RTR package, and for the casual driver I feel they should hold up for some good use. Rather than hash out any more detail on these items, check out the new Losi RC website through this link: Losi RC

Update: 6/14/2022 - On the Scale

One of the first things I wanted to learn was the “dry” weight of the Hammer Rey, by placing it on the scale without a battery installed. It will be some time before I decide what 3s battery I will end up using, so for now a weight for just the truck is good starting point to establish.

This way as changes are made, we can come back to the initial weight and see if there is a gain or loss, as well as a changing of the overall balance. It’s also a good way to track the weight changes with after-market parts. This also allows you to compare the weight of your truck to our setup, without battery weight skewing the data.

With the SkyRC scale reading from each tire, the total weight comes in at 4544 grams, with a noticeable weight bias towards the rear of the truck; 43/57. We are going to work on losing some weight and shifting the weight bias a bit more forward.

Losi Hammer Rey weight without battery.

The new Losi Hammer Rey Rock Racer

Update: 6/13/2022

With the UPS truck pulling away, we immediately popped open the large brown box from Losi RC and began to unpackage the new Hammer Rey Trophy Jeep rock racer. Even though this is listed as a 1/10 size machine, it’s considerably larger than all of our 1/10 trucks in the fleet.

There are two color schemes, and we lucked out with the green / grey / white color pattern which is our preferred. The truck also comes in a more striking red and black combo, but it’s a bit dark for my taste.

I already had read some of the comments where people were describing the Hammer Rey as more of a 1/7 to 1/7 scale platform, but these opinions are based on wheelbase and track width, which we believe is an incorrect assessment in this case.

A better way to understand scale in a situation like this is to look at the drivetrain and suspension components, specifically the differentials and suspension arms.

When comparing the Hammer Rey’s differential to the 1/8 scale Nomad DB-8, it’s much smaller in size.

Same with the drive shaft diameters; the Hammer Rey’s drive shaft is much thinner than what is found on a 1/8 scale buggy. This smaller scale of parts continues through the shocks and steering components, as well as hubs and steering spindles.

When considering these parts, there is no question that the Hammer Rey is a 1/10 platform based on the size of parts underneath the body, and while it is for sure a long 1/10 machine, it’s a 1/10 machine none the less.

The Hammer Rey at home on the rocks.

Now there is a part of me that wished Losi had used larger 1/8th scale components inside; I believe it would make the truck much more robust, but it would have needed to be a completely redesigned around these larger elements. They would lose the ability to use parts from the Rock Rey and Baja Rey, and ultimately cost somewhere in the $700 to $800 price range ( which I would also gladly pay). All of this wishful thinking aside, it’s a good looking and well-built truck for the $500 price tag.

Looking over the rest of the truck, the fit and finish is good and on par with other Losi RC products. The suspension feels plush, and the scale details are a nice touch. When it comes to scale details, I’m not a fan generally of scale details – they just add unnecessary weight, but they do look pretty sharp. For the time being I will leave some of them on the truck, but I already have my eye on pulling that spare tire.

Update: 6/10/2022

The Hammer Rey project came together with the help of our good friend Oscar T. from SoCal as well as from Losi RC.

Other than asking the team at MVRCA where we needed the Hammer Rey shipped to, we were given virtually no constraints or direction, allowing us to explore and modify this truck to best suit our desert track and driving style.

It’s important to us that we only change what is needed to improve the truck’s performance or repair damage, and not to make changes based on what looks cool or shinny on the truck. Bling is not part of our agenda; save that for the Traxxas guys.

First and last time you'll see this Hammer Rey clean.

I’ve found that while some after-market parts will help, most actually detract from the performance by adding weight or removing flexibility where it’s needed. Spoiler alert; you will not see goofy aluminum lower front suspension arms on this truck.

We will also be collaborating with drivers from the SoCal region as well as Washington, looking to compare and contrast performance characteristics in different terrains and environments as well sharing ideas and insights on improvements to the Hammer Rey.

With all of that said, we hope you all follow along and enjoy our content, hopefully gaining some insight to help you tune and adjust your Hammer Rey for optimal performance.