Try to find the other Fusion and run him as-is against Baseline. If you do anything else to it, it's no longer an Ascent. ANYTHING can be made great with a custom chassis or bastardizing better parts from other rigs/companies. The whole point of this platform is to be an affordable, "entry level" comp rig. That's going to be geared towards people who can't spend a lot of money and/or don't have a lot of experience building and tuning a rig from scratch. If you end up doing a chassis and a bunch of custom work on the front end, you're basically doing stuff that your "typical" Ascent customer won't be able to do. "We" need to see how good "we" can make it without doing anything more complicated than what you've already done.

i can honestly say that your the only one that has dove this deep into that machine and explained it all in such fashion. l still believe the best rigs are built not purchased. we deeply appreciate your opinion and will adjust accordingly.

Taking it apart and putting it back together with parts left over is just classic.

Your insight on this vehicle and its creators mistakes is truly impressive, I have to thank you for the videos you put out as someone fairly new to crawling got my fist rig winter of 21’ but I listen and learn intently and all of my future projects/ purchases are going to be of sound judgement.

I am new, my Ascent was ordered this weekend. Watching your entire videos to learn about the vehicle and corrections which make it better. As a newbie I will not throw a bunch of money at this hobby. I will learn and enjoy the sport. Old RC aircraft guy. Thank you for your work to improve our Crawler experience.

Thank you for the deep dive good to see all the ins and outs of the rig, hope you completely canyonfy it then it would be a thing! As always thanks.

Excellent episode! I must say I am not surprised about that engineer calamity....I still remember that I was slaughtered onYT and some boards when I mentioned exactly the points out you encountered . Lets see what happens in the following 👍

Need a drinking game when watching this guys videos!  Every time this guy says superfluous we take a shot!

Your last statement was deep.

I think you should show us how to make that thing perform. Take it to the next level.

There are other people who could take it to that level.
But you have the resources to take it to the next.

Grant it, it may end up being turned into a portal axle, aluminum frame rail , 84:1 % reduction version of Baseline.

But it’s all content. Some people buy what they can afford and once they are vested they have to go from there.

Show us.

We love what you do Mr. Canyon

This place rocks 🪨🗻🪨🏜

I've put well over 150 miles on my Gen8 and not had trouble inside the portal boxes. I've seen people complain about the tiny bearings but I've never had a problem with them.

The Gen8 uses a CVD style front axle instead of a U joint. I've broken one, but the pin was worn more than halfway through before it broke.

Great breakdown!!  You mentioned wheel weight as it applies to sprung vs I sprung weight. Would you happen to have a previous video that discusses the benefit/importance of that ratio?  Thank you for taking the time to review the Redcat!

Finally! Someone sees the flaws like I did!
Great episode!

With the internal spring under the piston, it works against the external spring, not in concert with it. Its functioning like desert lizards, with their springs above and below the piston, working against each other. Also functions like the PenSpringMod

This reminded me of the scene in saving private ryan where Tom Hanks is recruiting Oppum to the squad
"Wont need that... you'll need that...... Dont need that or that, thats on upside down....."
Made me chuckle 😂

I briefly  had a a couple of older redcats. I have not desire to own one ever again. After seeing a few "reviews" praising the Ascent, I was somewhat interested. I knew I could count on Mr. Canyon to pull back the curtain. By 15:30 into the forensic , I had seen enough. What a design catastrophe!

From watching this video I would spend more trying to make a alright rig than just building a great rig so thank you my friend for the great video

You do not need to disassemble the entire front end to change the motor. You did it the absolute worst way possible.
- Remove both the front upper shock screws, lay the shocks forward.
- Remove the forward passenger side front shock mount screw. (Frame/outside)
- Remove the rear passenger side front shock mount screw. (Frame/inside)
- Remove the 4 cross member screws and the cross member.
- Remove the 4 motor mount screws
- Remove the drive pin and shaft connected to the spur gear output shaft.
The whole motor mount rotates forward and out to work on.

Woo Hoo Part Two

I really appreciate this in-depth explanation of all the design and engineering here. The Ascent wasn't on my short list of trucks, and now I'm glad to know why.

That said, the data on the weight distribution etc. here really made me wonder--have you done those charts for a stock TRX4 Sport or Baseline or Phoenix or Enduro RTR? I'm just curious how they all compare out of the box in terms of the CGH, the wheel weight, etc.