tiemac

Bought a Savage X 4.6 last week. Break in went fine and it hauls A**. Could not get brakes to work very good, LHS said if I want good brakes I would need a better servo. run number two upper control arm breaks. Run three steering servo strips gears. Run four another control arm breaks. when replacing the second broken upper control arm I notice the drive Axel is not there must have lost it out there in the dirt somewhere when control arm broke. Bad Luck or Bad truck?????

My T-MAXX has taken a beating for years with few replaced parts, Spur Gear, Upgraded engine, Clutch shoes.

The Savage is fun to run when its working.

eastbound-n-down

Did you get the RTR or is it the old Savage X? How are you breaking the control arms? I've broken several, but it was from collisions w/ stationary objects at high speeds....so I can't blame that on HPI. I guess I've been lucky, I haven't had any failures that I didn't cause...sounds like bad luck. Hope it gets better for you, if not I'm sure you can unload it on here pretty quickly.

tiemac

Its the RTR. Love the way it runs, Kicks my old T-maxx's A**. But cant get a drive shaft on Sunday so ill be running my maxx.

scarletboa

My Feedback: (1)

for better brakes, just turn that thing that controls the tention on the brake spring. i had a problem with bad brakes, so i turned that thing about 8 turns and when i hit the brakes, the truck flipped forward. my steering servo is in the process of going out. the hitec mg645 is a good, cheap replacement.

it's montly bad luck that you are having.

wingedwheel-0420

i took mine out for its first bash session today and i had it flipping cartwheeling and all and didnt do nothing but mess up the body a little bit. im pleased so far just having a little trouble with tuning it.

tiemac

There is a new post about brakes. I turned mine in till they were dragging at idle bot they are still weak. I'm going to try replacing the spring with a piece of fuel line and see if that works.

ThunderbirdJunkie

My Feedback: (3)

Can't get a driveshaft on a Sunday? Wow.

Sucks about that dude...I've honestly never broken a suspension part on my Savage (knock wood)

tiemac

Everything is closed on Sunday its UTAH

wingedwheel-0420

the fuel tube tip is the first thing i did and make sure there is not alot of slack,mine has some sllack but the brakes work exceelent on mine. idont see how you would need new breaks when they are new,makes no sense to me.

Revomad1

swapping the wimpy spring for fuel tubing works wonders.

tiemac

LHS said new brake servo. I guess the stock one does not have the power to stop car good.

wingedwheel-0420

there just trying to get you to buy more stuff. thats bs, just make sure you have a hump pack or 2.

ThunderbirdJunkie

My Feedback: (3)

stock Savage brakes suck.

Get a new steering servo, and put the SF2 in the th/brk spot.

Then upgrade to dual disks

wingedwheel-0420

well thats odd because my stock brakes are stopping the heck outta it

ThunderbirdJunkie

My Feedback: (3)

I keep forgetting the X4.6 has better brakes than previous generations of RTR Savages

wingedwheel-0420

i was gonna say, i had to loosen them some so it wouldnt front flip evrytime i hit the brakes

rclugnut10

My Feedback: (1)

yeah i got the dual steel disks and they are more than enough to stop my savage fast, with a ~40 oz servo...

the lug

yoster

For what it's worth, I think there is a lot of mis-communication about the savage brakes. It's too easy to confuse the Savage X with the Savage X 4.6. I was close to going out and purchasing a stronger servo for the brakes when I purchased mine; only to find out that the person recommending I do that had a Savage X. I agree, when the little screw thing is adjusted on the brakes (on the 4.6), it stops fast enough to flip the truck over. That said, I don't like the steering servo. So I will definitely be upgrading that and moving the SF2 to brakes.

MTboy

Duel steel brakes and better servo is the best thing you can do for the brakes. Savage x 4.6 is a great truck and with alittle tunning you will have a blast.

SAVAGEJIM

If you do alot of high speed full trigegr pulls up and down the street (I do that lot), then you brakes will fade FAST. I found this out teh hard war. But if you stick to low speed bashing activities like most bashers do, jumps, crawling, etc, then the brakes will last alot longer. With the global fuel crunch and also the higher nitro fuel prices, I have reduced how often I go out and run my RCs. And one of the activities I cut back on is straight-line high speed full tigger runs up and down the street. I noticed my brakes faded WAY slower if I dont do any high speed passes. No, its not the high speed runs that ruins the brakes. Its teh extreme amount of work teh brake discs and pads must do to stop the truck. So, if your brakes dont work, most likely the pads and discs are faded. Even with teh adjustment knob turned all the way in, once worn to a certain point, you must replace them.

As for the arms breaking? You must have broken them from a very hard hit, like a wreck. I have ruined stock suspension arms only from very hard hits, in most cases, the whole Savage was totalled. Every time I broke a suspension arm such that one of the dogbones falls out, I just didnt break the suspension arm, I broke a whole lot of other stuff too. Knowing this, I strongly suggest you check over the rest of your Savage, I gauranty you broke something else too.

SAVAGEJIM

After thinking a little more, I just thought of one other thing: Did you buy your Savage brand new or used?

A friend of mine bought his Savage on-line used, about half teh price of a brand new Savage. That truck was beat to death, and the previous owner was silly enough to put on the older Integy alum bumpers among other things. It ran in good order, but as we bashed, the hidden problems started to show themselves from the neglect. My point is if your Savage is used, go over everyting thoroughly. The previous guy prbably had a really bad wreck with it and did some cosmetic and/or patchwork repairs to hide the ailments.

If it is brand new and you DID NOT wreck, it is nothing short of a serious manufacturing problem (there is no reason why the suspension arms should spontaneuosly fail from only light to moderate everydat bashing hits). Call HPI, they owe you replacement parts to get your truck to 100%.

rclugnut10

My Feedback: (1)

true story at the track i screwed up the take off on a jump really bad, i ended up with if flying nose up and spinning if (it was level it would be doing barrel rolls) and i landed hiting on one wheel and then having it bounce up again and land cartwheeling then it finnially stopped ending up on its wheels i just pulled the trigger and it was fine... no breakage what so ever my upper arms are threaded but souldn't make any major difference i think it'ld weakin them but i may be wrong so what i'm saying and i've said if before if you're doing worse than landing on 1 wheel half upside down spining from 10 ft up, then i think stuff may break, but if you're not doing that, then CALL HPI

the lug

tiemac

I did buy it new from LHS. I did do some pretty good rolls doing hill climbs but the arms broke just running in the flat dirt. maybe I stressed them in earlier tumble and they and then they broke on the flat dirt, because I was not going fast and did not hit anything that I could see. I did find my axle out in the dirt area I was running in . I noticed my front wheels are toed out a bit but not sure if that's was the problem since I broke a front and a rear. I am going to take it out and run it again today. Hope it holds together. I have cartwheeled my MAXX down 30 ft hills and never broke any suspension parts (maybe I have just been lucky?). The savage is a blast to run that's for sure so I hope I can continue to run it (bad luck cant last forever).

ShoestringRacer

If you lost a front drive shaft just take out the other side and run 2wd. If you lost one on the rear, take both out front and put on in rear. At least you can still use it before getting a driveshaft. Most brake problems are from the set up. You may have to adjust the pivot rod too up or down as well as putting fuel tubing on the pull rod.

scarletboa

My Feedback: (1)

i have done so much with my savage. they call me the destroyer at my LHS because i can BASH!
the only thing i have broken is a dogbone from doing backflips on asphalt. i have launched it full speed off a steep ramp and attempted about 25 double backflips. only about 5 of them landed on the wheels. i haven't even broken or stripped my spur gear yet. it's all about proper gear alignment.

i think i might know the answer to your control arms problem. do the pins just keep coming out? mine were and i used zipties in key locations and haven't had a problem since then. i'll post pics of this simple mod later today.

the owner of my LHS doesn't encourage savages. instead, he encourages losi and traxxas trucks. i think this is because he doesn;t make money off parts for the savages. lol

my LHS keeps all the trucks that are broken in a corner of the shop that's out of the way. i have seen just about every truck or car there except a savage with one exception. the owner was rebuilding the engine for a customer after that engine had seen 8 gallons.