Questions about Rustler XL5..
 

Hi everyone. So I recently purchased my first ever RC car and I settled for the Rustler Xl5. I would have gone VXL if I could afford it.. I just have a few questions..
1.) I'm extremely scared to drive it crazy.. I bought it for offroad bashing but I don't know how crazy I can go without it breaking.. do they break easily? Is it alright if they roll? Is loose dirt with alot of dust alright to drive on?
2.) What size of pinion should I use? I was under the impression that the XL5 came stock with the 23t or 19t pinion but I looked at it and it has a 16t? It pops wheelies pretty easy which is nice but I would like some over all higher top speeds. Would buying a 19 or 23t pinion be alright and would it make it noticeably faster? I don't want to use the include 28t for sure for fear of overheating. Or what about using the 16t pinion and included 68t spur?
3.) Do I need to buy some oil to oil the shocks or motor? I believe it has the Titan 12t 550 and I didn't know if they required oil down the road.

Sorry for the long post but I just have so many questions to ask and I'm really excited about this new hobby! Thanks in advance!

Does it have the 71 spur on it,16/68 gearing would be fine you can use the 28t and just keep an eye on temps it would be more for straights though and not so much on/off throttle because thats the driving that will generate heat.

as for the rest you can re oil the shocks and bearings and give it a good clean same with the transmission too and it should be good for a couple of years,get a brushless setup because the stock setup doesnt really need anything,but there still pretty solid if your not to wreckless and not jumping it on concrete hard.

Oh wow I never noticed my typo. I'm currently running a 90t spur and it comes with an additional 86 spur.. A 68 spur I'm sure would just fry it instantly

The 28t pinion would be alright with the 90-86 spur the 68t would probably be to much and most probably wouldnt push that bigger gear anyway without struggling.

A 28t pinion? I thought that was terrible for offroad and burned the motor very quick?

Don't worry about breaking parts as that will kill the fun.
When something breaks just buy the RPM equivalent part as their stuff is way stronger then the stock traxas parts.
Hell you can almost build the truck completely from scratch there are so many aftermarket parts for it lol

Yeah it would be but who ever you brought it off maybe never got it for those puposes,and theres only one way to really find out.
and keep an eye on your temps.

This thread has a lot of good info on it for a first timer with a stock Rustler. List upgrades that are out there (even more since the thread is from '08).

http://traxxas.com/forums/showthread...or-Rustler-VXL

I'd defiantly recommend a RPM front bumper... It can save the front end in bad crashes
And a decent servo saver.... Either a bellcrank setup like pro lines or a kimbrough servo saver