Loswave

So, today while my brother and I were driving a couple of our nitro trucks, I was driving my XXX-NT, and my brother his Savage, a random guy pulls over on the side of the road and calls my brother over, I figure he's asking directions or something and keep driving until a couple minutes later, at which point my truck has had enough, clearly defined by the point at which the rear a arms snapped from a bad landing. At this point it's been 5 minutes or so, and I figure I'd better find out what's up. I walk over to the car and it turns out the guy has a "Special Edition T-max" that he wants to sell for $300 bucks, brand new, never been run, then he points to the savage and says, "it's got bigger tires than that, and has a limited edition red, white, and blue body". We're both thinking at this point, we've never heard of a special edition t-max, and certainly not one with tires the size of the LST's. Then my brother says that maybe our father would want it, because he doesn't want to let go a brand new truck for $300. So I go get my dad and bring him out to talk to the guy, and I figure I'll just let them do their thing, and my brother tells me to drive his savage for a second, I drive for like 3 minutes and all the sudden it only has power on the front wheels, and brakes on the back, so I'm thinking wonderful, I ruin my brothers bulletproof truck, turns out it just lost a grub screw, still can't figure out why it came out though. Anyways, moving on, my dad tells the guy to bring the truck by when he's got some free time, when my dad is home, denoted by the green truck in the driveway, or when I'm home, denoted by my purple buick (yes I know... leave me alone, they gave it to me for free so I don't even think of complaining). He shows up 20 minutes later with the truck, an old gallon of 20% nitro, and 12 AA's. I walk out and look in the truck and I see a MGT sitting in it's box, one of the first, with a .21. At this point the first thing that comes to mind is "how could you insult your poor MGT by calling it a T-max?!?!?!" Moving right along, my dad asks my opinion and I tell him that according to me at least, it's a friggin' good deal, I know their are newer versions of the MGT, but $300!? The thing has never even been out of the box. So, after a little talking he buys the truck, sort of random, but he's been talking about getting one for awhile and would have probably never gotten around to it anyways. So, in short, I just thought you monster truck enthusiasts may apreciate that story, and have some ideas as to the must have hopups for the truck, the only thing I noticed is it seems that the steering servo's a little slow, of course the only thing that I have to compare it with is an LST and a Savage 25. Well, let me know what you think.

Wide Open

a special edition t-maxx??? what an insult to my little beauty![:'(]
anyways, it looks like you got a good deal for it. any pics?

bauerbach

doesnt sound like such a good deal...

old engine, old plastic(brittle), and for 100$ more you could get a truely new in box with the 4.6(.21 engine plus 13lbs=ouch)

that and Im not real impressed by the MGT in its design. Id say the tmaxx was getting the short end of the stick being reffered to for an MGT.

huw4027

Hey i agree that was an insult to the good ol' MGT.
The Hitec 645MG is a great servo for $37.99 at Tower and is more than capable of handling
the turning of those big wheels. If you really want great steering you can get Team Associated
optional aluminum steering bellcrank system with the servo.
If you plan to bash you should put on RPM arms with Lunsford titanium hingepins and turnbuckles.
The .21 motor is ok but i put in an XTM 24.7 Pro in mine with a tuned pipe and i am totally happy.

BuzzBomber

My Feedback: (4)

Um, how brittle is plastic going to be after 3-4 years sitting in a box? That's how long the MGT has been around. If it were 15 years old, then maybe I'd be concerned. AFAIK, the newer versions have exactly the same plastic components. I have one of the first MGTs that was sold in the LHS here, and I've never broken ANY plastic on it--matter of fact, only thing that has broken outright is the pullstart cord. And so what if it's an old engine? I have airplane engines that are 20 years old and run better than some modern engines? Besides, the .21 has plenty of power when tuned right. If actually RACING this truck is in the cards, then maybe a power upgrade is in order, but the .21 has all the power I need for bashing, and it almost never needs retuning. I think $300 for a NIB MGT is a pretty good deal. JMHO...

bauerbach

plastic dries out.

racers even heat some parts to increase their flexability. yes, plastic gets brittle in 3-4 years. if you havent broken anything on your truck in 3-4 years, whether from brittleness or not, you must not drive it. come on, you expect me to believe you havent broken a single part in 4 years?

nothing wrong with an old engine(if there was really never fuel run through it, otherwise you have to wonder about possible rust if not stored properly) but the problem is its an old design, its a smaller engine than you'd get on a brand new MGT.

400 is what towers got it at, I have to assume it can be had for less, and for the 2 reasons above(ignoring the whole questionable situation of the deal) I think itd be worth 70-100$ to have the larger engine and fresher parts.

BuzzBomber

My Feedback: (4)

I do drive it--I don't race, never have, but it's got several gallons of fuel through it in the two and a half years I've had it. I've bent the rear aluminum skidplate in a really nasty landing on a rock, but no plastic parts have broken(yet). I drive somewhat aggressively and have had plenty of crashes/cartwheels/bad landings with it, but maybe the difference is that I don't hit curbs and trees, etc at full speed like many people seem to post about(not pointing a finger at anyone, just illustrating a point).

I know that some plastics, like PVC, get brittle over time with exposure to UV light or certain chemicals, but AFAIK, the plastics used on these cars are a mix of nylon composite, ABS, and HDPE. Either way, just sitting in a box, they shouldn't be getting brittle over just a few years(FWIW, the MGT was released in 2003, so it can't be more than 3 yrs old) without some outside help like UV or chemical exposure or physical stresses.

If the car is being run though, I can definitely see parts getting brittle over time from repeated impact and flexing causing fatigue/stress risers/whatnot at key points. Racers heat cycling parts may do it to offset these effects; I guess it might have a similar effect to annealing metal as you form it. Repeated exposure to denatured alcohol and/or other chemical may degrade the plastic if you clean it a lot also, I suppose. I really wasn't intending to start a debate on plastic properties since I'm not a physicist or chemist, but just to point out that I don't think the plastic should be brittle enough to worry him on a truck this new--heck, I had my old Tamiya Frog for over five years back in the '80s and the main plastic frame never failed, I just wore out other stuff.

As far as the design of the truck, what's not to like? It's a pretty simple design, easy to work on, and uses pretty standard hardware. However, you're entitled to your own opinion on what does or doesn't impress you about the truck - that's the beauty of life.

Either way, I'll shut up about all that stuff now. I agree that the situation of a guy showing up with a truck to sell is a little wonky; I'd be skeptical of it as well, but people really do buy these things and just give up before they get too far with it(especially with planes)......so for $300, as long as it runs, I don't think loswave did too bad. I paid $375 for mine two and a hald years back, and that was on a clearance price!

Loswave

Ohh beleive, brand spanking new, I've been around nitros long enough to know an engine that's never been cranked, I mean every little accesory was still in it's original plastic bag. We did fire it up for the first time today, ran 1 tank through it, starting yet another boring break in. Personally I can't imagine a T-max holding it's own with that thing stock. It does however look like those who like the truck tend to think it's a good deal, and those who don't like the truck think it was a crappy deal, what a shock! We are all still debating the oddness of the situation, although I can't say it's the first time it's happened. Whenever we're in an area with alot of people it seems like there's a 10% chance someone will come up and say, "hey I had one of those a while ago, but I don't use it anymore, you want it?" Funny whenever I tell that story the first question I get is; do you think it was stolen? In which case I honestly beleive he didn't steal it. I have a few good reasons why, mainly the fact that it still had the LHS's price tags on it, and the guys totally into slot cars, which he buys at that shop, so it wouldn't suprise me if he did in fact buy it, then never use it. Actually, at the marina where we store out boat, there's a guy who built a nitro boat like 4 years ago, and he is too afraid to run it, he just doesn't know much about nitro and when I offered to show him the ropes he'd already decided it was just to much work, and only wanted to sell it. Well, you know how after you've broken in a few vehicles you get a good sense of how much power they'll have after you run the very first tank, well, I would say it'll have enough power to give my dad a thrill, this is his first nitro, so it won't really take that much anyways, but I think it'll keep up with the LST and Savage well enough when we're bashing. I'll get a picture of all 3 trucks side by side tomorrow, and post it for you, man the stock body that came with the 1st edition MGT's is awesome, everyone who's seen it agrees that it would be sacrilige of the RC world. I can't wait for him to finish breakin so we can tune this thing and get it moving!.

Wide Open

thats the spirit! anyways, enjoy your new truck.

Loswave

I'll see if I can a picture for you guys tomorrow, I was a little to busy today, but hopefully tomorrow.

cruiserx

trust me...a stock 2.5 t-maxx can more than hold its own against the .21 mgt...its quicker and alot faster...the mgt's design mimicks the t-maxx alot...but its alot tougher in the bashing department...not that the t-maxx is all that bad....just not as good as the mgt...i think that was a very good deal...i would save the body though..it was a limited print..

Loswave

Here's a picture of all 3 trucks side by side, we all decided that the shell it came with was way to nice to run with, we're gonna pick up a new one after break in. We never bother puting it on during break in, better cooling, not to mention you need to get in there for tem and tuning all the time. We don't have a track around here so we pretty much only bash anyways. He still only has one tank through it, he better get in gear! I had my LST borken in the day I got it, well, then tuned it the next day, my brothers savage was another story, it ran for over an hour and a half on it's first tank, we never did figure out why, althought I suspect an air leak in the crackcase which we later sealed.

dustin7837

My Feedback: (1)

Not a bad deal. Can't go wrong with $300. Nice little fleet you have started there

As for a maxx, the MGT will just take it with the .21. Tmaxx as good when it first came out in comparison to others, But now its pretty much bottom of the barrel for hobby grade RCs (not counting asian rip offs). I can't believe they acme out wiht a 3.3... talk about milking every last penny lol.

Loswave

That picture doesn't even show my xxx-nt, my bros xxx-nt, my TF-2, my bros RS4 Pro, either mini-t, nor my blade CP, or my brothers CX, or my dad's CX, or my yakk 55, or my turmoil... I think that sums it up. Eventually I'll have to get a picture of every last hobby RC we have, it'd be one heck of a shot. As for traxxas, I've never been that much of a t-maxx fan, but I do think that they should procuce a Revo with a big block, hopefully .26 or more... Not that it matters to me anyways, I'm happy with my LST so long as I can get it running right again. This weekend is supposed to be okayish, so we hope to finish the MGT's break in period so we can really see what it's made of!

badboy2

My Feedback: (13)

before u scratched up that flag body sell it ebay.. some sells for $100 ...
imo its still a good buy even if its the 1st edition..even if they say add $100 bux and get the mgt4.6..i think its all the same in structure its just the engine that is different ..so for another 100 or so get a new nicer engine so u got 2 engines instead of one hehe