rkutach

Tommy, will you share with us new to the sport all necessary upgrades youve made to make your tmaxx more durable, thereby making it more enjoyable(because if you aint breakin nothin, you aint having to pay for nothin xcept fuel, and thats cheap!)??? Thanks.. Russ

tommythecat

My Feedback: (2)

First and most importantly a failsafe and a strong throttle return spring!!!

if you ever run in damp or rainy conditions, waterproof all electronics, balloons work well, but what I do is:
open up the rx and all of the servos and pack them with dielectric grease, I completely fill the rx case with grease, then I did all of the servos and the rx in plastidip that I thin with naptha until it is fairly runny, that way you dont end up with a heavy mass of it that interferes with remounting the electronics. Once I dip the servos I carefully cut around the servo gears and remove the plasic from them, then I cover them with heavy grease. After I install my rx in the rx box, I then dip the whole rx box in plastidip.

parts I think are critical:
rpm a-arms

full rollcage, one that covers the sides too. steel is great if your a basher, but the weight can get to be a bit much (a must for a hardcore basher)

titanium hinge pins

steering servo skid

rpm add-on front and rear skids (they cover the normal skid plates and protect them at the bends (where they usually break)) (these are a must if you want to use a front or rear aluminum skid)

keep full sets of bearing on hand, buying the traxxas bearings in small quantities will kill your wallet, buy full sets from other vendors and keep them around.


My favorite performance upgrades for the trx 2.5:
I larger bore tuned pipe
MS airfilter (I'm using the savvage .21 version instead of the maxx one, it has the outer dry foam cover and also has a longer neck that places it centered on my chassis facing straight forward)

Add a higher flow filter and exhaust and the trx absolutely tears for its size, adn the weight of the maxx!!!


things to upgrade if you find your driving tends to brake the stocks:
rpm bumpers

full set of aluminum skids (aluminum center skid is nice to have but I don't reccomend using aluminum on the front or rear skid unless you have the rpm skids to cover them up at the bend, nothing worse than bending an expensive aluminum part. If you don't like the rpm skids, I reccomend going titanium, without the rpm's covering them aluminum ones just bend too easily.)

aluminum bulkhead braces

front aluminum bulkhead
rear bulk will be replaced with aluminum if I ever break it


other things to do if you find time:
5-cell rx pack

higher torque steering servo


shim, reshim, and re-re-shim your diffs trying different combinations of spacers until they were meshing really nice, then pack the cups with heavy grease and use a small ammount of lighter grease in the outer diff (warning: do noth pack the diff cases full of heavy grease, if you pack the grease in the outer part of the diff you will end up with tons of drag, just6 use a little grease in the outer diff)

the maxx brakes are lacking out of the box, there are tons of things that can be done to fix them up...


This all may seem excessive, but I abuse my maxx hardcore. I drive mostly in weird places that are really hard on rc's (strip mines local parks and swamps) I have also been known to turn my Ms airfilter upwards so the intake is up near the top of my cooling head and cross the stream that runs through the local park. My favorite part about running my nitro rather than an electric is the fact that I can run underwater and it doesn't hurt anything other than making tear down more labor intensive and severely shortening the bearing life in many places.

rkutach

EXCELLENT post Tommy! Thank You! Its always nice to get some real good info from someone that after having read some of their postings seems to know what they are talking about... I hate it when some guys that are wanna be's get on a forum and pretend to know what they are talking about... thanks again... Russ

tommythecat

My Feedback: (2)

Thanks, I appreciate the compliment, but I really am not very experienced. I'm new to nitro RC. My t-maxx is the first I've owned, and I've had it less than a year. What I wrote is just representative of what I've learned in this short period, and it is mostly opinion. There are a lot of other guys here with more experience than me, who may disagree with some of my opinions. I just share what I've learned because I want to pay back all of the support I've got from these forums. There are a lot of growing pains with getting into nitro, and it is pretty expenseive, but without help it can be a nightmare and cost even more.

crashergs

My Feedback: (8)

hey guys... speaking of the tmaxx... yeah its not the most durable vehicle in the market... but with its weight and speed, im quite surprised it can take a good beating with mediocre damage such as a-arms, and the pins and bent aluminum screws... if you guys imagine the impact these things get going 25+ head onto curbs/posts or tumbling on their wheels like a cart wheel... the power weight ratio compared to the damage it recieves= not bad.

ThunderbirdJunkie

My Feedback: (3)

get a revo. the extra $100 you spend you'll save on not having to buy as many arms, halfshafts, chassis braces, bulkheads, chassis plates....

the fact of the matter is, my thunderbird can smack into a curb at 25 mph, and not get hurt
i mean, this sucker weighs like 300x what a t-maxx weighs!

t-maxx123

ive gone throught 2 spur gears and i am just about to start on my second engine, and i have a 1st generation, mine is pretty durable[8D], havent broken anything but i have upgraded the bulkheads, but i keep everything i upgrade, just in case i brake it and need the stock one back

StOcKerRaCer

Reading all this I am figureing that the 1'st gen is more durable [X(] I hit a part of a old speed bump that I thought was grass well it wazn't I was going full speed it hit HARD it didn't break nothing and I didn't wreak any more except flipping a couple times I am a good driver

rangerfredbob

My Feedback: (13)

yeah, the older style is a bit stronger, the shorter suspension arms give it less leverage, meaning breaking it less

and about the thunderbird, that's kinda pointless to mention, the T bird has 25"ish tires, the maxx has tires that are shorter than curbs themselves, that's no compairson, now let's see how the T bird does when you run into a brick wall at 25 . in all truthfulness, when you run into stuff with RC's, it's generally not head on, or even if it is different parts take the hit, with the size of the maxx and using 25mph, you're putting about 250 pounds on whatever part takes the brunt of the load, and if you take into consideration the small cross section of the suspension arms where they usually break, it's not too suprising that they break. I know you weren't exactly being serious, but still, these aren't radio shack trucks, sure they might not break but they go what, 2mph?

I'm basically running all stock parts and haven't broken anything since march, but I haven't really ran all that hard since then either... I even ran at a skate park at one point, the only damage was 3 lost screws, one nearly sheared screw and one minorly broke bulkhead(still usable, just a small crack up twards the front), I think my custom front skid has helped in the durability a fair amount...

Kemo

I dont know what happened in quality between first gen and second gen, but the first one is really hard to break. Parts are easy to flex if you hit something hard enough, but no breakage just yet. My tmaxx is all RPM'd up now, so my 2nd gen will still be tough to break.

ThunderbirdJunkie

My Feedback: (3)

it was a joke, geesh:P

Kemo

Well, if the body work was like the Ford/Mazda Probe... you'd nearly total it out by hitting a junebug.

StOcKerRaCer

rccars411, LOL. 1/1 pick-up trucks are tuff espically the f-250 that's what I am getting

StOcKerRaCer

I live by this field with tall grass and sinkholes [X(] I have seen many pick-ups hit sinkholes at about 40 and keep going! once I saw a stock chevy pick-up going about 55 hit one GOT AIRBORNE and kept going [X(]

Kemo

well lets tap onto topic really fast before a mod decides to turn this thread into a lockdown.

If all else fails and breaks on a maxx... RPM it. Its all i can say! It sure beats aluminum.

crashergs

My Feedback: (8)

i just got the monster-evo 2 kit integy aluminum (all) ill probably put some RPM bumpers, skid plates if available and arms... instead of the aluminum ones, is that a good idea?

StOcKerRaCer

Yes rpm is good I am getting some for my t-maxx

Kemo

RPM doesnt have skid plates, they have skid plate protectors though. The only good aluminum that is worth bolting on are skidplates and center plate.

tommythecat

My Feedback: (2)

If you go with aluminum skid plates the RPM covers are actually a great addition. I've found that the cheaper aluminum bends really easy in the skid plate application, and the stronger more expensive aluminum also bends but is more costly to replace after it bends 20 times and you straighten it 19 times and eventually breaks. Putting the RPM skid plate covers over aluminum skids really helps to keep your expensive aluminum skids from bending every time you bump into a curb or a rock, or nose dive or tail land.

Desert Racer

My Feedback: (5)

I have had my maxx for 2 years. My first nitro truck and I have ran that into a wall at 40 mph nothing broke. I didnt even break in the motor because me and my dad thought it was like his weed wacker motors for his boats that me and him built. The only I have broke on it was front bulk heads. And that was it. To this day the 2.5 has 3 gallons on it and it has good compression.

StOcKerRaCer

You didn't break it in? [X(] and it still runs WOHA [X(]

Desert Racer

My Feedback: (5)

Yep I took the head off and the piston and the piston is fine on top though it is like 1/8 of a inch or so of black sh** on there.

StOcKerRaCer

I'd give it another gallon if that [X(]

Desert Racer

My Feedback: (5)

I dont know the motor still has good compression on it

StOcKerRaCer

when the motor goes to the top of it's stroke the flywheel should be hard to turn