The Hurricane C5 comes packaged in a large cardboard box with it's name, picture, and key features affixed to the side. Once you open the box, you actually realize what you just bought; one massive rc truck! Seriously, this is by far the largest, most burly rc vehicle I've operated to date. The Hurricane is fully assembled and packaged very well inside with cardboard supports used to keep it snug and undamaged during shipping. Everything except gas and oil are included, and I was glad to see they threw in eight double-a batteries for the transmitter as well.

The body is based off of a Ford F-150 and includes a sticker sheet with Ford graphics as well as the window and lighting graphics. I was impressed with the finish of the body. It was cut out well and the flame and checkered flag graphics look great. Being as thick as it is, the body can take some punishment without folding. After a few weeks of beating on it, there are only some small scuffs to speak of. I also liked the cut-out for the roll bar which increases cooling by drawing out hot air from the engine and exhaust.

With the body removed we can examine the Hurricane C5 and see what makes it as tough as it is. A high-impact plastic roll cage protects the engine and electronics from any hard hits that would come from an accidental upside down landing or a few rolls. It's somewhat flexible which provides a little "give" instead of being rigid and prone to breakage. The cage covers the engine and slopes down in front to protect the tank and servos. The roll cage also takes some of the impact away from the body and prevents it from squishing down if you land on the roof. Body posts are at either end of the cage and are made of the same flexible plastic to prevent being snapped off, instead, they will bend and pop back into place.

EDITORS NOTE: The body is available in Black with yellow flames or Red with yellow flames.

The anodized blue chassis is made of 4mm thick aluminum and features countersunk philips-head screws. There's a slot cut for the spur gear to spin freely as well. This is done so the engine and drive train can sit lower on the chassis, further reducing the Hurricane's center of gravity. On either side of the chassis are plastic guards that do a good job of keeping the majority of flying dirt out of the truck, but like any 4wd, it's still going to get dirty.

The Zenoah G230RC is a torquey little engine, and proved to be a much better candidate for the Hurricane than the 28cc knock-off engine that originally came with it. And because FGsupply.com ships all the Hurricanes with this new Zenoah engine, you can rest assured your's will out run and out accelerate any Titans out there. The G230 is completely stock and with the needles set right from the start. There's a primer bulb located on the carb behind the air filter that makes cold starts easy, especially when used in conjunction with the choke lever. A stock canister muffler is included with a rubber stinger to direct exhaust down and away from the body. There's also a kill switch located on the left side of the motor that functioned as expected.

The engine is fed fuel through a large 600cc plastic fuel tank. It features a clunk for positive pickup of fuel in almost any position. Even if you roll your Hurricane on it's lid, it can sit for a good 30 seconds before starving, if the tank is less than half full. Although my Hurricane had the older gas cap, all models now ship with the updated Zenoah gas cap that is also a breather and prevents the tank from building pressure.

From the engine, power is transferred through the clutch, to the gearbox, which is nothing more than 2 gears behind a clear plastic shield. The first gear is 37t and the second gear is 43t. The plastic see-through shield looks trick but soon becomes opaque after a few dirt sessions when small pieces of sand and debris fly around in there and scratch it up. No biggie though, it still does its job of keeping rocks and larger objects out of the gears. The larger of the two gears is attached to the 16t bevel gear which spins the center differential. This diff is the only downside of the entire truck in my opinion. It's filled from the factory with grease and unfortunately isn't sealed. This makes it impossible to fill with differential fluid because it will just fling out. Because it's only filled with grease, there is little positive locking action and the majority of power from the engine is transferred to the front wheels. The rears still spin, but with less force than the fronts. Luckily, a sealed aftermarket center diff is available from FGSupply.com here that solves this problem as well as tightening the mesh between the gears. While the somewhat "loose" mesh between the bevel gears hasn't presented itself as a problem, it is a bit noisy. From the center diff, power is transferred through dogbones to the front and read differentials, and on to the wheels via universal joints at all four corners. The universal joints are definite upgrades from the stock dogbones that came with the Titan, which could fall out under extreme side loads such as off-camber landings.

The Hurricane uses oversized wheel adapters that are square instead of hexes. The adapters will hold the wheels tight against the hub as long as you keep the wheel nuts tight. The front knuckles are beefy as all get-out and look like they could withstand a direct grenade hit; I doubt if they will ever fail.

The suspension system on the Hurricane C5 is another area that's been upgraded by FGsupply.com. The first area to receive attention was the rear upper links. They were originally ball links and would tend to pop out under a side load. They've been upgraded with full upper a-arms that match the front. The suspension geometry was also reworked because the shocks would bottom out before the chassis did on the other model. This is the worst thing you can do to a shock next to over extension and repeated slamming of the shock to full compression will eventually kill it. FGsupply.com changed the shock towers so the chassis would hit before the shocks bottom out... problem solved! The shocks on the Hurricane feature natural aluminum bodies and anodized blue caps. The spring rate is pretty good and so is the dampening. Preload spacers are included for adjusting ride height. The shock's only adjustment is at the bottom of the shaft at the lower arm where you can move them slightly outboard for a more stiff ride and less body roll. The lower arms are another beefed-up number and look like they can take some abuse, in fact they did take quite a few hard hits and never failed. You can adjust the droop, or how far the wheels will hang down when in the air, by turning a small set screw located at the base of each lower arm. Turning it in decreases droop, and turning it out will increase. This is a good habit to get into to prevent the shocks from over-extending when your Hurricane is flying through the air or sailing over a set of mean whoops.

Throttle and braking are controlled by a 1/4 scale servo. The linkages are quite simple with a bell crank for the throttle and a slide spring setup for the brake. The brake is adjustable at the transmitter but I don't see any need to adjust the spring tension on the linkage, it's just right from the factory. The brakes have been upgraded from fiber discs and steel pads to steel discs and fiber pads. They bring the heavy Hurricane to a halt really quickly and are progressive as well. Front and rear bias could be adjusted if you want, but it's really not necessary unless you plan on racing, and in that case, a little rear wheel bias would help slide the back around the corners quicker.

Steering felt precise enough when driving although the stock 1/4 scale servo had a little trouble turning the wheels at a dead stop. The tie-rods needed a bit of adjustment from the factory because of alot of toe-out. There's also a nice sized servo saver that is adjustable.

The electronics that come with the Hurricane C5 are a good fit for this gasser. The servos are of good quality and didn't let go or act up in any manner and the transmitter is an updated Futaba 3 channel as opposed to the cheaper version that ships with the other truck. I also liked the 6 volt pack that features c-sized cells and the included wall charger. Your covered with the Hurricane! The icing on the cake are the included aa batteries for the transmitter which saves you money, no matter how small the cost. Radio range is great from the receiver and I never lost contact, but just incase something does go wrong, it features a built-in failsafe.

Preparing the Hurricane for its first run wasn't too difficult. I applied the body stickers, threaded the antenna wire through it's included tube and attached it to the radio box, and mixed up some fuel at 25:1. After charging the receiver battery, I fueled the truck and fired it up. The break-in was easy as I let the truck high- idle for 15 minutes, and then shut it off and let it cool. Do this 3 times and your ready to throw some earth around!

One final thought before you go out in the field with your Hurricane; make sure the various bolts that hold it together are nice and tight. The vibrations from a gas engine are pretty rough on fasteners and some can, and will loosen up. I use a dab of Loc-tite on any fasteners that come loose after a run. Check your wheel nuts after every run, and between refueling. Its a another good habit to get into. Never use Loc-tite on any fasteners that screw into plastic.

Driving the Hurricane C5 is exciting to say the least. It's big and heavy, but it jumps and handles like a smaller vehicle. I found myself rolling up to tabletop jumps and gassing it in the final 8 feet before the jump, and still clearing it. The tires grip on all surfaces and throw some serious roost.

Suspension damping is good on big jumps and can be even better with a thicker shock oil, but it's just fine for bashing with the stock fluid. The Hurricane likes to drop the nose when jumping or going over whoops and needs the extra throttle when airborne to remain level which I attribute to the front-wheel biased center-differential. As I stated before, it's filled with grease and sends more power to the front wheels. When traveling over small whoops or short jumps, it's nice to have the power at the rear wheels to keep the front up. If you want to remedy this condition, you'll need to purchase an aftermarket center diff that will hold differential fluid. For bashing and having fun, it's really not a big deal. The rear wheels still spin, but the front wheels spin more.

The C5 is a wide truck and really wants to stay on all fours. Sliding turns, off camber turns, and off camber jumps usually result in the Hurricane landing on all four wheels and hauling off in a cloak of dust. If it does flip over, it will stay running long enough for you to walk over and flip it back on it's wheels... no need to run, it's not a nitro. Body roll is also kept to a minimum thanks to the shocks.

A great safety feature is the front bumper. It's extremely durable and took a number of landings straight on the nose without breaking. The thick polycarbonate body took a few direct hits as well and only suffered from some surface scratches.

Run time should be dictated by battery life rather than tank capacity. The 600cc tank supplies fuel to a gas sipping engine that equals run times above 30 minutes. You can really make a gallon of gas last with the Hurricane.

Even though it had side guards and a full body, the truck can get pretty dirty underneath if your running off road (which is where you should be!). Cleaning your truck after a long run is rewarding and makes for a better experience the next time you go out. This means you should remove and clean the air filter and pull start, which is held on by a whopping four bolts, and get the loose dirt out of the chassis.

The Hurricane C5 is a strong performer thanks to the added upgrades from FGSupply.com. It accelerates well, jumps well, and handles a fair amount of abuse without breaking. That's alot to be said for a truck that is close to 30 lbs. I feel that with a few upgrades to the drive train, the Hurricane C5 would be a potent racer as well. Infact, the C5 is already being raced on 1/5 scale tracks with winning results... and some said it couldn't be done with such a big truck.

If your looking for an extreme gas truck to bash or race, take a look at FGSupply.com's Hurricane C5, you definitely will not be disappointed with it's performance and durability.

Hurricane C5
Distributed exclusively by:
FGSupply.com
6408 Independence Ave.
Woodland Hills, CA. 91367
Support Phone:
818-888-9050