brushless systems do put higher demands on batteries. a low-charged nimh pack can cause hesitation and lack of power. how long did the nimh pack charge on your charger before you tried it in the truck?

on the single shock design, you are comparing the very heavy savage(good truck no doubt!) to a much lighter MT that the caldera is. not saying a quad shock setup wouldnt have been nice. but since the caldera is much lighter its not nessasary like it is in the savage.
also, the savage has more shock travel. the more the travel, the greater the stress on the stocks.

also, i recomend anyone with a caldera 10e get the ESC program card: http://cgi.ebay.com/Hobbywing-EZRun-...item2eb28b7eb2

it will let you adjust LVC voltage, motor timing, drag brake, braking force, reverse power, initial punch and more. its much easier than using the radio to set those functions.