PART 1.

In this review I am going to focus primarily on the mechanical aspect of the TD M60 and so not much on the cosmetics. I think it is well established that the basic cosmetics need some work.

So how is the M60 mechanical? Actually it is pretty good overall, easy to work on and tweak. It does have two glaring issues though that effect its durability and reliability.

The first is the steel gearboxes, although actually nicer then HengLong steel gearboxes because it comes with bearings and is fully enclosed, it did come with motors that have pinion teeth that do not mess well with the corresponding gear as seen in this photo.



This poor mesh caused my M60s gearboxes to lock up frequently. I replaced them with a pair of HengLong blue 380 motors. You can see in the photo how much better the blue 380 motors mesh with the corresponding gear. After adding the blue motors I have had no further issues with the gearboxes locking up and they run smoothly.


The second issue I have experienced is with the suspension travel of the #5 and #6 rear suspension arms/road wheels. The M60 has no physical up or down travel stops. This is not so much of a problem with up, but with the down travel. When backing or driving in reverse over even a small step or obstacle the suspension arms can be easily forced to over extend past the 90deg down point and then start to rotate forward. This puts a huge amount of stress on the torsion bar "locking down" caps and causes them to break with a rather loud snap. Show here simply backing over a small step or obstacle can cause the issues to occur.





Broken torsion bar lock down cap caused by excessive movement downwards of the suspension arm.

This issue my not effect everyone based on how and where they drive their M60 but it should not be happening at all and the lack of a travel limiter is just inexcusable. Fortunately I have been working with JVM3Dconcepts on a solution and will be adding travel limiters to my M60 and designing improved strength torsion bar lock down covers to replace the factory ones.

Feel free to ask any relevant questions.

PART 1 to be continued...