RE: XTM 1/6 scale buggy, Duratrax Firehammer
XTM buggy parts (at least from Hobby People) are ridiculously overpriced. 99% of the Firehammer parts are identical to the XTM (more so than FG parts). The only known difference is the air cleaner assembly.
If you need replacement parts I encourage you to price out Duratrax first at your local hobby shop or at Tower Hobbies.
I needed a gas tank once. I ordered the XTM tank because it is identical and paid $40. The same tank at Tower Hobbies in the Duratrax brand is $5. I also needed some shock absorber end pieces once. Tower was out of stock in the Duratrax parts so I ordered from Hobby People and paid 400% more ($8 versus $2) for the XTM parts.
It is good to have multiple brands be identical like that. Get the Firehammer parts when they are available and pay less or if you are in a pinch and Tower or LHS is out of stock, go to Hobby People and buy the XTM parts.
By the way, go order a steel pinion gear over at fg-hopups.com for $30 or so. The plastic pinion gears heat up and strip very easily and will frustrate the heck out of you. If you plan to stick with the plastic pinion keep a couple of spares on hand.
fg-hopups.com also has alloy replacement engine mounts for the XTM and Firehammer buggies for $90. The engine mounts are another area of frustration with these buggies. The plastic stock mounts allow the engine to move and the diff ring gear and layshaft gear mesh gets messed up. This leads to stripping of these expensive steel gears. You can thread lock these alloy engine mounts and tighten the screws down better than the plastic mounts. This will lock this mesh in place and you will never have trouble from the gear mesh.