Buying Used: What to look for?
 

I recently got started on Nitro with a buggy and I'm loving it, so now I'm looking to expand my garage with a Nitro Monster Truck.

I've been thinking about a RedCat Avalanche XP, but the local hobby shop also has a used Savage X 4.6 for $325. I haven't done anything except look at it on the shelf, being new to nitro I research a lot before I make any major decisions.

That being said, what would I look for when buying a used Nitro RC truck? Am I running a risk no matter what, or is there a way to tell if the engine has been abused (my biggest concern). Should I ask the hobby shop to run it first, do compression tests (what are good results?), etc, etc.

Any advice is appreciated.

RE: Buying Used: What to look for?
 

Dont pay extra for a "great engine" figure the engine is toast. That way you dont pay extra for junk. I would make sure you get a Savage x version. It has a better radio box and ez access diffs.

RE: Buying Used: What to look for?
 

What would be the visual queue to look for to distinguish between the Savage X (and I guess the non-X version?).

From the images I've found online, I can't really tell a noticeable difference in the Savage X 4.6 and the other models other than body / tires on some of the older models?

RE: Buying Used: What to look for?
 

I would only consider it if :

A) it came with some sort of warranty on the engine.

B) you could buy it without the engine ( for a lesser price of course).

You have no idea what its been through and could be the #1 factor to regretting the purchase. If they do warranty the engine then I would only consider it if its the F4.6 and not the K4.6. The F has a black case, the K has a silver one. The electronics are easy to check before purchase and you could always have them show the inside of the diffs if you feel its needed.

RE: Buying Used: What to look for?
 

I would go with the savage over the redcat any day. I own both and the savage is far better and a lot easier to work on.

RE: Buying Used: What to look for?
 

maybe it just me but theres always a risk with used....and 325 sound high...
save 100 more and just by it new
if u really want used buy a roller on ebay and throw a new engine in it
it may come out cheaper than 325 and you at least know ur engine is good.

RE: Buying Used: What to look for?
 

buy brand new bro,

i bought a second hand savage x ss 4.6 and had to spend quite a lot on getting it all proper. the amount i spent on it probably total's to a brand new one plus half... stupid me... since it was my first nitro ever i really didn't know what to look for...

i second pauly187 on this. your better off buying something brand new from a LHS who gives warrenty... or if you wanna spend a bit more and don't care about it being local, towerhobbies sells the kit (not rtr) for $381.99 + shipping, plus this way you can chuck in a proper radio system :) (i'm not advertising, i only suggest towerhobbies because its the cheapest i could find)

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...LXMYA2&P=7

take word from me bro, don't buy a second hand savvy unless you realllllyyy know what your looking at :)

RE: Buying Used: What to look for?
 

i would recommend staying away from used, you will have much better luck buying new. Used rc vehicles are so over priced its ridiculous. i wouldnt pay anymore than 200 dollars for any savage (including a flux, doesnt matter the condition) Your just better off new, no matter which way you cut it, but if you are going to buy a used truck, price the engine you want (consider ther engine it comes with is shot, as previously stated) nadd the price of your new engine to the truck and your going to find 9 times out of 10 you have exceeded the price of that truck new.....so to sum it all up, all a used rc vehicle has to have is a worn engine and you lost money.....most of the time as most people think their used rc stuff is worth even half of new (which i feel its not) but that just me and lots of people out there will pay that price so maybe im the stupid one....cheers and good luck....shop wisely.....oh and i would offer that guy 175 for that truck.....no more-scott

RE: Buying Used: What to look for?
 

also keep in mind that rc engines are great for people trying to rip off somebody, as when worn out they start right up, run beautifully for about 5 minutes then will not idle, die and wont start untill they cool back down. at this point you will come on here asking for help, you will try all different tuning settings, people will tell you to seal the engine....and that wont help anything....eventually you will come to the conclusion that then engine is shot. traxxas engines are notorious for this and the k series engines in the savage ss and earlier savages are notorious for carburator problems (the design is the problem) front seal leaks, and dont even make a whole lot of power. i would just grab yourself a new savage x 4.6 RTR and be done with it ....you will be happy you spent the extra money

RE: Buying Used: What to look for?
 

I'd never pay $374 for a used truck that sold for $400 new ;)

Ebay you can find used ones for under $200 shipped a lot of times if you look hard enough.

Only reason I bought my savage X used for $200 was it cake with over $100 in upgrades I was going to do myself anyways (Full RPM :D, and a $60 servo) BUT the engine was shot, body was trashed, and it had no radio. But it was also barely ran 1st owner ran it insanely lean(seriously I couldn't get any fuel into the carb with how he set it), and did WOT runs on the 1st tank(he only ran it 5, and the few light scratches IMO were proof) ;). So in the end I ended up paying close to $400 which was the cost of a new one(engine was $140), but IMO that was a steal for the cash I would have needed in the upgrades.

Other savage I bought I paid $125 for almost RTR (no radio)

So seeing you are new I would buy a new one, and forget the used one. Now if you had a few more months under your belt, and had spare parts(like engines) laying around I'd say buy used.


Side note like steed2 said my 1st nitro I bought used owner said ran great... Yea it did for 5 mins till it warmed up. Turns out the pinch was shot, and that particular engines parts(it was discontinued) cost more than a new engine. In the end getting that RC up to being reliable cost me MORE than a new one off the shelf would have. I almost quit nitro due to that experience glad I bought a new engine, and gave it another go ;)

RE: Buying Used: What to look for?
 

Even though I am fairly new myself I would tend to agree with these guys buy a new one, trust me you will run into problems even with a new one lit alone buying a used one.

RE: Buying Used: What to look for?
 

I've bought one... ONE used vehicle.
Wasn't worth it at all, Shoulda just got a new one..
Even with a new engine I got for free, Shoulda just upped the cash (now that I have it) and purchased a new buggy.
Just get something new and you'll be happier in the long run.
Your basically buying someone elses problems when you buy any used vehicle...

RE: Buying Used: What to look for?
 

yeah i have sunk over £500 into my savage since i bought it for £100 two years back. this was also a 'great runner, hardly used, still needs running in' to be honest the engine was worth more in scrap. it would not idle EVER and would constantly die for no reason. and this was after a year of experience on an hpi firestorm which i bought new. but now with a new engine, new shocks, new bumpers, new skidplates, new chassis and  new transmission it runs like an ultimate basher should. <div>
</div><div>just judge it by eye... look the truck over for any majour scratches or dents, then take off the price of a new engine and offer him that. </div>

RE: Buying Used: What to look for?
 

from the look of it, everyone who bought a second hand regrets it. do your self a favour brother, don't join our exclusive club. :p

RE: Buying Used: What to look for?
 

I have bought several used trucks over the years, andI would buy used again in heartbeat - but you have to know what you are looking at. You to look at things like wear on the dogbones and cups, pick it and see how smoothly the diffs turn and see how much wear is in the diff bearings, check for wear in the wheel bearings, wear in the tierods -stuff like that. I always buy a truck not worrying about the engine, because I buy them priced accordingly for that. I wouldn't go $300on a Savage X. I'd gp $250 maxif it was a very nice, tight truck with low run time on it. If the engine really was good, I'll pull it off, and put it on ebay for $50 and you'd have a $200 investment in a nice truck and still be able to buy a very nice engine for less than the price of a new truck.My newest truck is a Savage X SS I bought on ebay for $359, and I sold the engine before I ever cranked it.

RE: Buying Used: What to look for?
 

not really

I've bought a few used that rock.

Just the till you know what to look for chances are you will regret it. Kinda like with real cars. 1st one I bought was used, and a money pit due to not knowing what it was through, and what to look for in a used vehicle. 2nd one I think I got a steal on, and drove it till it was vandalized badly, and the repair place royally botched it up. 3rd I'm not too happy with it wasn't due to the past owners though its just the run of the car I got now turns out was crap.

Things I've bought used
2 HPI MT1's I over paid on the 1st one (was my 1st nitro and a huge money sink) 2nd one I got for $50 (was listed as a box of spare parts) to fix the 1st. But ended up using it for other stuff.

nitro RS4 roller. Well it doesn't exist anymore I cannibalized its parts for other things.

2 Savage's 1 X 1 .21 Savage X IMO was a good deal with the upgrades it had. I knew buying it the engine more than likely was shot (which it was) so I budgeted a price with that in mind. Savage .21 was a steal IMO compared to what others were selling for in worst shape at the time. I didn't care if the engine worked I wanted it for parts to make a flux ;)

Jammin X1 CRT... Well ok this one was not bad for the price, but not good either. I had plans to make it BL for the get go (glad I did). The pics in the ad in all honesty looked like a different truck. The prior owner had no idea what he was doing. Red locktite on EVERY DAMN SCREW, no fluid in the diffs, he engine mount was destroyed, along with the mounting position (why I'm glad I had plans originally to make it BL) Paid $100. Now seeing an X2 was around $500 or so new IMO that was a good price even though its an older model seeing I was just making a basher.

Stampede... Well kinda got ripped on this. Speed controller did not work properly, motor looked like it sat in a toilet, and original gear case. Came ith $30 in new un glued tires though, and a brand new un trimmed/painted body so guess it wasn't all that bad ;)

So out of 7 buys
2 I regret buying (RS4, and the 1st MT1), and felt ripped off on
2 that I was disappointed in its condition but had nothing majorly wrong with it for my needs (X1 CRT, and stampede(I regret this one for more reasons though)) They were ok deals, and fairly priced
3 that I was happy with (savages, and the 2nd MT1) I found to be great deals for what I got with them :D

RE: Buying Used: What to look for?
 

see my whole problem with buying used is well...the price. could be the way i was raised ...idk, but as the price gets above half that of new, i just cant justify it. i honestly would rather spend the extra everytime. I dont know what the people in your area are like but i swear the people in my area must all smoke crack, 9 times out of ten their asking price is equal to or (get this) above new prices and they all sing the same story......" comes with fuel, batteries, fuel bottle, glow ignitor"....like they are saving you money or something? ...lol. I do trade though, i am constantly watching the local classifieds for deals, i just recently traded a stampede vxl for a brand new in box losi aftershock. (the guy had a couple of them i think they fell of a back of a truck...lol)

RE: Buying Used: What to look for?
 

here what i am talking about....heres the first four trucks that came up on my local classifieds when i entered "savage x"

nitro rc truck
i have a savage x 4.6 big block truck for sale its mint shape comes 100% rtr has lots of spare parts its actually another truck just in pieces comes with 4 bodies and everything u need to run ... $550.00 01-Apr-11
Savage X4.6 RTR
Truck comes with everything in the pictures, still have all the manuals, reciepts, and original box. I've only had this truck since January it is an amazing truck but i decided to go electric so its ... $550.00 24-Mar-11
savage x
Remote control gas powered truck too many upgrades to list comes with jug of fuel & bag of parts & tools $450.00 21-Mar-11
Savage X4.6
THIS TRUCK COMES FULLY EQUIPT WITH EVERYTHING NEEDED TO RUN IMMEDIATELY Three month old Savage X4.6 with all the original reciepts, packaging and manuals. This truck already has the upgraded diff ... $550.00 14-Mar-11

RE: Buying Used: What to look for?
 

sounds like CL by me
my favorite I saw was a busted up KM Baja they wanted $1000... where as a new one is $600
I've seen so many that just make me laugh
One other was for a Traxxas XL-5 (forgot which) that the list of upgrades included parts he broke and replaced with traxxas's parts(he had the part #'s in the auction). His price was the cost of it brand new + all the parts he broke, and replaced.. err sorry "upgraded" ;)