phmaximus

Don't be put of a manufacture because of one vehicle.that's only a fraction of there line up. Traxxas does have some very durable platforms like the current EP 2wd and 4x4 platform.
both Losi and HPI have had lemons..... in traxxas defence I will say a Tmaxx is more durable than a HPI e10, HPI barama, HPI switch, Losi mini8ight, Losi micro SCT, AE SC18, ect ect....

if u want durability Haboa Hyper 7.... those things are bullet proof

Foxy

On my Merv, I replaced only what I found unacceptable, and added a couple of extras for handling. To be fair again to Traxxas, the result is phenomenal, the car drives superbly.

Replaced all plastic pivot balls with metal
Replaced all plastic driveshafts with cvds
Replaced all plastic push rods and camber links with alloy
Replaced center locker with differential
Changed unacceptable spring rates and damping, as well as the alloy shocks.
Added a necessary heatsink to the motor
Oh and a proline Baja bug body.

And while I was doing all that, I also added the extended wheelbase rear arms and lightweight truggy style dish rims and tires.

An expensive car no doubt, but like I say, it does drive consummate with the amount of time and money I've put in it. The handling really is nothing short of superb. Extended wheelbase arms, center diff and truggy style wheels were strangely the least required upgrades but made by far the biggest difference to handling. Everything else was for durability really. I'm sure I'm forgetting some stuff too.

Sixtysixdeuce

You start finding the weak points when you put real power to the drivetrain. Parts on my 10GTs that probably would have lasted the casual user a lifetime broke in hours or minutes when I started playing with the .32 engines. I don't think I got 3 minutes out of a set of brand new steel MIP CVDs, I lunched the stock idler gear in maybe 3 tanks, diff gear was next, and last weekend I tore the teeth off the input (that's a steel gear stock). The outdrives and hubs looked better on the RTR truck I got that was at least 13 years old than the ones I had just replaced before the .32 install; It has maybe 1-1/2 gallons of use so far.

How long do you think plastic axles would have taken that? I'm bettin' one would break the first time I snapped the throttle.

That's why I'm putting 1/8 scale OFNA diff, axles and hubs on the other truck before I even try it with the nasty LRP ZR32, which is about 35% more potent than the OFNA .32 responsible for the aforementioned carnage.

phmaximus

I see ur point, I don't think they would last to long on ur setup... Would be cool to watch

Keep in mind is 0.7hp on a 2s 5500mah lipo, nothing fancy but even still I would say its a bit to much for a slash.
I could use a 3s lipo or even a 550 4 poll motor, but then it's going to make it even harder to drive, full throttle would be useless the skinny SCT wheels would never get traction.

I think the plastic sliders are fine for a well balanced power to weight slash, because the tyres don't provide a lot of traction the sliders are never really under extreme torque.

The rustler and pede... Different story, a stock VXL no real problems, aftermarket combos yes, they can fail big time.
Traxxas is onto this problem, they have identified that a lot of people are running big power setups in there rustlers and pede with out adjusting the slipper so they get some intense wheelies.
They have released those hardened steel telescopic CVD's... IMO they are a awesome drive shaft way better than the vintage dog bone axles. I wouldn't be surprised if other manufactures start making similar axles to the traxxas steel ones. Because of the reduced backlash and wear.

I know they plastic shafts are not the best, but for stock and racing setups they are fine. For the guys running powerful setups upgrade the shafts.

I still rate the traxxas plastic sliders higher than the stock tamiya tl01/ta01/ta02/m03/ect, diff cups and dog bones. Sure the tamiya hardened diff cups and CVD's are excellent. The stock ones are rubbish.... More so than traxxas sliders. The funny thing is u see a lot of crawler guys using the traxxas plastic sliders as a upgrade shaft for there rigs!?

In short I don't thing the plastic sliders are as bad as some people think

phmaximus

Ahh cool, I wish I got a true MERV and not the ken block rally car thing. By the sounds the revo is more susceptible to the high COG than the rally cars. I'm thinking I should look into some better wheels and springs?

SyCo_VeNoM

I think I someone said a while back they changed the knuckles so the ring don't pop out as easy which might be on the ken block.
Also I mervs go more off road then the rally which is more for on-road so its under a lot more bouncing, and stuff.

But agree 100% with foxt out of the box the merv springs are completely unacceptable. When I would turn one wheel would actually lift off the ground, and that was with the pre-load tightened all the way down.
I noticed like foxy the center diff upgrade REALLY made a huge difference in its handling. It took it from a RC I couldn't honestly stand trying to drive(and was trying to sell) to something that is drivable IMO.