Mike Noin

I have just bought a 2.5 Maxx RTR, It came out of the box with a small split in the tank and leaked . I got Traxxas to replace under warranty . Then after a couple of runs the one-way bearing in the tranny seized (prt #4986) . Traxxas also warrantied that , they said they have trouble with that bearing about 1 out of every 10,000 trucks, just my luck its me...lol. Now I have 3 out of the 4 drive shafts broken . The part that is broken is (prt #4951x) the plastic part of the drive shaft that clips over the steel ball to make the joint just outside the diff. on the front both sides and the right rear side. My LHS said that this part breaks all the time because it is under sized. Is this true, does it break all the time? Now, I know that I can up grade to the steel shafts and not have this problem again but I don't have the cash to do that now. Also, I don't feel that I should have to upgrade the shafts, I have not done any mods to this truck, therefore it should be able to run without splitting the shafts. When the truck is running it is a blast, I LOVE IT. But I will definitely be disappointed if it breaks like this all the time. I do not beat the hell out of it, because I can't afford to fix it all the time but I feel the way I have driven it, it should be able to survive for sure. :drowning:

Ledgendary

The reallity is that it is going to break unless you leave it at home! That part you are talking about does break but, I have gone through about a gallon of fuel and I have a .21 in my Maxx. I did just take it apart and they look like they are not going to last much longer but, hey there cheap. When you buy parts for your truck buy more then one of parts that break or ware out! I have a ton of replcment parts for my Maxx's! Here is a pic and this is less than half of my stuff! My wife hates it but, I got to have it! This is not a hobby that you will be able to be in without spending some money! You don't have to spend as much as I did but, you will have to spend either way!

Mike Noin

I know that stuff will break but I expected it to take a little longer than it did. If I had just bought a Honda ATV and this kind of stuff was happening to it I would be REALLY PISSED and marching back to the dealer.

Ledgendary

If you drove a ATV or real truck anywhere near what we do with these things what would happen?? I'll tell you, IT WOULD BREAK! If you want it not to break as much you have to buy some aftermarket parts! It's that simple or not drive it?? I don't think you want it to sit around do you?? Don't get me wrong here I do think if you pay almost $500 for a R/C car it should last longer but, this is not the reality of it!

POJack

I think my signature sais it all ...it is hard to break (or bend) supermaxx stuff

Ledgendary

There is no arguing with that!

Mike Noin

Guys really, I have not abused this truck. I have jumped only off ramps about 1' to maybe 1.5' high at about 1/3 throttle. I have rolled it but again it was not at more than full throttle. I just think ppl in this hobby are to accepting of the fact that these things break so easy. I have run a hornet along time ago when I was a kid, and I abused the hell out of that thing and it lasted longer than this truck is without breaking. Now it didn't go as fast but I launched it off of jumps 10' high, it just didn't break. I think the manufactures have it easy, they can make cars that cost allot of money and then when they break nobody says anything to them, we just upgrade. Thats a great business for them.

BTW...My truck cost me799.99 CND plus the cost of the other thing like batteries and fuel. So I have allot of money into this truck already. Not as much as some ppl I know but allot for me.

Ledgendary

Your right! It does suck but, I think you are wrong about people not saying anything about it. Just look on one of Traxxas's forums! LOL You will see plenty of unhappy campers! They do make these things so they break and they make a ton in parts but, I don't think you you see that change anytime soon!JMO

Mike Noin

Well that really SUCKS. The big car companies and other businesses like that are forced by their customers to have the best quality possible and for the most part they deliver. Maybe its time for a company to come out making cars that don't dissapoint ppl. Then all other car companies will have to raise their quality just to stay in business. I wish I had the money to develope and start production of my own car company.

jalpaug

I think the weakeast link in the stock truck (besides the engine) is the screws the whole thing is held together with. I took my latest truck out of the box and imediatley stripped it down and put it back together with tightlock,allen screws and lock washers.

grampi

I doubt any of these companies build their vehicles so they'll break just so they can sell replacement parts. I think they break because the RC car world has become very competitive and manufacturers are riding that fine line between performance and durability. In order to make a vehicle faster and better handling requires less weight. Less weight means less durable parts. Less durable parts means more breakage. It's like Mike Noin mentioned earlier, the Hornet he had as a kid never broke, but performance wise, would it compete with one of today's T-Maxx's?

James1701

What do you think the speed to weight ratio of a hornet compared to a tmaxx is. More weight+increased speed=bigger crash.

POJack

I disagree with you...I don't doubt that at all. They make TONS of money selling replacement parts for these trucks and if they were to build an "indestructible" truck, they wouldn't have the opportunity or they would have much less opportunity to make all the money they are making by selling replacement parts. If people were running Supermaxxes, they wouldn't have a quarter of the problems that they are having now with broken/malfunctioning parts. The only thing is, you have to spend about $2500 for a supermaxx. In the long run though I think it would be cheaper to run a supermaxx than it would to run stock or something with cheap after market parts. Also, supermaxx offers a guarantee that if you damage one of their parts, you just send it back and pay 30% of the original price of the part. That is what I'm going to do in the winter...IM BUILDING ME A SUPERMAXX!!!

Mike Noin

What is a Supermaxx and where can I see one?

Ledgendary

www.unlimitedengineering.com

grampi

I guess we'll just agree to disagree. No company diliberately makes their vehicles to break. It's ridiculous to say they do. Who wants to buy a vehicle that gains the reputation for breaking all the time? Not me. I forgot to mention one other factor; cost. If Traxxas were to make a Supermaxx kit available for say $2500-$3000, how many of those kits do you think they'd sell compared to the $400 Maxx kits they sell now? They would sell, but their sales would be dismal in comparison to the $400 Maxx kits. Most people aren't going to be willing to spend that much money on an RC truck.

Mike Noin

I agree the Supermaxx kits are too expensive. For some ppl money is not much of a concern when it comes to this hobby but for most it is and I demand the best bang for my buck. But the drive shafts cracking is not something that I think should happen. These parts are plastic and increasing their size a little to be able to withstand the abuse that the drive shafts have to deal with is not going to cost much. I work in the plastics industry and I know that this increase in size would equate to a few cents per part. Somehow I don't think that would put Traxxas into bankruptcy.

grampi

No doubt these vehicles have parts on them that could be made much beefier, but I don't they're intetionally made to break.

POJack

Well, If you read this forum, along with the t-maxx forum and Maxxtraxx, you'll discover that the T-Maxx already has a reputation for breaking parts all the time. If you have a T-Maxx, you've already bought a vehilce that has a reputation for breaking all the time. Also, Traxxas dosn't have to sell a $2500 kit. They make up that money in replacement parts in the long run anyway after after people break stock parts for the life of the vehicle. In the long run, you will be paying close to the original price of a SuperMaxx anyways. So my point is, why not just spend the money up front without having to worry about things breaking all the time and spending the same ammount of money in the long run anyway?

grampi

There's no way I'll ever go through $2500 worth of parts on my Maxx, regardless of how hard I am on it.

POJack

Thats just you. What about people (like myself) that run their maxx everyday? I'm constantly breaking parts and in the long run, for me it would be cheaper to run a supermaxx without having to worry about "god, I just bought those a-arms, i don't want them to break again so maybe I shouldn't run it as hard." JMO

grampi

What the heck do you do to yours that causes it to break all the time? I've had mine for a couple months now, I run the pi$$ out of it, and the only thing that's broke is one dog bone.

C_Watkins

My Feedback: (10)

Grampi... I think it's the same all over, really, except for some ultra-high-end stuff.

It's not so much the case that they intentionally make them to break,
but rather, it's a case of them intentionally not making them to NOT break


In practice, there's not a whole lot of difference there... but it sounds better, I guess


They are intentionally made to be exactly what they are. Great care was taken in
the setup process to ensure that the same product is turned out, every single time.
Things like this break in QA, and somewhere along the line, it gets passed
off as "good 'nuff". Whether we choose to see that as sinister or not, is a personal matter.

savageUK

My savage has taken more hits than i was expecting and i have broke nothing so far, don't get me wrong i've not done anything real extreme but i'm happy with the hits it's taken so far.
I doubt that they make parts expecting them to fail so they can cash in on the upgrades but i aslo think parts are made to a budget and durability is a consideration but not the be all and end all of it. if they made things unbreakable the price would really increase, plus all the stock trucks would look the same unless you upgraded for image sakes.

Dr. Krass

have any of you had an issue where your t-maxx wants to stall after a high speed run across a parkinglot? Anyone know the best way to fix this?