03 DSG Snake

You'd have to race it in a 4wd stadium truck class, but from what I understand, most tracks only run 2wd STs. There is, however, more and more 4wd ST coming out so that class will probably become more and more common.

So far, I have broken the front right steering up right (got blindsided by a tree, dont ask) and hit a curb. A rear upright when I sideswiped a curb with the rear tire coming off of an awkward jump.

Bashing yesterday at the park with my Savage and MT2, I actually outran my friend's Savage 21 once it got going. The bottom end doesnt compare to the Savage. However, my .25 powered Savage is much quicker.

I did hit a sign post pretty hard yesterday at said park and broke the lower front control arm AND ripped the nipple off of the tuned pipe. Pretty off. I gotta learn to ALWAYS have a clear line of sight when running my cars haha [>:]

My original plan was to convert the MT2 to a Rally car and implement my old Savage .21 motor in there. However, I like the look of the truck, so am probably gonna tweak the suspension and drop in the .21.

Running on the grass at the park, it runs great. I don't jump it like the Savage, so I'm gonna grab a 2speed kit.

Oh yeah, my rear diffs HAVE already stripped out. The thing peels out in front wheel drive only. I called HPI last week telling them I had a grinding noise hoping to get a new set before they went south, but they told me to take em apart and check if they stripped. Now that they're gone (in 6 tanks), I hope they will send me an updated set free of charge.

Spudnik

would you recommend me getting a nmt2 or should i just stick to my savage? and if i where to race a savage against the mt2 (a race with turns) which truck would win

thanks

Spudnik

why doesn't anyone love the mt2?

03 DSG Snake

I think both would be the most fun. Thats why I got mine.

Something small, quick, and light in contrast to the bulky Savage. Its fun to have around when running the Savage as something else to do. Makes bashing sessions last twice as long. Its also good to have a backup so your day isnt killed when one truck goes down and your buddies are still running.

As far as racing on a tight course, Id say the MT2 would have the advatage, but the Savage would take the long mains with the bottom end and top end.

Superscott

Say there Snake when you stripped out your diff how did you know? If you picked the truck off the ground did all 4 wheels turn? My truck also spins out the front tires through out the entire RPM range, but all tires spin when it's off the ground. I just don't like my front tires to do all the spinning, do you know of a way to adjust it so all tires apply the same force?

VelocitySS

what add-on's do you have on your savage. i have the regular MT, the first one, and my friend has the savage with a .26 wasp and a tuned pipe, and also some other things. on my mt i have a .15ss, tuned pipe, dule chassies, (cause they seem to like to bend easy with one) and a few other mods. and i take the savage every time no problems, even with out proper tunning. maby this helped you.

Superscott

Oops i thought that this was the HPI MT2 thread not the Savage thread!

03 DSG Snake

Thats pretty much how I knew mine was stripped. It would spin the hell out of the front when in a no traction condition but when picking up the truck the rear seemed ok.

With the truck off, I would hear a faint grinding noise when spinning the rear tires while holding the spur gear. I took apart the diff in the rear and sure enough, there were metal chips ground off the teeth and the teeth were worn out.

Superscott

Snake, Well did you change the diff? Did this fix the problem? How did the truck handle? I hope my diff isn't shot my truck is not even a month old![:@] I will still check mine though.

LSP972

My Feedback: (13)

Scott, there is a well-documented problem with the large final gears in the MT2 differential. According to HPI, some of these gears were cast (they are cast aluminum) wrong, allowing some axial slop that chewed them up. The UK guys running this truck were shimming the input shafts, which seemed to work.

The HPI guy was very honest about it, and they sent me some free gears, supposedly of the new type. I pulled the front diff, and the gear in there was the same as what HPI sent. So they either sent me the "old" gear, or my truck had the "new" ones. I bought the truck last month, but no telling how long it sat on the dealer's shelf.

I have about 20 tanks through mine, and no stripping so far. I think the people who are stripping these gears are also beating the hell out of their trucks. Just my personal opinion.

These are the gears in question:

Superscott

I got my MT2 from tower so I have no idea if it has the old gears or not.[] I don't like to tear my truck up heck I have only jumped it like twice from 6 inchs. I might get a little ruffer with it as time goes on, I just don't like waiting for parts because the LHS only seems to carry Traxxas parts. And I don't like those hobby guys sayin "You should have bought a T-maxx or Rustler or some other Traxxas product it has this and that feature." DUDE! I KNOW THIS MAN! I only did research on my truck choices for like two months. Its like "Hey get some variaty will ya, maybe you would sell more stuff!" I like Traxxas but it's not the only brand. As a matter of fact I have an old Nitro Rustler PRO 15 that is need of major repair/rebuilding. I'm going to convert it to the 2.5. [>:] So Steve did your truck act differently with the new diffs? Does it still spin out?

LSP972

My Feedback: (13)

I didn't change the gears; why bother when the ones in the truck were the same as the replacements they sent?

Not sure what you mean by "Does it still spin out?" ???

.

Superscott

Well it's official my REAR diff is stripped out on my MT2[X(][:@]. I know it wasn't my fault I'm not ruff with it at all. However I'm not going to whine and try to get free parts. I was driving in some sand at work and you can really tell. When you hit the throttle the front tires spin sand everywhere, but the rear tires are just there for the ride.. Every once in a while I would jump a little sand pile and the rear diff would catch WHOA! there is a big difference, the truck doesn't spin out it hauls *****[>:]. Well I guess I really need to fix it because front wheel drive sux, I feel like I'm driving a neon. Has anyone ordered the Ball-bearing diff set from Tower? I think it would work but 30 dollars? I might just get the Heavy Duty ones instead. Can someone tell me what the difference is with a ball diff compared to the original diff?

LSP972

My Feedback: (13)

Why would you consider contacting HPI and asking for replacement gears "whining"? There's a problem with those gears; they know about it, acknowledge it, and will ty to take care of you if you approach them in a calm, mature manner.

I too would like to know the advantages (if any) of these other diff sets.

Some fellow on another thread mentioned a "heavy-duty" set for $100; I asked him for more details, but he never came back.

.

Superscott

Steve I was just kidding about the whining. I just think that instead of going through all the trouble of calling HPI, I could just hop-up my diff. Maybe the BB Diff could turn out to be a better investment.

LSP972

My Feedback: (13)

Okay.

So, anyone want to clue us in on the diff "upgrades"???

.

Superscott

hey check this out Steve http://www.rctek.com/general/differe...scription.html

LSP972

My Feedback: (13)

Thanks, Scott. Interesting and informative site. I'll be looking at it more when I get some time.

Regarding the "upgraded" MT2 diffs, the guy on that thread explained what he was talking about. Big bucks, indeed...


.

silent bob

I stripped my gears on My MT2 already , I got replacements already , they work fine . as for the savage question , my MT2 and guy at works Savage 25 are the same speed , I mean so close its not even noticeable , but I do have a 13 clutch bell on it and he has the 15 on his . The Savage definately has more torque , he was pulling wheelies in teh grass , but top end hte savage and MT2 are equals .
I am however haveing the problem of powering through the turns , I mean its really difficult to turn around (Full power) on the street without curbin it . I am going to change the oil in my shocks and see what that does for me .
The one thing about the savage , they have lots of tire roll side to side on pavement .

I love my MT2 , I would not trade it for anything . its everything you need for backyard bashing or parking lot racer .

Superscott

Hey Steve. I have a friend that has a nitro MT and he had some spare parts laying around so I looked for those shims and he had them. So I add them to my truck but I found out that one of my gears is striped but not the one in the pic above it one of the gears inside the diff, but I am going to run it anyway to see how it works. I will keep you posted on the results.

LSP972

My Feedback: (13)

Scott, those gears pictured above ARE in the diff. The smaller of the two, which is a pinion-type gear, does not fully engage the larger gear; this is what causes the stripping. The shims are placed to force the pinion gear into a better mesh with the larger gear.

Check out those links to the HPI-Europe forum that the fellow provided in the "MT2 Diffs Stripping" thread a few pages down here. That Brit fellow, Dave something, shows just where to put the shims.

Ran mine again yesterday; so far, so good. Its not quite as fast as I thought it would be, but I'm still tweaking the mixtures. It seems to be right now; good smoke when you punch it, good, rapid throttle transition, steady smooth idle. I'm only running 10% nitro, so perhaps I'm getting all I'm going to out of it. But that's okay; I really like the way this truck handles.

No more 2WD for me.

And that Roto-Start is the cat's meow. I'm going to replace the grandson's RC-10 with a Rush EVO. I took the pull starter off the RC-10 and have been using an electric drill/Yank Eliminator, but I'm not happy with that arrangement. Besides, the truck is over two years old. It has given great service, but time for something new...

.

LSP972

My Feedback: (13)

silentbob,

I changed out my MT2's shock oil, and noticed an immediate improvement in the truck's handling. The stuff that was in there looked like salad oil. I used some 35W silicone all around.

Don't forget to bleed them properly when you re-assemble them.

.

Tex_MT2

Well, finally, after a lengthy wait, my MT2 has arrived. I picked it up last week, and I haven't had a chance to start running it in yet, but it looks nice. I've already gone and bought some 30 weight silicone shock oil as I'd read some time ago that the stuff often used in RTR machines (not just the MT2) from the factory generally isn't satisfactory.

A question on fuels - I read the manual before I went to buy my first bottle of fuel to ensure I wasn't breaking any guidelines on run-in, and the manual didn't mention anywhere that I should run a lower nitro fuel while running in. I compromised between a cautious 10% and the recommended 20% and got 15%. There shouldn't be any dramas with this should there? Some of my mates (who don't purport to be experts and were just relaying info they'd heard elsewhere) said that a motor should be started on a low nitro fuel and worked up to whatever you intend to run it on ultimately, and some other people think a motor should be run in from the start on whatever fuel you intend to run ultimately. I figure I'll run that bottle of 15% through it, and then commence to 20% and leave it at that.

As I live in Australia, I'm also temped to pre-emptively disassemble my diffs and shim them now, as I can't be bothered waiting for replacement parts to arrive if I lunch them.

I'm really looking forward to getting this thing going, looks like great fun! In the short time I'm planning to replace my normal batteries with a hump pack, and I'm going to put some shock socks on it. Any other suggested mods? I also will get a failsafe when I have some more spare cash. Steve, quick question, how does one bleed shocks properly? What's the technique in filling them properly?

Superscott

Hey check out these new colors at HPI

Superscott

And another!! I think I am defintely getting the blue thats awsome!!