Hello all im new to nitro trucks. and im thinking of getting the Volcano STX. I know that it as a problem with the gears stripping. Is their a better gear that i can get to replace it ? Is their more troubles with this truck then this? or is their a better truck i can get as a noob ? The price is about right for what the woman will let me spend lol

the volcano stx is fine, mine took 20+ tanks to strip, just change the clutch spring or order one (traxxas #4146X). Most off roads will strip spur gears within 20 tanks if they are ran hard, the 2 speed seems to have a problem but i think they starightned that out too. I would say buy the truck, order an extra spur gear or two and get a traxxas spring and you should be fine. When you get a chance get a futaba radio system for like $50 and replace the one it comes with. My redcat volcano will pretty much keep up with my HPI MT and the redcat was half the price. GET IT!!!!!

DO NOT GET IT!!!!! After about 9 tanks of fuel tanks run through it, mer and my father had probably spent 300$...JUST ON PARTS!!!!!!! My suggestions for you would either be a revo or a savage-x. They're much more durable and maybe a little bit faster too. The stock volcano says it goes 60...me and my dad clocked ours at about 45. Please spend the extra 100$ and get a revo. I dont want you to go down the same road i did. They are much more dependaple trucks than that stupid redcat...(excuse my french) Hope this helps.

I had problems with my redcat as well. Revos or savages are nice, but for a noob this is a good car to learn on, the parts are also pretty cheap and easy to get (off websites that its). Id wait till you know a little more about cars to get the revo or savage. Yes there better but there more complicated in some areas too.

WELL GET THIS OR GET THAT IF U LOOK AT ALL THE FORUMS WHETHER ITS TRAXX HPI OR ANYBODY ELSE THEY ALL BREAK THAT IS THE NATURE OF THIS HOBBY NOW THE QUESTION LIES WITH DO I REALY WANT TO SPEND $400 OR LESS THAN $200 WELL I DID MY RESEARCH AND GUESS WHAT I WOULD RECOMMEND REDCAT LIKE THERES NO TOMMOROW IM VERY SATISFIED WITH THE PRODUCT I WOULD RECOMMEND TO ANYBODY .....

stick with the volcano...
it is not a bad truck
the biggest frustration of a noob (putting me first) is the fact that you dont expect that hobby to be so demanding. things break all the time in all trucks. facing that problem with the volcano as your first rc leads to blaming everything on bad quality... maybe the savage or the revo will not break in a 5' jump but you will eventually push it to the limit where it breaks
the volcano might have some vulnerable spots but the replacements dont cost over 5 bucks usually...
further more, most broken parts are a result of bad driving... it is just hard to admit some times :P
in conclusion, if you decide to get the volcano as your first car, it is a good-affordable way to go. keep it for a fair amount of time (lets say three, foor months) get some experience, try to learn as much as you can, dont go crazy with upgrades as fast as most of us do (well some of them are really helpfull is the truth, but an aluminum upper plate is useless, it just looks good) and then you will be able to shape your own opinion. an oppinion much more respected than a 17posts-old kid...
these are my humble thoughts
however your story goes, have fun, it is a great hobby

Shlo and diti, very well put. Redcat makes some good affordable r/c cars. I think a lot of people come in to this hobby expecting something that is going to have 99% uptime and require almost no maintenence. I feel bad for them because unfortunately they're going to be let down. To be honest I didn't think so much tinkering was going to be required when I first got my buggy. But now after all the newbie problems I've run into I finally feel like this thing is worthwhile to have. I've learned alot and I finally understand all of its parts and how things work and I'm just very familiar with it. So in short if you have the patience and like to work with your hands, this is the hobby for you. If you're frustrated easily and couldn't care less about all the little details (trust me there's lots of them), save yourself the time and money, go to walmart and pick up a nikko.

Thank you all for the input. I will go with the Volcano and see what i can do with it someone know a place on line that sells for a deal :P

clermontmotorsports.com is a good on line site.

clermontmotorsports.com is a good guy and you wont get any trouble from him.

Just had to add to this. ALL RC NITROS BREAK! That's half of the fun of owning one. Look at any of the forums on any trucks or cars and you will see everyone talking about the weaknesses of these types of toys. Revos are no exception! Buy the Volcano and have fun. Get some extra spur gears and that Traxxas spring. Thats the only thing I would recomend. You'll break stuff quick driving it in a tight area. Go to a big lawn area like a school feild to learn to drive it. Running into trees and rocks will break things quick trust me I know.. Read everything you can on this forum!! The instructions that come with the Redcats are NOT the best. Take your time with it and clean and inspect it befroe and after each use. Like Popper said if you don't want to tinker with it and make repairs on it when things break or wear out then don't buy ANY nitro car or truck. I stripped the Spur gear on my Savage and lost a few screws allready. No piece of machinery, that goes thru the extremes that these nitros do, is bulletproof.
Oh and I buy my Redcat stuff from Clermontmotorsports tell Dennis Greg sent ya!

Thanks guys i will go to that website and see what i can find.

by the way, I broke the traxxas spring the other day... not complaining at all though, it lasted a good while. lucky it broke at the end so I just repaired it... curius to see how long it will last like this (the redcat repaired lasted a tank and a half...)

I've never used the traxxas spring. I repaired the Redcat spring and had it last 5-6 tanks. Be sure to position the spring connection away from the splits in the shoes and kinda in the middle nearer the pins that the shoes are mounted to. I just buy the new shoes with the spring from Redcat and replace everything. My kid's been thru 10 tanks with no probs.(until now. tomarrow it'll break...Great.) [:@] LOL

haha there ya go jinxing yourself.