Champ85 609 Posted July 25, 2014 Just received this car in the mail today. An eBay find. It is a Kyosho Raider (not sure of exact variant but likely a Pro) with Kyosho Gold shocks. The original owner did not limit rear shock travel correctly. Check out the dogbone wear from rubbing on the diff drive cups. I've never seen anything like this before. Maybe I've just been lucky? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kontemax 1725 Posted July 28, 2014 Now they can fit long shocks Max Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pizzachaude 130 Posted July 29, 2014 (edited) Its a Raider Pro alright, its a base model with added gold shocks and different front tires. Underneath the chassis it should say ''made in Korea'', the original Raider says 'made in japan''. Those dogbones are not the correct ones, they are probably Ultima dogbones (raider dogbones are 2 steel ends joined by a large plastic tube). The stock Raider dogbones are prone to breakage especially with more powerful motors. I have been using vintage Ultima dogbones for a few years and no problems. The original Raider didnt have a rear wing, so it was possible to fit long gold shocks to the rear using the uppermost hole without the need to limit rear shock travel. With the Pro however, the uppermost hole on the shock tower is used for the wing mount. You can use short gold shocks without the need to limit travel. If your Raider didnt come with a body, you can remove the wing mount and fit the long rear shocks, and then order the original Raider body (looks much better than the Pro ). If you need any pics or other info on the Raider feel free to ask, I have 7 of them and all the different versions too Upon closer inspection, the original Raider and Pro version rear shock towers are different, so you'd have to get an original Raider shock tower to fit those long shocks without limiting travel, easy to find and cheap. Edited July 29, 2014 by pizzachaude Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Champ85 609 Posted July 30, 2014 Thanks, pizzachaude. Yep, chassis says "Made in Korea". I have another Pro that has the correct front tires which are treaded like the original Raider's. This poor Pro has one front tire super glued on backwards on the rim. Guess I'll try to boil it off to correct. Are you sure the dogbones are not correct? Every picture of a Raider Pro I've found on Google image search is using solid steel thin dogbones, not the plastic tube version used on the Raider. I can't believe all the Pro's pictured were upgraded. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pizzachaude 130 Posted July 30, 2014 Well there's no way I can be 100% sure about the dogbones, but every Raider I have ever come upon had the plastic tube version, even the Turbo ones. Kyosho did make a very nice set of universals which were designed for the Rocky and fit the Raider perfectly but they are expensive. Two of my Raiders are runners and are used by my kids, both had their dogbones upgraded because they broke a one using the stock motor (the 25 year old plastic tube cracks). Anyone who drives and upgrades a Raider will likely have to change their dogbones at some point I guess. Other weak spots for the Raider are the screws that hold the shocks to the lower rear suspension arms bend easily and eventually break, easy fix. If you plan on running it get ball bearings, they make a huge difference and will probably save your gearbox gears as they wear out fast when the stock bushings are worn. Other then that they are very good runners and can take a beating and handle too. Much better choice than a Hornet or grasshopper, I know I'll get hate mail for saying this.... . Definately not as fast though, as the gearbox isnt as efficient as the Hornet's (Raider gearbox was desgined to be 4wd chain driven, taken from the Rocky) What are your plans for your Raider? Looks pretty good from those pics! Here's some of mine Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Champ85 609 Posted July 30, 2014 Oh wow, nice collection of Raiders there! For me, I never had a Raider back in the day when they were popular. One of my close college friends had one and he brought it up to school one time and I thought it was pretty cool. As you said, it's a low-end car designed to compete with the Hornet and similar models, but it had some features like independent suspension front and rear that made it "better" in my view. Fast forward to late 2012 and I won a Raider on eBay. Finished restoring it in mid-2013. Repro body but original decals. It came out so well I decided I couldn't use it as a basher (isn't that always the way?), so I bought a couple trashed Raider chassis that were missing parts and built a complete Raider from them a couple weeks ago. I'm still working on it (no body yet). I used Scorpion 2014 shocks to replace the friction dampers. This year I also got a couple Pro's just to see how they were different and that's when I noticed the worn dogbones on the newest one due to the long Gold shocks allowing too much rear arm droop. I gotta say, I totally agree with you - with the stock motor and 14T stock pinion, Raiders are SLOW. Wow. Definitely putting a larger pinion in there. Tons of power/torque, but no speed. It hits maximum speed in like 3 seconds and stays there. I always use full ball bearings on every build I do. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pizzachaude 130 Posted July 31, 2014 Very nice! That looks flawless! I use the stock motors and gearing because they are fast enough for my kids, so I never got around to playing with the larger pinion gears to see if they make a big difference, would like to hear from you when you try them. Your thread will likely end up in the Kyosho section..... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
