12 replies to this topic

[Origineelreclamebord]

Some of you may know of this release… The DEX210 buggy, Team Durango´s new 2WD flagship. I was pretty enthusiastic about the prototypes, and when I saw the first pictures of the production version I was sold.

I quite enjoyed enjoyed making the build thread of my DEX410 last year, so I thought I’d do the same for my DEX210 I´d like to refer you to the DEX210's manual to clarify some of the steps in the build further.

Anyway, here it goes! I picked the kit up today from the post office. I haven’t yet got pictures of the box, but believe me, that alone is a work of art! When I came home I quickly opened the box, cleared the table and pulled out The ‘K’ bag, the one with the manual inside:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I put my tools on the table and started the build. First off, Bag A, Steps 1-5.

Step 1: Putting the sidepods on the chassis plate.


The picture shows the parts needed for the build. Note how narrow the chassis plate is, just over 60mm! I know the sidepods will make the chassis considerably wider, but a surprisingly narrow chassis nonetheless! A quick first step this is, just a couple of screws. Below is the finished result.



Step 2 & 3: Building and fitting the steering assembly.

This step is a whole lot more complicated. There are more shims, bushings etc. than on your average Tamiya, but the manual from Durango, though beautiful, isn’t as simple to read through as Tamiya’s manuals. Full parts numbers instead of ‘B-3’ for example, and the dark coloured parts on such a light background don’t work in your advantage. I managed to finish these steps without problems though, this is how it looks before and after assembly:





I read that the steering assembly looked a little light and fragile, and having built it now, I have to agree. It just seems to be developed with a little too much optimism on the forces involved – though of course we could be proved wrong by Durango, after all they have put loads of time and money in developing this car.

Step 4 & 5: Adding electronics to the steering assembly.


These steps are a little shorter for me as I won’t be adding electronics right now. I noticed something funny when I was putting laying out the parts for a picture of them: One screw had no thread! First time I’ve seen that in a kit!


It’s not really a problem though, I just didn’t add the servo mounts for now. If I have a leftover screw of the right length at the end of the build I’ll add them then. Here is the result after assembly:


Its surprising to see in the manual that there is no servo saver! I know the servos used for racing are pretty strong, but I'm not sure about this move. I guess there will be some people fitting servo savers straight on the servo instead of Durango's servo wheels.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bag B, Steps 6-9.

Step 6: Assembling the front bulkhead and shock tower.


I quite like this part of the car: The front end can be removed by four screws and can be hinged upwards to make access to the steering assembly and servo easier. I was surprised by the weight of the front bulkhead (the hinging part to which the shock tower mounts), it is pretty heavy, heavier than the TRF201’s front bulkhead, even though their basic construction is the same (Both TRF201 and DEX210 front ends are derived from the RC10 B4). The hinging function perhaps is not completely necessary, but it sure is a cool feature anyway, not even to mention yet how influential the hinging front bulkhead is to the looks of the car.





Above are the pictures of the car after Step 6. I really like how open the structure is around the front. The only thing I wish they did differently are the shock towers: They would’ve looked better in carbon fibre. However, it would’ve made the construction unnecessarily complex, and this perhaps might be stronger than carbon too! Note the shots from the underside by the way, the parts fit together like a dream, really amazing!

That's all for now, though the build will be updated again soon!

[wildwillydriver]

Hey Mate,
this really is a nice car and a great thread, look forward to see it finished!

I'm "loyal" to Tamiya and will continue to race with it, but this car really is a work of art.

I'll wait for your track test report.....

Bye
WWD

[Origineelreclamebord]

Hey Mate,
this really is a nice car and a great thread, look forward to see it finished!

I'm "loyal" to Tamiya and will continue to race with it, but this car really is a work of art.

I'll wait for your track test report.....

Bye
WWD

Thanks I won't test it on a track though, at least not for now. My TRF201 is pretty new and I don't think I'm experienced enough to make any difference by driving the DEX210. I bought this 1. Because it is a great source of inspiration and 2. Because the DEX410 was such a great build and 3. Because I can have a look whether a DEX210 could be worthy as a next car as soon as I've outgrown or worn down my TRF201

I'm really happy I have my TRF201 for now, I've heard loads of people with smaller and bigger issues with the car. Some people have issues with the ball diff (it had a different construction than most so it needs some attention to do it right), others with the steering (breaking it already, but also some steering systems locking up), and there are small issues around the rear shocks, that have too long piston rods to increase droop, but therefor need stoppers/spacers (included in the kit) to prevent them from hitting the shock cap. Some people still have the piston ending outside the damper cylinder, but this might be down to build errors. No matter what the cause is though, there are some glitches to be solved, which is pretty annoying for the people who had already sold their cars before the DEX210 even arrived at their door Luckily, I'm not one of them!

[Origineelreclamebord]

Step 7: Attaching the lower suspension arms on the front.


This is a pretty simple step with pretty standard parts. The only things that stand out on these parts compared to the competition are the droop screws and the extremely beefy construction, which Durango also did on the DEX410. Here is the lot assembled:


Step 8: Assembling the front uprights.
This step really shows what makes the DEX210 more sophisticated than the competition. Inserts for the caster angle and trailing offset are featured on the front uprights and c-hubs, bushings, shims and crush washers to reduce wear on the actual suspension parts and a very, very beefy construction.


Once assembled the construction is considerably bigger than for example of the TRF201, it looks almost as if there’s 25% more plastics on there.


The shafts, washers and screws are for Step 9: Fitting the front uprights. I was positively surprised to find that the M2.5 screws that retain the suspension shafts have hex heads! Awesome, I really wanted my TRF201 had these as stock. I will definitely start using these on my TRF201 as well! Anyway, fitting these small screws is always an issue, and here, despite the hex heads, it’s again troublesome. The plastic is so rigid that there’s a potential risk of stripping the heads, even the hex ones. It went all find in the end though, but I am now sure I’ll buy a M2.5 fluteless tap in the future.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bag C, Steps 10-12.

Step 10: Assembling the Universal Shafts and rear uprights.


Yet again a very clever bit of thinking here – not a world first, but clever nonetheless. Many universal shafts have problems keeping the hinge pin in. The solution? Retain the hinge pin by putting the pivoting point inside a bearing! No more threadlock and grubscrew, just put it inside the bearing and you’re done! The only slight downside would be the size and weight of the upright, though it seems bigger size bearings are a trend on uprights of buggies anyway.


Step 11 & 12: Fitting the lower rear suspension arms uprights.


I combined these two steps again as they are pretty simple. Just a few hinges, washers and screws to fit together. The problems of the front arms returned though: It was hard keeping the small M2.5 screws in one piece. In the end I did succeed though, and the finished result looks good:


And a quick overview:

[Origineelreclamebord]

Bag D, Step 13: Assembly of the ball differential.

This is a step most of the trouble has come from when building or driving the DEX210. Therefor, I decided to read through all the posts and comments to see what problems have occurred, and what there can be done to solve or prevent these problems. Not only that, I decided this part of the build thread should get some additional attention so it can actually help people to build their diff right (if I can build it right in the first place) Here are the contents of the D bag:


The main thing that’s different on this diff is the internal circlip. Many people have had problems with this circlip, causing problems like a slipping diff even when fully tightened. Another (small) issue is how shallow the outdrives are. If the part with the spring and retaining nut for the spring are too far out, the universal shaft might not fit later on. I think Durango have got this last bit covered though, so we’ll see. The solution to the slipping diff is of course first off, to use the right tools for the job. I didn’t have circlip pliers, so I went to four stores only to find out none of them had circlip pliers in the right size. What a waste of time! At the last store I ended up buying some cheap pliers to modify into circlip pliers.



5 minutes of work with the Dremel, and 4,95 euros well spent! Let’s start building! First off, molybdenum grease on the thrust washers:


Then put the thrust washer, thrust bearing and the other thrust washer in:




I decided to look closely at Durango’s manual. They showed the thrust bearing needed the closed part of the cage facing towards you when the thrust bearing is in. I doubt it would make a difference, but I’m sure now that if it matters, it’s put in the right way around. I also put some extra moly grease in the cage of the bearing before putting it in, just to be sure.

Up next: Putting the circlip in:



Attention! Before putting the clip in, look closely at the circlip. You’ll notice there’s one side with flat edges, whereas the other side has round edges due to the stamping process it was made with. The round side needs to face the thrust washer, the flat side needs to face you when you put the circlip in. This makes sure that the raised edge which holds the circlip inside has a more thorough grip due to it’s nice, flat side.

Now put the circlip on your pliers, and squeeze together the ends of the circlip so it fits inside the outdrive. Push it completely towards the end, gently let the pressure go off the pliers and it will spring back to find it’s in place. One of Team Durango’s team drivers adviced that you should check whether the circlip has sprung back into it’s neutral position completely by applying outwards pressure on the circlip. Your diff should look like this now:


Now put the 5x8x2.5mm bearing inside the hollow outdrive:


Then put the diff plates on the outdrives:


I used a little bit of grease just to make sure the plates don’t fall off. Due to the flat portion on the inside of the outdrive there can be no issues with the diff plates slipping against the outdrives. If they would have been round, I would have used Tamiya AW grease (very sticky/thick), CA glue or silicon sealant to make sure the diff plates don’t slip.

Now put a 5x8x2.5mm bearing in the diff gear and put the diff gear on the outdrive with the axle on it:


Don't forget to add the shim here mentioned in the manual. It's visible on the picture if you look closely.

Put a diff ball in each hole/cage of the diff gear:



Make sure every diff ball is greased well with the silicon grease included in the kit. I used plenty of grease on the diff balls, so like the manual suggests, I did not put any grease on the diff plates to make sure there’s not too much grease.

Next: Compress the diff spring and place the diff spring and retaining nut:




Compressing the diff spring is not mentioned in Team Durango’s manual, but it has been in countless other manuals. I added this step just to be sure. The second picture above shows the spring in place, and the third shows the retaining nut for the assembly. Now it becomes quite clear how shallow the outdrive indeed is, even though of course it’s still not tightened.

Put the diff screw through the assembly and tighten it:




The first two pictures show either side of the diff when tightened. Notice that the retaining nut does not hit inside end of the outdrive. If this happens and your diff is still slipping, you have a problem, as from there on, the diff cannot be tightened further. After the first two pictures I tightened the diff slightly further, up to the point where I couldn’t make the diff gear slip between the diff plates (third picture).

Lastly, put two shims on each end and after that, a bearing on each end:


Now Step 13 is finished, and you should have a very smooth diff that can’t slip. I also checked if the retaining nut it in far enough (as by now I have the complete suspension assembled already, I’ve just not reported it yet), and it seems enough to drive around with more than 5 degrees of negative camber without binding in the driveline.

[Origineelreclamebord]

Step 14: Choosing the motor configuration.

This step for me is really simple. Though there are good looking mid motor 2WDs, I just find a motor at the back better looking. The car won’t be driven (yet) anyway, so I just chose what I like best I chose for the 3-gear option on that as it’s the more ‘usual’ option out there, I doubt the 4-gear rear motor option would be used by many people anyway. The rear motor 3-gear option means I’ll be doing steps 15, 17, 18 and 19.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bag E, Steps 15-22

Step 15: Assembly of the transmission housing.
This is a pretty straight forward step: Just put in the gears, axles, bearings and shims as shown, put some grease in, screw the lot together and you’re done:





Step 17: Fitting the motor mount.


Again a pretty simple step and construction, though (probably due to the mid motor/rear motor option) there is an add-on piece that needs to be fitted between the transmission casing and the motor mount. I absolutely love the lettering on all the chassis bits, you see them pop up everywhere: From embossed logos on chassis pieces to lettering on the shocks! Anyway, here is the gearbox assembled with motor mount:



Step 18: Assembling the slipper clutch.
This is yet again a very clever feature on this car. No more removing a separate cap or the entire gear cover to adjust your slipper setting! It’s on the opposite side of where the spur gear is. These are exactly the things that make this car desirable: The adjustability, and how the ease of accessing these features has been optimized.


The spur gear I heard is the same as the DEX410’s, which is nice, and I know for sure that the slipper pads are: It’s the same strange material as the DEX410’s slipper pads. It’s completely different than what Tamiya uses, that’s for sure. Anyway, I don’t have a good picture of the assembled slipper clutch (Doh!), I moved on to the next step by then already (where you can see it… a bit).

Step 19: Adding the gear cover and motor to the car.


This step is again shorter due to the fact that I’m not adding electronics. The gear cover is made as small as possible, not even covering all of the plate around the motor pinion, only what’s necessary to protect the gears (and the motor screws are shielded too). The cover is slightly translucent, which looks really cool when assembled. Not just the colour, but also the material seems different than many of today’s gear covers. PE is used for most gear covers I’ve seen: Lightweight, cheap, not brittle all you need for a component like a gear cover. The last thing is an interesting factor. I don’t know what material the DEX210 cover is made from, but it might actually be PS/Polystyrene, which is rather brittle. It’s very, very thin too, even thinner than the average bodyshell probably. I think they could easily get busted if a car drives into your gear cover, which of course isn’t a good thing. Then again, it might be wise to get a big lead in a race so things like that can’t happen

Anyway, here it is once finished. If you look closely you can see the slipper clutch a bit

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bag F, Steps 23-30
In Bag F I’ll again only be addressing a part of these steps, because part of them is for the mid motor assembly. I’ll be doing steps 23, 24, 25 and 26.

Step 23: Fitting the rear shock tower, wing mounts and motor cover/rear bumper.


This step adds a lot of parts onto the gearbox I’ve just assembled. The rear shock tower bolts onto the gearbox with four screws and is connected to the rear bumper with the wing mounts. The wing mounts, unlike on some cars, are of very rigid plastic, just like on the DEX410. Even more than on the DEX410, they form a part of the structural integrity of the car. Whereas the TRF201 and many other 2WD buggies have a connection piece between the top of the gearbox and the top of the shock tower, the DEX210 uses the two wing mounts for this same job. Here however the wing mounts are bolted to the rear bumper, which is directly mounted to the top of the gearbox. Below are some pictures of the gearbox after adding the pieces. The last picture shows the wing mounts and the effortlessly accessible slipper adjustment in detail.




Step 24 and 25: Mounting the gearbox to the chassis.


These steps finalize the gearbox assembly and prepares mounts it to the chassis. There are a couple of large plastic parts for this, and a few plastic posts. It’s a shame to see these posts are made from plastic. I really liked the crazy spec of the DEX410, and this all seems a little sensible. I know this is a more affordable option, but I can say I would’ve payed the extra money for some of those aluminum bits that increase nothing but the price of the car



The second picture is for the people who might have concerns on the clearance between the retaining nut of the diff and the driveshaft: It’s close, but it works absolutely flawless! I have to add the turnbuckles, I know, but I know for sure now that everything will fit and I have built the diff right.

Step 26: Further mounting of the gearbox and small hardware.
This step requires some screws to bolt down the braces added to the chassis and gearbox in step 24, adds a block to stop the battery from hitting the servo and adds battery posts to the chassis.

[Wez-li]

Great thread, thanks for taking the time to document the build.

[Origineelreclamebord]

Great thread, thanks for taking the time to document the build.

Thanks, great to hear that It's a lot of fun doing a build thread like this, and it adds to the build itself too: You spend more time on everything you do, and you can literally look back at your build Not to mention that everyone can kind of experience the build (at least, that's what I hope to achieve). I'll be posting another update soon!

[Origineelreclamebord]

Bag G, Steps 31-34
Bag G only contains the turnbuckles, so that’s what the next few steps will be all about. Durango have included some nice, beefy turnbuckles. Like the DEX410 v3 they released at the same time as the DEX210, there is no mention anymore of titanium turnbuckles in the description/info page on their website. Together with the fact that these turnbuckles have a black coating on them, I have a hunch these are not titanium, but steel. It’s another one of those things where you can see Durango is aiming to lower prices and increase their sales.

With turnbuckles of course come adjusters into play. Durango included their so called ‘HD’ (Heavy-Duty, not High-Definition ) adjusters, which (I recall I read this somewhere) should pop off their ball connectors less easily. There is a pair of ‘special’ adjusters that are ‘V’-shaped so they will fit around the gear cover in both mid motor and rear motor layout. When I saw this on the release pictures I found it a bit questionable… Wouldn’t they make the upper arm way too flimsy? I guess we’ll find out!

Step 31, 32 and 33: Assembly and fitting of the upper suspension arms and tie-rods.


Those are the parts for the job. Step 34 will be skipped as that’s for the mid motor layout. Durango included a nice and thick turnbuckle wrench in another bag, but I forgot to take a picture of it. It’s about 5-6mm thick, which works much nicer for tightening those turnbuckles than some pliers or the thin turnbuckle wrench/nut wrench that I have from Tamiya (which you can see on the left in the picture about testing diff slippage). Anyway, I didn’t use the turnbuckle wrench yet. I decided to make the upper arms to the right length off the car and fit them then. So I took my water pump pliers with some cloth to protect the turnbuckles from scratching, and used the holes in the top of the adjusters to put one of my hex drivers through. From there on it was easy going and just measuring from time to time. And in a few quick minutes I had the upper arms done and had snapped them onto the ball connectors:



I was surprised how tough the adjusters were, and pretty rigid too, so I guess the V-shaped adjusters are not really an issue I was also very pleased to see this:




The driveshaft’s ‘Plunge’ is well… almost non-existent? It’s just like in the promotional movie of the DEX210, the driveshaft doesn’t move back and forth through the outdrive, eliminating the need for long outdrives, reducing wear to the driveshaft and outdrive and increasing overall performance. They did a cracking job on this! I already mentioned it works a few steps back, but here is the proof for you in pictures
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bag I, Step 43
So eh… What’s step 43 doing here all of a sudden!? Well, check out the pictures where you can see the rear wheel hexes. You’ll notice that to make the car compatible with the new 14mm hex wheels and the ‘regular’ pin-style rear wheels, Durango had to put the pin of the hex on the outside. It kept falling out, I didn’t want to use grease or threadlock on it, and I became sick of the pins falling out The wheels are very bright, but not fluorescent yellow – at least, not as fluorescent as fluor yellow paints.


And a split second later the wheels were on!



Now that it has been taken care off, I can continue where I should have according to the manual!

[Origineelreclamebord]

Bag H, Steps 35-39
And where we'll continue is Bag H: The dampers! These are Team Durango’s ‘Big Bore’ dampers, which presumably give smoother suspension action due to the larger amount of oil they carry and displace. I’m very curious to see if the additional weight the car carries (relatively high up too) will really help to make the dampers smoother

Step 35: Assembling the damper cylinder and piston.


The first impression of this damper is really different from the ‘regular’ buggy shocks I’ve built. The cylinders really seem a bit oversized, like they belong on a 1/8th scale buggy. The 6 holes in each piston look promising, that could indeed give a lot more consistency than two holes in a piston. I do hope though that now I don’t need much thicker oil I decided to do a more extensive report on these, a bit like the diff.

Let’s start by putting the plastic parts and O-rings in the bottom of the damper cylinder:






It’s important to do this in the right order. First, make your damper cylinder stand upside down on your workbench, so you can put the parts in easily (Picture 1). The first part you have to put in is a small, stepped plastic ring. The small stepped part will slot into the hole of the damper cylinder, so the flat side needs to face you (Picture 2). Then put a red O-ring in it. Make sure you don’t damage it with sharp tools, and that it sits nice and flat in the cylinder (Picture 3). Then put a plastic spacer inside (Picture 4). Then put another red O-ring on top of that (Picture 5). During this process you could add ‘Green Slime’ from Team Associated to make a better seal later on between the O-rings and the piston rod. I didn’t have this though, so I skipped that. Instead I put a little shock oil in, to make sure that in the filling process I wouldn’t have to spend to much time getting the air out of the damper. Next up is to put a second stepped plastic ring on and close the lot with the lower cap:



Now you’ve got the lower part of the cylinder assembled, it’s time to assemble the piston and piston rod. First, put a ring on the piston:


It’s a tight fit, I had to use pliers to get them on. Make sure that you protect the piston rod at all times to prevent damage to the piston rod! Damage to the piston rod will wear down the O-ring more quickly, resulting in inconsistent performance and leaking dampers. I used several layers of cloth to protect the piston rod.

Now this small ring is on the piston rod, you can put the piston on there. Note that you put the right pistons on the right piston rods: 1.2mm on the front, 1.3mm on the rear. These sizes refer to the size of the holes in the piston. Also make sure that the face with the letters is facing you, and the one with the rib on it is facing ‘down.’ This makes sure you can easily see what setup you’re using when you open the damper, but also that the piston fits right on the piston rod. Now tighten the small screw into the piston rod. It might be a good idea to use threadlock to prevent the screw from undoing itself – it could cause a dramatic intervention for you when driving if it were to come loose Here is a picture of a rear piston and rod when assembled:


Now put some shock oil on the piston rod. Move it into the cylinder and very gently push it through the hole to prevent damage to the O-rings. After that, put the conical rubber spacers (rod stoppers) on with the narrow part facing the bottom cap of the damper. The finished result should look like this:


Step 36 and 37: Final assembly of the damper.


This step will finish the assembly of the dampers. Fitting the lower mount to the piston rod, filling it with oil, closing the damper and putting the spring on. First off, put the lower mount to the piston rod. You need to hold your piston rod with pliers again, so make sure it again is well protected. Like the turnbuckles, It becomes easier to screw on the mounts when you put a hex driver, rod or something through the hole to act as an arm. After fitting the mount, the mount needs a pillow ball in it. The front uses different pillow balls than the rear, so make sure you put the right one in each mount. This is how it looks once done:



Now take the top caps and put a screw in each hole. I didn’t see a hole on the inside of the cap so I guess it wouldn’t be necessary if you didn’t open the hole up, but I put them in anyway.


Before you put the oil in, you need to do one more thing: Put the large, thin O-rings in the groove below the thread of the top cap. If you try to do this with oil already in it, you’re guaranteed to spill oil (Don’t ask me how I figured that out )


Now it’s almost time to fill the dampers with oil. Since I won’t be running it yet, I didn’t really mind the oil choice and went for some soft oil of which I don’t exactly know the viscosity (because the bottle only states it’s soft ). You’re not ready to fill the damper yet though. The manual (in a subtle way) shows you that the piston needs to be 2/3 up when the oil fills the whole cylinder. But how do you know it’s 2/3 up? Well, you have a piston, and that rod stopper. Just measure a bit and put the top of the rod stopper at 2/3 of the length

I decided to keep the piston rod at the bottom until it’s filled a bit above the piston. This way, bleeding the air out goes faster (it doesn’t have to travel through a whole damper’s worth of oil). When the air is out, fill it further to a few millimeters under the top. Now move the piston rod up until the rod stopper hits the bottom cap. You’ll notice that the volume of the piston rod entering the cylinder puts the level up a bit. Now fill the cylinder up to the point where the oil is exactly flat with the top edge.


It’s not really visible, but there is oil in there, up to the top edge. Now put the top cap on:


After that, put the adjuster ring on the cylinder. It’s wise to do this after filling and closing the damper, so if you spill oil during that process, it’s easier to clean up again.


Now finish building the dampers by putting the springs on there, together with the spring retainers at the bottom. The result is a little like this (minus the TRF dampers):


I put the TRF dampers beside these Big Bore dampers to see the difference. I guess I don’t say anything about the size anymore. So how smooth do they feel? Well, they are definitely smoother than my TRF dampers when they were new. But I don’t think the difference is significant. I think the real difference will be felt on the track though, not by compressing the dampers in your hands. To be sure, I’d have to run both types on the same car, track and circumstances. And that isn’t going to happen any time soon I’m afraid

Step 38 and 39: Fitting the dampers to the car.


Now it’s time to put these ‘Fat Shocks’ on the car. I forgot to add the pillow balls of the top mounts in the picture. I can tell you that they are plastic, so they are not very exotic, but they are again of a very high standard! Fitting the dampers at the top mounts was no problem. The bottom mounts however were a bit more of a struggle. Like I mentioned earlier, the plastic of the suspension arms is as hard as rock. Therefor, I decided to use the M3 fluteless tap I also used on my TRF201 kit. I didn’t need it on the front, but I did use it on the rear. After a few minutes it looked like this:



With that, the build is pretty much done. I need to fit the battery strap and the thumb screws to mount it, I need to add tires and the body and wing need to be cut out and fitted. Then I need to take it to a nice location for a photoshoot. This last part might take some time, so let these pictures be some teasers for how the overall car will look…

[Origineelreclamebord]

It has taken way too long to post this, but finally here it is: The pictures of my built DEX210!












The reason for the delay is that I drilled the holes of the wing wrong: There are dimples in the wing, but they don't align with the mounts of the DEX210 - but I didn't check that before drilling. Luckily the original wing does fit on my TRF201 with these holes, but it did mean I needed a new wing - and I wanted an original one. So I waited, and waited, and waited... And waited! It took until about a month back for the wings of the DEX210 to get in stock. So I immediately ordered one, ordered a set of dBoots tires and finished it soon after. The white wheels are as a replacement for the yellow ones that came with the kit - somehow they were slightly warped, so they were replaced by Durango for new ones (they only had the white ones in stock at the time and I didn't have a clear preference for white or yellow wheels).

Anyway, I hope you like the pics!

[speedy_w_beans]

A year later... Have you driven or raced this buggy? How do you like it? Thanks for all the pictures and writing this up in such detail. There are quite a few nice design elements here. I like the swiveling front end, droop screws, adjustable caster, captured CVD pins, and big bore shocks... I'm not sure the exposed slipper adjustment is an advantage, and I'm not sure why they didn't stick with a more conventional ball diff assembly. You mentioned the front end seemed a little heavy compared to the TRF201, but that may not be a bad thing as Tamiya released a heavier front suspension block themselves. As for the big bore shocks, it's interesting to see Associated has released their B4.2 kit with larger diameter shocks as well.

I think if I didn't have a B4 or a TRF201 I'd give this buggy some serious consideration. It looks great!

[Origineelreclamebord]

Sorry for the late reply. I haven't driven or raced this buggy. However, I have driven someone else's DEX210 in Rear Motor (RM) on Clay for a few laps. He didn't have the setup done for RM, and in fact he never got RM to work well for him (his Mid-Motor (MM) always went quicker on clay), so he drives MM on high and low bite tracks. He drives A-finals regulary in the Dutch-Belgian nationals - and he's known for his meticulous setup work - so I'm betting the setup on his car is ace.

I don't think there's time for it next sunday, but I could ask him if I can give the 210 a shot. I may make a switch to the Durango - not because my TRF201 doesn't surprise me positively time and time again, but because my second FF Buggy is in the works - using... this DEX210 as a donor car

As for the slipper... I would see it as an advantage. No slipper caps and stuff, and those parts don't need to stay in a clean environment. And the diff, though not conventional, Schumacher also uses it and to be honest after the first 2 months I heard no-one on this diff issue anymore.

The one thing I don't understand is why Durango haven't solved one issue on this car. Apparently, one of the lugs on the motor plate that holds the gear cover in place is extremely close to the rear shock tower. As a result, in crashes where the shock tower hit the ground, the rear shock tower snaps very easily. In fact, even aftermarket carbon shock towers tend to have this problem. So you need to offset the tower a bit and/or Dremel away (part) of that lug.