Big Jon

When I build gearboxes, I shim each gear individually if possible, screwing together the housing to check play, The XV is nice, because each shaft sticks out of the housing , making it much easier to check the assembly. If you come across the carbon reinforced knuckle, snap em up. The last time I saw a set in stock, Ultimate RC was still a big thing. I bought a set in ‘15 or so. I’m currently using modified TRF 501 12 degree aluminum knuckles.

Thanks, Sloth!

It’s a really nice build stock. If you’re planning on running it in anger, I’d recommend CVDs all around, aluminum suspension mounts, aluminum hexes, and reinforced adjusters (ball cups). The aluminum NN4 spacer is only really necessary with higher power as long as the transmission is assembled correctly. I have a fairly detailed build thread floating around in “The Builds”, although my XV sees very rough use with a pretty strong 13.5.

The Clod Buster. Out of the box, they’re wretched. They don’t do anything well, even by ‘80s standards. They were disappointing BITD, and they’re nothing but a platform to build on today.

I have found that genuine Tamiya CVs are of better quality and last longer than Yeah, assuming that the Yeah ones don’t break before they wear out. I’ve also found that operating them at their limits wears them much, much faster.

I have an old Speed Passion Reventon Stock and a Hobbywing stock 10.5 in mine on 2S. It’s just right, fast enough to be fun (and funny!) without being silly. It has just enough rip to do a tiny wheelie.

I kinda dig that chassis, and I really like the body set. The bad it’s another RTR. Sort of off topic, but 3S and lower kV is great for a basher. Gobs of horsepower and long, long runtimes. Most of my crawlers are on 3S, some with low kV. 3800 kV and 3S geared slow always has plenty of reserve power!

I want a 917-30 so badly. I’m old enough that the TOJ was the 1/12 body of choice when I started carpet racing.

When you raise the ride height, the dogbones have to run at a steeper angle, which is causing the vibration. You may want to limit the droop with internal shock spacers if you think the vibration is excessive.

I have found the “reinforced” hard plastics to be much more durable, regardless of brand, with the exception of old Losi carbon parts, which were made of glass.

I’ve had good luck thinning Tamiya paints with Tamiya retarder and/or Tamiya lacquer thinner and brush painting. I’ve also used Mr. Leveling with good success. For white, I use Tamiya white primer, and I cannot successfully brush paint any yellow, so that’s always airbrushed.

Those steel wheels look great! How did you narrow the fronts?

That’s pretty cool. My current record is 14 miles and some change with my Element Enduro. Going hiking this evening, in fact.

Believe it or not, the Titan 12t is manufactured specifically for Traxxas to their spec, and is of higher quality and performance than generics or even the Arrma 12t. They’re surprisingly decent. (Can’t believe that I’m saying something nice about Traxxas electronics)

The hobby was in a slump. 1/8 scale nitro was big, as were nitro monster trucks. Nitro requires a lot of commitment and maintenance, so people were getting in and out of the hobby quickly, and nitro had increased run time and speed expectations, so electric wasn’t very popular. As Lipo and brushless became viable, and the Slash was released, we entered another boom phase that was dominated by RTRs. Lipo and 2.4 ghz allowed the scale/trail segment to blossom, with large groups finally possible and long run times. I think that Traxxas marketing outside the hobby has been a double-edged sword. They’ve brought countless people into the hobby with trucks like the T-Max and Slash, but have really pushed the hobby away from kits and have slowed development of niche vehicles.