Weird things you find in second hand RC cars?

[Mechanic AH]

Today I was breaking down a second hand kit. I think this was the greasiest RC car I've ever encountered. The gearbox seems like it had a full tub of grease. Every hinge, hole, crevice had grease and so much grease that it made me think, what was the original owner thinking? I thought at some point I would have an epiphany from the experience but I was just so greasy in the end. Maybe there was some kind build strategy or technique from this car that I don't know. It was just so perplexing. The crazy thing is, Tamiya grease was used--the ones that come from the kits/tiny tubes. I don't know how the person amassed so much of it. There are definitely other experiences but for 2025 this boggles my mind. Anyone have crazy second hand RC car experiences?

[Kowalski86]

Here's this for starters:

Vintage RC10T: Entire front half was from a different buggy (a cheap basher at that), and a butchered Traxxas Bandit bodyshell. This picture was after I Frankensteined it into a runner. @Saito2now has the honor of sorting this mess out.

Next, an M06:

This car had been very well painted and ran in a casual parking lot series for M-chassis, and even carefully shimmed. However, it still had bushings with load of grease in them and the gearbox, oddly similar to the OPs experience.

Finally, this Traxxas Slash

This truck had been raced a dirt oval track, the original owner spent plenty of money on this Proline shell, paint, body mounts, RPM everything, Velineon system (though it had the wrong ESC), etc.

However, the original ultra shocks had been replaced with cheap aftermarket shocks, the servo was a cheap off-brand, and there was motor oil in the shocks in place of proper shock oil.

[Pablo68]

Wood screws, lots of wood screws.

[Dakratfink]

26 minutes ago, Pablo68 said:

Wood screws, lots of wood screws.

I’ve also found this same thing. More times than I care to. 

[yogi-bear]

picked up a junk lot years ago. Amongst it was the battery tray from a Marui Big Bear, that had been cut out, meaning the chassis would have been destroyed in the process and mounted to a Renault Martini Mk 2 metal chassis. Not pretty! I cannot even fathom the logic behind this.

[ABigChungus]

My second hand BigWig had green slime in the gearboxes, and i am convinced it had Fairy liquid as damper oil. It smelt very lemon-y and there were a lot of bubbles! 

My second hand Striker, which the seller told me was a display model that he had rescued when his model shop closed, had cotton wool stuffed in the rear dampers.

[Honza]

Not my own experience, but a friend of mine bought a secondhand Xray XB4. Supposedly a 2020 model, it had 2020 gearboxes, 2021 chassis (which lacks 2 holes that hold the 2020 gearboxes together), flipped rear chassis brace (it has notch on one side, so it doesn't push agains gearbox bearing), weird mix of suspension mounts we couldn't even identify, and one of the front shocks was actually a rear shock. 

[Wooders28]

"Runs great"......

HOW 🤦‍♂️🤣🤣

 

 

[Saito2]

I bought a used Clod with the gearboxes packed full of wheel bearing grease once. The grease seemed to ooze thorough the very pores of the plastic, lol.

I got a used Madcap once that had the small 850 bearing in the counter gear replaced with a tiny curled of section of a cut off zip-tie end.

Above is a pic of my very first used Monster Beetle. I wish I had pics of the other side. The decal job was astoundingly poor. On the side you can see, the rear bumper "Monster Beetle" logo was placed on the right door. The left side had the correct "Monster Beetle" logo but it was stuck on first and then the stripes were stuck on over top of it, covering up 1/4 of the logo. Oh, and be careful, the right rear fender is "hot" btw according to the resistor sticker placed there.

[ad456]

I’m at the point I consider finding wood screws and weird cable tie logic fairly normal in 2nd hand cars😂

[markbt73]

Oh, man... wood screws, zip ties, wiring held together by wire nuts or sometimes just twisted together and taped, toy-grade tires jammed onto hobby-grade rims, rubber tires stretched OVER foam tires, rubber cement used to glue on tires and oozing out of the beads, blocks of wood for bulkheads, street signs for chassis plates...

[ABigChungus]

8 hours ago, Wooders28 said:

"Runs great"......

HOW 🤦‍♂️🤣🤣

 

 

Sounds like my BigWig i mentioned earlier. Listed as suspension works perfectly. This is the suspension where the dampers are filled with Fairy liquid right 😅 Well yes, they do work perfectly if I want a nice lemony scent when I'm out for a run!

[Juggular]

Many old guards have seen this.  

You are free to do whatever you want to do with your own chassis. But the concerns are; 

1) automotive grease can crack plastic ('what's good for 1:1 cars is good for a small RC car' is false.  Real cars don't have plastic gears that melt in petroleum based grease.) 

2) this much grease slows down gears. Your motor will run hot. In the worst case, it will burn out.  It's silly to reduce the rolling resistance 20% by installing bearings, and then add 30% resistance by gumming up the gears.  

 

I found this in one of the secondhand buggies.  

Somebody jammed a larger piston into a smaller cylinder.  Of course it was stuck. I could see how the previous owner had tried many things to make it move freely.  Including installing fluorine shafts.  He probably sold it thinking, "Tamiya sux!"  His loss was my gain, so I'm not complaining.  

But if you get an impulse to hammer it, just remember: Mjolnir doesn't belong in an RC toolbox.  

 

[SuperChamp82]

Great thread @Mechanic AH

Where to start w/o embarrassment ? 😂

Build blind (wrong side / upside down etc), repro parts (sold as Tamiya), photocopy manuals, scanned decals, detergent (not grease), plasticine (not gear putty), super glue (everywhere), soldering iron ‘welds’, body filler (structural), scrubbed motors, glycerine tyres and all manner of wrong paint … 

@svenb is a fellow purist + can no doubt add ! 

[svenb]

@SuperChamp82

Nice to see you back my friend 👍🏻

In all honesty I've encountered a great deal of bodgery in RC cars but plenty in real cars.

A brass slot head wood screw holding a motor in a TL01 and the usual coat hanger for an aerial.

[ABigChungus]

52 minutes ago, SuperChamp82 said:

Great thread @Mechanic AH

Where to start w/o embarrassment ? 😂

Build blind (wrong side / upside down etc), repro parts (sold as Tamiya), photocopy manuals, scanned decals, detergent (not grease), plasticine (not gear putty), super glue (everywhere), soldering iron ‘welds’, body filler (structural), scrubbed motors, glycerine tyres and all manner of wrong paint … 

@svenb is a fellow purist + can no doubt add ! 

Photo copied manual with the TamiyaBase website in gigantic text across the middle! 

[Dakratfink]

Not that weird I suppose, but frustrating. I bought a cheap TT02 from a guy . Mechanically it was sound and built correctly , barely used. Electronics were fine and flawlessly functional. Redcat rtr radio with a gyro, and  GoolRC or other similar budget brushless system.

So clearly the guy I got it from knew how to build and take care of an RC kit. 
So what is the problem Mr. Choosey Beggar ? 
The otherwise pristine R34 GTR looked great on first glance in the Marketplace photos. 
It was painted with non polycarbonate paint which flaked off about 25% on the drive home.

Also the rear body posts were 2 different styles . One L shaped and the other straight .

 

[RichieRich]

Yes, I've had cars with wood screws, toy grade tires, household wire connectors, lots of over greasing and my personal favorite: Hulk level over tightening of screws. My favorite was a pair of shocks filled with a flower scented hand lotion. I've also had cars with mismatched parts. For example, I got a second hand rc10 with a 1.5 degree rear toe arm mount on one side and a zero degree toe mount on the other. My ebay win xx4 had a type A bearing block and a type B bearing block on the rear diff which probably made for some odd belt tension and a crooked diff. 

[urban warrior]

Well ... maybe you remember this one I bought because of the transparent axle housings ...

Comment of one of my close modelling buddies as he saw this: "What was this before it went for inspection to IKEA?"

Apart from that, I also discovered a lot of sins done to other used model cars I bought. And folks ... it doesn't stop there! I even found weird screws and "technical solutions" in 1/1 motorcycles and scooters!

[Ray_ve]

A Konghead that was perfectly build except had one front wheel bearing missing. Strange to have missed that but the owner had never ran it so never noticed it.

A cheap 1:8 chassis that was run through a wood-screw factory I think. 

[Zippotech]

Kreative Vorderachse... 

Kupferrohr statt Lagerbuchse.... 

Gruß Zippo 

[ad456]

I picked up a Twin Detonator(or maybe a Wild Dagger) on eBay some years ago, it’s seemed someone had gotten very inventive with what looked like faded pink and blue 12v automotive wire and an array of spade connectors to do the dual motors from one esc. It also had the same 24deg stock 27t Trinity Paradox motors in both ends.
 

I just dunno sometimes………….. 

[magnumb]

Found folded up nudie pic under battery tray...guy went through a lot of trouble hiding that from the wife 

[Big Jon]

I usually just find broken unavailable parts!

[Pablo68]

On 2/23/2025 at 10:13 PM, markbt73 said:

Oh, man... wood screws, zip ties, wiring held together by wire nuts or sometimes just twisted together and taped, toy-grade tires jammed onto hobby-grade rims, rubber tires stretched OVER foam tires, rubber cement used to glue on tires and oozing out of the beads, blocks of wood for bulkheads, street signs for chassis plates...

Actually, I made a front shock tower for my Turbo Ultima out of Ally from a street sign. Admittedly is was a decent piece of work though. That particular alloy isn't bad for that kind of thing as it's quite springy, bends but comes straight back.