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Scouser

Stronger gearbox?

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Quick question to anyone who has experience of the gearboxes from the Hornet/ Lunchbox and the Mad Bull/ Rising Fighter. Of the two, which one is the stronger? I mean the gears and also the outer casing. 

I am building up a couple of cars for the kids but wondered whether the Lunchbox/ Hornet would take more abuse than the MB.

Appreciate any input.

Jon.

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They're both pretty tough to be fair.

The Mad Bull box has thicker gears but I've never had an issue with the Hornet box even running brushless. The Mad Bull box is wider and taller so it can come into contact with the ground easier than the Hornet box. In my opinion, I find my Monster Hornet to be a better basher than the Mad Bull. Although mine is running a lipo which makes it much lighter therefore eliminating the annoying battery box cover falling off issue that the Hornet has with a heavier battery. Personally I find the lunchbox a bit of a PITA, it's good for novelty value but it's annoying having to keep chasing after it to right it every 5 seconds!

 

 

 

 

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Yeah, the tip over factor would start to be a drag after a short while. The reason I asked is that I have already broken the casing of the Mad Bull just throwing it round the garden. A brasher for the kids means the stronger the better.

Thanks for the input, much appreciated.

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The WT01 or WR01 is a great basher for kids also.

Here is the Monster Hornet...

med_gallery_28308_3741_338195.jpg

 

And the oh so versatile WT01...

medium.IMG_5024.JPG.3f56ddc443cd981c90ee

Hornet with a Mad Bull box for a laugh...

medium.image.jpg.81747ea15a8d72e4a713540

and Hornet box...

med_gallery_28308_3756_26767.jpg

 

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Really for the money, given they are only £240 on eBay, the Super Clod Buster is the way to go. They come with the Dual Motor ESC now in the kit too. They are quick enough for the kids, plus go over everything.

The massive semi pneumatic tyres hit anything first and I happily hit 100+mm kerbs full pelt to climb them. 

WT01s, Mad Bulls and Lunch Boxes etc aren't that kid proof if they are taking abuse. The gearboxes will be fine but the chassis, bumper, bumper mounts, uprights and body mounts don't always live that long in my experience.

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The front end of the Mad Bull has proven to be super strong. It took out a fence panel at full tilt with no damage to the car whatsoever. 

I have only had issues with the gearbox casing which is why I wondered about the LB and Hornet. 

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8 hours ago, Scouser said:

Quick question to anyone who has experience of the gearboxes from the Hornet/ Lunchbox and the Mad Bull/ Rising Fighter. Of the two, which one is the stronger? I mean the gears and also the outer casing. 

I am building up a couple of cars for the kids but wondered whether the Lunchbox/ Hornet would take more abuse than the MB.

Appreciate any input.

Jon.

I find both the DT-01 (Mad Bull) as well as the Grasshopper/Hornet gearbox to be equally strong. But be careful when doing the screws, torque them down only until they get in contact with the plastic, otherwise you'd risk overdoing them and even getting cracks in the plastic over time. Happened to me on the Hornet, was a beginner mistake.

In theory, the internal plastic diff gears of the Grasshopper/Hornet are MASSIVE. But in practice, I don't see any reason why I should consider the smaller DT-01 metal diff gears weaker. Both chassis types have tough gears and diffs. I never broke the DT-01 gears even though I put it to quite a suffering with large Mad Bull wheels, a brushless motor and a LiPo battery.

The part that takes most damage on both chassis types is the bodyshell. Period.

 

The annoying battery cover issue of the Grasshopper/Hornet can be fixed using Pintopower's Ampro Engineering option parts.

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Lunchbox gearbox (and others) are fine. I have run all manner of motors (brushless 3s sport tuned 17 turn etc) through mine and it still goes fine. There is a guy on here running 6s through his.

Lunchbox handling is part of the charm. I love spending 90% of the time on one or two wheels (and not just the back two!) and keeping it right side up. 😊

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The Mad bull gbox case will split at the suspension mounting points, all of mine have small splits where the suspension mounts but none to the point of them coming off. It's unusual to have any other issue with the casing. What issue did you have? Any pics?

My only issues with the Mad Bull were the bent steering rod getting jammed, resolved with a homemade fix using Tamiya parts to make a new solid rod which is much better;

large.image.jpg.f3fe3e312db17ee9b20dc6a1

and my boy ramming his under a garden chair on its maiden voyage taking out both A-pillars! Oh and the time he ran into a puddle and the bathtub chassis filled with water taking out the esc temporarily, best to waterproof the electronics in a balloon as they are exposed to water as kids love puddles!!

My Hornet has really been abused, especially when running brushless, that really is a tough cookie, the body (apart from the wing) is more forgiving than the Mad Bull shell and it has done somersaults, flips, rammed into soild fence posts, wedged under a 5 bar gate and the only damage has been bent tie rods for the steering which simply bend back again. It is one of my favourite runners, a lipo Monster Hornet is superb and so light. Being so light it can pretty much run anywhere, I love it. To convert it to big wheels you just need lunchbox wheels and front stub axles and cut the bumper back a bit so the wheels can steer unimpeded.

 

 

 

 

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Sadly I don't have a picture of the break. Basically the car landed on its roof and the casing broke at the lower central pivot point. A piece about 3cm long had snapped out of the right hand casing. 

It's the only problem I have had with Mad Bull through countless runs.

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On 07/05/2017 at 11:37 AM, Scouser said:

Sadly I don't have a picture of the break. Basically the car landed on its roof and the casing broke at the lower central pivot point. A piece about 3cm long had snapped out of the right hand casing. 

It's the only problem I have had with Mad Bull through countless runs.

I think youve just been really unlucky! And i wouldnt worry about trying to swap it out for something different. Renew the casing and carry on.

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I think it was just a freak thing. It wasn't a particularly hard crash, it must have just caught it in the right place to snap it. I replaced the broken half and have had no troubles since. 

Still love the Mad Bull and reckon it's the best beach runner ever.

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