Mentat Ix

Hi guys, I'm new 'round here. Both of my sons birthdays are tomorrow (turning 7 and 14), and I went out and bought them each a Stampede XL-5 and some spare batteries. We opened them today so I could spend the weekend playing with them. We just got back in from our first run, and wow what a blast. I've never done cars before, so I was hoping for a little advice.

One of the cars made it through round one unscathed, but my youngest crashed his several times. To be fair, I ran it into a tree once too. The only thing we've busted so far is one of the front shocks - it bent a good 45*. I bent it back a little, and its still working but I'm definitely going to need to replace it. So the question is, what's the smart play here? I've already dumped more money into this project than I could really afford right now, so I'm not looking to trick these things out, but I would like to beef them up a bit and get the kids back out there before they lose interest.

Should I just get some stock shocks to replace them and move on? Is there a recommended upgrade that's going to keep me from being back here next week? I'm looking at the Traxxas Big Bores, are they really much better than stock?

Any other inexpensive things I should do to keep these things going strong? I'm not really interested in performance upgrades right now - they're already too fast for us to handle.

Maj_Overdrive

My Feedback: (11)

The Traxxas big bores are metal instead of plastic bodies. The shock shafts are the same grade steel just with an anti-friction TiNi coating. So the shocks will be smoother but just as likely to bend. If you take the shock apart you can bend the shaft straight again. I put them on an anvil or most bench vices have a flat spot on them, just hammer out the high spots. All you'll need to do this is some shock oil which is under $10 and will fill multiple shocks. The manual should tell you what the stock weight of the oil is.

Mentat Ix

Well that's good to know. Thank you for the advice - I should be able to bend them back no problem. I was hoping the Big Bores were sturdier, but since they're not I'll save the money on the shocks unless something else comes up.

And just because:

Mentat Ix

Well, we made it through about 5 batteries before one of the trucks stripped the spur gear. The cause seems to be that the factory didn't tighten the set screw on the pinion gear. I think. Local hobby shop didn't have any spares, so we've got some down time. Guy at the shop tells me I should completely disassemble and inspect these cars before use anyway. Seems to defeat the purpose of buying RTR, but whatever.

Any advice on particular things I should check before getting back out there?

Maj_Overdrive

My Feedback: (11)

A little tip I discovered when I had a Rustler, same transmission. The trans and motor mount is plastic and the motor screws will compress the plastic and the screws will want to go back into that spot because there's a hole. With no pinion on the motor, move the motor slightly so the screw is out of the hole and tighten it down, move again and tighten. You want to compress the plastic so there's no longer a hole but instead a longer trench of compressed plastic. This will keep the screws from wanting to go back into that hole and allow you to set the mesh where you want it easier.