hamradioguy Posted November 15, 2017 Share Posted November 15, 2017 Hi All I have a few FTX RC car's and considering how popular the budget brand is I was surprised to see that RPM do not make any upgrade parts for the brand, which got me thinking. Many people (especially Outlaw owners) buy the aluminium upgrades. If RPM were available would you have bought them instead ? It RPM were to make parts for FTX range which car and parts would you like ? I don't like aluminium parts, they are too rigid so dont soak up any stress the anodising scratches too easy screws back out too easy or sometimes corrode in the threads. (Yes I know about threadlock, thank you) For my Outlaw Apart from the usual Arms and replacement parts I would like hubs & arms Spur Gear (different sizes ?) Motor mount, Adjustable/slotted Rear linkage arms Body Posts Rear Axle to Chassis links Rear Sway Bar upper pull rod Upper & Lower spur gear housing I'm sure there are lots more but that's just things off top of my head Lastly do you think it's worth sending them an email asking them to consider making parts for the FTX range ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evssv Posted November 15, 2017 Share Posted November 15, 2017 (edited) Rpm plastics over ally any day of the week.....i thk if they we're gonna make ftx parts they'd b out in the shops by now imo ..but a e mail wont hurt and u never know Edited November 15, 2017 by evssv Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
just rolling Posted November 15, 2017 Share Posted November 15, 2017 yeah deffo prefer rpm over alloy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bieomax Posted November 15, 2017 Share Posted November 15, 2017 Deffo give it agoSent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bertberr Posted November 15, 2017 Share Posted November 15, 2017 Other than the blitz steering knuckles that are so soft you can't keep those damn cap head screws in there for love or money. Apart from these, yes RPM all the way Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vimto2000 Posted November 17, 2017 Share Posted November 17, 2017 I'd be tempted on my brushless one if things started to break. Never been a fan of alloy upgrades! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XV Pilot Posted November 17, 2017 Share Posted November 17, 2017 On 15/11/2017 at 20:35, hamradioguy said: Lastly do you think it's worth sending them an email asking them to consider making parts for the FTX range ? FTX is a brand belonging to CML Distribution, a British importer and distributor of RC products. They source budget models from Far Eastern OEMs, put their labelling on them and sell them here. RPM is an American company, proud of its heritage and it's US-based manufacturing operation, and focussed primarily on the American market. They make parts for models available in other countries as well, but to the best of my knowledge they don't make anything for cars that aren't also sold in the US. They also focus on the upper end of the market. RPM are thus highly unlikely to be interested in making parts for Far Eastern budget models bearing a UK-specific label. That said, it never hurts to ask... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nickarla Posted June 15, 2018 Share Posted June 15, 2018 Did you ask? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmericanBullDog Posted June 15, 2018 Share Posted June 15, 2018 I hope this is not too much of a curve ball to throw into the discussion but...has anyone tried fitting the existing RPM Yeti arms to the Outlaw? The company that manufactures the Outlaw copied the Yeti to the degree that Axial ring and pinion gears fit the Outlaws' diff. case with just a little shimming. I've installed them but have not run the car since the install as I'm doing other work that has kept my car on the work bench. Just saying that it's worth looking into the existing RPM arms as they may fit right up. Maybe ask Yeti owners to take some measurements of their arms and compare them to FTX arms? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DartmoorTrails Posted June 16, 2018 Share Posted June 16, 2018 17 hours ago, AmericanBullDog said: I hope this is not too much of a curve ball to throw into the discussion but...has anyone tried fitting the existing RPM Yeti arms to the Outlaw? The company that manufactures the Outlaw copied the Yeti to the degree that Axial ring and pinion gears fit the Outlaws' diff. case with just a little shimming. I've installed them but have not run the car since the install as I'm doing other work that has kept my car on the work bench. Just saying that it's worth looking into the existing RPM arms as they may fit right up. Maybe ask Yeti owners to take some measurements of their arms and compare them to FTX arms? Are you talking about the trailing arms? Ive looked at a few alternatives and can see it's be a fairly easy install. However, the FTX arms have lots of adjustment points whereas all the others I've seen, Vanquish included, have only a few anchor points along the arm. I may be wrong and there may be alternatives out there allowing the same freedom but I'd not want to invest in something that limits me. Shame the damn ftx are blue ☹️ hello oven cleaner ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmericanBullDog Posted June 16, 2018 Share Posted June 16, 2018 12 minutes ago, DartmoorTrails said: Are you talking about the trailing arms? Ive looked at a few alternatives and can see it's be a fairly easy install. However, the FTX arms have lots of adjustment points whereas all the others I've seen, Vanquish included, have only a few anchor points along the arm. I may be wrong and there may be alternatives out there allowing the same freedom but I'd not want to invest in something that limits me. Shame the damn ftx are blue ☹️ hello oven cleaner ? No, I was talking about the A-arms on the front. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nickarla Posted June 17, 2018 Share Posted June 17, 2018 That would be very interesting to know as these front arms also fit the Carnage and Bugsta. For such a popular brand I don't know why companies don't take the opportunity to produce stronger parts, namely gears, plastics. That would put the wind up the likes of Traxxas...who will probably just try and sue someone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmericanBullDog Posted June 17, 2018 Share Posted June 17, 2018 The only way to find out for sure is to order something and see if it fits, or is close enough that you can make it fit with a bit of work. I took a chance and ordered the Axial HD Overdrive ring and pinion gears and have them installed in my FTX diff. housing right now. I'll post a follow up after I run them a bit but everything meshes quite nicely and feels silky smooth when turning by hand. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nickarla Posted June 18, 2018 Share Posted June 18, 2018 That could be a big find. I've trashed my gears more times than anything else from tumbles and high speed bashing. Do you have a link? Do they fit right in or need some adjustments/fine tuning? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmericanBullDog Posted June 19, 2018 Share Posted June 19, 2018 The pinion needs shimming to mesh properly and you have to use a through pin to secure the drive cup to the pinion shaft but it's very simple to do. No mods. are needed to the diff. housing as FTX uses the same bearings as Axial and with just a little shimming everything drops right in. What I mean about a through pin is that the Axial pinion has a hole through its' shaft it instead of the flat surface FTX uses for a grub screw. It works just the same as how the FTX rear drive shaft attaches to the out drive from the gear box. I trashed my stock ring/pinion whenever my buggy landed on it's nose from higher than two feet in the air, the chassis flexes soo much that the front drive shaft gets pushed into the pinion which then drives it right into the ring gear and smashes the teeth on both. I've not worn out, or stripped a single stock ring/pinion set but I've smashed a few. I'm making a chassis brace to stop the pinion from smashing into the ring gear, when that's sorted out I'll run the new Axial gear set and report to you guys how everything works. The best thing about Axial gears (or the aftermarket gears for Axial vehicles) is the option for underdrive, or overdrive gear sets. I have the overdrive gears for the front of my Outlaw to help it climb hills but the option is there to tune your vehicles gearing by running over, or underdrive gears to get the gearing you want if you can't get the spur/pinion combo to suit your needs. I'll make a new thread with pictures of the Axial install since it applies to every FTX vehicle running the same differential as the Outlaw. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nickarla Posted June 19, 2018 Share Posted June 19, 2018 That would be very good to see. Keep up the good work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nickarla Posted October 12, 2018 Share Posted October 12, 2018 Any update on how this went Bulldog? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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