ADH66

Hi WesterlyCarrot9, Sounds like you're in the same boat as me. Just getting a grip of all the options and terms!! Seems they all paw the air under throttle, I consider it one of it's charms But it is defo a fairly flexible 'chassis' (what little of it there is) so mine will be strengthened soon too. I'll be watching for your results!

My month old FTX Outlaw has already had a new drive shaft, shock, pinion and spur gear. So I'm currently about £70 in the hole without the upgrades....... A good mate was hooning his Vaterra around the same 'course' I was when the FTX broke, and that much higher spec car took a huge beating without missing a beat. I totally get the money v quality debate, nothing new in that at all.

Apologies if I put your nose out of joint Fly, I'm just a frustrated single parent who now has a £70 toy which doesn't work after only a couple of hours run time doesn't work, and by the time I see my daughter again she still won't be able to play with it. I've certainly learned the lesson you explain here. However, since I don't have the pockets to spend £200 on each of my two children, 7 and 3, nor do I want them learning on something like my FTX Outlaw which can seriously damage anything it hits, I guess they'll be waiting some time to get into the hobby. And as a PS, had I been able to find a motor quickly, I'd have fixed it and uttered not a word.

Hey Neilt I'm in the same boat. Bought a dingo for my 7 yr old and after a couple of easy runs looks like the motor has gone. Steering is fine but the motor is lifeless No one has any in stock at the moment. Does anyone have any substitute motor suggestions please? BTW it's easy to say "cheap cars break" or "buy cheap buy twice" but the only thing that achieves is frustration. There are several reasons why a 7yr old shouldn't be given a pukka Traxxas as her first car. For £70these things should be able to be run lightly (she's only learning on the lawn) without breaking. It's called fit for purpose isn't it? She certainly wasn't doing jumps and rough terrain.

Hmmm two questions : How do u get pinions off (grub screw removed BTW) without resorting to claw hammers. I've ordered the wrong pinion. So now I have the bigger 23t item x2. Will it still work? I see the motor mount can be rotated... Or best reorder the right one?

For my FTX Outlaw Brushless: A set of assembled shocks for fast swap outs, a set of shock shafts (since I bent one last time out) to repair bent ones, and three new spur gear wheels after stripping the original in double quick time. For my daughter's Ripmax Dingo, a set of 12mm hex wheel adaptors so we can get some big ol wheels on to avoid getting bogged down in the grass.

Sweet. And they do them in white. I've a set of stock wheels ordered in white, 2 have arrived so I may cancel the others and get these instead. These look like idea general use items, I'll save the balloons for slower rougher terrain. Nice one.

Cheers John, I see what you're saying and since the two gears mesh based on their mounting positions - also plastic - I guess it would be an endless serious of upgrades. It's been very interesting hearing people's opinions on upgraded metal parts v plastic standard ones. And upgrading the steering motor.....hmmmm this is an hobby which just runs and runs isn't it...

Yup. Been there. Plastic spur v metal pinion? I'm a novice yet that doesn't sound like a good idea.

and that's my wheel dilemma sorted. I guess these are far less bouncy and understeer-then-roll-y?

John I've read almost all of this thread and have followed your mods with interest, I'm up to page 25 actually, and it looks fantastic. Great job.

Hi everyone, first post. And the Outlaw (brushless) is my first RC adventure. And yes Heggs 44, same happened to me. Snapped plastic shaft, replaced with lovely metal one, screws came out and the shaft came apart. I've also stripped the spur gear (WHY PLASTIC???), and the front cup the drive shaft sits in has started wearing it's groove. Oh and I bent a shock. All the above, aside from snapping the original plastic drive shaft, was done after 20mins in a very rocky quarry. I've learnt that open cars like this and lots of loose 2inch stones don't really mix too well. Right now I waiting on a new pinion because despite being metal the teeth are slightly mangled after munching the spur. Overall, I love the car. My very experienced mates love it, and refer to it as the Jack Russell of RC cars. However, in my very limited experience it seems that the brushless version is either a touch too powerful, or too aggressively set up, for some of it's OE components. So far I've added some metal upgrades to the rear suspension and am experimenting with new wheels so I can run her fast and have her turn less like an oil tanker. Oh, and I've a light bar too which I'm going to mount under the roof, rather than on it, as I still flip the car fairly regularly.