Building a monster truck kit

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Badgerman45

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I am considering building a 4WD kit but have never done it before and don't know anything about it. My interest is a truck with high clearance for running in yard, a little off road, but not heavy bashing. I don't want to spend a ton of money but want to get one that is a good vehicle and not too difficult. Any recommendations for a good first build?
 
@Badgerman45 kits are harder to find these days as the Ready to Run has pretty much become the norm. Every once in a while you can find a manufacture to roll out a roller where the only thing you need to add is the electronics.

If you want a full kit build experience then the Tekno MT410 is the first thing that comes to mind. It's an incredible truck, built from race proven parts and history, from a very well known company, but expect to spend good money.

Axial has the Axial SMT10 that is a kit and might fit your needs and it's much cheaper than the MT410. They of course also sell a RTR version too.

If a roller will suffice another new truck that just got released that looks pretty awesome is the Losi LMT which is available as a roller or RTR.
 
I am considering building a 4WD kit but have never done it before and don't know anything about it. My interest is a truck with high clearance for running in yard, a little off road, but not heavy bashing. I don't want to spend a ton of money but want to get one that is a good vehicle and not too difficult. Any recommendations for a good first build?
I kind of second what @WoodiE said, about not many lower priced kits out there, but, with one caveat. Tamiya makes a ton of different kits, from on road cars to off road trucks, and even Semi's, but, for what you are looking to do, an RTR would be a better choice. Any decent kit that fits what you are looking for is north of $300, but, you can get decent RTR monster trucks, and even short course trucks and truggy's RTR for that money or less.

If you are doing it strictly for the learning aspect, and dont want to buy a new RTR just to take it apart, another option is buy a used roller on eBay, that way you can take it apart, get a feel for how everything works, and, build and upgrade right up front. If you go that route, i would stick with good brands like Arrma, Losi, Team Associated, Traxxas, Redcat racing, but, research the vehicles you are looking for as much as possible before jumping in. Some, like Arrma are easier to work on, but dont have as much aftermarket support, and some, like Traxxas, have a ton of factory and aftermarket support, but are harder to work on. Redcat, it entirely depends on the vehicle.
 
@Badgerman45 kits are harder to find these days as the Ready to Run has pretty much become the norm. Every once in a while you can find a manufacture to roll out a roller where the only thing you need to add is the electronics.

If you want a full kit build experience then the Tekno MT410 is the first thing that comes to mind. It's an incredible truck, built from race proven parts and history, from a very well known company, but expect to spend good money.

Axial has the Axial SMT10 that is a kit and might fit your needs and it's much cheaper than the MT410. They of course also sell a RTR version too.

If a roller will suffice another new truck that just got released that looks pretty awesome is the Losi LMT which is available as a roller or RTR.
Thanks for the information. I just watch a review of the Losi LMT. If I decide that this hobby is really for me, the Losi looks like it would be a great truck and be able to be used in many ways. One question - could it be used for rock crawling as well?
 
Thanks for the information. I just watch a review of the Losi LMT. If I decide that this hobby is really for me, the Losi looks like it would be a great truck and be able to be used in many ways. One question - could it be used for rock crawling as well?
For the most part, no. The Losi trucks are fast, and built more for racing and bashing. They dont make good crawlers. For that, you need something specifically built for it. You could probably gear it to go slower, but, due to suspension set up, and design, it would be severely limited in what it could do. Crawlers are designed more for controllability when crawling, and, the suspension is designed to work in the type of terrain crawlers are built for. You can get a bit of both with a rock/desert racer, but those aren't a true crawler or a racer, but a blend of both.
 
@Badgerman45 the Losi LMT is one cool truck, but it's not a rock crawler. It's made to model after the trucks you see at Monster Jam and as @biggman100 it's more of a racer / basher type truck.

If you want something with some ground clearance and some rock crawling then you should probably check out the Axial line up of models. Most all of their trucks are in kits and Axial is probably the best manufacture in the business for rock crawling.
 
I just purchased an LMT. One terrific truck but sure not a crawler. Traxxas makes a great crawler kit. Just a thought. Good luck.
 
U could always find a truck you like.and just build it from scratch.thats what I like to do.Get the specs/parts lists from manufacturer of what you like. Then get the roller or just the chassis then u build it the way u want instead of buying the RTR trucks of today. Then haven to replace parts with the hop ups u like or want. I think it's more fun that way. That's just my opinion. I'm old school that's how they used to come as a kit u had to build
 
U could always find a truck you like.and just build it from scratch.thats what I like to do.Get the specs/parts lists from manufacturer of what you like. Then get the roller or just the chassis then u build it the way u want instead of buying the RTR trucks of today. Then haven to replace parts with the hop ups u like or want. I think it's more fun that way. That's just my opinion. I'm old school that's how they used to come as a kit u had to build
This thread is like 3+ months old bro. More than likely the OP already did whatever he was gonna do. :)
 
Still helpful for others that may be searching for a similar answer...just sayin
 
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