There are numerous write-ups on the Savage. The problem is that they are in the form of threads on this site, and they address each issue seperately. I'll try and tag a few of them for you...
1. Dogbones - the "old" stock dogbones had a designe flaw that made them prone to shearing near the ends. This issue has been addressed by HPI and anyone with the flawed bones are entitled to a free upgrade to the new version. Contact HPI for the info. How do you know if you have the old ones? Look near the end of the bone shaft. You will see that it maintains diameter constant until a point near each end of the shaft, and then it takes a very sharp decrease in diameter. This step off is the shear point.
2. The fuel systems of most RCs are self leaning. There is very little you can do to counter this. There are a bunch of imaginative ideas out there that have worked, but the best one I have seen to date is to tune the engine while it has only half a tank of fuel in the tank. This will make the engine run slightly rich on a full tank, just right near the middle of the tank and slightly lean near empty. This means that performance will actually increase as the tank empties.
3. The shocks tend to be a weak point. The stock shocks are of good design, but the exposed nature of the shocks and the long shafts tend to make them open targets for bent shafts. The only solutions I am aware of are: A.) Get a upgraded set, B.) Get the New Era upper a-arm that takes T-Maxx shocks, C.) Keep a spare set of stockers in your kit as a replacement set should you need them.
4. The fuel tank/shock tower massacre. The screw on the rear tower tends to puncture the tank on really hard landings or lid down landings. The solution, as mentioned above, is to put the head of the screw holding the shocks to the tower closest to the tank with the nut being closest to the rear of the truck. You can also glue some closed cell foam to the upper back portion of the tank to provide a little impact protection.
5. The tanks primer is a point of leakage as it gets older. It can turn into an airleak that robs the engine of power and fuel down the road. You can remove the primer (several ideas on this one) or replace the tank with a primerless tank (only a couple of options here).
6. The engine is a performer if broken in properly and tuned well, but it is still underpowered. Many people upgrade the engine as one of the first performance hop ups to the Savage. The engines of choice right now appear to be the Picco .26 Outlaw and the Ofna Hyper 21 8-Port (I run the Hyper).
7. HPI addressed an issue they had internal to the tranny, but it does not hurt to verify that it is done. There is a set screw (grub screw) that has a tendancy to back out. The solution (and HPI does this for you on the latest runs of Savages) is to open the tranny and apply loctite to the screw.
From this point, the rest of the issues are owner preferences. You can upgrade the steering servo to a high torque for better performance. If you upgrade the engine, the stock HPI rims will not handle the torque and you will end up replacing them when the wheel hexes destroy the socket they rest in on the rim. There are numerous other upgrades you can make. I'll let others give you some ideas, but believe me the truck is great and the upgrades are only limited by your wallet size.
Enjoy and Welcome to RCNT.
