New Traxxas Sledge

[TurboChargedHonda]

Looks like a cool truck! Glad to see Traxxas come up with a new platform! MSRP is $799, so it is a quite lot more expensive than the 1/8th Kraton, but I'm excited to see how it compares. What are your guys' thoughts on this?

There's a bunch more info on Traxxas Website: https://traxxas.com/products/landing/sledge/

 

[Chubaka]

I like the aluminum chassis.

 

[Tunedfrog]

Looks fun.

 

[pug]

I personally don't like it. It looks way too much like the Arrma Kraton 6s. RCDRIVER actually bent his chassis in his review. For the price I'd rather build up an Arrma Kraton 6s EXB with the stock electronics from Jenny's.

 

[Doom!]

Looks very Kraton. Might be a nice rig, but for the money I would rather have a nice crawler or street machine. But that's just a matter of my taste.

There are a lot of good bashers that cost less, but are no less fun. Plus I don't have room for large rigs. Come to think of it, I'm not even close to their target market, so you can completely ignore everything I just said.

 

[TurboChargedHonda]

I personally don't like it. It looks way too much like the Arrma Kraton 6s. RCDRIVER actually bent his chassis in his review. For the price I'd rather build up an Arrma Kraton 6s EXB with the stock electronics from Jenny's.

It's interesting that the chassis bent, since Traxxas markets it to be stronger than the Kraton (pdf attached and screenshot), though to be fair, Traxxas is comparing against the RTR Kraton and not the EXB version.

Looks very Kraton. Might be a nice rig, but for the money I would rather have a nice crawler or street machine. But that's just a matter of my taste.

There are a lot of good bashers that cost less, but are no less fun. Plus I don't have room for large rigs. Come to think of it, I'm not even close to their target market, so you can completely ignore everything I just said.

I agree, there are so many good choices to choose from! I don't think I'm their target either, but it would definitely be interesting to see the variations of this platform that Traxxas comes out with in the future.

 

[WickedFog]

Traxxas is comparing against the RTR Kraton and not the EXB version.

But even the EXB chassis will bend, and supposedly it is 7075 T6 aluminum. Kevin Talbot bent his. And I know he gets really nuts, and bends and breaks everything, but 7075 T6 aluminum absolutely does not bend. It breaks. At least when properly heat treated to T6 grade. So I asked Horizon how that can be, and informed them they need to have the EXB chassis sent to a metallurgist for verification, and they simply replied "it is definitely 7075 T6", to which I replied, "it definitely is not".

 

[Chubaka]

I personally don't like it. It looks way too much like the Arrma Kraton 6s. RCDRIVER actually bent his chassis in his review. For the price I'd rather build up an Arrma Kraton 6s EXB with the stock electronics from Jenny's.

My first thought is Arrma and Ofna due to the aluminum chassis, aluminum tube beace and aluminum towers. I like it, but I think I want to try Arrma first, but have other trucks to buy before that one.
I like the aluminum chassis, and the shade of blue, but thats about it.


As for Kevin Talbot, you can't trust his tests too much if it breaks. Full speed into blunt objects and high speed jumps to crash land back on earth....... just my $.02

 

[WickedFog]

As for Kevin Talbot, you can't trust his tests too much if it breaks. Full speed into blunt objects and high speed jumps to crash land back on earth....... just my $.02

I completely understand that. But my point is, 7075 T6 aluminum does not bend. At all. Especially as easily as his was. He tapped it a few times with a hammer and it bent right back into shape. No 7075 T6 would ever do that. I have machined semi loads of 7075 T6, and would bet every last RC I have that the EXB chassis he had is a poop grade of aluminum, if it even is 7075. Hell, I filled up a 56' box trailer of just shavings of it off a mill in two weeks one time. 7075 T6 absolutely does not bend by smacking it with a hammer.

And Kevin even verifies that when he lays into an M2C chassis made of good 7075 T6 and it didn't bend a bit. And it doesn't matter if he ran over it with a bulldozer. It would have been broken, not bent.

Start watching at 2:40 in this vid...

Kevin is actually a very smart guy if you pay attention in some of his live streams. He knows metal. Probably not to the extent I do, but welders are no dummies. And he is a damn good welder.

Just sayin.

 

[olds97_lss]

And Kevin even verifies that when he lays into an M2C chassis made of good 7075 T6 and it didn't bend a bit. And it doesn't matter if he ran over it with a bulldozer. It would have been broken, not bent.

Yeah, whatever M2C uses, it bends, but more flexes and flexes back. Doesn't stay bent.

I have the exb kraton and replaced the chassis before I bent it... threw it on a gift list for my wife to get me stuff, so now my exb has a M2C chassis anyway, just like my old outcast.

Before I got the kraton exb, a buddy of mine upgraded his to M2C after tweaking his EXB chassis, he gave me his old one in case I wanted to extend my outcast. It does bend and stays bent, but can be bent back. It doesn't bend as easy as the non-exb chassis though. I never put it on my outcast, since I have M2C on it already, so now I have 2 exb chassis plates on a shelf. lol!

 

[WickedFog]

Yeah, whatever M2C uses, it bends, but more flexes and flexes back. Doesn't stay bent.

I have the exb kraton and replaced the chassis before I bent it... threw it on a gift list for my wife to get me stuff, so now my exb has a M2C chassis anyway, just like my old outcast.

Before I got the kraton exb, a buddy of mine upgraded his to M2C after tweaking his EXB chassis, he gave me his old one in case I wanted to extend my outcast. It does bend and stays bent, but can be bent back. It doesn't bend as easy as the non-exb chassis though. I never put it on my outcast, since I have M2C on it already, so now I have 2 exb chassis plates on a shelf. lol!

Yeah, the 7075 T6 will bend and flex, but it bounces right back. The metal is so hard, once you get to enough stress, it just breaks. And the grain of the metal looks like really fine pot metal, or cast iron that has broken.

I learned this the hard way when I was a rookie machinist. I made some killer gas and brake pedals for my Mustang, but they needed a curve in them to fit right. I kept putting more and more force on the gas pedal with the hand press, bending it between two rods, and it sprung right back every time. I had it bowed 3/4" when it finally snapped. One piece flew out and nearly took my head off. Both pieces were still perfectly flat after the break.

 

[JCsRCcar]

Looks like an exact copy of the Aarma Craton.

 

[Compound101]

If they wanted to compete the pricing would be around $599.00 to $659.00. Not just jackup the price.

 

[Sebkauff]

It looks like it would be a super fun rig to drive. It definitely looks like traxxas took a lot of cues from the Kraton, especially on styling. But it also looks a whole lot tougher. And if Kevin Talbot breaks something that doesn't really mean a lot, but if he doesn't break it that really means a lot He did break his Sledge (after some very rough landings that almost no car would come out unscathed) but he only broke a rod end, stripped the spur, and bent a drive shaft. He also minorly bent the chassis. So for him really not that bad, and nothing concerning or hard to fix

 

[Chubaka]

Just saw this.
https://www.bigsquidrc.com/traxxas-announces-the-vintage-looking-6-tec-rtr/

 

[Doom!]

Think that was an April Fools, Arrma did the same thing with the 6 wheel drive Felony.

 

[STONER RC]

Looks like a cool truck! Glad to see Traxxas come up with a new platform! MSRP is $799, so it is a quite lot more expensive than the 1/8th Kraton, but I'm excited to see how it compares. What are your guys' thoughts on this?

View attachment 143927

There's a bunch more info on Traxxas Website: https://traxxas.com/products/landing/sledge/

How are you sir? Hope all is well. I'm a traxxas guy and did they really come up with something NEW per say. Its a 100% copy of the kraton. What traxxas should have done was drop a 24th scale crawler bronco like axial did. Since they already had the right to do it. Instead the drop another 6s 8th scale. Basically another maxx or Erevo. They could have done so much better with the design as well.. its definitely not worth $800. At that price might as well spend another 200 and get the X8s.. plus your going to end up Bending the chassis on it first run. And go off any short of jump. It's only 3mm thick. Yea I know it's 3.2 but the .2 isn't crap. I'm disappointed in this one hands down could have done alot better they drop the ball. Someone should get fires over the idea of this one. Definitely not a original idea... sorry just my opinion nothing else sorry for the rant just saw the post about the sledge. And it's not even a new name they use this name back in the early 90s late 80s

 

[MachineGunGuy]

I think Traxxas looked at the Krayton and attempted to redesign it eliminating some of the known issues. While it looks similar, and most truggies do, I think the engineering and mechanical layout are far different and probably justify much of the price difference. This and the XMaxx are definitely beyond an entry level product. Definitely on the higher end of the cost and performance spectrum. The design of the chassis is such that it should bend considerably less than the competition. The edges and the stampings at the ends along with the bracing up top should provide an extremely rugged platform. As was stated previously, if Kevin Talbot can only minimally injure it, then it has to be beyond reasonably durable. I have placed my order for one and it should be a nice addition along side my XMaxx.

 

[WickedFog]

I think Traxxas looked at the Krayton and attempted to redesign it eliminating some of the known issues. While it looks similar, and most truggies do, I think the engineering and mechanical layout are far different and probably justify much of the price difference. This and the XMaxx are definitely beyond an entry level product. Definitely on the higher end of the cost and performance spectrum. The design of the chassis is such that it should bend considerably less than the competition. The edges and the stampings at the ends along with the bracing up top should provide an extremely rugged platform. As was stated previously, if Kevin Talbot can only minimally injure it, then it has to be beyond reasonably durable. I have placed my order for one and it should be a nice addition along side my XMaxx.

Welcome to the forum. Definitely let us know how it goes with the Sledge.

 

[Doom!]

Probably a solid rig, l've never owned a Traxxas but they have a huge fan base. Welcome @MachineGunGuy