Pics of my Traxxas Rustler VXL

[Jeabajuice]

Never showed you guys pics of my Rusty so here they are:

 

[MR4X4KING]

looks good
i did not change much on mine just
rpm bumper
wheelie bar
added the cooling fan
RPM arms front and rear

if you run 11.1v batteries and a run on the strret you will burn through those back tire very fast


oh by the way your old RC10GT2 is still running Good

 

[Jeabajuice]

Thanks. Yeah these things are durable. Ran it about seven times. Bashed it in my backyard and I have not broke a thing yet. Upgrades I would want to do are TRX Aluminum caster blocks, RPM front bumper, RPM front and rear A Arms, swami aluminum wheelie bar, all terrain tires (not sure which ones yet), and maybe a cooling fan for the summer because it's cold right now here in New York and nothing on my car is getting hot. I hope your having fun with the GT2. I am glad someone is giving her love because when I had her, she sat in the garage half the summer.

---------- Post added at 8:52 AM ---------- Previous post was at 8:40 AM ----------

Oh yeah lets see some pics of your Rusty Tom! And if anybody has a rusty, post pics here!

 

[HPI-Killer]

Wow looks clean and sexy! First thing I would do as I tell everyone else, replace the weak-points of the rig where most impacts occur i.e A-Arms, bulk head, shock towers.

IMO the first thing I would do, is A-Arms and shock towers, that front shock tower looks REALLY weak.

 

[Greywolf74]

So far on mine I've put RPM front bumper, Castle Sidewinder SCT ESC with the 3800KV 4 Pole motor so I can run on 3S or with lower gearing without overheating the motor. I also added a small 25mm fan to the SCT ESC cuz it gets warmer than I like. Seems to help a decent amount. Lets see I added a 180oz/in Steering servo, Anaconda tires for running on asphalt and badlands for running offroad, Working on preping a JConcepts body for it right now, water proofed the electronics and the servo, and I installed an aluminum GPM Front Shock tower. Eventually I'm going to add RPM front arms and caster blocks but for now I actually have some stock spares but those will run out soon as the front arms and caster blocks break easily....especially if you wreck at high speeds on pavement.

I'll post pictures up once i get the new body painted.

 

[Jeabajuice]

Should I get RPM shock towers or aluminum shock towers? What tires are good for running on grass and a little street? What company has good aluminum bulkheads and shock towers?

 

[Greywolf74]

RPM is usually just as good as aluminum in fact I generally prefer RPM to aluminum as its lighter but still strong. Only reason I have the GPM shock tower is because I picked up off of an ebay auction for like 13 bucks still NIB. Integy Aluminum parts are notorious for bending as alot of their stuff isnt hardened aluminum. Just depends though. Contrary to popular belief not everything that Integy makes is crap. just the majority of it heh. IDK though, thats what folks say but back when I first got into the hobby I bought Integy aluminum arms, shocktowers, and caster blocks for my nitro Rusty and They have never bent. Then again. I dont play with it much either. generally if I wanna play with a Rusty I go for the Electric and If I wanna play with a Nitro I go with one of my MTs or my buggy. Dynamite makes good aluminum stuff. I have some of their aluminum hop ups on my LST2-E. Other than that I'm not real sure. I typically dont upgrade alot of stuff and when i do I generally like to go the RPM route first.

As for tires, on road and off road are so different its hard to find a tire that does well on both. I much prefer to have a set for each but if your budget is tight you can always go with some sort of all terrain tire. most companies have at least one set of tires labeled as all terrain. The Proline Dirt Hawg 1's would probably be ok on both surfaces. Just look at the tires. and find one that has some tread on it but not so much it will ride rough on a flat surface.

 

[Jeabajuice]

Thanks!

 

[HPI-Killer]

GH makes awesome cnc'd alloy parts.

 

[Jeabajuice]

Once my parts start breaking, I'm going to go to my LHS and see what aluminum stuff they have. Two more questions. Whats a good Nimh battery for the rustler because the one it comes with lasts for like 10 minutes and also whats a good charger because the wall charger takes 8 hours to charge. I am on a budget.

 

[HPI-Killer]

I got the Duratrax Pirahna peak charger for NiCAD & NiMH but not lipos. I used a 5500 2s 25C in my 4x4 slash VXL and it MOVED!! But only got a max of 12-15 minutes on my neighbors track. Not sure what size the battery tray is on that, but if you think you can learn/understand lipos, I would switch over.

If not you could pick up 2-3 5000 NiMH packs and run for an hour or so, I ran Racers Edge 5000 and they werent bad at all, but kind of pricey.

 

[Greywolf74]

You can pick up a gensacearespammers 2S 40C 5000mah pack for about 27 bucks if I remember correctly. A decent charger from the same website you get gensacearespammers lipos ( www.hobbypartz.com ) for about 50 bucks and that includes a built in lipo balancer. You'll get around 45+ minutes of drive time on one of those packs and if you order both parts at the same time you get free shipping on any purchases over 50 bucks. The NiMH packs arent going to last much longer than 12-15 minutes tops in a brushless rig. On top of that they will run pretty hot and tend not to last as long as they would in a non brushless system.

 

[Jeabajuice]

Yeah I'm not going to order online. I'll go to hobby shop and see what they have. Maybe I'll get into lipo. I'll keep you guys informed. Thanks!

 

[MudSlinger33]

Thats a nice rig! Unfortunately mine already took a hard blow to the bulkhead. :whhooo: I'm going aluminum on this truck except for a-arms and shock towers. That rusty would haul ass on 3s lipo!

 

[Jeabajuice]

That sucks! I think I might go aluminum on everything besides front bumper. I want to get RPM front bumper.

 

[wacmartin]

Do the gensacearespammers lipos come with trx plugs or am I going to have to solder one up? I looked and can't find any.

 

[Greywolf74]

Yeah I'm not going to order online. I'll go to hobby shop and see what they have. Maybe I'll get into lipo. I'll keep you guys informed. Thanks!

You'd be better off going RPMs on your arms IMO. If you buy your aluminum parts from your LHS just check and see what the brand is. If its Integy Id do some research online about the particular part before deciding whether or not to purchase it.. As I said before a lot of Integy's aluminum isn't hardened and bends easy.

You can buy your Lipos and chargers from your LHS but you're gonna pay a premium price for them. If that doesn't bother you then by all means support your LHS.

Do the gensacearespammers lipos come with trx plugs or am I going to have to solder one up? I looked and can't find any.

They typically come with either the bullet connectors or just the bare wires that you have to solder on. I've heard that you can request them to solder a plug on for you before they ship it but I think that's more for deans and more common connectors. I doubt they have have Traxxas connectors but you could always call and ask them.

 

[HPI-Killer]

Do the gensacearespammers lipos come with trx plugs or am I going to have to solder one up? I looked and can't find any.

They do not, they come with the 4.0mm banana connector so yes you will have to solder your own TRX connectors

 

[Jeabajuice]

Yeah this hobbyshop is the only one near my area. I want to support them as much as I can. Why is RPM's arms better than aluminum ones?

 

[HPI-Killer]

Yeah this hobbyshop is the only one near my area. I want to support them as much as I can. Why is RPM's arms better than aluminum ones?

Lets just say, I hit the telephone box in my neighbors yard almost Wide Open Throttle (WOT) and it didnt even scratch my RPM A-Arms, if it would have been alloy, they would have been toast I'm sure.

Dont go alloy a-arms bro, they look bling bling but they are no bueno (no good)

Hope this convinces you