Pics of my Traxxas Rustler VXL

[Jeabajuice]

Okay so let me get this straight. RPM front bumper, RPM arms, aluminum caster blocks, aluminum bulk heads, and aluminum shock towers. I am also going to want to change to aluminum turnbuckles and bellcranks. Are those all the parts I should change?

 

[Greywolf74]

The thing with aluminum is you want to use it sparingly. Too much aluminum weighs the kit down. All the kits you see that are all tricked out in aluminum are for show. The other thing to consider is in every area of your kit whether its the suspension, the drive-train or whatever you want a weaker failure point. In this case were talking about arms. If you have aluminum everything then one of two things is going to happen when you have a bad wreck. A) You bend your aluminum arm and possibly other expensive aluminum pieces especially if they are unhardened aluminum like a lot of Integy's stuff or B) You are going to snap your chassis or whatever major plastic piece is behind your all hardened aluminum suspension. That being said the arms are a great place to keep as your failure point because they are generally easy to replace and one of the less expensive parts. RPM plastic is much stronger and more durable than stock plastic yet remains light and will still break before something more major does therefore making it superior IMO than aluminum.

Your bulkhead on most kits is fine being plastic. Its typically very thick and not easily breakable anyway. You can use aluminum if you want for the caster blocks but personally Id start with RPM and if you start breaking the RPM ones then maybe try aluminum. The only thing Id start out with aluminum would be my front shock tower and like I said you could do the caster blocks too if you wanted. Bell cranks and turnbuckles I wouldn't worry about replacing unless you start breaking them a couple times. I typically don't start buying upgrade parts for something unless I've broken the stock part 2 or 3 times. Then I start with RPM, then the last step is hardened aluminum but try to only use aluminum where you have to unless you just want it for the bling like if you were building a shelf queen. If you start buying all aluminum parts you'll end up with more in aluminum than the kit costs.

 

[Jeabajuice]

Alright thanks alot!

 

[HPI-Killer]

Traxxas actually makes a really awesome allow shock, the Traxxas GTR shocks are BADASS, I run the factory GTRs on the jato, and man they are nice! If your rig allows the GTR you should look into them, just not Integy shocks.

 

[Greywolf74]

Yeah I like aluminum shock bodies. Also IDK if they make em for the Rusty but a lot of my kits I usually end up putting titanium shock rods in the front shocks also cuz the stock rods bend too easy.

 

[MudSlinger33]

Just ordered an aluminum front bulk, rpm arms and skid-plate, aluminum upper F+R braces and two 3s 5000mah sky lipos! Looking at getting the powerstroke shocks too.

 

[Greywolf74]

Do you already have your Rusty set up to run 3S Lipos? I'm just curious because there is a special adapter kit you have to but in order to convert your Rusty so it will hold a 3S lipo instead of just a 2S. Also (just in case you arent aware of this already) If you run 3S on the stock ESC/motor you'll probably have to gear up, espcially in the summer time to keep from over heating. Just an FYI in case you were aware.

The rest of it sounds pretty schweetzz22

 

[MudSlinger33]

I'm pretty sure the velinion system can handle 3s out of the box.

 

[Greywolf74]

You have to order a kit that enables the Rusty to hold a 3S pack instead of the 2S and you will most likely have to use a smaller pinion or your engine will run hot. The ESC and Motor can handle the Voltage from 3S but you will need the conversion kit for the battery tray and most likely a smaller pinion. Id keep an eye on your motor temps close to start.

 

[MudSlinger33]

I got the firestorm flux, no worry's for me.

 

[Jeabajuice]

Wouldn't an aluminum bulkhead prevent wheelies better than plastic ones?

 

[MudSlinger33]

Not on 3s, it will still flip on its lid with ease.

 

[Jeabajuice]

How about NiMH?

 

[Greywolf74]

NiMH sucks compared to Lipo. In order to prevent wheelies you need to learn throttle control. You can also turn your you punch levels (or your throttle curve if you have a programmable ESC) in your ESC down to help compensate for that as well.

 

[MudSlinger33]

^^Ya, lipo is way superior to nimh.