awesome, guys. thanks for the input.

i had a dream about this thing last night - that's bad, lol.

patrick - that's what i'm stoked for the most - how well it'll handle. the supermaxx handled extremely well for a maxx-based MT, but in going through the instructions for this (downloaded it from the website), there is SO much more i can tweak and adjust.

thanks to tallyram and dafni for all the input via PM, too. you guys rock!

Yeah, that's the thing I'm finding with my truggy as well, there's so much more handling adjustments. Another thing me and the other guys at racing have noticed is that when looking at the cars on the pit bench, the truggy's front wheels turn more than even the UE maxx's and the gorillamaxx's. The front wheels also lean over more when at full lock on the truggy's, so you can tell why they give much better turning, especially through the slower tighter parts of the track.
When racing my maxx (it wasn't UE or gorilla, but it was a racing chassis, setup for racing), I couldn't get good lap times when trying to drive nice and smooth, it just didn't have good enough steering. So to go fast I had to drive it really hard, and always use the rear of the car to do the steering rather than the front. But for my driving skill it seems driving the truggy nice and smooth ends up faster. And the good thing about the slower, smooth driving style is that my consistency is much better and I rarely crash. My normal average with the truggy is about the same, if not slightly better than my best lap of the race would usually be with the maxx, except my average lap time with the maxx was always a 2 or 3 seconds behind my best. And the truggy's using old tires! I went from usually being lapped be the leader to keeping up with the leader. I don't know if it will be the same for every one, but that's what I've found so far.
One guy at my track with a full gorillamaxx and rcm slipperential, got the new Kyosho ST-RR and rcm motor mount from Mike a couple of weeks ago, and should have it ready soon I think. Another guy ("maxd out" on this forum) that has a UE/gorillamaxx with a slipperential is looking at getting a truggy to convert. The guy with the G2R is looking at truggy's, and 2 or 3 other guys that have been out of racing for a while should have their truggys finished soon as well, so racings looking good.

Sorry, I went on for a bit there, I'm just looking forward to racing on Saturday (and with new tires :party:) and I'm enjoying racing more than I have in a long time. I was getting a bit sick of the e-maxx.

All this talk about racing :great:

All this Maxx bashing :bad:

What's this, another project truck Scott? No Rest for the Wicked huh? Glad you are so excited. It sure does make things fun.

How'd you miss a track so close by? You are gonna be a fanatic when it come's to racing. :whip:

my LHS had to order the XT8, and it came in yesterday... i picked it up on my way home from work. the pics are about 6 hours into the build... i've not owned an Xray product before, but their kits are incredible. the fit and finish, design and engineering put into these things would put UE to shame.

oh - and i just put in an order here at the Monster for a chassis plate, LMT motor cover and a couple other small things. :great:

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL127.../290822445.jpg

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL127.../290822444.jpg

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL127.../290822443.jpg

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL127.../290822440.jpg

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL127.../290822439.jpg

Looking good!! :smile: Nice job on the build. I have never seen any up close pictures of the XT8 except for these, but it sure looks purty. :yes:

i wanna see it done!

i should have mine done in about a week =)

Plastic chassis brace and knockle for a $600.00 "luxury" machine:gasp::surprised:

Too bad.....

i thought the same when i got it but you should see how well built it is. i bet the diffs make this thing crazy expensive. plus have you seen the thickness of the plastic?

dayum.

Why?? what,s the diffs have of so special???
I'am looking for a new buggy now, and i'am very hesitant between a Mugen MBX5R aand the X-Ray XB8EC.
I've a MBX5 buggy and i love the way it's build, but never seen a X-Ray, only on pics.
I ever have the Mugen motor mount, so if i take an X-ray, i'll have to buy another mount, but it's not a reason to not take the XRay.

It's a very dificult choice to do.

the Mugen have a lot of hopups already in the box, like the rear CNC hub carrier, CNC chassis brace, spare castor block adjustement plate, and what i realy love on the Mugen is the front pillow ball suspension, very solid and never loose his camber adjustment. I know somes say that the Mugen diffs tend to leak a little, but have somes tips to stop it to leak.

The X-Ray is beautiful, bling bling color drive shaft, black anodize aluminium parts, but don't know anythings about diffs durability. Need to upgrade to aluminium CNC chassis brace and front knockle.

I've to take my decision before tomorow 5:00 PM, because my LHS place is order at this time.

:neutral:..............................

well if you look ...

to buy upgraded diffs for the revo it is around 200 bucks.

these already come with the truggy diffs so id say the diffs alone are around 200. so then your paying about 15 per shocks tower (they are aluminum or w/e)
id say about 75 bucks for full cvds everywhere
that alone is 300 bucks.

i just think the truck is quality. from the start.

IMO it is full RPM and aluminum. the plastic is nice as hell.

more progress last night and today. added the front steering rack and turnbuckles, front brace, and got the whole center diff put together and installed. i have the mechanical brakes on it - i don't plan to use them, but have them on 'cause they look cool. :mdr: not sure if they'll cause a problem on there or not.

david - we can't tell you how to spend your money, but i can tell you that you won't regret buying any Xray kit (buggy or truggy). i've done a lot of research before buying this, and i have never, ever heard of a diff problem. these are 1/8 scale diffs, and are great quality - maybe there was a bad batch of gears somewhere in the past, but i'm sure it's worked out.

i bought mike's chassis plate to stiffen everything instead of buying the aluminum braces. but even the Xray team drivers are running stock plastic front brace.

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL127.../290918823.jpg

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL127.../290918824.jpg

Yea, the plastic braces are there for a reason. Most people leave them because with the aluminum, its to rigid for a blown out track, which a lot get to be after a day of hard racing. The aluminum braces are mostly run on blue groove tracks. Its not to say the quality is bad. There just there to allow some flex in the chassis, which is necessary in most conditions. Also, I think the front knuckles are aluminum. I think there just anodized black and look plastic. I haven't seen a buggy or truggy with plastic front knuckles.

Welllll, i was suppose to take another buggy, but now:neutral:
I realy think to go truggy...... And i realy think to the XT8:smile:
But is the RCM chassis plate is necessary on this truggy???

you can always add the chassis plate later if you find you need it. Dafni lost a diff pinion because of the chassis flex at the RCM bash, and designed that plate with mike - which fixed his chassis flex problem. i think it had more to do with the jumps on that particular track though. but you can try the truck stock and if it flexes too much - add the plate later.

BUT - the front knuckles are indeed plastic. Xray makes aluminum knuckles and rear hub carriers as options, but i just wanted to let you know in case that's a deal-breaker (which it shouldn't be). they also make aluminum front and rear braces, if your heart is set on that too. :smile: