MM5700 in T4
 

Has anyone run a MM5700 in an Associated RC10T4? If so, how is it? I was told that combo is great. I currently have a Traxxas Rustler with an MM5700 and running it with a 3S lipo. My problem is I keep tearing up my trans gears or breaking one thing or another. Would the T4 hold up better?

Should be fine. I ran a RC10B4 with a mamba max 5700 and 2s2p maxamps 8000 lipos.

I have a 5700 in a T4 and its wild on 6 cell NIMH, on 3s lipo its an animal. The tranny holds up well, but like everything else, the arms are only as good as the stuff you don't hit

Okay, cool. Thanks for your replies.

I'm thinking of getting the T4 Factory Team kit. Are there any important upgrades to this kit that I should be aware of? I'd rather get the upgraded parts at the same time so I can install them in the initial build. Also, what servo would you recommend for the steering? I'm not planning on racing, just bashing with friends mostly on grass and dirt.

I have raced my FT T4 with the MM 5700... very fast setup on good 6 cell packs.

You really don't need the FT kit but there's a couple nice things on it. The threaded shocks are the main thing, imo. The alum servo mounts and titanium buckles are nice too.

The carbon composite tends to break easier than plastic though... that's about the only drawback of the FT.

You can beef up the front end with GT2 parts if you like... but probably no need to unless you have issues with curbs, parked cars, etc.... :D

It's a nice truck....

I have the team, I didn't think i needed all the carbon and it gave me the cvd's so i can convert to the quick change setup

Unless you are racing, I'd stay away from the FT model. They do break more easily. As for the tranny, I won't say it's bullet proof, but it's pretty close. Just check and rebuild the diff on a regular basis. I used to run a MM7700 system in my T4 on 3S lipo and it was down right sick. It would eat Jato 3.3s like dessert. The 5700 on 3S is going to be similar. I just got out of it because the T4 on a whole wasn't strong enough to run the Castle system. I didn't have any trouble with the tranny, but other parts. Even hitting an expansion joint at 60+ mph can be catastrophic. The FT would be even worse.

The front a-arms are known to break, so if you want, you could upgrade to the RPM a-arms made for the gt2.

Or the GT2 arms.. and steering arms/block too.

Would anyone recommend the T4 RTR? Afterall, it seems their are disavantages to getting the FT and since the RTR comes with everything and costs the same as the FT kit, maybe I should go the RTR route?

Comments?

If you haven't bought one already, you might want to just try to find a roller on ebay or something. In fact, it's too bad that I saw this thread so late. I sold my T4 roller two days ago for $50 with tons of extra parts. I just got tired of breaking it and that's what happens when you go as fast as you can with a MM system on 3S lipo.

The real downside to getting the RTR version is that you are paying for a motor, esc, and radio that you aren't going to use.

AAngel, you say you got tired of breaking the T4. What parts commonly break? Funny thing is I'm getting tired of breaking my Rusty and that's why I'm considering the T4. With the Rusty, it seems I'm tearing apart my tranny every two weeks to replace one gear or another (mostly the differential). Everything else seems to hold up fine unless I crash into something, but that's another story.

I was under the impression that the T4 is much more durable than the Rusty, as you said yourself that the tranny is almost bullet proof, but what and how were the other parts breaking on your T4? I mostly bash on wide open grassy fields with only moderate jumps here and there so I almost never crash into anything. In fact, I've only had two incidents of crashing damage so that's really not an issue I worry about where I bash.

Sounds like you need to get some alum tranny gears and you will be set....

Well, there is a steel/aluminum differential gear, hardened steel idler and aluminum transmission case available for my truck here in the RC Monster store, but they cost a fortune. I have, however, considered getting them on a few occasions. My only worry is that they don't hold up to their hype. It would be a shame to spend $150 plus on them and have them still fail.

Has anyone had any experience running them in a Rusty or Pede? Will they make the trans practically bulletproof?

I had an RTR before the team and it was just as capable of handling the power, I ran different combo's through it and never rebuilt the diff, this included a 5800ss novak and a 5700 mamba max

I'm a little skeptical like you say... I don't have a pede/rusty.. but others have said it works great = bulletproof.

I would be little concerned about wear of metal on metal... but I haven't heard of any problems with them.

Well, I ran the aluminum idler and an aluminum tranny case, and with that combo, it worked great. Although, I didn't run as much power through it as the Mamba Max 5700. The good thing about the tranny case, is that will be no flex, like the stock case where the gears could move out of place easily and strip.

The only parts that I was continually breaking was the arms. I built my T4 out for parking lot racing and for nothing else. It was completely setup to go as fast as possible. The truck itself is as good as it gets, IMO; but when you go that fast on concrete things just break. It wasn't unusual to see my T4 sliding the scale quarter mile on its roof. The transmission in the T4 is bullet proof, with one caveat. You HAVE to do maintenance. I ran my T4 for a month without pulling the tranny and all I found inside was two cracked up friction rings and black dust where the diff balls used to be. It really didn't mess anything up, I just needed to rebuild the diff. If you are having tranny problems, then the T4 will be the ticket.

The only other advise I can offer, if going fast is the name of the game, is to stay away from aluminum arms and shock towers. They just get bent and are more expensive to replace. The same goes for body posts. You might want to consider an aluminum tranny case. I occassionally had problems with stripping the screw holes in the plastic case. If you don't go aluminum, get into the habit of tapping the screw holes, rather than forming the threads in the plastic with the screw. This really helps if you tear your truck down often. I believe the tap size is 4-40. If you go with the FT version of the T4, when you do break the arms, just replace them with the standard plastic arms (goes for shock towers too). In the alternative, you could boil the FT parts, this will make them a bit more flexible and will probably hold up a bit better with impacts.

As far as the breaking parts goes, you really have to take what I say with a grain of salt. For me, RC is a release. When I play, I really play. I'm very hard on my equipment. If you keep it sane, chances are that you won't be replacing parts nearly as often as I was; and with the T4, the tranny won't be an issue.

AAngel, thanks for all the info. It sounds like you and I bash our trucks similarly so I will take your advise to heart and look into getting a T4 instead of trying to bulletproof the tranny of my Rusty. I'll just run 6 or 7-cell packs on the Rusty and do 3S speed runs with the T4 when I feel the need for speed.

Thanks to all others that have posted advise as well. It's great to learn so much about the T4 in such a short period of time. And thanks, ***RC*** and others, for the info about the steel diff/aluminum case for my Rusty. It's good to know that is a viable option for me as well.

Oh, I forgot to mention this. When doing speed runs, you might want to wrap the inside of your tires with a double layer of duct tape. Be sure the clean the insides of your tires to get a good stick. This will help to greatly reduce the ballooning of the tires. This isn't so much for purposes of gearing as it is for keeping control of the truck. It gets really hard to steer when you're hauling butt. It also helped to keep the tires from tearing off of the wheels. Just keep in mind that the tape will let go at some point. For me, the tires were usually worn out by the time that happened.