CRT.5 Durability
 

Anyone else having durability issues with the CRT.5's stock plastic parts?

Every time I've taken this truck out, and I mean every time, I've either broken an upper or lower arm, a c hub, a steering knuckle, a body mount post, a wing mount etc... always plastic parts, never have an issue with core drive line and chassis. I'm geared for mid thirties, nothing over the top in terms of speed and I've only been bashing around in the front yard and road - no crazy jumps. I wouldn't normally care about this, but its the one vehicle I own thats not supported by the LHS and all of these basic parts issues means a lot of visits to nitrohouse or amainhobbies (and a lot of glares from the wife as more packages show up on the door step :whistle:).

I've not worked with OFNA products before - are their plastics the type that need "boiled"?

Steve

The only thing I've broken so far is a shock cap. Everything else seems pretty sturdy. Is it cold where you live? Cold plastic is brittle...

steve sorry about your luck. All i know is my .5 is one of the toughest vechiles i have ever had. The onl part i have broken is the plastic shock, but that was my fault because i did not have the droop screws set right.

Its been moderately cold weather (30's or so). I don't take anything but the beater emaxx out in colder weather.

Its probably just luck of the draw.. hitting things just so.

The cold weather will affect how the plastic reacts to a impact as will your driving :lol:.

Been running mine for since April of last year and the only thing I've broken so far is a rear upright when I tangled with an 1/8th scale buggy!

30s is really cold for plastic. Makes it very brittle. I break my rustler alot in cold weather where if it was warm nothing would have happened. I'm finishing up my .5, so I guess I'll have to be very careful with it until it warms up.

My list is surprisingly large - front body post, front bumper support, front upper and lower arms, and I've blown both front shocks at the same time.

I just installed some Jammin 1/8 front buggy shocks with blue springs onto the rear of my .5, I don't know what oil is in them though (got them from a buddy for $5).

i havent broken anything and i've had it since aug i most not be beating it hard enough lol

I've broken lots of front lower arms. The track I drive is super high bite clay and indoors with big jumps and poles supporting the ceiling. Essentially you are going 30 - 40mph indoors. When something goes wrong you hit the walls and poles really hard.

When I drive at outdoor tracks (no walls, no poles, wider, looser = less speed in the corners, softer dirt) I rarely break anything.

Weak
 

My LHS has no Jammin' parts. I broke a front knuckle with just the slightest rub. I was thinking about going CNC but now that I hear about all the other breakage problems, mine's going up for sale. I only bought this car for durability, I'll stick with 1/8 thanks.

:lol: that sounds familiar.

I've broken the front left upper arm, and lost a shock cap. These trucks are very durable, but not like a 1/8th is. I will say that this truck has taken more of a beating than my old T4 or Rustler did, and broken less.

Want to offer me a deal on it :)

Have a nice FLM / Carbon Pede for trade.... Very bashable...

PS Oh yes on the wifey front - she's stopped picking up the mail now :) I'm so dead when my victory 2.8 wheels and tires arrive...

I'm giving mine more time.. I like the overall setup so I'm hoping the cold weather is part of the problem.

This week, I have parts for the crt.5 showing up, batteries for the e-maxx showing up, and (early next week most likely) a Mega motor. I'm doooooomed....

You need to use aluminum hop ups instead. I saved myself the trouble and assembelled it with all possible hop ups in the market( I only need to get the aluminum servo saver set).

The durability is just incredible.

I'm trying to keep my crt.5 as light as possible so I'm staying with plastic, but wish RPM would make some arms for it. I pretty much only break front lower arms except for recently when a monster truck smashed me into the back wall, at the track, and broke part of the servo saver. Where did you find an aluminun servo saver?

Nitrohouse usually has the cnc servo saver setup. Its not cheap - I think it was like $70 or $80.

OUCH! I'm pretty sure the plastic set is only $10 and I've only broken it once in many months, and even then I think it was a freak thing. Since I'm running a full sized servo I went back to the original saver spring (stiffer), but maybe I need to back off the preload a bit with the siffer spring.

Actually forget the servo spring tension. I'm pretty sure when the MT hit me from behind it caused both of my front wheels to turn outward (as they were smashed into a wall) and tore the drag link (aluminum) out of the steering arms. I don't think the servo saver can even be activated in that type of situation, other than that it hopefully saved the servo.

I was actually low... its a cool $100. No thanks. I do second the vote for some rpm arms... thats where I usually have an issue too. I might look at some cnc hubs and knuckles, but you can buy a lot of plastic for that price...

I just sent an email to RPM to let them know there would be demand for CRT.5 arms if they made them.

Has anyone tried the boiling trick with the Jammin plastic? The arms seem to be a bit stiff/brittle.

At what cost??
 

Sure, but when you add it all up, what else could you have bought instead? Those aluminum parts are not cheap. Not that I can't afford it, its just that this car is advertised as being super-durable and if you have to lay out the purchase price all over again just to achieve that, it's kind of frustrating.

Man what are you guys doing to your poor .5s???:wink: I have been running mine box stock with the exception of the electric conversion and stiffer shock springs all of last sumer and the only thing I broke was the upper arm metal threaded rod. It came new in the box with the replacements cuz I guess there was some sort of issue with it and they tossed the improved replacements in the box allong with the softer servo spring. I was just to lazy to install them when I built it. (still havent replaced the servo saver spring. lol)

On the other hand I havent been running mine since it got cold. I hibernate in the cold weather. I just can't bring myself to stand outside freezing to run my trucks. I do get out to the local indoor track every couple weeks to get my driving fix though.

Yeah the only thing I've broken on my .5 is a front upper turnbuckle, a front lower arm, and bent the hingepin it resided on. That was only because I COMPLETELY stuffed that corner of the truck. I would have expected just about anything to break (except an MT since the tires are big enough it wouldn't have completely stuffed).


In my opinion its a tough little truck. However, I do want to upgrade the hub carriers and steering knuckles and such as the stock parts are a bit loose/wobble for my taste.

I have broken a upper turnbuckle, but only because of the same reason as jhautz... I didnt want to put in the new ones that come with the kit lol..

And I have bent a front hinge pin (lol I hit a car tire full speed....) But it didnt bend hardly at all, and I bent it back in my vice =)

well i'm miffed - Broke the servo saver linkage again! and the LHS does not have it in stock!

I got one from amainhobbies.com last week.

man when i had mine it was rock solid never broke a thing and im a basher,sorry you are having problems with it,i loved mine

I second the need for rpm arms, and maybe some upper link components, maybe titanium turnbucles? And I know it would be ugly, but a rpm bumper would be good too. I even run one on my xxx-cr and it has saved quite a few arms!

Well they need to fix the steering servo saver linkage - There is almost no plastic to support the linkage to the turnbuckle

I sent an email to RPM about making arms for the CRT.5. They sent back that at this time they did not plan on making arms for the CRT. I sent back that we need them for the CRT.5 (not the CRT) and received no response.

Maybe if everyone here sends a quick email to RPM we'll get something going.

I better bumper would be nice too. I broke the support that goes from the upper bumper to the gear case 2Xs. After that I ziptied a hollow elastomer bumper in the space from the crt bumper to the gear box. This works very well as actually a cushioning bumper.

The guys at t-bone-racing.com make lots of bumpers and would probably make one for the crt.5. I've used a few of theirs and the "nylon" are the most durable and forgiving on other parts of the car.

http://www.impaktrc.com/product_info...3ec3518c2d3c4f

They can not be serious! 125 for a steering servo saver - OFNA CNC CRT .5 parts are bonkers prices!

You can use lusford buckles instead of upper arms. There was a mod on the jammin forum for it. Hope that helps!

Nope, they lowered the price to $103.

Thats just stupid...

It isn't the arms - I break the servo saver - I've just moved to the inner holes and hope that helps... Also slacked off the servo saver a lot...

Well to be fair I think I've spend $40 on them now!

I bet Mike can make one of those for much cheaper.

:lol: I was thinking the same

wow... that price is ridiculous. And I thought the price for the cnc hubs were high...