SimpleChamp, I opened up the CD to try to get an idea of what was in it, only to find they come lubed but otherwise dry from OFNA
I used the grease as I don't have anything else handy. Even with the severe drag of the grease the fronts still unload pretty heavily. I may look into a torsen diff if I can find one cheap.
The MA pack is holding up well enough now with the "Torque control" enabled. Seems that the MA pack has a low (actual) C rating, who would have thought
I did consider a pack failure... I suppose that aside from fire, if the pack goes dead short it will just act like a shunt between the turnigy and ESC, can't see that doing more than slowing down a bunch. If the pack goes to an open circuit it'll just shut the buggy down entirely. So as long as I pull the pack before flames go up I should be good. Either way I'm short cycling the packs to keep low voltage out of the equation, and I've limited the amp draws on them as well. Hopefully I'll get away with it till the XL arrives here.