Stock Revo arms strong enough?

[zeropointbug]

I am wondering if the stock suspension arms are strong enough for some good bashing, or if RPM arms are a good upgrade in the first place?

thanks.

[crazyjr]

A lot depends on how hard you bash, I race and bash my revo's and have only broke a few arms over the last few years. I prefer stock over aftermarket for two reasons;
1. every hobbyshop has a traxxas section, not all of them have a RPM section.
2. If you run CVD's the RPM's will flex and pop, or worse, bend the CVD's

[BrianG]

I've always had good luck with the RPM arms, but I'm running the stock shafts though...

[zeropointbug]

Okay, I will keep the stock arms then.

Is there any other minor upgrades that should be made on the chassis that breaks easily? (besides drivetrain)

[zeropointbug]

Oh yeah, I will be running stocks sliders as well, I hear they are just as tough as CVD's, if not, more so.

[BrianG]

Depending on how hard you bash, you might want to get different knuckles as I had issues with the pillow balls popping out of the stockers. Either aluminum or the RPM ones work fine.

[zeropointbug]

Did the pillow balls come out from rolling, or jumping and landing wrong?

[BrianG]

Actually, it was the way I slide around corners on the track. Sometimes the track is kinda rough and the tires grab too well putting lateral stress on the joints popping them. And once they pop, the plastic is broken or weakened and they pop all the time. Only fix is to get new ones. After going through 2 sets in one day, I upgraded to the RPM knuckles and haven't had issues since.

[zeropointbug]

thanks for the info, I think I will save the $70 for now and see how stockers work for me.

Anything else that should be considered?

[BrianG]

That's about it. Just the aftermarket arms and knuckles and I haven't had many problems in a long time. Although, I do have this annoying issue where the toe links "self-adjust" which totally whacks my already poor driving...

[rchippie]

Originally Posted by BrianG

That's about it. Just the aftermarket arms and knuckles and I haven't had many problems in a long time. Although, I do have this annoying issue where the toe links "self-adjust" which totally whacks my already poor driving...

Brian i had the same problem untill i found the solution . It's very simple i used 4mm dubro washers on the tie rod between the rod end & link. For me using 3 degrees of rear toe, i used 3 or 4 washers on each link, 2 on each end, & never had the problem of self adjusting tie rods again. If you take the rod end off the 4mm washer slids right on & butts up against the tie rod , use different amount of washers to get the amount of toe you want. This is very very affective.

[zeropointbug]

Is the tie rod turning on you? Or is it pushing/stripping the thread on the link?

[BrianG]

Actually, my problem is that the rod somehow turns itself. I tried using CA glue to tighten the rod into the ends knowing it won't be a good bond, but figured it would be good enough. It helps for a while, but eventually start adjusting itself again.

I should mention this happens mostly on the rear. I think my drift-style turning puts a lot of pressure on those rod ends (since that's what keeps the toe adjusted) and eventually wears away at the nylon threads until it loosens. That's my theory anyway...

[zeropointbug]

That's odd, i find that hard to believe that the rod will turn itself! :eek:

One thing I bought is the alum. push rods, and will buy the alum. turnbuckles as well, just for looks of course. :)

How long do the joints of the slider shafts last? With my setup?

[BrianG]

I kow it sounds odd, but its the only thing I can think of. And you can actually see how they unscrewed themselves too, but the threads aren't ruined because I checked (but they do get looser).

The axles shafts last a LONG time. Gotta figure the power is split between 4 shafts. And even though there are only two center shafts, they have less stress since they are before the diffs.