Savage Flux and RPM arms: A warning

Hey all, felt this needed to be brought to all current and future Flux owners as this issue will probably become alot more apparent as more peeps are buying Flux's and upgrading them, most obviously including RPM parts, especially the arms.

After my stock arms broke just after a few weeks of bashing I decided it was time to go RPM to prevent another disaster like this:




Seeings how RPM has such a good rep to prevent breakages like that from happening of course I went all out with new RPM arms on my Flux



However, upon installation I noticed immediately that all my arms started to bind and hardly even move in some case as the fitment of the Flux with the RPM arms for some reason wasn't quite as good as the stock arms

Being as one to not back down from a minor issue, I decided it was time to pick up a new dremel and grind away some minor plastic and all would be well.



Well, two days over the weekend was what it took to get these arms to fit and work properly. I was astonished at how much I had to grind away for the arms to flex and move. I had to enlarge the pin holes as well with a bit as they also were binding terribly. It took me so long cause I had to continually go back and forth checking the fitting, grind, check fitting, grind some more. Repeat..... All hinge point area's had to have this done.





Needless to say, NOW my arms move up and down nice and freely but damn, what an assache to get them to that point. I certainly hope these things don't fail on me as there is no way in hell im gonna go through that grind session again. Much as I love RPM products, this was definently was not amusing to me.

Just a general warning to all so you know what you may be getting yourself into.

[Slowkrawl]

Hmmm, maybe make note of it to RPM? If it was me, I would have either sent them in, or just e-mail them afterwards so they can fix the issue. I sure as hell don't want to have to do that on my savage if I ever go RPM.

[lincpimp]

I had to do the same on my hybrid bulks on the emaxx. Was a pain in the azz. I figured that the hybrids were a bit tighter than stock bulks, but stock traxxas emaxx arms fit very well with the hybrids... I guess rpm need to fool with their molds a bit.

[Bondonutz]

Pretty much every RPM arm I ever bought needed a little shaved off for perfect fitment. That does look like some serious grinding, I wouldn't be happy either !

[BrianG]

I too had to shave a bit off my RPM arms to fit the FLM tranny for the Slash. They did fit the stock setup though, so it's hard to blame them for that. Actually, that's probably more FLM's fault now that I think about it. I don't mind doing some light mods to get something to work, but sure sucks if you are out bashing/racing and get a replacement at the LHS on the spot if I break something because I rarely tote my dremel along.

[Bondonutz]

If I remember correctly, I seen something in the directions years back about "trimming may be nessasary for perfect fit "
Bottom line I'm not complaining, I'd much rather have to much than to little. You'd be better off trimming a little material off rather adding a washer or spacer for slop free fit.
Maybe the molds wear after so many pour and releases ?

[fastbaja5b]

Yeah RPM arms for the Savage Flux are awesome *cough*

My stock arms lasted over 100 runs without incident.

After ONE run on RPM arms:

Originally Posted by fastbaja5b

Yeah RPM arms for the Savage Flux are awesome *cough*

My stock arms lasted over 100 runs without incident.

I'm really surprised about that, it looks like it had a gouge in it from hitting a rock but damn, cracking the whole thing?

[Slowkrawl]

Originally Posted by fastbaja5b

Yeah RPM arms for the Savage Flux are awesome *cough*

My stock arms lasted over 100 runs without incident.

After ONE run on RPM arms:

This is what I like about HPI plastic, it seems to bend before it breaks. Not always the best, but in my opinion better than traxxas plastic that is strong but brittle.

[Finnster]

Ouch...

I've broken a few arms now, but mostly ramming my 15lb Savage into things and popping the outer arm like the OP. Last set has held up for a while now that I'm avoiding stationary objects.
I had RPM arms on my revo, but they flexed like Gumby's arms. IDK if I'd want that w/ steel dogbones and the long shocks the Savage has. Arms are dirt cheap on ebay.

[Dafni]

RPM arms + steel driveshafts + long shocks = disaster waiting

Only one way out: Flextek!

Originally Posted by Dafni

RPM arms + steel driveshafts + long shocks = disaster waiting

Only one way out: Flextek!

For $300? Farking no way!

I just got a response back from RPM after I sent them an email about this and gave them a link to my posting and pictures. Heres the reply


According to that post, you are the only person to mention having that many issues with your Savage arms. Additionally, you are the only person to ever e-mail us with an issue with our Savage arms and the Flux. Those a-arms were originally designed to fit the Savage and Savage-X. If they aren't fitting the Savage Flux that well, it is most likely because HPI may have tightened their tolerances on their newest truck. If you'll remember, the Savage and Savage-X trucks had a huge amount of slop built into the a-arms which badly needed shimming in order for them to work properly. We eliminated most of that slop. If HPI fixed the slop issue as well in the new truck, then that is why the bind issue you are seeing must be present. It is something we will look into and we appreciate you letting us know what you are seeing but as of right now, we haven't heard any other complaints so we'll need to determine if this is an isolated incident or if it somewhat prevalent in the Flux community. Based off of other posts I've read on other HPI message boards, it looks like the predominance of Flux owners with RPM arms aren't having issues like those you mentioned.
Take care and thank you for your interest and support of RPM products. If you have any other questions or comments, please feel free to send us another e-mail.

So I dunno what to think at this point *shrug*

[Bondonutz]

RPM "blah blah blah blah, your on your own"

They are installed and work correctly ? I guess live w/it.