Housings: plastic verse aluminum or steel

[m1009cucv]

I was wondering what some of you thought about this. When my JK had the plastic housings I didn't seem to get hung up that much. Now that I have the VP housings I seem to get hung up a lot. They look great and I'm sure they're pretty much indestructible. Is there a way to stop them from getting hung up so much? This seems that they get stuck on everything lots of places to catch.
Other thing I was wondering as far as I know GCM is the only company that makes steel housings. I would think as where aluminum would dig in steel would just slide over rocks.

What you guys think?

[lonleycreeper]

Imo the plastic housings are hard to beat, especially with beef tubes.
Steel does slide better than aluminum, but I don't know if its any better than the plastic. The latest version of Gcm's housings are aluminum from what I have seen. Do you have a link to the steel ones?

[Pabust]

I have D-lux's plastic housings with the big pinion bearings and beef tubes, for the price i don't think they can be beat

[forty2]

While not as good looking, the plastic ones will absolutely slide best. Add beef tubes and enjoy.

[m1009cucv]

dont have a link.. i think the ones i have are to heavy to be aluminum

[Smonkman]

What are these beefs tubes I hear everyone taking about?

[allanon1965]

SHOP - Welcome to Beeftubes.com

[JustinM]

Meh pick better lines.

[SoCal Crawlr]

I have owned a truck with currie axles. I preferred the plastic. Superior in everything except looks. The scx is already overbuilt from the factory, and if you're really doing that much power you could do the beef tubes. At the end of the day as durable as the aluminum is, I'd put my money elsewhere.

[m1009cucv]

beeftubes on the way. selling off the vp stuff

[Tharr62]

Same issue here. :-/ I just spent an arm, leg, and more on a fully loaded VP SCX10 JK. the looks.. are killer, and in a way worth it. But, I don't want a "shelf queen" I want it to be used and have great performance. My rig is now around 10lbs, with all the upgrades.. and to be honest, a part of me wishes I never did all the upgrades, and did more reading.

I am now seriously thinking actually buying another SCX10 (G6kit this time) and keep it almost all stock, except some heavy VP wheels for better CG, but thats about it, beyond moving the setup weight how I want etc..

But, then I would worry I would never use the "bling'ed" out one.. and now that it too has been used, I would get next to nothing for it if I sold it.. so.. I kinda feel stuck to a point.

I am going to try some other tuning to my existing rig to try and make it better (I have another thread on this already).. and time will tell.

[forty2]

Originally Posted by Tharr62

Same issue here. :-/ I just spent an arm, leg, and more on a fully loaded VP SCX10 JK. the looks.. are killer, and in a way worth it. But, I don't want a "shelf queen" I want it to be used and have great performance. My rig is now around 10lbs, with all the upgrades.. and to be honest, a part of me wishes I never did all the upgrades, and did more reading.

I am now seriously thinking actually buying another SCX10 (G6kit this time) and keep it almost all stock, except some heavy VP wheels for better CG, but thats about it, beyond moving the setup weight how I want etc..

But, then I would worry I would never use the "bling'ed" out one.. and now that it too has been used, I would get next to nothing for it if I sold it.. so.. I kinda feel stuck to a point.

I am going to try some other tuning to my existing rig to try and make it better (I have another thread on this already).. and time will tell.

I have a couple of thoughts on this. I've got three SCX10s, one is built with SORRCA class 1 in mind, one is class 2, and one is bone stock(-ish) Dingo. The class 1 and 2 are disparate enough that they provide very different driving experiences in spite of very similar weight and electronic packages. Both are quite heavy, around 9-10 lbs each, some of that weight is functional and some is for appearance. The Dingo I built up for my kid to use and can run circles around the other two in most of the obstacles around my property, but it's not nearly as fun as the challenge of the built trucks and I get bored of it quite quickly. Turn your current truck into a more scale ride and keep it challenging. Take truck two in the direction of serious performance (beef tubes, XR mod, low CG etc) and I don't think you will find yourself neglecting either.

As for value of your current truck, you'll never get the dollars out that you put in, but parting out Curries and the rest of the truck wouldn't be so bad. If I were you I'd keep them though. Hell, if I could afford them I'd have those Curries on my C1 truck already. I know damn well the plastic drags over rocks better, but sometimes that's not everything.

[Stormin2u]

I like a plastic axle with a tube for weight, clocking and strength it's clearly the most competitive set up IMO.

I used to buy all the alloy parts right off the bat with a new build now I only replace the broken stock parts with alloy. In general plastic is light and inexpensive alloy is heavier and costly for me it's just that simple. Performance first is a competitors number one objective. In the automotive world they used to say "chrome don't get you home".

[Dad,Canyoufix?]

I used to wax the bottom of an alloy chassis'd stadium truck I had with skate shop wax. Had to re apply every race, might be enough to satisfy you on trail runs though.

[TacoCrawler]

I want a steel axle...

screw those alloy anchors
pricey and inefficient IMO

plastic slides better...
but the scx-10 axle needs a center chunk scuff plate.
The center chunk's wall thickness is extremely thin
and is the first to wear thru, exposing the diff gears to the elements.

[m1009cucv]

guys take a look on ebay. what i would say are beef tube copys 11 bucks. cant beat that price