At what point is a rig too old?

[terrible]

So I've played with my bomber for over two years now. It has been an awesome truck. I've had it on several camping trips, local goof off spots and treated it like a short course truck on my back yard track.

Lately she has been showing her age. The axle C's have finally given up the ghost (VP scale that the threads finally stripped completely out of) . A couple months ago the diff locker took out and axle shaft tang but I was able to have my welder at work put material back on and then I ground the flats back on. The VP knuckles have severe play in both the bearing pockets and in the steering pivot points (brass inserts from super shafty). I've been through a lot of rear shafts after missed jumps or bad tumbles. The housings on both the front and rear axle are still the original big bearing housings I bought from Dlux with beef tube (aluminum) front and rear. I managed to break a incision CVD and swapped to axial universals only to break the opposite side so now the truck has one cvd and one universal in the front axle.

The rest of the drive train has been good for at least a year after I did some internal work to the trans. The slipper clutch stays pretty consistent until it gets so hot it stinks (not a normal thing). The motor is one I pulled from my Yeti several years ago and has been a great power plant.

The esc is a leftover side winder 3 that refuses to die. The servo is and old 1283 savox with an internal break inside the case but the gears refuse to give up. I've had several receivers in it because I can't decide if I want to toss my old spektrum dx3 or keep it around for the kid. But the new futaba 4px has been a real nice upgrade. Still rocking my original castle BEC after 2+ years as well.

The cage on the truck has never broken despite some 20' plus double jumps. The Proline slash shocks have been good as well. Those get a tear down every few hours to make sure the sand/grit from my back yard track don't kill them. I've only seen some slight discoloring of the gold shafts and a little paint flaking off the fancy springs.


Many sets of wheels/tires, one non-factory body. Lots of fun, lots of jumps, lots of my Aussie shepherd chasing it.


But she's old. I'm looking at building a pair of "high quality" metal housing axles right now. The 1808's are out of the question, some of the others are questionable quality, VP doesn't look bad. But it is all the other stuff that adds up. Even if I buy good metal housings I still have to buy C's and knuckles.

Wondering if i shouldn't concentrate more on scale stuff and leave the bashing fun to the SC truck!

[GA Dawg]

If you like it, keep it. I have a Clodbuster based truck that I built in 2007 and drove it a couple of weekends ago.

[countrytoker]

When u can't buy parts

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[mewalsh100]

I guess at a certain point, it just comes down to how much $ you want to throw back in to it to keep it a good, reliable and fun rig. Heck,the VP axles and guts alone are going to set you back $300 + easy. (Probably closer to $400 with new CVD's) Then figure another $100 or so for some basic, maintenance parts - bearings, etc, not to mention it sounds like your servo could sh-t the bed at any time. IDK, I'd be leaning towards your idea of bashing with the SC truck, and throwing the money you would have spent upgrading the Bomber in to the scale rig of your choosing.

[Voodoobrew]

Originally Posted by countrytoker

When u can't buy parts

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When you can no longer fix it or no longer have fun driving it.

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[Voodoobrew]

This is all stuff that can break in the first week...

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[Techno Duck]

Like the others have said, when you can't find parts for it anymore i would consider retiring it. The thing about the Axial stuff is so much aftermarket is available that even if it were discontinued, the supply of parts will never run out.

I have Vanquish scale c-hubs on my SMT10, probably the same as what you have on the Bomber. This truck is really hard on these parts due to the size of the tires; and pretty much all i do with this truck is jumps. The two upper c-hub threaded holes are starting to strip, basically only the last two or so turns are what tighten down now (i actually went with longer screws). These are the only clampling style front c-hubs i've ever seen and i personally think they are the best. I plan to repair the threads with a heli-coil when they finally strip completely.

https://www.amazon.com/Thread-Repair...1097460&sr=8-4

[meatmonkey]

I've been in your shoes. I wore out kingpin bores in multiple Vanquish knuckles, bent housings with beeftubes inside and broken more servos than I care to admit. I finally went to an SSD housing up front with a vanquish out back. They were my first metal housings so I got one of each to test. Figure whichever one gives me trouble first will then deserve replacement with the other. Been two years now, and other than a couple sets of pinion bearings in each they've both been solid.

Other huge piece of the puzzle is the DLUX knuckles and 8mm outer shafts. I know they're a lot of dough up front, but with all the bearings and knuckles I wore through it would have been cheaper to go DLUX from the start.

[Jim85IROC]

If you're using the vehicle enough to wear out all of these components, it definitely sounds like you should do some maintenance work instead of retire it. The large scale 2.2 rigs provide an experience that's very different from the normal 1.9 scaler thing, and there's not anything on the market in that niche that I'd prefer over a Bomber, so if my Bomber got to the point where it needed a bunch of parts to keep it fresh, I'd definitely add them. Wherever possible, take the time to research your upgrade options to see which will give you the most longevity. For example, rather than go with Vanquish or similar trailing arms that loosen up at the ends with wear, go with a design like the JEC that uses the Traxxas Revo rod ends that are easily replaced when they get sloppy.

[turboturro88]

Originally Posted by countrytoker

When u can't buy parts

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i have a tlt based rig i built at least 12 years ago now and i cracked half the axle housing, it took a week to find the replacement.

[Panther6834]

The ultimate answer to your question:

I know someone who still has...AND USES...a Grasshopper. Yes, he has (much) newer vehicles...but, he still loves running the Grasshopper.

~ More peace, love, laughter, & kindness would make the world a MUCH better place

[eucasafari]

I still have my OG deadbolt. The only things left on it from the original are the driveshafts and about 3 inches of frame rails.

Bash, fix what breaks, keep bashing. When you start letting things go without fixing them, or robbing parts to get another rig up and going again - that's when they die.

I brought that OG deadbolt to Squirrelfest last month. On day one the motor died, then it wouldn't run at all if the lights were connected. Swapped motors, unplugged the lights and the damn thing made it to the top!
It shed a shock, twice, and blew out the driveshafts three times, but each time we fixed it on the side of the trail and kept going.

After it made it to the top I told myself id give it some proper love, so it's getting a full rebuild now. Just replacing what's broken and re-applying grease and loctite as needed.

[countrytoker]

Originally Posted by turboturro88

i have a tlt based rig i built at least 12 years ago now and i cracked half the axle housing, it took a week to find the replacement.

I hear ya, I've built my own rig and I continue changing thing. I just installed myself some new aluminum links and 110-158mm drive shafts. Happy with them so far.

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[Mike Flea]

Sounds more like you're trying to convince yourself it's time to buy another rig

[themountain]

"..At what point is a rig too old?.." When you see the new Capra and you need to have it....but there are no fundings

[cmontgomery]

Run them 'til you can't get parts any more. I built my clodbuster crawler in 2004 and still run it. I have learned a lot and would build it different now, but it is still fun for what it is.

[Levi]

A truck is to old when you cant get any more parts for it. But as long as its still running its still good to go. If its something that you've lost interest with and it sits around time to sell it or trade for something. I've had my bomber for less than 2 years and love taking it out.....that is when I get time.

[hellbounder]

Originally Posted by countrytoker

When u can't buy parts

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^^^^^^ this 👍🏻

[BigSki]

Like everyone else has said- once parts aren't available, or too scarce and expensive, it's time to let it go. The other thing is, when the newest version of the truck in bone stock form out performs the 'max effort' version of the old style.

[terrible]

Originally Posted by Techno Duck

Like the others have said, when you can't find parts for it anymore i would consider retiring it. The thing about the Axial stuff is so much aftermarket is available that even if it were discontinued, the supply of parts will never run out.

I have Vanquish scale c-hubs on my SMT10, probably the same as what you have on the Bomber. This truck is really hard on these parts due to the size of the tires; and pretty much all i do with this truck is jumps. The two upper c-hub threaded holes are starting to strip, basically only the last two or so turns are what tighten down now (i actually went with longer screws). These are the only clampling style front c-hubs i've ever seen and i personally think they are the best. I plan to repair the threads with a heli-coil when they finally strip completely.

https://www.amazon.com/Thread-Repair...1097460&sr=8-4

I've looked into the heli-coils but never found a nice kit that cheap. That might be a really good option to stretch some more life out of these $50 C-hubs.