Cross GC4 variants vs. RC4WD GII variants comparison

[4stroke]

Not sure if this is the right section but wanted to give my $0.02 worth on these vehicles. I have one gently used GC4 and 2 new G2 Land Rovers. I realize I'm comparing leafs to a multilink coil setup so I'll concentrate on the general design and quality instead. First the bodies. Both hardbodies have good quality, good detail and sturdy construction and it's what attracts me to these types of crawlers over lexan bodies. The overall quality of both trucks is comparable, both have metal frames and both have metal axles cast from the finest 'Chinesium' alloy. But that's where most of the good stuff ends because the GC4 has a design flaw in the suspension while the Gellande has many quality issues. To elaborate the GC4 only has one actual metal leaf spring per wheel which sits on top of an injection molded 'faux' plastic leaf pack. Looks good from a foot away but it interferes with articulation and the cheap plastic leaf packs often break. The plastic leaf pack is suited to a static model but not an rc model. I have no clue how that made it past the R&D stage. Fortunately the fix is super simple by junking the plastic leaf pack and adding actual metal leafs. Strangely in all the GC4 reviews I've seen only 1 guy mentioned a spring fix...weird. Now to the black sheep: the G2. I have 2 of these and am extremely disappointed. These things are kind of junky. First, many holes aren't properly drilled/tapped and the screws, nuts and bolts are of low quality, strip easily. It gets worse. The tolerances in both are so poor that the outer (and probably inner too) axle pinion bearings actually wiggle a thousandth of an inch or two when you rock the pinion shaft back and forh. On both trucks! Meanwhile the axles on my 30+ year old Bruiser (which RC4WD stole the axle design from btw) are nice and tight fit as it should be. Perhaps RC4WD made the bearing openings a bit larger to allow for the thickness of the black anodizing. But they made them too big. Hasn't anyone at RC4WD ever heard of a micrometer? Either way RC4WD quality control is lacking and to be honest they're wayyy overpriced. I mean $500 entry fee for one of these is ridiculous! I certainly won't be keeping these nor will I be buying ANYTHING else from these purveyors of junk. Don't get fooled by the shiny anodizing because it covers some real cheap pot-metal. I dunno why so many guys run RC4WD stuff and accept the prices being charged. Maybe people just don't know what real quality is these days anymore with so much cheap crap being produced. Anyways, why accept garbage, expensive garbage at that? Also don't get me started on RC4WD customer support. I swear they employ kids who have no clue about basic tech concepts.

[ScaleLifeNewbie]

Thats dissapointing to hear about the Gelande II. I was debating picking one up. I personally have had good experiences with RC4WD so far. I owned 2 sets of wheels and the TF2 Marlin. They all seemed of decent quality. The only gripe I had with the TF2 was the soft screws. But with some light hands I didnt have many problems. I never experienced anything to have bad tolerances/fitment issues; I actually thought the build quality was good and was puzzled by people saying RC4WD is horrible. I never had anything break on me. Granted, i only had it a few months. I Cant speak on Customer Service on any companies except Traxxas(which was great btw) because i deal with Amain for my orders/support if needed. I dunno, maybe i got 3 lucky draws? Personally, I like RC4WD and Id buy from them again.

Just my .02.

______________________________________
AR60 VS410
TRX4 Sport
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Veterans deserve a whole month too...

[4stroke]

That's just it though: at $500 you shouldn't get 'soft screws'. If they cut quality in the screws you can bet they did it elsewhere too. My OG Bruiser never had soft screws or any other quality/ fitment/tolerance issues (nor did any of my other cheaper Tamiyas, nor my RC10, nor my Losi NXT, nor my Schumacher, well you get the idea). Also some people don't notice or know what a proper tolerance should be so they just assume it's A-OK. I mean the trucks do run and all but for someone like me with some drafting/mechanical industry background I'm shocked how sloppy they are. Basically dubious Chinese manufacturing quality sold at a premium price. I'm not expecting Rolex mechanical quality here, just a reasonably snug fit where required. We all let our emotions get the better of us with our rc addictions and pay more than we should but realistically these are $300-$350 vehicles at best IMHO. To charge $500 and up is just greedy. I'm glad you have no issues although I've read on here others complaining of the same thing as me and other things as well. And since the TF2 uses the same axles as the G2 I'm sure the TF2's are not immune from this as well. You already experienced the soft screws yourself.....

[meatmonkey]

I'm not sure if people don't notice the lack of quality from rc3wd, or if they just accept it to get there scale look on.

I have a trail finder 2 that still isn't fully assembled after a couple years because every time I work on it I find more stupid things that require attention if I expect it to work/hold together for any amount of time. Most of the bearings required a plastic bag sleeve to fit remotely properly in there bores, much of the hardware wasn't formed correctly, the longer bolts were visibly bent. The axles had so much coating on them there are gaps between the housing halves when assembled. The front axle was all screwed up, like the carrier bearings had literally millimeters of slop in the housing. Took 4 monthes of emails, pictures, had to send in the original housing before they'd send a replacement. The shock ball ends literally fell apart while trying to install them. About the only thing that didn't piss me off is the transfer case, once I flipped it over so the front driveshaft was properly aligned.

This is a "scale" company, who releases a Toyota body on a jeep yj frame, with a lhd steering wheel, but a rhd servo location, and a left hand drop transfer with a right hand drop front axle. Like WTF? All I wanted was a little leaf sprung yota, not a full re-engineering project, which is what I got.

The only other rc4wd item I've purchased was the crew cab Tacoma lexan body. Once I pulled it out of the package I was extremely disappointed in how thin and brittle the lexan is. I'm a bit hard on equipment and I couldn't even bring myself to paint and mount it knowing it would be destroyed in a few runs.

I honestly have no idea how rc3wd stays in business selling crap for gold pricing. They will never see another dollar from me.

[4stroke]

Meatmonkey, EXACTLY I completely agree. You may have hit the nail on the head here saying that people are willing to overlook the quality of the chassis to get their scale fix on. They wow you with the body and blow smoke up your arse with the chassis. Anyways, I doubt if I'll be giving RC3WD any more business either on account of their CRAPPY quality.