Would You Change Brands if building a New Rig?

[Col_Sanders]

The benefit of having multiple rigs of the same platform is parts commonality. Less spare parts to deal with and you can cannibalize one rig to get another going if need be. But different platforms have their advantages. If I was building something to beat the crap out of (without needing tons of upgrades), it would be a TRX4. That would not be my choice for a C2 comp crawler or a performance oriented trail machine though. I'd go Axial based aftermarket or Vanquish for that.

[Redharris]

I have my eye on the Vanquish VS4-10 Phoenix. I would pay the extra $10 for the Portal version. Im so new to crawlers that I dont yet Care so much about SCALE,,,, and the portal axles are appealing to me. Its a bit pricey though, so Im hoping for a Black Friday or Xmas sale.....

[twade984]

Originally Posted by Redharris

I have my eye on the Vanquish VS4-10 Phoenix. I would pay the extra $10 for the Portal version. Im so new to crawlers that I dont yet Care so much about SCALE,,,, and the portal axles are appealing to me. Its a bit pricey though, so Im hoping for a Black Friday or Xmas sale.....

There are pros and cons for portals and straight axles, besides the “scale accurate” factor.

Every time I’ve converted a portal truck to straight axles, I’m blown away by how much stability I gain. 13mm doesn’t seem like enough to make a difference, but it certainly does.

Conversely, I’m usually annoyed by how often I get hung up on the rear diff…

Also vp doesn’t usually offer discounts on kits, but maybe one of the retailers will have something for Black Friday or Christmas.

As to the original post, if you’re spending money on a different rig, you might as well try something new. I’ve learned a lot by trying just about every platform currently available.

[ScaleLifeNewbie]

Originally Posted by twade984

As to the original post, if you’re spending money on a different rig, you might as well try something new. I’ve learned a lot by trying just about every platform currently available.

I agree with this 100%. I haven’t had all of the kits yet, but I’ve had quite a few and now I know which trucks I like, dislike and which I’m on the fence on. You learn which to buy again and which to avoid at all costs. You also get to see how different setups react to your terrain and if you want to take it a step further you can then piece a rig together with all the parts you like from different rigs and build an amazing performance based crawler.

I think having variety is great, different truck for a different places if your terrain varies much.

[tigris99]

Originally Posted by DrIsotope

Jesus christ people, learn to infer. Or read. Just try starting off with reading. I bought a Kyosho Ultima with lawn mowing money in 1986. If I'm new to anything, it's new to rock crawlers. I'd never owned anything with a live axle prior to buying a TRX-4.

So let me try to spell it out as slowly as possible so as not to confuse anyone:



When a company is making a crawler, few of them stray very far from a typical 3-gear trans on a skid with c-channel rails. This is "the formula." if you look at most crawlers, they took heavy... "inspiration" from the SCX10. Not from 35-year-old buggies.







I don't know what this means, exactly. You're not putting Axial gears inside anything Element and vice-versa. Different axles. C-hubs and knuckles are real close, but not the same. Skids and mounts are different widths. Chassis holes are in different places, shock towers are different geometries, everything is just different enough.



Common parts? Shocks and driveshafts is about it. No, I don't count links, as a threaded metal rod is a threaded metal rod. I use whatever link that fits on whatever rig I'm building.

Not all chassis holes are different, ask 2 of my element rigs. One of the sponsored comp crawler teams had a mix going on with a rig and I asked them about it. They filled me in. And certain aftermarket parts are designed specifically for being able to use axial with element or vise versa.

There is a lot that isn't, but there is some and importantly the parts I care about that do. Some drop right in without a single change, just a part swap.

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