Panther6834
I wanna be Dave
Ok, I'm going to admit, right here & now, that I'm probably going to be opening a pretty good-sized bucket of worms here. While plenty of those who read this will have personal hands-on experience with more than one "version" of each "type", there will also be those who just want to reply with their "personal preferences", even though they might not have tried other options. To the first group, I will thank you, in advance, for any assistance you might be able to provide through your replies. To the second group, I'd like to ask that you try to refrain from any "personal bias", for, if you haven't actually tried multiple "versions" of a particular "type", then that makes it difficult to provide unbiased information. As for what I mean by "versions" & "type", "type" would refer to components (ie. axles, shocks, driveshafts, transmissions, leaf springs, etc), while "versions" would be specific products (ie. Vanquish Currie D44 axle, RC4WD Yota 2 axle, GCM A-13 axles, etc).
Now that that's been said, as several in these forums know, I'm new to crawlers, with my first being the Axial Capra. As I understand/see it, the Capra a great 'all around' vehicle, thus it doesn't fit into any one specific category. I'm already starting to have fun with it, and, as soon as it's truly completed, I'll be taking it out for some real "workouts". Looking towards "the future", from 'the end', towards 'the beginning', my fourth (and probably final) will be a rock racer (still to be decided), and my third will be a comp crawler (Vanquish VS4-10 Pro). As for my second, to be a comp scale/trail crawler, I've selected the TF2, which is currently enroute to me. In regards to 'upgrades', I'd love to be able to say "money is no object", but that's far from the truth. I'd prefer to upgrade components as I'm building (as opposed to building now, and upgrading down-the-road), and I'd prefer to upgrade with higher-quality, scale-looking (as much as possible) parts...but, I also can't afford to spend unnecessarily (I've done that with things in the past, especially computers...my bank account REALLY hates me for it, as does my wife). As such, I'd really, really prefer to have a 'list' of "upgrade parts" ready to pick from.
Here's when all of you loyal TF2 owners comes into play...especially those of you who've owned your TF2s for a while. What I'm interested in...what I'm hoping to get useful, unbiased replies, for...are upgrade suggestions for the mechanical, and mechanically-related, areas of the kit. This would include (but is not limited to) such things as transmission (I'll mention here that the GCM TF2 Scale Trans Conversion Kit has already been suggested to me, but appears to no longer be in production, thus other suggestions/recommendations are welcomed), shocks, leaf springs, whether (or not) the front and/or rear should be converted from leaf spring suspension (again, I'm strongly interested in keeping with the "scale" appearance more than anything, so, unless the suspension conversion would still be a "scale" conversion, I'm probably not interested), driveshafts, transfer case (yes, that could include the GCM LRT2 t-case for the R3/R4 transmission, should the "scale trans conversion kit" prove to be unobtainable), etc. I'm not in need of suggestions for bodies (tho, I will mention this one in a bit), wheels, tires, bumpers, etc...only parts directly related to the chassis.
Briefly mentioning bodies, I've read a few reports (mostly written a few years ago) of the RC4WD bodies not being so great...that they were overly prone to cracking. Granted, when those posts were written, the original Mojave body was being sold, so it is possible that the quality of plastic used in the Mojave II body has been improved...honestly, I don't know. While I do like the Toyota body included with the kit (Mojave II), I am possibly interested in other options, although they would have to be for 287mm wheelbase vehicles. What I'm asking about isn't specific bodies, but quality body manufacturers. Considering I'm looking for "detail", as opposed to "light weight", I'm not interested in Lexan bodies. Hopefully, people can lead me in the right direction for this. Honestly, I'm not certain what specific body I'd want to get (tho, I really do like Toyota), but, most importantly, it needs to be detailed, and not Lexan (obviously, the 'detail' point would remove the possibility of Lexan bodies, anyway). As such, in addition to the above-requested suggestions/recommendations for upgrade parts, I'm also interested in suggestions/recommendations for manufacturers of quality, detailed, crawler bodies (again, manufacturers producing bodies that would fit the 287mm wheelbase of the TF2).
There you have it...the 'basics' of what info I'm looking for. I don't (necessarily) need "the best" (although, if "the best" isn't overly-proceed, it's definitely worth considering), but am looking more towards the "considerably better" options. In other words, no cheap, low-quality parts, as "less expensive" isn't always better..."high-quality, low price" is a 'good' thing, but "average-quality, low price" is a 'bad' thing. Like I said at the beginning, this will probably open a bucket of worms...but, as my grandpa always said, "You can't go fishing without some worms." So...the bucket is open...let's go fishing.
~ More peace, love, laughter & kindness would make the world a MUCH better place
Now that that's been said, as several in these forums know, I'm new to crawlers, with my first being the Axial Capra. As I understand/see it, the Capra a great 'all around' vehicle, thus it doesn't fit into any one specific category. I'm already starting to have fun with it, and, as soon as it's truly completed, I'll be taking it out for some real "workouts". Looking towards "the future", from 'the end', towards 'the beginning', my fourth (and probably final) will be a rock racer (still to be decided), and my third will be a comp crawler (Vanquish VS4-10 Pro). As for my second, to be a comp scale/trail crawler, I've selected the TF2, which is currently enroute to me. In regards to 'upgrades', I'd love to be able to say "money is no object", but that's far from the truth. I'd prefer to upgrade components as I'm building (as opposed to building now, and upgrading down-the-road), and I'd prefer to upgrade with higher-quality, scale-looking (as much as possible) parts...but, I also can't afford to spend unnecessarily (I've done that with things in the past, especially computers...my bank account REALLY hates me for it, as does my wife). As such, I'd really, really prefer to have a 'list' of "upgrade parts" ready to pick from.
Here's when all of you loyal TF2 owners comes into play...especially those of you who've owned your TF2s for a while. What I'm interested in...what I'm hoping to get useful, unbiased replies, for...are upgrade suggestions for the mechanical, and mechanically-related, areas of the kit. This would include (but is not limited to) such things as transmission (I'll mention here that the GCM TF2 Scale Trans Conversion Kit has already been suggested to me, but appears to no longer be in production, thus other suggestions/recommendations are welcomed), shocks, leaf springs, whether (or not) the front and/or rear should be converted from leaf spring suspension (again, I'm strongly interested in keeping with the "scale" appearance more than anything, so, unless the suspension conversion would still be a "scale" conversion, I'm probably not interested), driveshafts, transfer case (yes, that could include the GCM LRT2 t-case for the R3/R4 transmission, should the "scale trans conversion kit" prove to be unobtainable), etc. I'm not in need of suggestions for bodies (tho, I will mention this one in a bit), wheels, tires, bumpers, etc...only parts directly related to the chassis.
Briefly mentioning bodies, I've read a few reports (mostly written a few years ago) of the RC4WD bodies not being so great...that they were overly prone to cracking. Granted, when those posts were written, the original Mojave body was being sold, so it is possible that the quality of plastic used in the Mojave II body has been improved...honestly, I don't know. While I do like the Toyota body included with the kit (Mojave II), I am possibly interested in other options, although they would have to be for 287mm wheelbase vehicles. What I'm asking about isn't specific bodies, but quality body manufacturers. Considering I'm looking for "detail", as opposed to "light weight", I'm not interested in Lexan bodies. Hopefully, people can lead me in the right direction for this. Honestly, I'm not certain what specific body I'd want to get (tho, I really do like Toyota), but, most importantly, it needs to be detailed, and not Lexan (obviously, the 'detail' point would remove the possibility of Lexan bodies, anyway). As such, in addition to the above-requested suggestions/recommendations for upgrade parts, I'm also interested in suggestions/recommendations for manufacturers of quality, detailed, crawler bodies (again, manufacturers producing bodies that would fit the 287mm wheelbase of the TF2).
There you have it...the 'basics' of what info I'm looking for. I don't (necessarily) need "the best" (although, if "the best" isn't overly-proceed, it's definitely worth considering), but am looking more towards the "considerably better" options. In other words, no cheap, low-quality parts, as "less expensive" isn't always better..."high-quality, low price" is a 'good' thing, but "average-quality, low price" is a 'bad' thing. Like I said at the beginning, this will probably open a bucket of worms...but, as my grandpa always said, "You can't go fishing without some worms." So...the bucket is open...let's go fishing.
~ More peace, love, laughter & kindness would make the world a MUCH better place
