How often is normal? The only reason I have any RCs is for jumping, and although I set up and built landing ramps, there is still the occasional overjump.

It's the landing when the car nosedives mid air and you blip the throttle the level it out that kills the diffs, puts a lot of stress on them, even if its not a flat landing. I'd hate to invest in a new mini to find it not much better.

Has anyone had much experience with the MIP mlst f/r ball diffs? They look plastic in the photo but for $30 I'm assuming its metal. A pity tower doesnt sell them, I can only find them on evilbay, and even then no kind of rebuilt kits (Thrust plates or anything) even... so seems like a no go from the get go.

Yeah theyre not the bits I Was worried about, more the plastic ring and pinion gear...

Sammus, you can get these:
http://www.thetoyz.com/cart/thetoyz_...at_name='#
I don't think they are needed if you shim properly, but it wouldn't hurt to have them.

On another note, I've never had a problem with the plastic diffs in my m18t's. I still have the original diffs in my first m18t which is almost two years old.

i thought i would chime in and offer my poor advice..
i like the xtm rage because of its bullet proof drive train.. but the upgrades will be expensive just to keep the car running pack after pack...

the vendetta is my favorite.. and when the steel diffs come out for it,, it will be unstoppable..

the rc18t i consider it the car that taught me what i know,, what and what not to do..

here is my lil video of my vendetta with a NEU motor inside.. i got about 6 runs out of this set up before the diffs went out

http://s185.photobucket.com/albums/x...t=neupart1.flv

http://s185.photobucket.com/albums/x...t=neupart2.flv

http://s185.photobucket.com/albums/x...rrent=NEU3.flv

IMO the MIP Superdiffs are mandatory with a BL /Lipo setup in a RC18

I since then ordered the super diffs and the steel diff gears. also have the MIP universals. Will post with an update to let you know how they do. I imagine good because it was fine with the plastics.

I also ran the MIP CVDs which I think you are calling universals, I had issues with the plastic dog bones they would flex too much and pop out. Even with the CVDs I had a few times when they did pop out (I was pretty rough on the RC18). I also experimented with differnt wheel and tire combo's I liked the wheels for the Losi 1/18 scale the best, when I went to the 1/10 scale the performance went down even when I went down to as low as a 10 tooth pinion and I fried a couple of motors( I really likeed the Hyperion over the Mamba)

http://www.b-p-p.com/proddetail.php?prod=db_YC22

Yeah CVD's are correct. I call them either or. I have the 1/10 wheels and you need to run 13/60 and it runs great. That is per BYT full speed ahead project http://beatyourtruck.com/project-RC18T.html Also i always get the team kits so the plastic stuff is never an issue. But i could see how they could be. Exactly as you said, they flex and pop out. I might have to try that hyperion setup you linked though. My mamba is actually fired at the moment. I fried the mamba somehow then was going to check the motor for anything abnormal and snapped the shaft trying to get the pinion off. So i need to send it in to castle and fix it.

Now how does a spammer get in here? Pathetic people in this world.

lol we need a mod in here

we've been infiltrated lol did not expect to see that in 1/18th scale:lol:

I know!

I was going to out my .02 in and see that crap


anyways, I also think the RC18 series are the shiz! All they need is the mip diffs, cvd's or alu dog bones, and a new servo and there ready for BL:mdr:

Anyone tried the Xray M18T. I am seriously considering getting one.

if you read through the thread it was the other highly recommended next to the rc18t

I just dont like ball diffs.. I may as well get them for the mini lst.. I want metal gear diffs.. I wrote to mike about possible machining some, even alloy gears would be better than plastic. no reply though.

i think that would be alot of work for just 1 run of the diffs.

the only problem i had with my 18t is the diffs kept coming loose. i never stripped any.

one thing i didnt try was the mip super diffs.

i may pick up a 18t or an m18t.

when i did have the 18t i never really broke any parts. it was a very solid truck.

it does need a couple things as everyone has said.

but what 1/18 scale doesnt?

I still cant understand why no-one ever made metal diff gears for it. Why on earth would so many companies make all alloy chassis parts and steel or titanium spur gears, but not bother touching the one and only weak point in the truck?!?

I bet if they were released a year ago they wouldve sold better than any hopup for any car ever! :lol:

But now everyone I've spoken to about the mlst has sold it because of the weak diffs.

Opps. I thought I had read through this thread and I thought they weren't mentioned. I didn't check as I didn't want to spend to long in the thread with the now deleted pictures. I am very seriously considering getting the m18t now. I'll use the electrics from my mini-t.

Cool.. that came across a little harsher than I meant it, it wasn't one of those "use the f'n search n00b!" kinda posts I promise :P

I also want to buy an m18t... I just got a new buggy though so I'll have to wait till next years tax perhaps haha.

Well I have had a few of these. I am a big micro fan. The Associated line takes a beating. Having ball ends at all the links is a plus. if you take a super bad tumble and such, usually a ball will pop off.... that means get cvd's cuz finding those stupid little springs in the dirt is a pain,... been there too many times. even the ft has blue aluminum dogbones instead of plastic but still those springs. you can put a dab of shoe goo on and push them in, and that usually saves them, but for $12 a pair it's not worth it

the driven production gear cover at the toyz is a must or you'll eat spurs. $13 well spent. the steering drag link or another nice setup helps. the stock servo saver has a plastic ring, at least get the metal ring for that. tightens the steering up. when building the shocks put a dab of shoe goo around the bottom clip of the shock body so they don't come apart doing big air. buy a couple extra difs and a set of bearings. after a good run just swap everything out and clean those up for next time. it's so cheap to keep a set and you will have a nice clean car always.

the xray is a sweet truck. it's drawbacks are you can only use xray wheels because of the hub setup. and it takes a special battery to fit. yuntong has a nice 1800 mah that is a tight fit. my bud has the xray, been a while since I owned one

I recently picked up an inferno09. I have to admit it handles like a much bigger rc. I was able to hold off a 10th brushless 4wd on the track and it wasn't even fair for me to run with the micros. it is a shrunken 8th scale buggy, with a solid center spool. I am going to make a motor mount and toss an align t rex motor into it and run 3s lipo. I am hoping I can drill and tap the flywheel and use the clutch, otherwise I'll just order some pinions from mike.

the electric inferno is not the same. you have to add bearings all over and such. the nitro has a much stronger platform to start with and the center dif has more of an offset (bud with the xray has an electric mini inferno so we compared a bit)

I have ordered a lot from thetoyz.com and the service is great. just waiting for tires, wheels and some goodies for my inferno right now :D I am an Associated guy through and through (even my crawler is a PTI Goliath and I need to fix a dif with TC3 parts hehe) but the Kyosho is in a league of it's own..... you can also find a killer deal if you find any of the kyosho lav8. it's the military vehicle version of the half 8. toyz had them for $100 rtr last I saw. am still tempted just because they look so cool

Hehe. I bought the M18MT last night. Was up putting it together until 2am last night. It's a cool car for sure. Now I wan't the M18T Pro lol. Still have to put this one through some torture tests though.

Great little vehicle for sure. I have both the M18T and the M18T Pro and with the graphite chassis and lightness is is almost too light - but it is sooooo silky smooth and slick looking you almost don't want to run it and beat it up.

I've been beating on my M18T for about a year and a half and I have yet to break anything.

As far as a previous complaint about the ball diffs, I don't really see that as a valid complaint. If you follow the directions in the manual and break them in - the is almost no maintenance. I've never had to rebuild them yet. Adjusting them takes removing a wheel and one screw and them a quick twist of a screwdriver - takes maybe 3 minutes.

Also, xray's build tolerances are so tight that there is no shimming the diffs all the time to get the mesh "just right". The mesh is perfect right at the build.

I've pushed this thing with 3S and a LMT 1015/12 (6667kv) and it hasn't flinched.

That was my complaint about ball diffs :) I think Xray is probably the highest quality manufacturer of rc vehicles I know of, so its no surprise about the diff mesh etc.

And as far as never rebuilding them have you basically locked them?, I've noticed that with ball diffs (even running silicone carbide balls) if you have them set up to get any useful differential action (ie not locked) then they undoubtedly wear, and quite fast. I even once read that your meant to rebuild ball diffs between every race. They work well, but require high maintenance.

I'd love the xray m18t, probably prefer the MT, but I still cant for the life of me understand why noone ever brought out metal internal diff gears for the mlst. I mean, hot racing make titanium spur gears. Surely thats utterly pointless? If I run enough power through my mlst that even might wear any of the gears slightly, the diffs will just chew out in an instant. I f**king hate this POS!!!! I think it will get the ebay treatment soon.. maybe then I can put the 0.02 I might get for it (if im lucky) toward something quality.

So even the plastic drive shafts hold up to 3s power?

I love this little car. This was my first kit car. Building it was fun but the number of times I put those balls in the suspension in the wrong way or the wrong place was huge. I wasted a couple of hours just stuffing that up.

And sammus my friend has a mini-lst2 and we put a 7000k wraith, quark 33a and a 3s 2000mah thunder power pack in it and we have broken just about every part of that truck except the font and rear diffs. The centre diff broke almost instantly and he put a mip mini-lst centre diff in there. He has since gone to a 2s pack though now as the tranny couldn't handle the power and it used to get pretty hot too. I would definately recommend the M18MT over the MLST as the MLST2 is just so heavy. That's the main reason the tranny won't hold up to the power.

the mlst is crap. I had one and sold it fast. tried all the difs made. bud has one he's spent near a grand on and still had to shim them... I used to like Losi, until Gil left.

Add another mlst hater to the list.... I owned both versions (1 and 2) and regret ever dumping money into them.

On the other hand the m18t line has been some of my favorites. MTBikerTim, Yes it the stock diffs can handle 3s no problem.

Here's where we made our micro track. it's come a long way since this vid. I took my 18R (rally) with on road tires and a mamba 8000 on 2s lipo out for a burn. I couldn't keep it from doing donuts on pavement.... on dirt this was never over 1/4 throttle. if the on road can take a beating...

http://s304.photobucket.com/albums/n...t=MOV00002.flv

I'll see if I can't find some newer vids and pics. I have a few more in the directory but just using my cel.... camera broke falling off the bench here... still works as a webcam though hehe.

Mark takes alot of pics and vids. should have seen the first mock race, wish we had video it was so funny. Darrin has a tekno revo, and had just run it. he thought he'd turned it off LOL. everyone is lined up, the revo not far behind and on the sidelines. we here go, and this revo bowls through the entire pack and flips the works... yup they are tough.... mini t wasn't so lucky, but I have him an associated rod to keep playing

we were running about every 2-3 days down there. why I kept extra bearings and difs. being in the trees .like that, about 80% is covered and we ran some wetsdays and bearings would be seized from mud. they'd always clean up. the 3racing buggy wing is a definate hop up (just got 2 for my 10th scales, I hate lexan wings... you have to be a good driver for them to survive LOL)

I did a lap at the 10th scale indoor offroad track with it too and I made a quad 10th scales had a tough time. it was pretty funny seeing it on such a huge track but I could at least get it up to speed a bit on the straight. in my buggy, the 6800 on 2s lipo was insane, I did manage to pass an 8th scale at the end of the straight at our big track here with it... I couldn't get it to make the triple so he punted me and after a wicked tumble, a steering rod came off completely but it popped back on... tough rc's.... difs just set them factory spec and call it done.

Hi,Another ml$t hater here :( .The xtm rage/mbx marmot are good.Only problem is the caster adjusters,gonna try and make/get some made of alu :)