Fed up with Slash

[BrianG]

Argg! If it's not one thing, it's another. Never have I had so many little things go wrong on one vehicle! I run things, find the weak spot, fix it, repeat. Except with this vehicle, I'm stuck in a continuous repeat loop.

- Arms break. Get RPM.

- Diff leaks. Try the mod to seal it. Works for a few runs but then the reduced material at the seal causes premature wear.

- Went brushless, so got the FLM tranny to help cooling. Needed to modify arms to fit the tranny. Also needed to go with different hinge pin setup because the stock ones bind in the hinge pin holes.

- Found out Traxxas motor screws suck. Rated 3mm, but are slightly smaller than any other 3mm screw I have.

- Stock shocks way too soft. Hate the sagging rear end. When taking apart, noticed two of the shocks were empty. Got the Traxxas big bores (waste of money, should have used buggy shocks. But retaining rings were too small to properly hold springs in place with possible danger of popping out. Used a mix of retaining rings to get the proper fit and then used stiffer springs.

- Input shaft has side to side play causing pinion set screw to eat somewhat into the spur teeth. Shimmed it properly.

- Brushless system too strong for stock axles. Get FLM CVDs. One of the set screw holes is very tough to screw in. Used a different pin (from a Revo outdrive IIRC).

- Diff wobbles. Again, crappy diff design. Tired of messing with it, I just JBWelded the gears. Turns rather crappily (expected that), but kinda like the way it handles now. Supports my turn-at-WOT driving style.

- Rear bumper mount breaks (pretty crappy design IMO). Get the RPM mount. Doesn't line up very well and needs mods to work. Even then, not happy with the result, but should work.

- CVD pins pop out at the tire end. Mod the pins so the set screw keeps them from falling out. The retaining ring should have prevented this, but some rock or something pushed it to one side.

I'm sure there are a couple more things I've forgotten, but I want to huck this thing out the window! It reminds me of an old 1:1 car; should I keep dumping $$$ into it thinking this will be the last big thing, or do I just cut my losses and get rid of it?

Don;t get me wrong, I don't mind tinkering. But I try to make these things as tough as possible right off the bat so any tinkering is because I want to, not because I have to. Every vehicle breaks, but this is just ridiculous! This Slash spends more time on my bench than its wheels.

:sigh: Thanks for listening. Just needed to vent.