After spending who knows how much $$ on my savage, I’ve learned that alot of products out there are a waste. Many of them will add weight, which is worse than lack of durability.
Here’s one upgrade I did that I didn’t have to do - the integy chassis braces and the integy 4mm tvp chassis plates. I did this because on the stock x plates, it will crack at the small x (see pic). The cure for this is a stronger chassis, yes, but the one I got was too heavy.
Weight will wreak havoc on your gears.
So…once the x ss chassis came out, they strengthened it in that cracked place by adding more aluminum
Another big waste was the Losi LST shocks and shock mounting kit. http://ashburg.com/lst2.JPG . It looks kinda cool (to me at least lol), but it adds unnecessary weight and doesn’t boost the suspention durability in the least bit. Stick with the stock shocks and deal with a blowout every now and then (the thread will blow out of the shock if you land hard enough).
One thing I did that was of benefit was to go from the X A Arms to old school Savage A arms. The old style are beefier, which, for the added weight (in this case) are worth it.
Tie Rods - stick with stock tie rods and do the washer mod (put a washer over the screw to prevent the tie rod from coming off of the ball and over the screw). Fancy tie rods from GPM or whatever are a complete waste of money.
Titanium Spur Gear - well worth the 50 bucks.
Aluminum clutch shoes - another good investment.
Tsais T-Bonz CVD’s - WASTE of money. Stick with old school Savage Dogbones or go with the new SS ones.
Hot bodies megatravel cvd’s - waste. The pins come out too easy, even with gobs of theadlock on there. The stock x drive shafts work fine.
Heavy duty cups - worth the investment.
Nubz - good investment for bashing, but don’t take a turn well, it flips easy (but maybe that’s due to the truck weighing so much)
New Era Tank Mod - seems to be a good time and money investment - I haven’t had the 1/2 tank lean issue in some time now.
Werks Pipe - hey, whatever werks!
Proline 23mm wheel adaptors - took ‘em off, reverted to the stock 17mm, which is more than sufficient for bashing. Besides, the wheel adaptors got stuck to the hub and I had to pry them off.
Hitec Servos - holding up great, good investment. Personally, I don’t need any more torque or speed. Get the aluminum servo arm too, at least for the steering.
Hitec HS-925MG Coreless Metal Gear Throttle/Brake Servo
Hitec HS-645MG Metal-Gear Steering Servo
Ofna Throttle Mod - WELL worth the time and effort…very little $$ cost to do this mod.
Dubro Socket Cap Screws - great investment. Thanks to Bill Plude for this tiny, but significant upgrade.
OS .30 VG engine - eh, I’m bored with it and the one way bearing slips (because of the fuel I guess). I’m dropping a picco .28 in there for this season. The torque is not as much with the Picco, but it supposedly revvs out about 6,000 rpms more and supposedly has the same horsepower. Picco: http://www.smfstore.com/product_info.php?cPath=196_45&products_id=642 (non pullstart, put a roto start on there)
hope this helps and saves you some money
