First Impressions

[rc4x44life]

I got my First E-Maxx for Christmas. Today I finally got a chance to try it out. I am head over heels in love with this thing, it flat out rocks!

I've got 15 years in r/c, and well over 100 r/c's under my belt. Nothing compares to the fun I had today with my 100% bone stock e-maxx. I feel like a total fool that I put off getting one of these for 4 years now.

Everything I was worried about, the radio, the steering servo, the evx, all worked wonderful without a single hiccup. I got 4 runs on it today and will get no less than 6 runs on it tomorrow. Even though I'm only running 6 cell packs, when I hit second gear, this baby eats of ground in a big hurry. Makes 23 mph seem like 123 mph.

I took it out of the box to find the body had a little dent near the bottom from getting kinked up in the box. I fixed it with a hair dryer. I also have one leaky shock out of the box. Other than those minor gripes, flawless.

I soaked my wheels in windex overnight to strip the satin finish. I then gave them the black RIT dye treatment. They look alot better to me and go great with my red and black stock body. Other than dying the wheels, gluing the tires, checking the pinions and slipper, I haven't done a thing but drive it, and that's all I'm going to do tomorrow, drive it.

I was suprised how glitch free the radio was, and really surprised how quiet my tranny was compared to other 32 pitch r/c's I've owned. It shifts like a dream and it really adds to the fun! I noticed that sometimes I'd take off in first and shift into second without letting off the throttle at all and sometimes after about 5 seconds it would shift into second without letting off the throttle at all. Never made a sound either.... smooth. The steering servo is not world class, but it sure got the job done. It wasn't that bad at all. It was about 50 degrees here today and even though I ran 99% on short grass, everything stayed cool. The motors, the evx, the batteries.... nothing got above barely warm.

I can honestly say I this thing. Thanks Traxxas for making an awesome product!

[SoCal-EMaxx]

Awesome! Glad to hear you're having fun with it!!!

Two comments:

1. I too do the 1-2 without lifting thing, but as you probably know, it's definitely advisable to lift and easier on the drivetrain.

2. The stock steering servo is "adequate" at first, but as you start doing more slow speed turns, you'll find it just won't cut it. The Hitech645 does a great job for minimal $, and a 6.0v receiver pack does wonders as well.

Sounds like you're off to a great start...enjoy!!!

[SierraMark]

Your excitement reminds me how I felt. it is a great product. The dollar to fun ratio is off the charts. I haven't touched one of my boats since I got this truck. I'm considering pulling the brushless system from a boat and dropping it in the maxx, but in all honesty, I am so content with the stock speed, i will likely just leave it alone.

[rc4x44life]

Thanks SoCal, I'll definatly experiment with the servo situation. I can get one of those Novak Super Duty esc's for about $125 shipped with my discounts and I have a friend that would give me $70 for my EVX if I decided to upgrade. The Super Duty has a 6 volt, 3 amp BEC and would negate the need for the RX pack and I have thought seriously about going that route. Basically that would cost me $55 to upgrade to that esc but it would be nice not to hassle with the rx pack. I have a spare 645mG I can try, and also if I decide to get the Futaba 3PM radio I've been looking at, it comes with a Futaba servo with specs very close to the 645MG.

These ideas I have are all fine and dandy, but the truth is that the thing worked so nice yesterday that I hate to even throw any money at it until I'm unhappy. I'm not racing, and I have so much land at home here to run on that it's not a real demanding application for that servo I guess. I have a Kimbrough 121 I could throw on it and a rx pack I could try and those two things would probably make a noticable difference. Unfortunatly, I got one thing on my mind today and that's driving it, not wrenching on it, LOL! I can wrench on it when we are supposed to get 4 days of rain in a row a few days from now. Until that first rainy day, I'm gonna keep on truckin'

[rc4x44life]

SierraMark, You are right! I got my E-Maxx from Tower and after discounts and coupons, free shipping, I got it to my door for $259.99 Considering I already had batteries, chargers, etc, from my other r/c's it was a serious bang-for-the-buck for me! Nobody else comes close to giving you so much for so little money IMHO.

[Buzzbait]

Yep. The E-Maxx rocks in stock form. I didn't do a darned thing to mine for about the first 9 months of ownership. I just bashed and occasionally wiped it down. That was it. Sheer bliss.

To this day, the only change I've made that has really made a noticeable difference is changing the servo and servo saver. A high torque servo and a Proline Steering Kit make a whopping difference!!! I tried a Kimbrough servo saver and wasn’t totally happy. The Proline kit feels exactly like the truck did when I ran for a week without any servo saver. Tight and snappy. No mush whatsoever. Highly recommended for a rainy day wrenching.

[rc4x44life]

Hey Buzzbait, can you tell me more about the Proline steering? About how much does it cost, and is it a direct bolt on fit, or does it require modifying any parts?

[rc4x44life]

I just found it on Tower Hobbies site and it says "discontinued"

[Buzzbait]

Major Bummer. It was a great and reasonably cheap system. The only other integrated bellcrank/servo saver system I know of is the Unlimited Engineering setup, which is vastly more expensive, but probably even more bulletproof.

UE Servo Saver

These systems do require a small bit of modification to the E-Maxx chassis. You have to dremel off a plastic post from the underside of the chassis.

[rc4x44life]

Thanks for the info Buzzbait! I just came in from running this thing again. I can't think of anything I've driven more fun than this thing, and over the last 15 years, I drove a little of everything. This shiftable 2-speed tranny is awesome.... really awesome!