Stampede VXL vs E-maxx 3906 upgrade

[rac2840]

Hey guys i was hoping someone could help me out.
I recently bought my brother a Stampede vxl (3500kv) for his birthday. Watching him have a blast with it inspired me to brush off the dust that had collected on my old 3906 E-maxx. After racing the trucks a coulpe times ive found that the E-maxx doesnt keep up with the stampede at all... and ive found my self having more fun zipping around and jumping my brothers stampede.
Sooo my question is: Should I attempt to upgrade my Emaxx or should I see what i could sell it for and save my money for another Pede to race my brother with?

Is it worth investing all my time and money into my maxx?

Thanks for your input!

[Blaster75]

Go for the Stampy! They are a lot of hassle-free fun, and cheap to fix.

[ReaperGN]

If you upgrade the E-Maxx to brushless and add a few aluminum parts down the center it will be much better than a VXL stampede.

[Oaks]

Go for the Stampy! They are a lot of hassle-free fun, and cheap to fix.

Lol, famous last words right there! What's really cool about both the Stampede and the EMAXX is that you can pretty much make the truck into whatever you want. You can keep them as close to stock as you want or try to make them bulletproof with no real shortage of modifications. If you get the 'mod bug,' you might come out a little cheaper with the Stampede. Depending on where you mainly run the truck, a smaller or bigger ride might be more suitable. I pretty much run around the house so the Stampede treats me just fine. That's not to say that I wouldn't be happy with a built up, EMAXX tho either.

Here's a couple pics of my creation. I can probably rattle off $500 easily over the cost of a stock VXL unit. For a little more over that number, you could build one from from scratch, too. Maybe go over to the Brushless EMAXX forum and ask for an idea of what it would cost to upgrade your EMAXX. I'm sure those guys will be just as helpful as the members over here. Traxxas makes a 4wd Stampede too which is arguably the most durable of the Traxxas offerings.





Either way, don't get too caught up in the moment of having a new truck around. That pede will eventually break something and need repairs too. Most importantly, make sure youre having a good time. The EMAXX is a beast in it's own right. But I tell you what, the Stampede is a whole lot of fun and If we get some more pics in this thread for you, you might be wanting to sell it, lol. Definitely ask around tho and get lots of opinions before making any drastic moves.

[BaldyDaniels]

Here on the stampede forum you're gonna mostly get nominations for the pede. The pede is a very easy to master rc platform and that's what makes it such a good basher. Anything that breaks can be repaired quickly and easily which allows for more time to have fun driving it rather than excessive time fixing it.

With that said, if you didn't already own the emaxx 3906, I too would point you in the direction of the stampede. But since you already own the 3906, I can tell you that it is also a very capable truck that can come very close to keeping up to a vxl pede (if the vxl is geared for bashing). I'm assuming that your still running nimh dual packs in the emaxx right? That's the main reason its dragging its tail. You need to step it up to lipos to experience the best part about that truck. A cheap and convenient way for lipos is to get 2 duratrax 3700mah hard case 2s lipos and a $3 low voltage alarm off ebay. The dtx 3700's fit in the trays so tight that you won't even need the battery hold downs ti keep em in place and it Will take a very hard impact to knock em loose while bashing. Running 4s lipo wakes the 3906 up big time, but you can get even more out of the truck (yes, you'll need a wheelie bar) once you switch the tamiya battery connectors to the Traxxas high current connectors. My kids 3906 would just barely wheelie when I first put the dtx 3700's in; but after the tamiya plugs melted a couple weeks later, I switched to traxxas connectors and we had to run back to the hobby shop to buy a wheelie bar cuz the front end won't stay down. Even in high gear, the front (or the rear if you wanna do some reverse wheelies)Will pop up anytime you mash the throttle, (even when running road rage street tires) and is a wheelie machine with the stock chevrons. You won't be disappointed, trust me. The 3906 in high gear on 4s tops out at 40mph with stock gearing, which is very respectable imo, oh yeah and it can easily drive right over top a stampede. (my son does it to me all the time. Lol) and Will also drive right through the stampede in a head on collision and Will come out unharmed. (the pede won't come out looking so good).

The emaxx won't be as agile and responsive as the pede would be because its a tank, and the emaxx Will also require more maintenance and more extended periods of down time when in need of repair. The Stampede Will break parts far more often than the emaxx., but can be repaired cheaper and way faster than the 3906.

They both have their pros and cons, but they are both traxxas rc's which makes them some very good trucks and tons of fun to drive.

The 3906 is also not a very brushless friendly truck due to the plastic gears in the transmission, it would only be suitable for a lower power brushless system. The 3906 is not a truck that you'd want to try and upgrade to metal gears cuz the metal gears are extremely rare and extremely expensive to get (if you could ever find them, I've been looking for a long time) If you want to run the emaxx, use the suggestions I listed above and enjoy it as a stock truck. (its tough as nails the way it is anyways) This way it'll be cheap and lots of fun.

Good luck!

Sent from my GT-I9100M using Xparent Purple Tapatalk 2

[Greatscott]

I had a lot of fun with my E-Maxx, but now it is just a dust collector. The smaller trucks are a lot more fun and a lot cheaper to repair and upgrade. I would recommend going for the 4x4 vs the 2x4.

[BaldyDaniels]

I had a lot of fun with my E-Maxx, but now it is just a dust collector. The smaller trucks are a lot more fun and a lot cheaper to repair and upgrade. I would recommend going for the 4x4 vs the 2x4.

I agree that the smaller truck would be more fun in the long run, but as you stated above, you had a lot of fun with your emaxx so theres no reason why he couldnt do the same for a while. The pede needs to be upgraded right away due to some weak parts, but the 3906 can be ran very hard in its stock condition without upgrading anything except the batteries/connectors and will stay in one piece for a good while. So if the op is on a budget that doesnt allow for the purchase of a new vxl + necessary upgrades in the early stages of its life, then the emaxx would be the way to go in order to have fun right now for minimal scratch. Im as all about the P2de as anyone could be, so if its an option for him to buy a new vxl p2de and rock the upgrades, then the emaxx should hit the market place asap.

[DiggerPede]

I'm not biased or am I. So far i'm on a path to owning a little of everything. "I'm a jack of all trades and a master of none", that being said. LOL I started out with a 1/10 Grave Digger/ Stampede, aka DiggerPede. It is by far one of my best rigs and if anythign was to happen with RC it will be the one i'll keep. The Stampede/ Slash/ Rustler platforms are going to be one of your cheapest & easiest to upgrade. They have been around forever and many companies have parts available at your taking. Basically you can get anything you want to make the truck better and customize it to your liking. You want to stay stock length, extended, or super extended, you have that choice. Everything from plastic, graphite, aluminum, to titanium. Plus you can to do the wide mod to help with body roll, and run all 4 front tires. Good stuff man.

Yet on the other hand I do own an EMBE ( EMaxx Brushles Edition ). For some reason I had to have this big bad boy. I have way to much in that truck to. Hmmm.... I have the CC MMM 2200kv ( stock ), Aluminum frame, arms, bulks, & towers. Yeah yeah its a heavy weight, but its a ton of fun to drive. Not my DD but it's a fun machine.

After all this stinking rattling along you think i'd get to a point right. Ok here it is. You can spend $300 to put a brushless sytem in the EMaxx ( give or take a little ) or buy a Stampede VXL for around the same price. For breakages and total outright bashing you will find the Stampede to be way more fun. Another though is if you go brushless on the EMaxx you'll have to buy double the Lipo packs. I'd suggest at least 4S, which is the sweet spot for it. 5S is fantastic, but 6S is out of this world and the truck would need to be beefed up. IMO So that being said, you can buy 2 packs and have twice the fun with a Stampede. I'm in all areas of the forum and have learned quite a bit. I didnt hit all the necessaries of the Emaxx those guys over there can help you 10x better to get the truck up to par when going brushless and high voltage.

Your choice if you need the money if you want to sell the Emaxx to buy a Stampede. If you were going to buy a brushless sytem for it why not keep it unless you think the dust will just settle back down on it. Shoot let it be a crawler or a swamp truck.

I might have just blown a lot of smoke, just my opinion. Hope it helps.