ASK Cub Reporter- 01.05.2011… You Send The Letters, We Give Hack Responses

Day after I day I patiently sit at my desk doing nothing other than waiting for your emails, thankfully this week you guys came through…

Hey guys, Been waiting on the De10 review forever. Any update ?
Mike

Cubby– You caught us with our pants down Mike, we’ve had a Duratrax DE 10 speedo in hand for weeks now but we still haven’t busted out the review. Because of your email, I have officially taken control of BigSquidRC and have demoted Brian from bigwhig down to cleaning crew, Jeffro from uber web dude down to gofer, and our wrench freak Bill down to, well, I guess wrenching is as far down the ladder as it goes. But seriously, we’ve been slack’n and we know it, so after one of our famous “no holds barred” meetings, we’ve decided to put really get to work and bust out a review EVERY Tuesday. So ya, you tune into BigSquid every single Tuesday and there will be a new “to the point- no bullsh*&- just what you need to know” review.

Oh and Mike, ya, it might still be a couple weeks before the Duratrax review goes up, but so far its worked flawlessly and the digital programmer is very easy to use.

“Wow!

Great work guys. What a fantastic site. I’m an old school RC guy from back in the Tamia Fox/RC-10 days. Just recently getting pulled back in. Your
site has some great information and it’s getting me back up to speed quickly. I’m currently running an SC10 Team Truck, an HPI Savage, a Losi SC Micro and my newest purchase yet to arrive is the 1/5 scale Killer Krawler. I’d love to see a Squid review on that beast. One of the advantages of being “old school”, you can afford all the cool new stuff.
Anyway, keep up the good work and I’ve got you firmly set in my favorites list.
Patrick

Cubby– Yo Patrick, thanks for the props, glad ya dig the site, and we hope to make it even better in 11′.

Hey guys I’ve only just heard of ur site and so far I’m diggin it. I’ve been off the r/c scene for a while but lookin to get back in. Just for starters I want something all-terrain and affordable but I also like speed. So I was thinking about the Evader DT. As it stands I think I’m gonna go with the EXT2 ST instead because it seems to show more potential. So the questions I have are… 1) is the tranny in the DT brushless ready should I want to upgrade it And 2) one thing I want is somethin to run in the snow so aside from the electronics what else needs to be sealed up if I were to purchase something like the traxxas Vilenion brushless set up? I’d greatly appreciate it if u could help me out. And… I WANT STICKERS!!! I’d gladly tat my new truck up with ur stuff.
Erich

Cubby– Hey now Erich, thanks for the email.

About question #1- Is the Duratrax Evader DT tranny “brushless ready”? Yes and no. We’ve run it on “typical” (2S low kv) BL power with no issues. So if you aren’t putting in crazy power, you shouldn’t have any issues. But… lets say you wanna crank in some ridiculous power (high cells counts and/or high kv’s), in that case the DT comes stock with a metal pinion, plastic spur, metal top shaft, plastic idler, plastic diff gear, metal planetary gears. and steel dog-bones. So…. to bomb proof the drivetrain for ultra high power use you’ll need to at least replace the idler (easy enough with Duratrax’s #DTXC8081- Aluminum Idler) and the diff gear. The most popular upgrade to the diff is to replace it with the one off an Associated B2. As far as I know, metal diff gears for the Evader are not readily available. If any of you readers out there have a hook-up for metal Evader diff gears, shoot us an email. Anywhos, the Associated B2 diff set-up can take substantially higher power than the stocker, but will not handle stupid power such as 3S plus.

Question 2- Once you’ve got all your electronics waterproofed, yes, there is still an issue with water/snow- your bearings. If you go out and get your snow drive’n on, the bearings in your wheels, tranny etc can (and will) rust in a matter of hours. After you run in snow/water, WD40 is your best friend, hit all your bearings with it.

Lastly, hit me with an addy and your stickers will be on the way.

That’s it for yet another week- submit your questions, comments, suggestions and apple pie recipes to Cubby at BigSquidRC dot com!

YOUR Cub Reporter