ASK Cubby – So Many Questions, So Little Answers

“More Traxxas UDR Tires

What’s up Cubby? During Covid got a new Traxxas UDR, what kinda tires you running?

Donald M.”

Cubby- Hey ya there Donny, not much new here except still in fairly serious lock-down mode. I live in a large metro area, so my area is still in hardcore mode. I hope that you, and the people that live in your area, are doing well.

OK, so about those Traxxas UDR tires. I use two different sets. The stockers are actually really good for high bite surfaces. How is that? Well, the stockers are a fairly hard compound and that can give the truck a bit of slide. Slide can be good for keeping the truck from traction rolling, thus making the truck easier to drive on high-bite, and IMO, it also looks more scale that way (when sliding around more).

However, when I am looking to crush the other guys around the office, I slap on a set of Pro-Line Hyrax. Now those can be a bit hard to find at the moment, as I think every UDR owner is trying to buy a set right now, LOL, but they have far superior traction. The Hyrax have a lot more forward, and side bite, than than stockers. On looser surfaces, like gravel, leaves, hard-packed dirt with a dust layer, etc, the Hyrax give the truck a whole lot more grip, which means more speed.

So there ya go Don, those are the two types of tires that I run on my UDR, send me a pic of whatever you end up buying.

“Upgrade My X-Maxx

Cubby,

After trading a crawler for my buddy’s Traxxas X-Maxx, what do you think are the cheap mods a stocker needs most? I’ve driven it a couple packs and it seems fun. It mostly all stock right now, but I want to build it up right.

Leo B.”

Cubby- So Leo, you went from the ultra-slow world of crawling, to the crazy world of large scale monster trucks. Interesting choice, LOL.

So, what would I immediately do to a bone stock 8S Traxxas X-Maxx? My absolute first choice would be to upgrade the stock shock shafts with a set from Pro-Line. These help bomb-proof the truck and are well worth their weight in gold.

But what about power? I like the stock 8S system. It isn’t crazy fast like a typical 6-8S 1/8 monster truck, but it has good, drive-able power. If anything, I would play with gearing for where, and how, you drive. Not fast enough for the way your drive? A new brushless system will fix that problem ASAP, but won’t be “cheap”.

Otherwise, I would change out the stock tires. The stockers are actually a decent “all-around” tire, and really not a bad choice if you drive a 50/50 mix of pavement and dirt, but a set of Pro-Line Badlands is a large jump in raw traction. And while the Badlands are not a good choice for people that only run on pavement (pavement tends to quickly round the edges), the Badlands are the best you can buy for traction in the dirt.

For me, that’s really the only two things I would do right out of the gate. After that, do some driving, see how things are working for ya, and go from there.

Have a totally random question? Need the perfectly wrong answer? Have a wacky rant that you just have to get off your chest? Email me- thecubreportrc at gmail dot com.