ASK Cubby – You Write’em, I Ignore’em

“X-Maxx

Cubby,

Do you have any set-up suggestions on the X-Maxx? Just picked one up from a friend, are there any immediate mods that you know of?

Bradley H.”

Cubby- Hola there Bradley, thanks for taking a bit of your day to write in to BigSquidRC. If you email me your home addy, I will shoot ya out one of our sticker packs.

So ya, as I’ve been on a “large scale kick” of late, I get in weekly trigger time with the X-Maxx.

So, a couple things. Early on, the X-Maxx was a 6S truck, and you don’t mention if you got the 6S, or one of the later 8S units. I very highly recommend the 8S version, that’s what I drive, but if you did get a 6S version, it can be easily updated/upgraded. Also, as I’ve gotten older, the more I’ve grown to hate wrenching. I don’t send my X-Maxx every weekend. Now, I do drive it hard, but not around hard objects, and not off huge jumps. I know how hard the X-Maxx can go without breakage, so I try to keep my driving well under the limit, so I can drive more, and wrench a whole lot less. With that said…

As far as how I set up an X-Maxx for “weekly bashing with minimal wrenching”, these are the mods I’ve done to the standard 8S truck.

Tires were probably the biggest change. The stock units aren’t bad, but Pro-Line’s Badlands tend to get a lot more grip in the ugly conditions that I normally drive in. Next up are shock shafts and springs. The only thing that I used to break consistently on the X-Maxx was shock shafts. P-L makes gnarlier units that I’ve bolted on to reduce breakage. Also, while I was wrenching on the shocks, I installed heavier springs with 40 weight AE oil up front, and 35 weight AE in the rear. The firmer springs do a good job of reducing chassis roll in the corners, and I also the run ride height as close to bones level as I can.

To boil it down, the stock 8S Traxxas X-Maxx is a great backyard basher, a truck that doesn’t need any mods to be fun (unless all you do is send it, and that is never cheap). I still use the stock power system, as it has more than enough power for the type of driving that I do now days, and its power output is relatively easy to control/put down to terra firma. Take yours out for a couple drives, after that, you’ll have a great idea if you want more power, or if other major changes are needed to suit how you are driving/using the beast.

“Ford Raptor 4×4

Hi Cubby,

Ive seen, actually my 5 years old son, a ford raptor 4wd on you tube. Now I’m trying to get this truck but dont know how. Is there a possibility that you send it to us, we live in Marinilla Colombia. Also checked my home country, Netherlands, but that’s too expensive.

Can you help us out, I also do need a few spare parts, a charger .

Thanks a lot for spending your time.

Bob H.”

Cubby- Ya see, here at Big Squid, we really do get all sorts of questions. From the best that I can tell, old Bob here saw some sort of rc Raptor on YouTube, and I guess thought we are just handing them out for free. So yo Bob, I am sorry, we don’t have free trucks, or parts, or chargers just laying around the office. However, we do have March Bash-Ness coming up! And that is when we do tend to whip free trucks around. So Bobby, just wait a few weeks, then you’ll get a great shot at something really cool!

Have some sort of legible question? Need the worst possible answer? Have a rant that you just have to get off your chest? Email me- thecubreportrc at gmail dot com.