Pro-Line Pro-2 LCG Performance Chassis for Traxxas Slash Review
THE Pro-Line Pro-2 LCG Performance Chassis for Traxxas Slash Review
There are a number of companies making LCG chassis’s for the Traxxas Slash and Pro-Line is the most recent to throw their hat in the ring. Pro-Line has a rep for putting out the coolest of the cool, and the best of the best, so how does their new Pro-2 LCG chassis stack up? Let’s find out…
From: Pro-Line Racing
Direct Link: Pro-2 Performance Chassis
Review By: Cubby
Pics By: Cubby
Street Price: $120
Part Number: #6093-00
What Is It?: An upgrade chassis designed for greater durability and better handling than the stocker.
What’s In The Box: A lot of stuff. LOL. All the needed chassis parts, fasteners, and instructions.
Test Drivers: Cubby, Brian, Tim, and Iron Mike
Test Venues: RC Outlaws in Collinsville IL, Dirtburners in St Louis MO, backyard, and a CostCo parking lot
Review Platform: We used an extensively modified Slash for the chassis review. Our Slash was already loaded to the hilt with Pro-Line mods such as their performance transmission, steering rack, and suspension system. We used a Dynamite 3S Lipo SpeedPack for power, a Hitec servo to keep the front wheels pointed where we wanted them, a Castle Sidewinder speedo, a Castle 5700 kv motor, and a Futaba 4PK Super-R to control the beast.
Installation: No issues here, the Pro-Line kit bolted up easily. It was easy to see during the installation process that close attention had been paid to tolerances, thus provide a precise fit, or dare I say, a perfect fit. Also of note, compared to some of the other Slash chassis kits out there, the Pro-2 has a lot less screws and pieces involved, meaning a lot less stuff to build and fewer weak points to get tweaked during extreme use.
Handling: A stock Traxxas Slash does most everything well, but it does it slowly. For instance, there is a lot of chassis roll on a stock Slash, this helps make the truck easy to drive, but allows lower cg trucks to blow right by it on the track. And… because of the high center of gravity a stock Slash will traction rolls on high grip surfaces or when catching ruts. The Pro-Line Pro-2 chassis fixes all the handling ills of a stock Slash chassis.
Our Pro-2 initially had a bit of understeer, meaning it pushed in the corners. We were using a 3S Lipo for gnarly basher power, but the heavier than normal pack had thrown off the weight distribution. It was an easy fix moving the pack forward to where the Pro-2 had more neutral steering.
Comparing our Slash with the stock chassis to the Pro-2 was a night and day difference. The Pro-Line Pro-2 chassis yielded higher corner speeds and would simply eat a stock chassis alive through the “S” sections.
There is one drawback to the Pro-2 chassis handling wise- because it sits lower to the ground it doesn’t navigate grass or large rocks as well as the stocker. If you mainly drive your Slash in grass or on large clumpy dirt the additional ground clearance of the stock chassis is a plus. But… if you drive your Slash on smoother surfaces the Pro-Line Pro-2 chassis proved to be a huge benefit in every circumstance.
Durability: Attempting to destroy a chassis is some evil stuff. We purposely cased jumps, lawn darted, butt landed, and smashed into hard objects to our hearts content and the Pro-Line chassis remained non-taco’ed and did not get tweaked. The Pro-2 chassis doesn’t have a lot of excessive bracing, but is made out of 7075 aluminum and used upturned sides to provide strength. It was quite obvious a designer (with some common sense) sat down with a blank sheet of paper and plotted out a simple yet strong design. They hit the nail on the head.
Issues: Zero that we came across.
Misc Notes:
Fit and finish on all the chassis pieces was exceptional, typical Pro-Line. All the metal pieces were perfect, as were all the molded plastic parts, kudos.
The nerf bars were smartly done on the Pro-2 kit. Angled to the rear and fairly flexible, they perform their function properly.
All our actions shots of the Pro-2 were taken true basher style, sans body. We did this for a few reasons- to show off the chassis, to be a tougher test of the chassis, and lastly, to pay some homage to all you super gnar-core bashers out there.
This has nothing to do with the chassis kit, but our PL tuned Slash uses the extended PL body mounts which come with Pro-Line’s screw on body clip replacments (they really need a formal name). Any which way, I freak’n totally dig the screw on PL body clip replacements. They don’t get knocked off while driving, they don’t get permanently “borrowed” by your buddies, and they totally rock. I wish every car/truck came stock with them.
Also something that doesn’t have anything to do with the actual Pro-Line chassis- our truck uses the PL steering rack which comes with the best working servo saver of its type. The PL rack uses the typical V cut servo saver, which on most cars barely works then stops working all together after a few runs. The PL unit worked awesome, better than any other of its design I’ve ever used. Another kudos.
The Pro-2 chassis uses velcro to keep your battery in place. Velcro is great for using different sized battery packs, it allows you to quickly go from a 2S to a 3S pack, a hard case to a soft pack, etc.
The instructions were minimal but did the job. Most importantly, they came in paper form with the chassis kit. I hate viewing instructions on a computer while wrenching, thankfully the Pro-2 came in proper written paper form.
Summary:
Time to Bash – 8/10 – The Pro-Line chassis went in exceptionally smoothly, but an entire chassis swap isn’t a quick mod.
Car Show Rating – 9/10 – The anodized chassis looks uber-trick, but the molded plastic pieces keep it from being a “10”. Molded plastic is certainly a good material for the job it was intended for, but for “car show rating” carbon fiber would have landed the PL a perfect score.
Bash-A-Bility – 10/10 – We broke various other parts on the Slash while trying to taco the Pro-2 chassis, but the chassis itself was unharmed. This is the strongest Slash LCG chassis we’ve tested.
Handling – 9.5/10 – Awesome handling chassis, great in the corners and in the rough. A true night and day difference from the stocker.
Value – 9/10 – The PL chassis is the same price as the Anza, and a bit more than some of the others on the market, but arguably it outperforms them all.
BigSquid Rating – 9.1/10 – Tentacles. The Pro-Line Pro-2 performance is the best LCG Slash chassis we have reviewed. It handles at least as well as its competitors and is a stronger and better executed design. Whether you are a racer looking to put your Slash into the A, or a basher simply looking for a chassis that doesn’t traction roll or taco, the Pro-2 hits the mark for both, proof of a truly excellent overall design.
