RC4WD – Punisher Drive Shaft for Axial Scorpion Mini Review

Those of us that drive AXIAL Scorpions know that a good bind, or a powerful motor, can pop or snap our drive shafts. Well, RC4WD (RC4WD.com) has come up with a solution for this weak spot in the Scorpion driveline. The Punisher Shaft is a stainless steel shaft that is a direct replacement for the stock Axial plastic shaft. After upgrading the test Axial truck to a Novak Goat Brushless System, the drive shaft issue really came to light. We tried the reinforcement rings on the plastic shafts after the initial breakage, and they were not up to the task either. So there were two real choices. The truck could either be run timidly and hope that the shafts would hold, or a pair of the RC4WD Punisher Shafts could be installed and the rig could be driven aggressively. Thanks to this product, the truck held up great at it’s latest comp. There was no breakage in the driveline, and we had a great day of RC Rock Crawling instead of breaking.
These are about 4 times the cost of a replacement Axial plastic shaft and twice the total cost of a Traxxas plastic shaft/yolk replacement. If you are running a standard 55T Lathe motor with a 6-7 cell NiMH or 2 cell Lipo, these shafts are probably over-kill for your setup. But if you are running higher voltage and/or a brushless setup, these just may be the ticket for your truck. They definitely made my day by allowing the test truck to compete without any break-down.