Bandit performance potential

[Saito]

I've bent some standard Traxxas shock shafts myself at times too. I will say that in my experience, Traxxas vehicles, like the Bandit, aimed at beginners are more durable than a modern beginner vehicle from Tamiya like the DT03. I admit that being a die hard Tamiya fan with dozens and dozens of Tamiya vehicles in my stable. That's not to hate on Tamiya, I love them, but they do what they do and budget Traxxas vehicles seem more durable.

[rc10nick]

In my personal experience I haven't raced my Traxxas any harder than I've raced any of my modern cars but I've certainly had more DNFs with the Traxxas.

I get that. But let's not forget what the 2wd Traxxas platform was designed for, being a budget beginner vehicle. They ARE cheap, and as an inexpensive vehicle, they will have limitations.

But all of those limitations can be cured and likely with less money than what a modern race car costs.

And I get that fixing and having to upgrade something gets old. But if someone wants a race car, they probably shouldn't buy a beginner's car.

I completely agree. It's almost not fair to compare my traxxas to some of the cars I've raced in the past. The traxxas is nearly half the cost and comes pre-assembled with electronics. No way you can hit the same level of quality of a modern race kit doing that. It just sounded to me that you were implying a bandit would be as durable as a modern race buggy rather than just making the point that traxxas gets a bad rap from people who expect a $170 buggy to withstand 6s torture.

[juicedcoupe]

It just sounded to me that you were implying a bandit would be as durable as a modern race buggy rather than just making the point that traxxas gets a bad rap from people who expect a $170 buggy to withstand 6s torture.

No, but I fully believe that a lot of the bad rap does come from people flat out abusing them. Insane power, jumping them off buildings, etc.

But with some mods, I do believe that the Traxxas vehicles can be made at least (or more) durable than a modern race vehicle. But that is just from the durability stand point.

[Lastplace]

I have 2 90s Rustlers and love them. They have had the crap beat out of them by my sons and are still excellent performs today.

[Chewbacca]

My oppinion to make a race worthy Bandit.

I bought my kids the Graupner Radicator II which is a hybrid of the Street Sport (chassis), TCP (front end) and Bandit (rear end and Transmission). So that is a vintage car, but close enough to the Bandit.

Anyway this is what I would do to build a race Bandit:

Shorten Chassis (aftermarket or original)

RPM arms front and back
Aluminum or RPM front bulkhead
RPM Transmission case
Sealed Diff from Hot Racing or Traxxas ball Diff for Rustler / Bandit
Turnbuckles

I believe that would be a decent rear moto racing platform.
Next step would be upgrading the shocks.

Now is it worth that? That you must answer for yourself. But sounds like a fun project to me.

[Saito]

I am thinking along those same lines for upgrades. Shortening the chassis will be the biggest step. That buggy is just so long. The original TRX-1 seemed long too, but not quite Bandit-long.

[RCveteran]

Bandit is really not all the different than TRX1 and slightly longer than TRX3. Here's some quick photos I just took. There are so many different length Traxxas arms across platforms and hex wheels are easy on these, you could bring a bandit down a bit with little effort.

[Saito]

Awesome! I really appreciate those comparison pics.

[RCveteran]

Now go build a race winning Bandit and report back

[Chewbacca]

Since the chassis itself has no kickup, and the original Bandit / Rustler chassis is like a dime a dozen the mod can be quite simple, unless you want to be able to change the wheelbase back again.

So to shorten the chassis I would simply cut the front end of the chassis off and drill 5 new holes:

Bandit_Chassis_2.JPG (21.19 KiB) Viewed 1801 times

Bandit_Chassis_2.JPG (21.19 KiB) Viewed 1801 times

Add a steering rack that allows to mount the servo sideways and you're set. I am actually going to do that with my kids cars, I just don't like how the steering hangs out of the side.

With a flat chassis the rear would be the way to go:

The old flat Chassis like TCP, TRX 1 / 2 had the rear shock tower mounted in line with the rear arm mounts, so 2 extra holes per side gives you 2 positions for the whole rear unit:

So to be honest there are options that are not too hard to achieve to shorten the wheelbase.

Good luck, and now surprise us with a cool build!