CAT XLS - parts that wear out

[sondeen]

Hello,
I recently purchased a partially built CAT XLS Masami Kit, it came with the upgraded transmission. I plan to build and run this car a fair bit. This is my first experience with a Schumacher kit. Due to the fact that this kit is now out of production, I suspect spare parts may become scarce in coming years. I thought I may be wise to pick up some spares for common wear items now while they are available. Can anyone offer any info on what parts on these cars wear out with use or are particularly prone to breaking? This is what I have in mind to pick up for spares:

Tires
Shock rebuild kits.
Spare Body Shell, wing, undertray
Diff Rebuild kit
Ball cups

Any other items I should add to the list?
Thank you

[R6cowboy]

Since it's brought up, I also have an XLS, still NIB. This is certainly some good to know info. I should actually open it up to make sure everything is there. Thanks for posting.

[coxbros1]

I too built one this winter....then upgraded the tranny after it was built, what a pain!...done now. Raced it last weekend with a 9.5t brushless and shorty lipo. no issues except i got beat by my brothers Avante

[R6cowboy]

I too built one this winter....then upgraded the tranny after it was built, what a pain!...done now. Raced it last weekend with a 9.5t brushless and shorty lipo. no issues except i got beat by my brothers Avante

In your opinion, is the trans upgrade pretty much unnecessary if staying brushed with 7-cell nimh or 2s lipo at best? I'm 99.5% sure mine will never get a brushed setup..... or built, if the wife ever quits coming up with home projects

[coxbros1]

yes if u stay brushed stock is cool! Keep the center diff TIGHT or the tranny makes a clicking noise making u think its the belt skipping but it not. Only other tip i have and this is VERY IMPORTANT! assemble the steering bell crank on the top plate 1st! way before u assemble rest of car....do it 1st thing out of the kit.....then everything else is normal. Its tricky but straight forward built....very complex

[sondeen]

Thanks for the feedback thus far on things to be aware of. Lucky for me the whole tranny and the steering rack are already installed. However to remove the under tray for painting it looks like a bunch of stuff will need to be undone!

I have read the claims that the build is complex. This perception must come from the fact that you must sort of build several systems of the car simultaneously. You are putting together the transmission and the chassis and the under body all at once. Other cars I have built go together in discrete steps, i.e. you completely build the tranny separately, then bolt it to the chassis as a complete unit.

I did some more research today, and most of what I find claims this car is quite durable, I found no complaints about a particular weak point. On that note the plastic material feels really high quality. Anyhow, I emailed Schumacher today to ask about their plan to support this car with spares in the future. Let's see what they have to say.

[coxbros1]

Yes the undertray is the first step in the build! removing it means dissembling the entire car☹

[XLR8]

The CAT is very unique and extremely durable. I think that's a good list of spare parts to keep on hand.
To remove the undertray, remove wing and body, invert the car and remove the bumper (4 screws). Finally, remove the remaining 8 screws securing the undertray to the chassis plate. If you are careful, there's no need to disassemble the entire car to remove the undertray.

[sondeen]

Thanks for the info Doug. Schumacher replied to my email (in a matter of hours) regarding long term spare part availability:

"We plan to offer spares support for the foreseeable future, as you may notice on our website, we still have spares available for models that are 10+ years old. Spares are readily available, as you will see at the link below…" and provided a link to the Schumacher page for ordering XLS spares.

So I conclude there seems like no rush to stock up on too many spares beyond some basics for now.

I plan to finish building and paint so I can run this in the coming summer, and hopefully don't discover a weak spot.

[terry.sc]

Schumacher still make and sell parts for cars that are over 25 years old, as long as there is a demand and they can actually make the parts they will still keep making them. If their moulding machines are idle it is easy for them to pop in an old mould and make a few parts.

They have stopped selling complete kits because they have run out of boxes, packaging,etc. that they don't make in house and can't justify the investment in another batch. Lockdown meant sales went through the roof.

For example if you were to set up in business and make a kit you need a box, instruction manual, and packaging and labels for all the parts, so you have to get them printed for you. A box printing company will have a set up cost, and it could mean you have to buy for example 5000 boxes as a minimum. So you order 5000 boxes as you think that's as many kits you are likely to sell over the kits lifetime. Everyone rushes out and buys the kits in the first few months, then as normal the number of sales drops off and you are selling a few each month.
4 years later you run out of packaging, you have two options. If your sales have dropped off to one kit a week, that's only 50 kits a year you are going to sell. If it costs you just $1 for the box and all packaging, that means you would have to spend $5000 minimum to keep on selling kits, when you are likely to make at most $500 a year from it. As a business it makes sense to stop selling kits.

For Schumacher spares is the opposite as the part is just put in a generic bag with a header card, as long as customers keep buying spares. For plastic parts as long as the mould is fine they can keep making and selling spares. Metal parts might need to be ordered in batches, but as long as sales numbers justify the smaller quantities they have to order in, again they will keep making them.

[Sprocket]

Complex and a pain to build. Very interesting engineering piece though. Injust need to find some time to finish mine. Any ideas on Schumacher’s next rere?