Researched Rusterl VXL for friend, I was impressed!
 

My friend bought a Stampede XL-5 last year and he's been dissapointed in the handling since day one. He's always fighting with it to keep it on course and every little thing seems to nock him around vs when I had my Savage Flux. It also has no freaking speed on a 6 cell brushed motor vs what i've seen on the velineon.

He's been thinking about getting something that handles better and he was looking into the Slash 4x4 when I told him that maybe the Rustler with the bigger tires would be better for bashing and jumping. We spent over and hour last night watching Rustler vids on youtube and I honestly have to say, I was pretty dang impressed with that VXL model that Traxxas has for it! Even on 7 cell nimh, that thing had plenty zip and good, but dayum, went peeps put in 2s or 3s Lipos in it, it was ballastic! Despite the speed, the thing seemed to handle a wide range of terrain very well, even in stock form.

That being said, what are some of the must needed upgrades on Rustler to help make it more bashable out of the box and or make it handle rough terrain better? We'll be bashing in a variety of dirt pits and rock piles and doing a large amount of jumps.

Thanks for your thoughts and insight!

I would suggest STRC aluminum shock caps and maybe an RPM gear cover and that's about it! The RPM cover seals better so you don't get dirt/gravel in your gears. As for the shock caps, the stock ones will pop off if you do big jumps. I got the Traxxas big bore caps, but they thread on VERY tight, and if I had to do it again, I'd go for the STRC ones. Upgrade the rest as you break stuff. It's a good time to get one too; Tower just dropped the price from 340 to 320.

I have both. They are not the same, lol. The rustler is great for smooth-ish offroad terrain. Tire size, ground clearance, and 2wd limits what it can handle.

Otherwise its a great freaking truck. Low CG, light weight, wide so it has great stability. And like you said, they are cheap.

Like norco kid said. Get every RPM upgrade there is. The transmission is already pretty bullet proof. The axles could use some help, but they do pretty good on 3s power.


Also, I would not buy a new one. I'd get a roller and build it up from there.