Something like this? http://blackbeardrc.com/store/index....products_id=10

I have the Exotek chassis with there saddle pack brackets. I was doing some test yesterday, I installed Mantis 2 stage pistons, which work awesome. The chassis is well balanced with the batteries upfront the truck felt stable. I thought of drilling the chassis and putting the B44.1 brackets, I had them on my original chassis, but after thinking it through the chassis is too expensive to swiss cheese it. Plus the brackets from Exotek are pretty cheap.

Clutch basket...Check. Exotek chassis...Check. Saddle bracket...Check. Garodisc...waiting.
saddle pak lipo...waiting. Very Excited!

Thanks, but as long as it keeps my truck from browning out....

My track is hardpack clay with a light dust covering on it. Usually pretty dry and slick. What would be better to run, the high torque clutch basket or a pinned top shaft (yielding full time 4wd)? I'm thinking I should run the clutch basket without the pinned top shaft. If the top shaft is locked it would mean all four wheels could slip whereas the clutch basket would send power to the wheels with traction. However if the power is evenly distributed to all four wheels all the time it may be better.

Suggestions? Also, what kind of tire should I run for those conditions?

try the pin setup first and see if your front and rear diff are doing work and adjust the stock slipper setup as needed, as far as tires run ss wishbones or m4 suburbs.

What is the track? I see you are from VA, if its ECH then wishbones or rebars.

I say get the basket . I have run mine pinned and unpinned and used the basket on both . They each do different things and shouldn't get confused . Once you have done the pin mod it takes a matter of minutes to change from one to the other . I run on a similar track surface and have found unpinned with the basket to be the way to go at present . Once my center diff arrives hopefully that will be the hot setup . Rebars and Wishbones work well and have also had good results with Holeshots .

Evil, I run at a privately owned backyard track near Richmond.

Aren't the wishbones and rebars best suited for blue groove or indoor tracks? I was thinking that the gridirons would be a better choice for hardpack with dust/sand on top.

Anybody think the RTR's Reedy 550-SL 3500kV 4-pole brushless motor would be worth racing? Would I even stand a chance in a mod class with that thing?

I'm hearing the stock RTR servo is slow, and of course the tires are trash. But I'm looking to get away with changing as little as possible on the RTR version of this truck to make it race worthy. I'm not trying to vie for first place, I just want to be competitive.

No that motor probably wouldnt be competitive imo, at least not at the tracks i race at

Yes. Also Calibers, Holeshots, and Snipers work well in those conditions.

Could just be my ignorance, but I would think that the slipper would end up giving power to the wheels that do not have traction since those wheels are spinning free, then ones with traction would require more torque to turn thus causing more slip.

i drove one and actually the power was very decent and the tires were not all that bad, it just depends on the track you run on , this one had moist clay and they hooked up good enough to race with. but that servo has to go ASAP. i would spend you rmoney on sway bars, garodisc and tires before i messed with the powertrain.

If you get to the point where your driving it so well that you can tell that you really need the extra power, then go ahead and spend the $350 on an Tekin RX8 and Pro4, otherwise I would just keep running the stock stuff.

The slow servo might not be too bad, this truck has a high steering ratio, I can only run 85% travel on mine. Slower speed can make it feel less twitchy.