I recently got a used Savage Flux XL and when I went to use it the rear wouldn't move. I pulled the diff apart and found it was a broken gear inside. Looking on Ebay I they are specifying the bulletproof diffs as 29T/9T. So are these not going to be a direct fit to my diffs that are apparently not bulletproof? If I do the rear do I need to do the front too to make it the same ratio? Do I need the 9T?

Post a pic of the broken gear. Almost all hp trucks came with bulletproofs except for the first run

U can get a complete diff asembly in the bulkheads just drop it in an go for like 40.00 i would do both just to know they are new

count the teeth on your gears to see what you have. if you have the bulletproof design they will be 29t ring gear and 9t pinion gear. if you have a 43/13 tooth diff gears you have the early non bulletproof design, in wich case i would highly recommend you upgrade to the bulletproof ring and pinion. the non bulletproof ones wont last, a friend of mine went through 6 diffs in his flux conversion before we changed it to the bulletproof diffs. and yes, you have to change both at the same time because the gear ratios are different.

Its a 9T. The bevel gear on the right hand side was snapped right in half. I guess not so bulletproof. My Associated Rival has been taking a beating for 8 months now still holding up well.

it sounds like you broke one of the bevel gears, not the ring gear. The bulletproof only comes into play when talking about the ring and pinion gear, the internals are the same. It's a pretty common issue with the savage flux trucks.

Well, I didn't exactly get the info I needed here. I ended up buying a complete diff from a new 4.6 and hoped it would fit. I did not fit. The only difference is the dogbones won't go into it(too small). Thankfully the internals were the same but I had to take it all apart again to make it happen. I can say that the Savage suck to work on and is poorly designed. The AE Rival is by no means perfect but now that I have had a chance to own, drive, and work on both I can honestly say that I feel the Rival is drastically underrated compared to the Savage series. Its easier to work on and way handles better. The AE Rivals major downfall is the crappy electronics. They should either offer it as roller or put some real electronics it so people don't pay $175 more then they should just to have to throw them away and buy better stuff. Down the road I could easily see letting go of the Savage in favor of another Rival.

Its too bad that u feel that way. I always thought savages were the easiest to work on, but then again i never had a rival.

If you ever want to sell the savage hit me up and i would gladly take it off your hands lol

PMed you.

pm answered

Cody, I too have both and I couldn't agree more. The Rival is an often overlooked platform. It is easily my favorite truck to date.

the savage diffs are actually easy to work on, most people dont bother to look at a manual to see how they come apart. all you do is remove the bumper support clips, remove the 4 skidplate screws and flex the skidplate down, and remove 4 screws that hold the cover on the diff and slide it off and the diff pops right out. i find the only "hard" thing about working on the savage is if you have to get to the lower transmission gear, it requires you to remove one chassis plate. aside from that they are pretty easy to work on.

and yes, there are quite a few different combos of differential parts out there. the savage has been out for more than 10 years now, they have upgraded the drivetrain many times. currently they have 4 different diff setups, the x ss non bulletproof/small drive cup, x rtr and new xl sinter bp/small cup, old xl machined bp/small cup, and flux machined bp/large cup. it would be nice if they could just narrow it down to one setup, but at least the parts in the diffs are interchangable.

Disagree. The xl is so easy to understand. I own one and am I rookie to the hobby but can easily tear the truck apart and put it back together no problem. Study your vehicle and it's smooth