Originally Posted by
CoryD
The serpent is good except it seems to have a fatal defect. The front diff gears appear to have an issue. 3 of our club pro's run this truggy and each of them went through two pairs of the diff gears:
http://serpent.com/product/600201/
I am sure Serpent will, and possibly has addressed this already; personally, this kills the brand for me. Of your listed brands, I would probably go with the RC8T (If you're an above average driver) or the D8T. The D8T will wear faster than the other brands so keep in mind that the low price of the kit is deceiving. It's handling however is very good.
All this being said; if most racers at your home track are running kit X go with kit X. It makes getting emergency parts a whole lot less stressful.
Later,
Cory, I remember a couple of guys mentioned the diff problem to me in Winnipeg..got me a little stressed out at the time
especially when Steve told me he thought he could hear my rear diff clicking ( I went back to the hotel that night and built a complete rear end and had it ready to drop in, just in case, but it's still sitting in my spare parts bin because I never needed it..maybe I'm one of the lucky ones, or quite possibly, my time is coming
lol.
I never felt that the RC8T lacked turn-in, and mine was very stable in the rough. My main complaint was the TB rod ends breaking, and the loose rear coming out of a turn. With the Serpent, I'm able to get on power much sooner without the rear getting skittish. Aside from that, the RC8T is very durable.
It wasn't until the Mugens showed up in our club that I decided to go Serpent. I felt like I had to really push it to keep up, while they ( Mugen boys ) made the speed look effortless. I was actually going to buy a Mugen, until I saw how fragile the arms are..crazy part is, some of the Mugen drivers say that they never break, but from what I ( and all of our club members ) have witnessed, they break, and break often, even when they aren't being pushed. Durability is number one to me, and the Mugen unfortunately failed in this area, and the fact that some will deny this issue, makes it more annoying when I've seen them break in the exact place, every time, so often. Don't get me wrong, I love the trucks performance, but I like
finishing my races.
Never owned a Hot Bodies, but they look like they mean business on the track, and it seems that most guys that own them seem to love them..must be good if you ask me. I know that the price of admition is right, but to me, that's the cheapest part of racing ( buying the kit ), and I'm willing to fork out the extra money up front, in order to save buying more spare parts because of high wear, amounting to much more money in the end than paying for a quality rig up front..all the plastic on my Serpent is still tight and shiny, after several gallons.
The best I can tell somebody is to try driving all the brands your interested in, and pick what fits you best.