So this is what I did to no avail. Re-bind the tx/rx and recalibrate the esc. (there is some aluminum but most of it is a plastic chassis).

After doing this nothing changed...the steering works fine, esc fan powers up and makes the same beeps, but upon pulling the trigger it does some jerking back and forth and then stops - as in if I return the throttle to neutral and pull again it does nothing.

So unless someone else here has more ideas I'm gong to try another rx/tx to see if it works.