I’m wanting to do the same thing. I ruled out the TLR because it had all American hardware. All my tools are metric. I’ve got a lot of nice Hudy drivers for my electric drill and hand tools. I don’t want to buy all new stuff just because I bought a Losi. I also have lots of spare hardware which is all metric. I hear the new X is metric, but that doesn’t mean crap for the 4.0.

I like the Quality of Serpent but the support seems to suck. You can go to Serpent USA website and they are always out of stock on half the stuff they sell.

Tekno seems solid. Everyone has lots of nice things to say about them. They have a new version of their buggy, but not the truggy yet.

Mugen seems solid as well. I read lots of nice things about them. Their truggy is a brand new version, not likely to change anytime soon.

Associated? I don’t know. The stuff I read about them is guys are always switching out parts for parts from other trucks. Not something I would want to fool with.

The new Lutz brand, Agama I think it’s called? Whatever. Like Serpent, parts and kits aren’t widely available. I’ve been burnt by “new” brands in the past. I have a Sportwerks truggy. It was all the rage when it first came out. It worked well for me. Now you can’t find parts for it cause the brand was dropped for some reason. Where’s Agama gonna be in a couple years? Hopefully going strong, but I’m not gonna be in on it this early.