I took the truck to my local track (Palomar Raceway) on Saturday. I wanted to test it stock out of the box (after brake-in) to see how it performed. I have to say it did pretty well. My Revo will handle circles around the stock ST, but that's a different story.

I made a couple laps, checked the temp, all was fine. The brakes were very weak, and the steering seemed off a bit as well. Then I discovered the EPA on the Hitec radio (duh). Setting the steering to turn all the way helped quite a bit, but it was no superstar and the brakes were getting worse with time. Handling left a little to be desired, but a few tweaks on the camber, toe, and suspension should fix things up a bit. A couple laps more and a hard landing... Now I have front wheel drive only. Time to go home.

I took it all apart. I fixed the rear wheels getting no power. The setscrew holding the rear outdrive to the primary gear assembly came loose. I put some thread lock on it and tightened it down, problem solved.

I took a look at the brakes and noticed that the rear brakes were engaging before the front brakes. So much so that the front brakes weren't able to really grab the rotors in front. I adjusted all of the brake linkages so the fronts grab first and the rears come in for back up. Problem solved (maybe, I'll test it this coming weekend).

I tried my best to eliminate some of the slop in the steering linkage, but I'm not sure I helped it all that much. I do think I got rid of some binding that was occuring with the servo horn, and possibly a little bit from where the axle carriers mount with the front uprights. I'll be testing again this coming weekend but I'm going to guess that the steering setup (not the servo) is the weak link in this vehicle.

One other thing I noticed is excessive chassis flex at the rear of the vehicle. The front seems fine, but I think a different rear brace setup is in order. If I get a chance, I'll share my findings from next week.