Need Help with a Decision! 1/10 4x4 SCT

[kevinatfms]

4x4 Short Course Trucks.....hmmmm, thought i would never go to the dark side of the SCT world and grab one but i have been intrigued after this past weekend. I have been looking over them for the past few days and checking them out at the track. Truck will be used for track only bashing(test & tune days and open practice) and light race days at club levels, not looking for an a-main winner, just something to compete with and maybe place once in a while if my driving is on par. Parts support at a local level is a must, especially on race days. Our shop carries AE, Losi, Traxxxas and Durango and can get Kyosho very easily.

So the big questions are which one, why, pro's, con's and must do upgrades....

Team Associated SC10 4x4
Team Associated Prolite
Traxxas Slash 4x4
Team Losi Ten-SCTE
OFNA TS4
OFNA NExx 10SC
ECX Torment 4x4
Team Durango DESC410
Tekno SCT410


I will say that im not a fan of the Losi, ECX, OFNA NExx trucks at all. I would consider them if someone gave me some good points as to why they are a better choice.

 

[Razdawg]

Ofna stuff is usually rock solid. I have a LX1e that will take a beating but YMMV. I think the Ts4 is the same as a Team C truck and can be had from some online store with a bunch of hop up's already installed. Found it ->http://evohobbies.com/rc-car-truck-kits/short-course-trucks/4wd-short-course-kits-rtr-s/team-c-ts4-4wd-short-course-pro-kit.html

I have heard that the SC10 4x4 is kind of funky to work on and may be on it's way out (message board rumor).

Teckno is supposed to be the bee's knees for racing but not sure how it would be as a basher.

Traxxas is Traxxas so you know you will get parts.

I have heard good things about Losi Ten but never seen one in person.

 

[JKRacing37]

Big questions - racing indoor or outdoors? Size of track? Surface type?

The only way I would consider the SC10 4x4 is if it was a tight, indoor, high tack track. 4x4 class tends to be on the rough side, and the lighter weight of the SC10 works against it when people start trading paint. If a Tekno or SCTE and a SC10 collide, 9 time sout of 10 the SC10 gets the worst of it. The lightweight can be a benefit on a tighter, high grip track. The truck is finicky to set up and tires and it's also long in the tooth. I'd be worried that since practically every other Associated vehicle has received an update and the SC10 4x4 hasn't that it might be on it's way out.

If I were to jump into 4x4 there would only be a choice to make for me would be between the Tekno and SCTE 2.0. Both are rock solid in terms of reliability and performance. All things being equal (parts support, etc) I would flip a coin and be happy with either.

Everything else on the list would only be considered if I could get a SMOKING deal and parts support is out of this world.

 

[kevinatfms]

sorry to clarify, track is indoor, hard packed clay with loose portions at the insides and outsides of corners. track itself is one long straight with lots of technical sections inbetween with a few sections of doubles and a few single berms. tires used this past year have been rebars, goosebumps, ions...with mixed to good results.

 

[kevinatfms]

looking at the sc10 4x4, does it take regular lipo packs? looks like it only takes the side by side packs....???

 

[RCBuilder]

The SC10 4x4 Factory Team kit uses saddle packs, but (if you can still get them) the non-FT kit and RTR versions used regular stick packs

I have a SC10 4x4 regular kit with the upgrade it kit (http://www.team-associated.com/news/latest_products/809-NEW!_SC10_4X4_Upgrade_Kit/) so now it uses saddle packs. You should be able to switch the FT kit to a stick pack configuration if you wanted.

Tower Hobbies just had a sale on Durango kits, so I picked up the DESC410 v2 Pro kit for a good price.


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[HDMM]

I've always been a dedicated Team Associated guy, been racing them since the Gold Pan came out. I have the SC10.2 FT, a older SC10 and a SC10B RS. I wanted to give 4x4 racing a try as well so this past summer I picked up a second hand SCTE (1.0), with the TLR chassis and some other upgrades. Let me tell you, that truck impressed me, awesome handling, easy to drive. A few friends of mine had AE's and had diff issues with them. If I was going to buy a new 4x4 SCT, it would be the updated Losi SCTE 2.0 hands down. The SCTE 2.0 addressed some of the weaknesses the 1.0 had and it's a very well equipped racer out of the box.

 

[kevinatfms]

I went with the slash 4x4 platinum edition. Was about 2 seconds away from buying the Losi SCTE 2.0 but the price tag nearly gave me a heart attack. $570 is way too steep for a truck that will not get raced as much as it should. Team Durango and the Associated Prolite were also close but didnt like the AE's grub screws or body mount issues and the Durango seemed to have zero following among the other seasoned racers. Most said that they saw Durango's going away from our local scene due to lack of parts support compared to the AE/Losi/TRX brands.

So for $360 with Tower Hobbies coupons and some paypal money left over from some time ago i purchased the Slash Platinum 4x4. Its the 6804R model with the factory LCG and GTR high volume shocks. If i were to go with the Prolite and tower coupons i would have been right at $300 but the grub screws bother me too much to go after it.

I hope its as good as the one i drove the other night at the track. Seemed like a better version that the HCG slash 4x4 that i drove a while back that was on its roof more than on its wheels.
Thanks for everyone who contributed. I think i got the best thing for the money i spent and hope to have fun with it.

 

[andymac0035]

The track here is just like the one you described. I got 2nd in the points last summer with..... a HCG slash 4x4.
With winter here all the heavy hitters came and things got a lot tougher. The Losi's and durango's are tough to compete with.... the LCG slash, not so much. No idea why, as it should be, but all who switched from HCG to LCG, have not been all that happy. I think I have lost one qualifier and zero a-mains to the LCG, it makes no sense, but that is what has been going on here.

The "paint-trading" has gotten pretty bad in 4WD though, and I usually run 2WD now, as stock and mod/open are a lot cleaner classes to run. I swear I think I have as much shoe-goo and drywall tape as I do lexan on my body....

Just keep that slash cleaned out well and get 2 things and you will have lots of fun.
Get a chassis brace, and get the kingsheadz motor mount.

 

[JKRacing37]

The LCG helps but the slash is still strapped with some things that hold it back from being more competitive, mainly arm length and shock mounting positions.


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[HDMM]

I went with the slash 4x4 platinum edition. Was about 2 seconds away from buying the Losi SCTE 2.0 but the price tag nearly gave me a heart attack. $570 is way too steep for a truck that will not get raced as much as it should. Team Durango and the Associated Prolite were also close but didnt like the AE's grub screws or body mount issues and the Durango seemed to have zero following among the other seasoned racers. Most said that they saw Durango's going away from our local scene due to lack of parts support compared to the AE/Losi/TRX brands.

So for $360 with Tower Hobbies coupons and some paypal money left over from some time ago i purchased the Slash Platinum 4x4. Its the 6804R model with the factory LCG and GTR high volume shocks. If i were to go with the Prolite and tower coupons i would have been right at $300 but the grub screws bother me too much to go after it.

I hope its as good as the one i drove the other night at the track. Seemed like a better version that the HCG slash 4x4 that i drove a while back that was on its roof more than on its wheels.
Thanks for everyone who contributed. I think i got the best thing for the money i spent and hope to have fun with it.

If your not really gonna race it much, you will have a blast with the Traxxas, I had a couple of the 2wd Slash's and had them for almost 5 years. My kids beat them, I beat them, friends beat them and they kept on going.

 

[kevinatfms]

I have 2 2wd slash trucks now, going to back down to 1 and just have 1 4wd and 1 2wd. I am also building a rustler to have some fun out on the open days. doubt it could ever be competitive.