I use this grease in the rear of my daggers differential.
http://www.badhorsie.com/products/diff-lock-grease.html
It's viscosity is much like melted chewing gum...very sticky and slows the differential right down without locking it.
The Apex speed control is the best value for money one. I recommend it. Even if you don't plan to run 2 batterys it can be used with one battery by cross connecting the other battery terminal. Means if you decide to go 2 x batterys you have the ability to. Unfortunatily everyones is great except mines. Mines popped on it's second run. Might have been due to running 2 x freshly charged 7 cells on it (18v or so)
Don't let it put you off. It's great
As for the shocks, the plastic maxx shocks are best value for money. Tough, cheap to replace and lighter than un-nessasary alloy units. They are 4inches long i beleive. I use alloy ones with alloy towers (same as VTR nutter)
When you go to dual batterys you put a lot more weight and stress on stuff and it leads into more money and time to repair.
To keep it simple for just now here's something new i recommend for a motor selection.
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXJ765&P=7
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXUU50&P=7
The 2 motors look the same, but one is designed to spin forward and one is designed to spin in reverse. They have advanced timing for more power, but only in certain directions. They are 550/600 can sized so even though they are only 22 turns each, because of the advanced timing and the longer length they are far more torquey than the standard motors ever will be.
I recommend to buy these and do a "wet" break in technique some people use to maximise performance.
With these motors, i recommend to use deans connections on the motor wires and the battery wires. They have the same resistance as good wire, so less voltage drop by the time the volts hit the motor = more power
These motors can easily handle 14.4v, so if you decide to go to 2 x packs then you have the motors and speed control.
On 7 cells these motors will still fly...i recommend a single 7 cell pack on these motors.
I used one motor in my 1/12 scale 4x4 wheely king. Even though it's 1 motor, it could easily spin the wheels on gravel when pulling away and stuff...very torquey
With 20 tooth pinions i would guess a top speed of about 21mph on 1 x 7 cell and plenty of torque for donuts and stuff on dirt
To give you food for thought, here's 2 videos to check out
1 is my Wheely king with a moderate 7 cell. Using `1 of the above motors and deans connections. Holey torque!
Other one is my friends dagger. 2 x 28turn Ansman clash motors (cheap as chips), deans and the same battery. These are cheap 28turn 540 motors, and if you go for the above you will have more speed and power.
My friend is using larger tyres here so top speed is slightly more and acceleration is slightly less
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EmoM-5-rw4&feature=channel_page
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CtvKMhEb_0&feature=related
