HPI Savage Sway Bar Set. HPI Part # 102538

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Londoner

c0ckney geezer!!
Messages
973
Location
London, UK
This is my review of the new HPI savage sway bar set i recieved today.

HPI PART # 102538

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http://www.hpieurope.com/piw.php?lang=en&partNo=102538

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Parts included:

An instruction booklet.
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A small parts/screw bag.
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2 Different thicknesses of sway bars, 2mm and 2.4mm plus a 1.5mm hex key.
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And a tree of plastic parts.
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Installation of the set:

The booklet instructs you to remove the wheels, bumpers and plastic skids however i found this unneccesary as I'm running XL axles and 1/2" off set rims so my wheels are well clear of the areas where you need access but standard length axle and 0 offset rim users may want to remove them for easier access and i just removed the bumper mount ear clips from the shock tower and pulled down the plastic skid, this gave me all the room i needed, but for the rest I'm following the instructions.

First assemble the ball links, using the M3x10mm set screws, making 4 in total then push a ball stud into ONE end of each link only.
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Then assemble the sway bars/ball link stops leaving 5mm of bar protruding from the stop, M3x3mm set screws are used to hold the stops on the bar.
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Then press the ball end stops onto the links made earlier. I used the 2.4mm chrome bars.
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Now the bars are made, i put the first piece of hardware on the truck, the upper bar retainer, which also serves a neat dual purpose of keeping the upper arm hinge pins in place aswell! One 10mm binder screw is used for each retainer.
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Then the bars can be put in place and the lower bar retainer fitted, again using 10mm binder head screws.
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Here you can see where the lower bar retainer screws to either side of the bulk.
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Then another 2 M3x3mm set screws are used in the lower retainer just to snug the bar back into the groove thats already in the bulk, do not overtighten these.
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Then all thats left to do is to fit the bar links to the pre-drilled holes in the lower arms using M3x18mm screws.
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Repeat for the other end of the truck, the rear in my case and i was done in around 45mins!
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Testing

Took her out straight after fitting the kit, and the difference was noticable straight away, i really have to try hard or just be plain silly with the truck to get it to roll, I'm already running the RSC so id ideally like to see the difference before and after on a stock truck for true comparison but it definately helps to keep your truck flat.

Heres a few short vids that were taken, before just mucking around like this she would have been on her lid at least half a dozen times, i appologise in advance for my youngest son having a tantrum in the background lol kids.







Marks out of 10 scores:

Price: 10/10 I paid £22.30 for the kit, not from eBay just from a normal online hobby store and considering the price of most HPI parts in the UK and you do get quite a few parts in the bag i think its good value.

Quality: 10/10 I cant find any quality flaws with the kit, its usual HPI quality, seems fairly stury and doesnt look as though anything may break in a hurry.

Installation: 9/10 I found it fairly easy to fit the kit, there is some small parts so those of use with hands like bunches of bananas may find it a bit fiddly but there is an extra one of every screw included in the pack so if your like me and drop n lose one of the tiny M3x3mm set screws theres a spare lol took me around 45mins to fit it and most of that time was spent assembling the links and bars, fitting to the truck was a piece of cake.

Function: 10/10 I noticed the difference straight away on the slow turns but its on the long sweeping turns that the most improvement is gained, the truck stays much flatter, anything that improves the handling of our savages for a small price is a worthy upgrade IMO

Look: 10/10 Not really important to me how it looks but it does look good on the truck, i think it kinda gives my truck more of a truggy look and i used the chrome bar which looks good against the FLM chassis and other bits on the truck.

Overall this kit gets a total of 9.8 from me, I'm still yet to put it through some heavier testing, jumps etc though but if any problems do arise il post them back here.
 
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It took me around 45mins from opening the pack to completely finished, and also thats mucking around with my camera trying to get decent shots lol
 
and also thats mucking around with my camera trying to get decent shots lol

We all appreciate it man!! Great pics / review. If I'm not mistaken your the first to try these out so its good to hear about them after install!

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Londoner again.
 
very nice, always wanted a straight forward setup for sway bars and HPI answered the calling very well, thanks londoner, will be waiting for these to hit the web
 
I used the zip ties to keep the bumper supports together and keep the upper arm pin in place, its not really needed anymore but ive left it there to stop the bumper supports from spreading apart on nose dives and rear end landings.

The part # on the plastic parts tree is 102520, didnt think to look for that :resp:

Edit: at one end of the tree it has part # 102520 and the other end has 102521, its the 102521 end of the tree that has the upper hinge pin caps, but neither numbers are showing on HPI Europe site yet.
 
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The spare parts list/part numbers.

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The 2 different thickness bars have the same part number but the black 2mm is (a) and the chrome 2.4mm is (b)
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gotta get some for a build i'm doing for someone....OOOPPPPPsss....did I say that??????
 
Nice1 Soulja, theyre holding up well so far, taken a beating and plenty of bad landings without any breakages.
 
cool....another quality HPI product!
 
Sorry to bring this post back from the dead...

But great review and write up!

I am just wondering... And from someone who has tested them if you can answer some questions.

Does running the sway bar on the front really kill your turn in that much.

Would it be beneficial just running a single sway bar on the rear?

In your videos, were you running front and back sway bars?

THANK YOU
 

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