Hello everyone.
I'm from the south east Michigan area, I've been into RC since the mid 1980s and grew up with a ton of Nitro, brushed, and brushless trucks & buggies over the years. (lots of airplanes too).
I had an original Savage 21 when they first came out, and had a blast with it during what some people consider the HPi Savage's golden years from about 2003 until about 2008 for me and several of my friends, and family during those years. I still think it was the first and ultimate basher !! And can still hold its own.
I slowly evolved and modified my savage 21 over the first few years, and by the time I sadly and regretfully sold it in 2009'ish,,, it had ended up with a XL chassis extension kit, .28 SH motor, 3-speed trans upgrade, and monster GT wheels & tires. I used to do lots of tweaks to the clutch for more punch from a dig, and loved adjusting and tinkering with the carb needles and the transmission shift points and etc. It was very quick at the time I thought.
Through out the years since then I've been thru countless (and still have) other brushless RC trucks and buggies. And because I needed a savage in my life again,,, in 2015 I built up a savage flux; again with the XL chassis kit, and the modern Terra-pin tires and wheels (at that time). Don't know what it is, but the Terra-pin look on those just gets me! plus they act like big soft pillows and absorb a ton of hits.
Absolutely loved the XL flux i did,, but against my better judgment I sold it in order to fund toward a Losi DBXLe buggy. (thought I was upgrading).
Since then I really mis the savage platform no matter what else I own or have had. I even currently have an Xmaxx and a 6s Kraton also. But the savage platform has me hooked and I want to go back to another one or two! LOL....
so again about a month ago I picked up really nice condition savage Flux that had already been extended and simply looked great for the asking price. I jumped on it and cleaned it up a bit and went thru a few things on it, and again installed the Terra Pin tires and Mag-8 wheels on it. I have no intentions of making the same mistake again and getting rid of this one or any other Savages I'm hoping to acquire in the near future.
This brings me to the key reason I've joined this forum and posted here today.... In a nutshell; I'm looking to get into a good used Savage XL 5.9...
Some pretty descent looking previously owned ones are posted for sale in several venues. I've decided to look for the 2014+ models which I understand had a few updates,, but primarily they only have 4 shocks rather then 8 shocks ( i like that) and improved ring & pinions, and some other tweaks I guess. As much as I love the savages,, I wasn't always up on the newer models that much a few years ago,, all I had noticed was the newer ones had 4 shocks rather then 8. I didn't know much else had been done to them as far as improvements go. And I want an XL to make sure I end up with a 3-speed trans also, and of course the longer wheel base that I prefer.
Recently I've really got a bug about doing a Nitro truck(s) again. A few months ago I picked up a HPi trophy truggy 4.6 for an absolute steel of a price locally. Got it all fixed up and cleaned up,,, and the stock used 4.6 motor was in great condition upon tear down & inspection of the piston, sleeve, and compression felt perfect while using the pull-start. Got it all tuned up and running great and decided to get back into Nitro for some nostalgic fun, and to get back to all tweaking stuff on them I used to do years ago.
So my main concern with getting a used savage these days is "spare parts" as I'm sure its an oblivious concern with all HPi stuff these days... It breaks my heart to see that HPi is for a lack of better words; is "unstable" as a company at the moment, or maybe uncertain? Either way, it worry's me, and is a shame that the savages arent what they used to be as far a popularity goes.
I know that most of the parts I/we would need may still be out there,, and the aftermarket seems to still offer lots of stuff as well for them also, or maybe its starting to run out too?
My two biggest concerns more then anything on a XL 5.9 would be parts for the motor (if I decide to stick with the 5.9), and the 3-speed transmission? Years ago when I had my savage 21 converted to the 3-speed sold by HPi at the time as a "drop-in".... the 3-speed was amazingly reliable for me even with the SH .28 I had at the time. If I recall correctly the 3-speed never had a problems for a few years i had it in there before selling the truck, and simply worked great and I really liked messing with the shift points and hearing it go thru gears also!
I tried to do a quick search on google just for a goof today, and was not able to find pistons or sleeves for the 5.9 in the event that I may need those on a future purchase. And I'm also seeing slim picking on internal parts for the 3-speed transmissions also? I'm still going to pursue purchasing a used XL 5.9 soon and will deal with parts availability as I go I guess. The motor parts wouldn't be the end of the world as I could just opt for something like a "big red" or currently available motors and not have to worry about parts for it.. but the 3-speed still worries me the most. All the suspension parts and ring and pinions and etc all seem rather easy to get still as stock stuff or aftermarket.
One more thing,,, While snooping around on all this HPi stuff recently,,, I found that HPi had what that call the "high speed" 3rd gear upgrade for the 3-speed trans. Did this come stock on some variant of the three speed in savages,, or was it strictly an optional aftermarket part from them?
Sorry for the long winded first time post here guys.
Thank you very much for any info : )
I'm from the south east Michigan area, I've been into RC since the mid 1980s and grew up with a ton of Nitro, brushed, and brushless trucks & buggies over the years. (lots of airplanes too).
I had an original Savage 21 when they first came out, and had a blast with it during what some people consider the HPi Savage's golden years from about 2003 until about 2008 for me and several of my friends, and family during those years. I still think it was the first and ultimate basher !! And can still hold its own.
I slowly evolved and modified my savage 21 over the first few years, and by the time I sadly and regretfully sold it in 2009'ish,,, it had ended up with a XL chassis extension kit, .28 SH motor, 3-speed trans upgrade, and monster GT wheels & tires. I used to do lots of tweaks to the clutch for more punch from a dig, and loved adjusting and tinkering with the carb needles and the transmission shift points and etc. It was very quick at the time I thought.
Through out the years since then I've been thru countless (and still have) other brushless RC trucks and buggies. And because I needed a savage in my life again,,, in 2015 I built up a savage flux; again with the XL chassis kit, and the modern Terra-pin tires and wheels (at that time). Don't know what it is, but the Terra-pin look on those just gets me! plus they act like big soft pillows and absorb a ton of hits.
Absolutely loved the XL flux i did,, but against my better judgment I sold it in order to fund toward a Losi DBXLe buggy. (thought I was upgrading).
Since then I really mis the savage platform no matter what else I own or have had. I even currently have an Xmaxx and a 6s Kraton also. But the savage platform has me hooked and I want to go back to another one or two! LOL....
so again about a month ago I picked up really nice condition savage Flux that had already been extended and simply looked great for the asking price. I jumped on it and cleaned it up a bit and went thru a few things on it, and again installed the Terra Pin tires and Mag-8 wheels on it. I have no intentions of making the same mistake again and getting rid of this one or any other Savages I'm hoping to acquire in the near future.
This brings me to the key reason I've joined this forum and posted here today.... In a nutshell; I'm looking to get into a good used Savage XL 5.9...
Some pretty descent looking previously owned ones are posted for sale in several venues. I've decided to look for the 2014+ models which I understand had a few updates,, but primarily they only have 4 shocks rather then 8 shocks ( i like that) and improved ring & pinions, and some other tweaks I guess. As much as I love the savages,, I wasn't always up on the newer models that much a few years ago,, all I had noticed was the newer ones had 4 shocks rather then 8. I didn't know much else had been done to them as far as improvements go. And I want an XL to make sure I end up with a 3-speed trans also, and of course the longer wheel base that I prefer.
Recently I've really got a bug about doing a Nitro truck(s) again. A few months ago I picked up a HPi trophy truggy 4.6 for an absolute steel of a price locally. Got it all fixed up and cleaned up,,, and the stock used 4.6 motor was in great condition upon tear down & inspection of the piston, sleeve, and compression felt perfect while using the pull-start. Got it all tuned up and running great and decided to get back into Nitro for some nostalgic fun, and to get back to all tweaking stuff on them I used to do years ago.
So my main concern with getting a used savage these days is "spare parts" as I'm sure its an oblivious concern with all HPi stuff these days... It breaks my heart to see that HPi is for a lack of better words; is "unstable" as a company at the moment, or maybe uncertain? Either way, it worry's me, and is a shame that the savages arent what they used to be as far a popularity goes.
I know that most of the parts I/we would need may still be out there,, and the aftermarket seems to still offer lots of stuff as well for them also, or maybe its starting to run out too?
My two biggest concerns more then anything on a XL 5.9 would be parts for the motor (if I decide to stick with the 5.9), and the 3-speed transmission? Years ago when I had my savage 21 converted to the 3-speed sold by HPi at the time as a "drop-in".... the 3-speed was amazingly reliable for me even with the SH .28 I had at the time. If I recall correctly the 3-speed never had a problems for a few years i had it in there before selling the truck, and simply worked great and I really liked messing with the shift points and hearing it go thru gears also!
I tried to do a quick search on google just for a goof today, and was not able to find pistons or sleeves for the 5.9 in the event that I may need those on a future purchase. And I'm also seeing slim picking on internal parts for the 3-speed transmissions also? I'm still going to pursue purchasing a used XL 5.9 soon and will deal with parts availability as I go I guess. The motor parts wouldn't be the end of the world as I could just opt for something like a "big red" or currently available motors and not have to worry about parts for it.. but the 3-speed still worries me the most. All the suspension parts and ring and pinions and etc all seem rather easy to get still as stock stuff or aftermarket.
One more thing,,, While snooping around on all this HPi stuff recently,,, I found that HPi had what that call the "high speed" 3rd gear upgrade for the 3-speed trans. Did this come stock on some variant of the three speed in savages,, or was it strictly an optional aftermarket part from them?
Sorry for the long winded first time post here guys.
Thank you very much for any info : )