Newbie Needs advise

[gbh52]

New guy, first nitro is a Savage x 4.6 RTR. Took my time breaking in nearly through a gallon. Was hoping to run all day but.....

We took a tumble, running on newly cut grass I turned to hard at high speed and we did an awkward tumble kind of a left rear over a right front cartwheel. Again this is pretty soft groud maybe did two flips, not all that fast.

Here is what happened:
1. left front bent and snapped of one shock (same one)
2. right rear must have been flex enough for the lower suspension arm hinge pin to drop out. Resutling in the drive shaft (dog bone?) to fall out. (Good news is it was tangled up in a bit of the new mowed grass and I found the hinge pin as well a miracle)
3. Left front - the lower arm has a break which looks like at the seam right where the hinge pin projects through. Time to replace.

Two questions:
1. this seem like a lot of S..t for one little tumble
2. guy at the lhs was commited to using plastic parts esp. rpm since the bend rather than fracture and they have a life time deal. Thoughts on plastic vs metal?

Thanks,
Gbh52

Also have follow up on my breaks question will post separately but interested in you input on that as well.:jamout: :jamout:

 

[jcam54]

alum/metal is expensive and a good paper wieght when you mess it up...Plastic is way cheaper and better in my opinion.
Now there is titanium arms made by flextech but they are @ 300.00 for a set

Stay with plastic...your pocket book will thank you!

 

[AllanQ]

IMO, plastic is much better than metal because the plastic will flex where the metal will bend and stay bent, much more expensive to replace. Metal is more suited for shelf queens and bling kings, again this is just my opinion.

It may be just bad luck the suspension pin fell out. A quick check of these when you are running is recommended because they are not held in there well and the only thing preventing them from coming out the front is the bumper assembly.

The lower suspension arms have a seam along the holes where the pins go through. This is a known weak spot and can split very easy, especially the front arms. The RPM's I hear are a great way to go because they do hold up to a beating and also carry a warranty.

 

[THE JUDGE]

Aluminum/metal is okay, sometimes better in certain places (if you get quality stuff), but the arms are NOT one of those places IMO. Stock or RPM is the way to go there for sure!

 

[Shaun]

lets face it alum parts look awsome and are fine if your not into hard bashing problem is it doesnt look all that pretty very long with scratches and dings and then theres the extra weight issue, some alum parts I'm ok with but will use the plastic as long as i can as its cheap to replace and flexes before it breaks and usually returns to its normal shape, were as alum if you bend it thats it, even if you bend it back straight it will never be the same again and as far as plastic, rpm does make some strong a-arms and stuff as ive tried breaking there stuff and still haven't!! lol but its like almost everything in this hobby, at the end of the day the choice is truly in your hands!!!

 

[oregonmud]

You must have hit something or just had a week arm to begin with. The stock arms are not nearly as nice as the RPMs though. Plus RPM sells them in black, blue and (eww!) purple.

don't get alloy arms unless you plan to upgrade the bulkheads too. I have to agree that there are only certain parts worth upgrading from plastic to alloy and the arms arent one of them.

Also, add a zip tie to the front and rear bumper braces. That will help keep the top hinge pin from falling out in a crash. Not really sure how the bottom one came out as long as the bumper braces were locked into the shock tower like they are supposed to be......

 

[Shanty]

Ya go with RPM if you are wanting to upgrade the A-Arms. As people have already said, aluminum with bend and will then become usless after only a couple crashes. Aluminum looks sweet brand new but after a couple run the paint scratches off a its looks worse then stock. I have only broke one RPM A-Arms and that was after a crash with a curb at WOT, and believe me, at that time, the least thing that I was worried about was an A-arm.

And as Oregon has said zip tie the two bumper rods (don't know the proper name) so that they are tight and wont flex out letting that pin fall out. I had the same problem one time and lost a dog bone.

And as for the shock, it must just be the way you hit it. The stock Savage shocks are actually pretty tuff, not saying that they wont break though. But compared to other shocks, the stock Savage shocks really arnt that bad.