Tmaxx 2.5 for beginner??

[R Damien]

Thinking of buying one of these but the only serious RC vehicle I ever had was an electric boat :( ... and that was more than a year ago. I don't plan on taking it out any time soon if I do buy one - probably not until next spring, so that gives me all winter to learn what's important and maybe take care of a few little things like gluing tires to rims. Would any of you reccommend this as a first??

[Got Speed]

Many people get into the hobby with a RTR T-maxx or something similar. It is a little harder starting with a monster truck instead of a stadium truck because it has more parts. But they arn't at all hard to start with. Especially with Traxxas nice DVD and manual. If you have a problem still you can call or email Traxxas and they will help you through it or replace something if there is a problem with it.

[wizen2002]

before you start the engine for the first time remove it from the truck and send it for a new one....

[4x4_Racer]

Originally posted by wizen2002
before you start the engine for the first time remove it from the truck and send it for a new one....

lol Why's that?

[Maxx_A_Million]

my engine was fine. . . and even fi there was a problem its got a warantee on it... lol...

[NitroBoy24]

If youve never tuned an engine DONT buy it. Itd probablly be the biggest a$$ pain youd experience tuning wise. From everything Ive heard the 2.5 engines have an overheating problem (if you get a lemon and there seem to be many out there) and they wont hold a tune. Ive talked to people that are experienced gas rc guys and theyve said that their first 2 tanks are used on getting the engine to run porperly. Id go for a Savage if you want to get a monster truck. I have a gt and it was a good truck for me (a newbie) in my opinion...Good luck and if I were you Id stay away from traxxas 2.5's until youre a fairly good tuner. Just my .02 cents

[JoeMAXX]

The Traxxas 2.5 runs high in temps expect 240s to 260s out of it and most of the problems I have seen with it is because they run other fuels. You can run other fuels but need a better head. I still run stock on mine.

If you run the Traxxas Top Fuel 20% and cut a hole in the front windshield and cut out the side windows they run great. I do not run the Traxxas body and have holes in every window and never had the overheating problem others experienced running stock. I have a Proline Jeep CJ8 and a Military Hummer body I run and they are much stronger then the stock body.

They are not bad to tune but Slide carbs need adjustment almost everytime you run them.

[WheelNut]

All engines need adjustment everytime you run them, espcially the one on the 2.5. A friend of mine got a 2.5 for his first RC and all it had was problems. Hard to tune, no stratch that, very hard to tune. One of the shock bodies blew up because it had a bubble in the plastic, the crystals went bad on his 3rd run, he had EZstart troubles, and something else, but I can't remember what it was. He bought it this past spring. Around the same time though another guy i know bought a 2.5 maxx new and never had any problems with it, besides the undeniable fact the engine is difficult to tune before its completely broken in (before you've got about a 1/3 of a gallon through it). If you must go monster trucking get a Savage 25 when it comes out, or get a Savage SS once they update it to the 25 spec.
http://www.wildhobbies.com/news/default.asp?cmd=view&articleid=1013

Personally I would recommmend getting a electric truck, much easier, very fun, and much less frustrating. If you do go eletric get a decent setup to start out with so you dont have to buy twice which just drives costs through the roof. A prebuilt Evader or a T4 would be an excellent choice. But if you NEED to go nitro get a GT or similar.

P.S.-Kits are better to start out with!

[Suade907]

IMO don't buy anything with a traxxas engine for a person new to nitro. THe problems you will have with the tuning will make you go mad. Get any vehicle with a O.S. built motor. They are some of the easiest to tune motors I have ever used. Of couse their are other companies with great motors but O.S. had been the most reliable $ for $. If you get a t-maxx sell the stock motor on ebay and get a sirio or something that isn't so troublesome.

[JoeMAXX]

I like Traxxas engines they may not be the best on the market but they are durable. I have posted many times on them and as I said in the past people that have problems with them usually run the wrong fuel, wrong heat or short glow plugs and the engines are designed to run Top Fuel 20% nitro and 18% Castor/Synthetic blend. If you lower the oil content on these engines without a Hopup cooler head you will run into problems. It is a marketing thing and Traxxas makes you buy their fuel to run stock.

After a 8 Months and a gallon of Top Fuel thru it my TMaxx 2.5 will still stand up on end and I run temps in the 250 to 260 Deg range. It is all about setup.

Few thoughts.

[Suade907]

In all honesty it shouldn't matter which fuel you run as long as it's meant for nitro cars. Any engine that is that finicky not to work properly on anything except top fuel has issues. The fuel blends are not that different. You might be the exception. In the fact that you have a very depenable and easy to tune engine that had very good tolerances from the factory. Or you might be very good at tuning where a newbie will not be. 8 months and only a gallon of fuel. I do that in a week.

[JoeMAXX]

Suede,

I am not bashing you and agree with you on some of it.

I have a full race Picco XP-12 turbo head engine that I have had many problems with. I started out running the first tank using Traxxas Top Fuel and the oil content was way too high for this engine running temps below 200 Deg. So I switched to Trinity Monster HP 20% nitro and 12% oil. Still running temps to low around 200 Deg and when I talked to others this engine should run 240 to 260 deg.

Prior to running this engine I was able to tune almost any RTR carb that came along. I have 6 RTRs and they all run great on the Traxxas 20% nitro & 18% castor/synthetic mix.

I am still running too cold on the engine and tuning it bytes. My LHS owner used to be a Trinity team driver and he told me that I am still running the wrong fuel.

He told me if I were to run 20% nitro I should run Platinum 20% nitro and 8% percent oil but I would be better off runing 30% nitro.
RTRs can get away with high oil contents but when you go up in the price range and start running racing engines it is a new game.

Few thoughts on fuel for different engines

[Suade907]

You made some good points but in all honesty I think the whole fuel issue is a load of crap. I have used many different brands with pratically the exact same results in all my engines. I haven't noticed a big difference in any of them. It is true many racers run a lower content but that also is going to shorten your engine life and unless you can tweak the chassis to perfection to benefit the little bit extra power you get it will never be a factor.

Thruth be told the 2.5 t-maxx motor is one of the hardest engines to tune. Just go to the rc race tracks and see how many guys actually have good luck with that motor. I can say firsthand that every t-maxx 2.5 they run at the local track over here never finishes a tank of gas before dieing out. There are many guys running aftermarket engines with no probs and even some .21 t-maxx's, some of them are really fast too but at our track you'll never see a traxxas 2.5 in any traxxas truck buggy anything running long enough to finish a tank of fuel. You'll see many savages and the new hot RTR at our track is the nitro evader ST and BX. They break chassis parts the duratrax vehicles but with a few alum parts they become indestructable.

[Maxx_A_Million]

. . . my 2.5 will run through a tank no problem. . . wether racing, bashing, or just idling with a few blips here and there. . . alot fo the first ones had an oring problem and should eb sent in. . . mines rich as hell and it runs fine. . .

[JoeMAXX]

I do not have any problems with my Traxxas engines. The fuel issue is not a load of crap. Not bashing but I cannot run Traxxas 20% nitro and 18% oil content in my full race Picco XP-12 Turbo head engine. I have many hours of experience with RTR engines both Rotary carb and Slide Carbs. When you take the leap to a $200.00 buck engine the rules change when you tune them.

Not sure you have been in this area yet but pure racing engines do not respond like cheap engines. Fuel, Glow plugs and type very much define what you can run in them. I have learned the hard way and you know what the RTR method does not work with them.

First off the manufacture does not provide any warrenty, When you contact them they have some 18 year old pimple nosed kid telling you what to do who reads from a book that was created by someone else. They give you start answers which are Ok but but unless you have been there they are just a starting point.

Something to think about

JoeMAXX

[TraxMaxST]

The biggest problem I see with people and the 2.5 engine is not tuning in small enough steps. Any nitro engine I've owned you tuned inbetween 1/8th turn and 1/4 turn increments. If you go 1/8th turn on the 2.5, it makes a BIG difference.

All it takes is patience and understanding, and you can get along with the 2.5 just fine. It's when you get in a hurry or try to tune in too big of steps is when people have trouble.

My $.02, IMO, YMMV, and all that jazz.

[JoeMAXX]

TraxMax

I agree because it is the key. I have had many RTRs and then went full race. I never had problems with my RTRs. Full race engines I can understand but that is half the fun figuring them out. Time and patience always has the best result.

I do this to keep me from thinking about where the money comes from which is very stressful called work.

[mayrun]

DONT get the t-maxx, IMO I think the traxxas 2.5 engine wont hold a tune and the t-maxx requires too much hop-ups

[Suade907]

Not to bash traxxas but they even had to start a thread on their forum just to address all the problems just for the engine that people were having. If you go there you will find a lot of people complaining, it's a huge amount. I had a t-maxx 2.5 and had many problems so I traded it away. Every vehicle has issues of somesort. Whether it's weak plastic parts crummy engine, driveline issues, ez start. It seems there are very few companies that can make a perfect vehicle but the worst problem you can have is a motor problem, that is the heart and soul of the vehicle. If you have problems there, you'll never want to use the vehicle again and will most surely drive you away from the hobby. As you can see I'm not the only one that has gripes with the traxxas 2.5 engine. For a newbie I highly suggest a different vehicle. And just to ask Joemaxx? Do you think that the 2.5 traxxas engine is easy to tune and that it's one of the better starter kits for a newbie? If you do I have to dissagree, but we are all entitled to our opinion.

Truth be told to the author of this original post. Anybody that has Maxx in their username has to be just a little biased.

[JoeMAXX]

Suede,

I started out with Traxxas and owned three of them I also have Picco, OS and AE engines that I play with. 7 R/Cs in total and They are all different and I have three types of fuel to run each engine. I run different heat plugs to suit the needs. Not to bash but I am not bias on anything I run. I run the fuel and glow plugs that suit every engine.

With every engine and setup it is different for what you run and where you run it. We cannot run the same fuel or setup in every engine we run.

Just a thought from a Maxx.

[Suade907]

I understand the fact that every car/engine setup is different glowplug wise for heatrange and such. And everyone has there personal preference for fuel and such. I too have had over 15 cars and many more motors over the last 12 years. I'm just saying that if you ask me the fact that the traxxas 2.5 engine has to run on Top fuel seems like a joke to me. If any motor is that finicky then it's not worth the effort in my opinion. I personally do not think that the difference between Top fuel, Trinity Monster fuel, Red alert, Blue thunder is noticable in any regular engine. I've run them all. While the minimalist extra tuning you have to do does not affect power or heat from my experience. THey were about the same.

My point is, you yourself said you had to run Top fuel or you had a hard time. IMO at means the engine is not good for a newbie.