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Anyone who owns an LST (and even those who do not own one) knows that the biggest weak spot on the big 1/8 scale truck is the suspension arms. If you have an LST and have never snapped a suspension arm, you are simply not beating your truck! The stock arms may as well be made from balsa wood. They break often and easily! It is a crying shame that a $600 truck that has so much going for it can’t handle a 4 foot jump without snapping arms upon landing.

We LOVE our LST! We have just never been able to do any serious beating with it. Until now....

By now most of you have heard about FlexTek and their industry shaking titanium arms. Hopefully you have read our review on the T-Maxx arms? No? Well what in the world have you been doing with yourself?! Wake up! In a hobby where bigger and tougher is king, what could be better than titanium suspension arms? Absolutely nothing!

When FlexTek informed us several months ago that they would be producing arms for the weak limbed LST, we were as excited as 5 year olds on Christmas morning. Heck! Santa never brought us anything this cool! Finally the long awaited day arrived and our LST arms arrived. BYT was honored to receive one of the very first sets ever produced. After all, when you are making titanium parts and want them tested in front of the RC world, who better to turn to than Beat Your Truck!

FIRST IMPRESSION

Our first impression was WOW WOW WOW! These suckers are thick! The T-Maxx arms we reviewed were much thinner in design. FXT designed these arms from the ground up. They are not a company that just creates knock-offs of the plastic parts they replace. They start with a clean sheet, designing components based upon the vehicle as well as the material they are working with. The LST is completely different truck than any other on the market with very different needs. Something special was required to take care of the eggshell arm problem and it looks like FlexTek is right on target. Thick, meaty, heavy-duty titanium suspension arms. Ahhhhh….just what the doctor ordered!

The packaging is excellent and none of the parts are able to muck each other up on their journey to you.

INSTALLATION

FlexTek includes all the necessary goodies for installation however it should be noted that they are not including the Lunsford titanium hinge pins like they do with the T-Maxx arms. This is not a big deal to us as we already had the Lunsford hinge pins and turnbuckles on our LST. In our situation, it would have sucked to have to buy them again when we already paid for them once! Are they required for this kit? No. Are Lunsford hinge pins recommended for the serious basher? Duh! Of course they are. Again, they are not required.

Every component of the kit installed perfectly. No interference problems anywhere. The upper arms have a “funky” bend in them that does not look “right” until you install them. Once they are installed, you will notice how they curve beautifully around the massive LST shocks.

The lower shock mounts are very nice and feature a design that allows for a wrench to be used while tightening (your going to want to use some medium strength thread locker on the lower shock screws). We suggested this “mount with hex nut” feature on the lower mounts to FXT when we reviewed the T-Maxx arms and they definitely listened.

Each arm requires several high density plastic inserts wherever a hinge pin passes through them. FXT was kind enough to include some extra inserts so if you start to see some wear over time, you will be ready with some replacements. They fit very snug and will not come out of place. Use a set of pliers to gently squeeze them into position. These inserts are what the hinge pins pivot on. Using a high density plastic keeps everything moving smoothly, much smoother than running directly against the titanium arms themselves.

QUALITY

Every part of the kit looks excellent. The aluminum lower shock mounts and the very snug fitting arm inserts fit the arms perfectly. The casting looks great; in fact it seems to be a slight step up from the T-Maxx arms we tested a few months ago. This is the kind of kit that draws attention to a truck and sets it apart from the “other guys”. All the corners and bends are contoured very nicely, virtually eliminating stress risers which could result in a crack.

PERFORMANCE

We have been bashing with these arms for the past 4 weeks and it has been a complete blast! IT IS AN ABSOLUTE TREAT to finally drive our $600 LST without having to worry about arms busting at will. The sad thing is we had started to drive the LST with “kid gloves” to keep the arms from breaking. That is more than sad….it is disturbing! This is BEAT YOUR TRUCK after all!

Our field testing involved a variety of terrain ranging from road thrashing to all out launch pad jumping. During our numerous outings, the LST met with many immovable objects and it was not phased. Back up and away you go! We had the BYT LST in the air more than a commercial airliner. Despite its large size and bulging belly, the LST flies very well and likes it in the air. Repeated jumps of 6’ to 10’ dealt out no ill effects to any part of the LST, other than the rims which look like they are about to crack like eggshells! Most of the chrome is flaking around the hub area on all the wheels indicating they have been flexing big time.

Anyway…back to the arms! No problems at all with the arms. The truck drove beautifully and again, it was just awesome to be able to DRIVE this big sucker without having to worry about busted arms!!! It is important to note that with the stock arms, we experienced arm failures at jump heights of 4’ or less. When we were done testing the FlexTek arms, we removed the hinge pins to see if the arms were strong enough to have bent them. Nope! Straight as arrows. That tells us that these arms are soaking up a lot of the stress before it gets to the truck. That’s great news for the bulkheads, hinge pins and chassis.

Some of you are sold on the swaybar idea with the LST and it does have some merits, especially in a racing application. FXT has informed us that they are working on a swaybar upgrade and it should be available in the next month or so.

FIT / FINISH

Any RC newcomer checking out your LST will first see the huge shocks (that’s what everyone looks at first) and then BAM….they will see these arms and be in absolute awe. Needless to say, we really like the look of these arms in respect to the finish and the design. Kudos to the design engineers at FlexTek.

The LST arm finish looks slightly “smoother” than the T-Maxx arms we previously reviewed and according to FXT, it is due to a shot blasting process that is performed after the casting is done. The T-Maxx arms were "polished" in a tumbler.. Some people may prefer the "bling" of polished aluminum however there is no comparison when it comes to strength and durability.


COST / VALUE

The value of these arms is hard to measure. Especially if you are an LST owner that is super frustrated with busting arms left and right. You have a $600 monster truck that is so special in so many ways but has a terrible weakness. Don’t give up on it! The solution to the problem is here.

So what about the price? Well, we have just received some very exciting news from the FXT factory. With increased production and volume, they have been able to reduce their prices significantly. This entire titanium suspension arm package (this also goes for the T-Maxx kit) now sells for only $289.95! Up until this point, the only excuse anyone had for not buying titanium arms was “I can’t afford $400 for suspension arms”…..well, now they are less than $300!

SUMMARY

If you haven’t figured it out by now, we love these arms. What is not to like? They will not break, band or leave you stranded. And FlexTek guarantees that they will not break! How many manufacturers give you that kind of guarantee? Not many…..in fact none that we can think of. The only obstacle that FXT has had thus far is the price of their goods. Now with their new aggressive pricing, that is not a factor anymore.

So you’re an LST owner? What are you waiting for? It’s time to beat your truck and the only way to do it with an LST is with a set of these unbreakable titanium suspension arms. Check out the FlexTek RC web site and learn more about these killer arms and the other products that are coming soon! Tell them that the guys at Beat Your Truck sent you!

One last noteworthy item: Per the FlexTek RC web site: "FlexTek RC Cast components come with a full 30-day money back guarantee from date of the original purchase. Items may be returned for a full refund (less any associated freight charges) within this 30-day period. See warranty information for details." That is a good indication of a quality company and a quality product. This bumps us the Cost/Value part of our review. To this writer, it makes the parts more valuable when I know the company believes in their product enough to make a guarantee like that.

UPDATE: You can now buy these arms in the BYT Store! We love them so much, we decided to sell them!