Beat Your Truck - RC Product Reviews

Here are a few reviews on various products we have added to our trucks. We will give it to you straight. No fluff. Maximum product rating equals 5 stars . We rate the products on performance, quality, fit, appearance and price/value.

Do you have something you would like us to review? Contact us and we'll see what we can do!

T-MAXX UPGRADE - RC RAVEN Chrome Chassis

RATING:

RC RAVEN - CHROME CHASSIS
quality
performance
fit
appearance
cost/value
OVERALL

The RC Raven Chrome Chassis is 4.7 mm thick and made from T6-6061
aircraft aluminum. The chrome powder coat finish is beautiful (the pictures on our site and the RC Raven site do not do it justice) and it almost made us feel bad to take it out and bash with it.....almost.

It is slotted and cut out around the muffler to make it light weight and to assist engine cooling. There is also a hole under the engine to increase cooling. They fit both the "old style" 15 and "new style" 2.5 T-Maxx. The chassis is a direct replacement for the stock T-Maxx chassis...everything fits nicely with countersunk holes where they are needed.

We installed this chassis along with the RC Raven Full SUV Roll Cage (review above). Needless to say, we beat the ^#%$ out of it!!!! Nothing broke and the truck seemed more rigid in heavy bumps and jumps. Extra bonus, the chassis is very easy to clean and in case we didn't mention it before, it is gorgeous...even when it's dirty!

For less than $43, you too can have a chrome chassis like this one. Yes, that's right we said $43. If you are looking to add some serious bling to your truck and want it to be tough too, you better check out RC Raven.

UPDATE: The finish is still looking good but not perfect after a couple of gallons of fuel. The chrome did start to flake off after several pretty hard bashing sessions. That can be expected for a chrome finish that is subjected to extreme punishment.

T-MAXX UPGRADE - RC Raven Dual Rate Springs

RATING:

The RC Raven Dual Rate Springs work great (check out the picture to the left showing the RC Raven Dual Rates (silver) versus the springs from the Big Bore Shocks). They feel stiffer than the stock Big Bores Springs and yet proved to work well both during high speed bumps (not too bouncy) and during jumping (very nice landings without too much recoil). The dual rates are 3ppi at the top and 7 ppi at the bottom. Visit the RC Raven web site and get your mitts on a set of these springs. We like them!

T-MAXX UPGRADE - RC Raven Aluminum Shock Towers

RATING:

The RC Raven Shock Towers gave us plenty of adjustment for shock location, 5 to be exact. Combined with the three settings at the lower a-arms (Pro-Line Kit), we had a ton of different combinations to play with. This is a big plus for us as we constantly tweak our suspension for whatever we are doing (bashing, jumping, pounding around the track). Highly polished (very nice finish) and looking good, these shock towers are simply beautiful.

After several (20+) nasty landings (many of which were upside down), we did manage to put a slight (very slight) bend in one of the rear shock towers. It was easily straightened. Let us stress... we were being VERY VERY hard on the truck and purposely landing it on anything but the wheels (the stock "Old Blue" body is in really bad shape after all of this). We recommend these towers to anyone who wants to add some adjustability to their suspension. Not to mention they are awesome looking! Visit the RC Raven web site.

T-MAXX UPGRADE - RC Raven Aluminum Bumpers

RATING:

We gave the RC Raven Aluminum Bumpers a thorough beating and alas, we could not bend them. BYT feels the key here is to use the stock bumper mounts. This keeps some impact absorption while allowing the bumpers to protect the truck. During the installation, we trimmed the bumper mount faces so they were flat for a stronger mounting surface.

These bumpers worked great. Bonus... the grass and mud stains cleaned off easily at the end of each day. They were a little rough when we received them. We needed to remove some of the excess material around the inside edges of the bumper and the corners. Not a big deal especially for the price and the performance. Visit the RC Raven web site.

T-MAXX UPGRADE - RC RAVEN ALUMINUM SERVO PROTECTOR

RATING:

Oh my....what a beauty! This servo protector is from RC Raven. We were able to obtain a polished aluminum one however we have read that these are being replaced by their new brushed aluminum design. That's probably a good move as the polished version loses some of its beauty anyway after a quick bashing through the gravel pile.

The protector is very lightweight and mounting it up was easy. RC Raven included new allen head screws for the job. Nice touch! After securing it to the chassis, we took the truck out and gave it a huge pounding in dirt, gravel and rock piles. It held up extremely well and did its job without any trouble. The price is right (about $20) and if it saves your servo once (especially a upgraded high dollar servo), it paid for itself. If you beat your truck, this is an excellent item to own.

Visit RC Ravens web site to learn more about this and other great products.

T-MAXX UPGRADE - RC RAVEN Full Roll Cage - SUV style

RATING:

RC RAVEN - SUV FULL ROLL CAGE
quality
performance
fit
appearance
cost/value
OVERALL

Oh baby...talk about bulletproof! We have been beating the heck out of this cage for the past two months and it just keeps coming back for more! Roof top landings, over and over again. It just laughs at us! Sure we bend it up but it is nothing that a hammer can't straighten out!

This thing is pretty solid but like most wire type cages, it will fold when impacted hard. It does appear that some thought was given to the placement of every piece of this cage and for what it is, it is pretty strong. The welds are good and the paint is also nice. The paint has held up quite well considering the major league thrashing it has been through.

It fits perfectly to the truck chassis and provides a decent level of protection. Serviceability of the truck is OK (it does hinder servicing certain areas). We simply tie strapped the cage on with zip ties (no drilling), so it is easy to take on and off. We opted for the SUV cage to go with our new H2 body (pictures are coming). It fits beautifully! :)

The major negatives we found is that it restricts the access to certain components on the truck and of course, it is just a wire cage folks.....it will fold up if you smack it hard enough!

If you are a hardcore truck thrasher (you know who you are), pay a visit the RC Raven web site and check out these roll cages....quit screwing around and just do it!