Kev’s Bench: Upgrading The Traxxas E-Maxx

I reviewed the Traxxas E-Maxx Brushless for the Fall edition of Radio Control Monster Trucks and have been having blast with it; I drive it as often as I can and don’t take it easy. I used the truck recently to review the new Castle Creations Monster X speed control and after a while of driving the truck, I wore out the rear center drive shaft. I went to fix the rear shaft and ended up going through the truck and giving it a few upgrades so here’s what I did to my Traxxas E-Maxx Brushless to make it even more fun to drive.

You can check out my full review of the Traxxas E-Maxx Brushless in the Fall issue of Radio Control Monster Trucks.

Here’s what I started with. It’s my Traxxas E-Maxx Brushless with a Castle Creations Monster X speed control and Castle 2200Kv brushless motor installed.

The stock center drive shafts are plastic slider units and since the rear shaft fail I decided to replace it with an optional ones (5151R) from Traxxas. These steel units are much stronger than stock and they can be rebuilt if need be.

I beefed up the drivetrain more by replacing the stock plastic slider shafts with Traxxas’ steel shafts (5451R) on all four corners. They add more beef and improved acceleration.

Traxxas’ Big Bore Aluminum shocks (4962) now dampen my rig. The are much stronger than the stock plastic units and the coatings on the shaft and shock bodies make them very smooth.

I was able to shed some weight and add some color by replacing the stock steel turnbuckles with aluminum ones (5141R and 5143R) from Traxxas. I really like the red color!

The drive shafts, shocks and toe links are installed and ready for action.

Pro-Line’s Super Swamper tires (10111-13) replace the stock units. They have an aggressive all terrain tread and are slightly larger than stocks. This required me to drop a few teeth on the pinion to get some low-end grunt back into the truck.

My truck has flipped over a lot during my bash sessions and the body was toast so I replaced it with Pro-Line’s RAM 1500 body (3427-00). It was painted by Bill at Zeger’s RC Graffixx.

With all the upgrades complete I couldn’t wait to get my truck back in the dirt. The extra ground clearance provided by the tires and the smooth shocks make the truck feel more plush than before. The lower gearing and steel shafts improve acceleration but the weight of the larger tires slow down acceleration so in the end the truck feels about the same as it did before when I mashed the throttle. The look of the Super Swampers is great and I really like how they feel on all surfaces.