rc10t3

HOP-UPS

1) Titanium turnbuckles-the stock turnbuckles on the T3 are fine if you run on-road or dont crash frequently, but otherwise I would highly recommend them. They are lighter, stronger, and usually look better than the stock black ones. Lunsford makes them and they are a silver color. Factory Team makes them and they are blue. Either one is fine.

2) A very, very good upgrade is a high torque servo. Standard servos just dont have enough torque to move the big truck tires adequately. Look for a servo that has lots of torque and is faster. I recommend Hitec servos because they are extremely cheap and in many cases have more torque and are faster than other brands. I use a hitec 945 which has153 oz of torque, is metal geared, and costs about $90. If i were to buy another servo i would get a hitec digital servo. They have insane holding power.

3)Ball bearing steering- The tires on the truck are large and heavy, and cause alot of resistance. The ball bearing will make the steering smoother, and should improve the speed at which the tires turn. *** I just got these, and they made a noticeable impact on the steering. When assembling them, the bearings already appeared to be better than the bushings because the bellcrank pin would not stay in; the bearings made it so the pin kept slipping out. Click to enlarge the picture

4) Other parts that you can get for your car may not make very much of a difference. I would upgrade to graphite as parts break. If an a-arm breaks then buy a graphite a-arm. Some people like graphite because it is stiffer than the regular plastic parts and thus causes your car to respond quicker to bumps. But the downside is that it can break easier that the regular parts.

5) RPM makes very good hop ups for the T3. They make a Gear cover, rear bumper, front bumper, and lower shock parts. They come in Yellow, Black, and Blue and are really strong. Rear bumper and Gear cover shown. The Rear bumper really helps in keeping dirt out of the motor. The gear cover is great. It is very tightly sealed, and dirt almost never gets in. I would not recommend the front bumper though. After using it, i have decided to switch back to the stock one. The RPM one extends futher out from the front brace.

6) The Trinity aluminum transmission brace is a good hop-up. It is alot stronger. You can make it even stronger by replacing the screws that go through the shock tower and it with longer ones that come out of the end, and securing the screws with small 4-40 nuts. My brace is shown with the longer screws and locknuts. Click to enlarge.

7) The robinson racing lightened slipper clutch is good. It saves a small amount of weight. It comes with two different pads, one for normal and one for high traction tracks. It is slotted, and best of all, looks great with the blue anodizing. Click on picture to see larger view. My slipper pad is very worn in this picture. Gotta get a new one.

8) Another good hop-up is the Trinity aluminum motor mount/spacer. This acts as a heat sink. It also acts as a spacer between the motor and motor plate, and adjusting the motor can be easier. Longer motor screws can be used with this also.. It is more of a light purple anodized color than the pinkish color in the photo. I got this one because it was cheap. Trinity makes a more expensive motor heat sink that clips onto the motor.

9) One good thing to always do is eliminate as much slop from your car as possible. I have found several places where it can be eliminated in the T3 with simple and cheap fixtures. One place is the front outside hinge pins are too long and have excess play. What i did was took an orange O-Ring from the shocks and put one on the front, then put on the e-clip. I have yet to test this very much to see if it will hold up. You could probobly use one of the white placstic spacers that are used in the rear outside hinge pins.
update: i recently decided to stop using this trick becuase i discovered it causes the hingepin to bind somewhat and the suspension does not work as freely as it should.

10)Another easy upgrade is sealing the transmission. The stealth transmission is already sealed very well. But dirt does find its way into the gears. Take a thin peice of electrical tape and apply it to the line that forms when the two halves meet.

11) Racers edge makes many aluminum products for the T3. One that i have bought is the rear hinge pin brace. This helps stiffen the rear suspension and prevents the parts from vibrating and eliminates flex. I dont think it is very necessary, i only bought it becuase i had some extra cash. One thing that I really like about it is that it makes rebuilding the rear end very simple. The rear suspension arms become one peice so all you need to do is take out the 4 screws that secure the arm mounts and your rear is almost totally disassembled.