Sadly, at least for this post, I am about to scrap my evader. The 20-turn is not nearly fast enough for my local track. I run against a nitro Rush and a nitro MT, along with a T3 with a 14, and some B2/B3 with 12,13. and 14's. I bought a 13 single D3.5 and a Super Rooster for my evader. It was keeping up on the straight-aways. But then the servo went. I replaced it and then cracked the battery tie down mounting pount. In my small town (capital of Florida) it takes a week and a half to get parts for the Evader. So, I purchased a Factory Team B3. Will restore the evader to stock conditions for beating around the yard...

Thanks Hankster, I was thinking maybe now I should get a Evader for myself. That way I could race once and a while, I've raced street stock cars on dirt the last 8 years and next year I'm taking a break from that to spend more time with my 2 kids. You can't beat the price Of the Evader. I'm also a machinist and have made a few parts for the Rustler. I made some neat rear bearing carriers that use the tranny bearings and put the holes in at 3 degrees for toe in.

22 I havent had mine long but I wont give it up no sir I love it, I smile ever time I see her..I also get a spring in my step due to the value it was I am keeping my promise to my wife to keep my racing exspences down to a min.But I find my self needing a lil bit more stuff???Man is it hard but it makes racing more fun to do with what I got.

I have purchased a Evader RTR and it has been kicked in the butt already. I need to buy the front chasisias(sp?) because I had a little accident already and i hear that the parts take awhile to get in so is it haed to get this fixed or can I give it to a hobby shop? thanks!

The chassis is covered by the 1 year warranty. Read the following page for more info. http://www.duratrax.com/cars/dtxd20d.html

Glad I got my associated b3 and t3, all I see is that these evaders keep breaking. It is nice there is a year replacement program but will that do for you at the track when something breaks and you are lets say in the b-main in the top 3 and you nor anyone else has replacement parts - kinda hard to get replacement parts then from there guarentee. It is a great truck for the technology but they are skimping on the structural integrity of the suspension by penny pinching on the materials used in the production of the parts - work in automotive interior plastic parts industry and can say that little changes can make parts extremely brittle and easy to break or very flimsy!

Sure you can upgrade with losi graphite parts but by the time you are done doing that you could have had at least a t3 team truck and maybe a factory trem truck or a over priced losi truck by then.

I see many people also complaining about the motor also. It is a mod motor so you cannot run it in stock class and I would not run it in mod class because it is underpowered compared to the motors out there right now. The motor I see it is meant to get the truck around and that is about it. If a class started supporting them then I guess it would be worth keeping the motor.

Just a thought. By putting a guarentee on the parts just tells me that they do not have a true quality product adn they know it will break soon. AE and Losi do not do that!! Not even on the non-graphite parts. I think also people are thinking these trucks are monster trucks that can go over anything or threw anything. They are meant for racing and that is how they are designed, not like a e-maxx or other monster truck.

Just my 2 cents, if they fix there problems they may have a great national title contender!

I ordered the parts for my evader at my local hobby store and lets see how long this will take. the guy there he has waited about a month and still dosent have his evaders in yet. I waited about that long too. Atleast some of the parts are on the stress-tech warrentary. Oh well its winter here anyway!

Maybe the Evaders you see breaking are because there rookie drivers. I'm sure the really serious drivers are not racing them. I think it's good for the sport by offering a decent race truck cheap. Most kids or adults would not start racing if they had to spend twice as much. I just ordered an evader hopefully it doesn't break to much. The t3 rtr comes with a similar motor 20 turn, and what steered me away from a t3 is they don't even come with bearings(sport model).

Also, it says in the instructions that driving it in the cold makes the parts brittle. (since it is winter) Maybe that is why parts are breaking so easily. I live in L.A. and except for the last week or so the weather has been in the 70's, and I have hit curbs (trying to get up drive ways) and nothing has broken yet.

When a manufacturer puts a warranty on a product it means they are selling a quality piece and that they stand behind it.So what this mean is the big 3 make a car and warraty it it is junk right?????No what you just said doesnt make sense.Assoc.-Losi dont have a warranty because they dont stand behind their parts..Can you say TC3 arms?????Snap!Plus Assoc. and Losi sell thier trucks for racing so they know someone will be smokin fast and hit someone or something sooner or later.If these to comapnys had a warranty they would go broke in a month.And no plastic like the cold any type of plastic.Graphite doesnt either.So it isnt Duratra's fault it is the person driving it in the cold.DUH!

2nd,

Not sure what you meant in your last post? Anyways, I live in Florida and we all race at our local track on sundays, when the weather has been between 80 and 90. I have broken three of the Evader servo saver arms, with it as loose as posible. I have broken the servo brace that the battery tie down atatches to, twice. And all of this has been on the track hitting black plastic french drain piping.

Just a tech note, for the servo saver replace the servo arm with a arm that has a built in spring. We have three at our track that have had to use this solution.

I got my Evader Saturday evening, put a battery in it, and puddled around in the basement a bit ,since it was raining. I bumped a wall, and snapped the servo saver arm in half! I didn't even hit it that hard. I couldn't go full throttle in the basement, there isn't enough room. My Evader now sits in the corner while I wait for replacement parts. I didn't have it for 24 hours, and didn't even get three packs run through it.! I have to agree with SilverEvader.....I think there is definately a problem with the servo saver arm. SilverEvader, can you recommend one that has a spring in it for me? I didn't even get to try the Evader outside....didn't jump it, or race it, and it still broke. To say the least I am a bit disappointed. I still like the truck, but now I am trying to figure out what I can do to make it better so it doesn't break. I see it as only a matter of time till something else, especially something on the suspension breaks. I read all the post and the reviews of the Evader before I bought it, and didn't believe they broke that easy, but now I have seen it for myself. The Evader is a nice truck, but it does need some improvements.

I dont understand how you are having problems with the servo saver????Are you a novice???If I run with mine to loose it doesnt have enough steering??And I live in Michigan???And it is as cold as a mother up here too.

Hi all I just found out that the slipper pad from the B3 works in the Evader.I thought someone might like this info.I put the Evader slipper in my B3 to see if it is better or not.I guess Ill find out Saturday

Today I was running my truck and the motor just stops, I find out the problem and it was that the spring that holds the brushes in the motor broke. So I was wondering can I just buy any spring (that will fit) from the hobby shop or do I need the spring form Duratrax? Also can I buy any brushes or do I need the ones that came with the motor? http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/confused.gif

just a little update. Me and my 2 sons were suprised when my wife got us an Evader for christmas. We tried it out tonight on a hard pack dirt oval. We live in Minnesota it's the closest place to Race. My son Raced A Rustler there once before But the Evader was a half second faster with the same tires and no chassis changes.(5.5 seconds on a 145 ft track) The Rustler had a P2k2 We put a P2k on the Evader. Banged the boards a few times no problems. I was really impressed. Definetly adjust the diff. it was too loose.

22, Cool, keep us updated on how the Evader works out for you.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size="2">Originally posted by yoyou13:
Today I was running my truck and the motor just stops, I find out the problem and it was that the spring that holds the brushes in the motor broke. So I was wondering can I just buy any spring (that will fit) from the hobby shop or do I need the spring form Duratrax? Also can I buy any brushes or do I need the ones that came with the motor? http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/confused.gif </font>All you need is some stand up brushes and some regular Mod motor springs.Basicly they are standard pieces..

22Racer... I am currently the points champ at our local track (clay oval) and have almost been run over by an Evader RTR (expert driver). They are a great entry level or serious race truck. To bad that Duratrax didn't think far enuff into the Transmission. It's a 4-something ratio and it's tough on the gears, or they're just made cheap. Either way, for the money, you can't beat it!

Does anyone now the tranny ratio on the Evader? It seems almost higher than the Rustlers 2.71 but its definetly not 4 something.

I found out the tranny is a 2.66, I e-mailed duratrax they got back to me the next day. Thats worth something.

Well my stinkin bulkhead broke!!!!It was MY FAULT THOUGH!!!The collar at the bottom of the shock where the shock mounts to the control arm broke.I dont get it either-But I noticed it was acting funny.It was riding lower then #&// and bouncing all over the place and asked the marshall to hand it to me.And thats when I noticed it broke and said to him "can you put this back down what else can go wrong?It break!)Well that it did 1 turn and 1 jump later and this happened in the main.If you guys dont have a aluminum front hinge pin brace get one I know I wont drive it til I get one.And get some RPM pieces for the shocks.I feel that all these bulkheads breaking is because of not having a aluminum hinge pin brace.I can understand why those crack heads put in a plastic one but oh well they will be giving me a new one!!Hey I can get a spare shock mount to???

One of the guys at my local indoor carpet track is supposed to bring a bunch of Losi XXT parts tomorrow for me to look at. I hope the parts fit so I can get Evader #1 up and running again.

-KS

2nd,

If you find good aluminum replacement parts, let me know. I have been looking to beef up my Evader to avoid breakage problems.

DANO I should know today what parts will fit to help durability.I looked up some info on team trinity.com and seen a brace for the rear of the XXT and I am curiuos if it will work too?Hard part is finding one thats a Losi piece to compare....But my LHS show have one..Have any of you run a P2K2 in your Evader yet?I did and man that motor has alot of power!

Welcome to our new "Discussion by Vehicle" topic. Hopefully this will help everyone by keeping related car and truck discussion all in one place.

I also posted this in general discussions earlier...sorry about the duplicarion. For some reason it wouldn't let me post here.

I have been hearing a lot about the diff being loose on the Evader right out of the box. I followed the Duratrax recommendation to run two or three packs through the car and adjust the diff. I checked the adjustment, and it seemed to already be tight. This is my first car, so I don't know how tight they mean. I just snugged up the allen head screw, and backed it off a eighth of a turn, so actually I probably didn't adjust it much at all. I haven't been running full out with it since I don't have a indoor track near me, and the ground is covered with snow. The only thing I could do is try it out doing a few half speed laps in the basement. How much resistance should I feel when I adjust the diff? Is there a tell tale sign when the diff has to be adjusted? If I give it full throttle from a deep stop the car will squeal, but I believe this is the slipper clutch making the noise. I have been hearing everyone saying that the diff is loose when they get it, and want to make sure I don't burn mine up by not adjusting it properly.

Dano,

Sounds like you adjusted it correctly, Just snug up the screw and back it off 1/8 turn. If your tires are squealing on accel you should be fine.

Dano,

Same here on the Diff. I have 2 Evaders, the first one I did as per Duratrax. And it was fine, not loose. The second i did out of the box and was the same way it was tight and didn't have much to adjust. I plan to check it after 2 or 3 packs and make sure it does not loosen.

After reading everyone's reviews/complaints on these things that it has helped me a lot in watching out for problems with it. I broke a part (the rear chassis plate) after about 30 runs (some outside in cold temps with a lot of jumping not to mention my 4 year old son deciding to try driving it into the wall wide open a few times) and have
been impressed overall with the value and durability. My brother-in-law just bought a T3 and already has about $70 more into his and doesn't have half of the features that mine does...his may prove to be a better true race truck but the Evader is great for the entry level backyard basher like myself. If anyone has a complete list of aluminum or graphite parts that can be used to strengthen the weak spots on the Evader please post them or e-mail them to me...brucesy@netscape.net.

DuraTrax has a list of hopups at http://www.duratrax.com/cars/dtxd20d.html

For what it's worth, I'd like to report another broken Evader. Although the fault is completely mine - a rookie driver intoxicated with his new "toy" the day after Christmas.

It was back-ordered from Tower for about 2 months, so I had plenty of time to read hankster's fine review and many other informative posts (Thankyou All!)

Anyway: Temp was about 55 (SF Bay Area); and I was amazed at how well the thing would connect with an asphalt walkway at a local park - showing off for my 4 year old son . . . I guess I zigged when I shoulda zagged . . .

Straight-on collision at half throttle with a concrete trash recepticle. Boom. Luckily I found all the hardware. Broke the front bulkhead, brace, and shock tower. I suppose the direct nose-impact saved the arms.

So, I've got the parts on order from LHS (yeah - I know they're warranty parts, but I want to see how fast they can get stuff ordered) and I have a couple questions:

1) Will the new parts have holes that are tapped or are the screws self-tapping? (Like attaching the ball studs to the shock tower.)

2) Boiling plastic parts - how long do you boil them, and do you cool them quickly or slowly?

After less than the first battery, I'm totally hooked on this stuff - just gotta realize my rookie limitations and get more runtime experience before I play chicken with immovable objects.

First I want to say, I love my Evader dispite some early problems. I believe Duratrax is doing the best they can, and the 1 year stress tech parts warranty helps. Does anyone think it is possible that Duratrax is aware that a bad batch of parts got out during production? Could this be the reason they are offering the 1 year replacement warranty, trying to weed out the bad parts? There is no serial numbers on the Evader that I could find that they can use to track manufacture date. If Duratrax is aware of a bad batch of parts...I believe the one year warranty is about the best they can do. It is just a thought that popped into my head, and was wondering if anyone else thought this could be possible.

klaatu, I have not boiled any of the Evader parts, so I have no idea if that will actually help. Generally, boiling makes the parts more flexable allowing them to bend instead of break. Depending on the type of plastic used, boiling may or may not help. You can boil them for 5 minutes or so, just make sure they are suspended in the water and not laying on the bottom of the pan.

Dano, The warranty is standard DuraTrax. All of their vehicles have that same warranty. You can bet they know about the breakage.

don't you have to worry about the plastic parts getting deformed if you boil them?

Klaatu,

1) As for the bulkhead/shock tower and similar parts, they holes are not tapped. The machine screws self-tap their way in.

2) Boiling parts. I don't know if this helps or not, but i did boil my replacement parts for 5 minutes. You can thread a piece of dental floss thru them and suspend from a wooden spoon laied across the top of the pot.

Dano, No, the boiling did not deform my parts. As for serial number, I thought I saw one as a sticker on the outside of the box. But maybe it was something else.

The Evader is in stock at www.mainhobby.com (http://www.mainhobby.com) but they only have it in red.

After running about fifteen battery packs the spring that holds the brush into the motor broke, so I replaced it, cleaned out the motor with the spray, did the comm stick, oiled every thing up, and put in comm drops. After doing all that, the motor started making a hissing sound, and moved a little slower.So I ignored it and thought it was nothing. About ten packs later my brushes go bad so I get new ones. I ran 3 battery packs through (the car truck ran great) and suddenly now the motor barley runs, and that is after I give it a push. Do I need a new motor? And what was that hissing sound?

the same thing happend to my motor. It didnt go unless i gave it a push. I didnt have motor spray so i used wd40. After that it worked fine until i took a tooth off of the idler gear.
i am also getting a faster motor, a speed gem 19t doulble. Does anyone have a speed gem 19t in theirs? I also am going to need new brushes for min ein alittle. I wonder if you get motor spray on the brushes if they wear down more. I tis just a thought. I am still going to use the photon motor a little.

The motor used in the Evader is a standard RC motor. RC motors like this should be rebuilt after 25 runs or so. Most high performance RC motors need to be rebuilt every 10 runs or so. Many hobby shops can help you rebuild the motor, or better yet, visit the RC Motor Black Book for info on how to do it. You can find it on the Team RCV site at http://teamrcv.com Just look for the listing on the left hand navigation bar,

NEVER use WD40 to spray out your motor... you'll burn it up.

Anyone know of a direct fit replacement set of shocks for the Evader. Mine blew the caps out (stripped the plastic threads). This is the reason its on the shelf...

Sny help would be great.

Silver

Losi shocks should fit.

Is there aney where online where I can buy losi parts for the evader. Because the hobby shop neer my house "stoped carrying Losi parts for over a year ago"I looked at tower but I could not find aney. I wanted to get the graphite arms for the xxt.

im intersted in buying an evader but all these post about everyone breaking parts the first pack and with just a little bump and not even lasting a day whithout breaking. also many just think it sucks.
i dont know what to think because this is really dicoureging.
please give me an HONEST opinion on whether i shouhd seriously consider buying it or not.
iv never raced but have had rc before that have been given to me but many have been missing parts and been sitting to long to run good. i run on roads offroad(grass, some dirt)bakyard stuff but with bumps, sand,and other tuff stuff
please help!!!!!!!

I Found out the problem With my motor! All it was, was that the brushes were really dirty and needed a lot of scrubbing with the comm stick. It is now running like new, and even a little beter, but the hissing sound is still there.(oh well)

But today, after it started running good I slamed into a rose bush at full speed. And nothing broke! http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/biggrin.gif And I hit it head on. It was about 73 dirgrees,(I live in L.A.) I have also slamed into curbs going half speed lots of times(tring to get up a drive ways).

Consumer1: Here's my take on the Evader vs. other comparable RC's. My brother in law has an Associated T3 and in looking at how that is built it doesn't look much different so I would imagine that there is a good chance that there could be breakage issues with that just as easily as any other truck if they are run in too cold of conditions. The nature of plastic is to get brittle in cold temps. I've had my Evader since early December and I love it. I did break one part (rear chassis plate) when I hooked the rear tire on a table leg at full speed a couple times. It seems like they are more likely to break when the impact is on one wheel (more twisting than brunt impact i think). Dollar for dollar I think the Evader is as good of value as there is for someone just looking for a good backyard toy...probably requires some strengthening of the chassis for someone who wants to race it regularly. Hope this helps in your decision.

I like my Evader. I broke the servo arm when I tagged a wall, but I believe for the price you can't beat it.

I have two Evaders. I was so impressed with the first one, that I went out and bought a second for my wife. I've not had any problems with the first one, except that the rear diff is a bit gritty after several packs. While the second one did have broken parts, I think it was due to a combination of rookie driver (hitting a curb), running in cold temps, and possibly a slight defect in the molding of the front bulkhead. But overall I'm very happy with the cars and would recommend the Evader as a solid car that can't be beat for the price.

The one thing I would suggest is to adjust the rear diff first thing as suggested in the RCV review.

[This message has been edited by DavidD (edited 01-08-2002).]

im intrested in buying an evader but all these posts saying they break real easy and suck real bad and break with just a touch against the wall ect. is eally dicouraging on my decision to buy it. please be honest and tell me how the truck reALLY IS in durability and so on. and does it really break that easy????????
im not a beginner but still like it because of features and the ability for advancment in performance and durability.

I am having problems with the rear end of my Evader. I followed Duratrax's instructions out of the box and toasted the diff. and idler gear. O.K. fine, my fault for not tightening the diff screw right away. I rebuilt the diff, replaced the idler and used this very helpful forum to learn more. Used the tight diff., loose slipper philosophy. Tranny went out again last night. This is all on a very nice hard packed clay indoor track with pretty clean driving. Any way I can avoid these setbacks?