On my first outing I drove the BD on a 1/10 scale shortcourse track at Mikes Hobby shop. The knobby tires that come on the BD are NOT recommended for hard pack clay tracks! Needless to say, I was having to baby it through the turns like I was driving on the ice. On the jumps the Backdraft handled nicely. Even with poor traction I was able to double/double over the quads with little effort. One observer noted I could probably do a triple. Anyhow, it was during this first outing that of the table tops I landed on the nose and cracked the front damper (Fr. Chassis, part #BS903-026, $3.49) which supports the front diff casing and connects it to the main chassis.
At this point I should have pitted the vehicle until the part was replaced. I continued to drive it though only 3 of the 4 underlying screws that connected the damper to the bottom of the front differential housing. Later that same day I slid/slammed into a parking curb at high speed which bent one of my axles and sheared one of the screws that was now exposed under the front diff.
I ordered a new front damper and axles then replaced it. I was unable to tap out the screw which had broken off and did a stupid thing, I went back out driving with only three of the four screws AGAIN. This time I had a crash where the front dog bone, connecting the motor to the front diff, popped loose. Closer inspection showed one of the three remaining screws completely pulled out and the other two worked loose.
Had I replaced the front diff housing (under $4) when replacing the front damper I would have enjoyed much more up time.
The upside to this is I became more familiar with working on the backdraft and discovered that even though no local hobby stores carry parts for them, finding the parts online is a breeze through http://www.redcatracing.com and its network of dealers that you can find on ebay or through their forum http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/forumid_427/p_/tmode_1/smode_1/tt.htm hosted on RC Universe.
Video coming soon!
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