Get a laser fs2 pal

You won't have any of the problems with both cars mentioned above

And I bet you'll be quicker with a lazer then both cars

lots of guys run the lazer at the track. Good car and smooth. But I found my car of choice Im good.

And soon will a Ass or Yokomo driver say that his car it the best buggy.

What a surprise!;)

Only parts i have broken on my 511 have been front arms and std front shock towers. I use the std arms - high traction. They have never failed to the point where i havent finished though - they usually crack. Would rather crack an arm than bend alloy parts. I agree, the std arms are weak. Tamiya even write on the package that they aren`t the strongest ! Something along the lines of " for professional use only, use part number **** for more durability "

As for the rest .......

Never had any issues with the wing mount coming loose, the belts or pullies wearing or breaking, the diffs being too tight or too loose nor needing to be rebuilt after every run as you describe. Your servo mount came loose cos you didnt do it up properly, you used an alloy screw, or it had been in and out so many times that the threads were worn on the mount.

Steel screws that self thread into plastic dont vibrate loose. Thats a fact. Don`t wish to piss on your fire or be rude but frankly it doesnt sound like you bolted certain parts of your 501 together right in the first place dude. Sorry !

This in particular ...


Is complete rubbish if its built correctly. Any car will drop to bits if the person bolting it together doesnt do it correctly.

The Durango is a great car though. you`re right ! - i`d have one if i wasnt happy with my Tamiya :)

Interested in this trick Jan - ive never had to change spur as yet but it would be handy to know :)

I've ran my 501x for 2 years racing weekly on a wide variety of high grip and low grip surfaces.

So far total breakages on this car are:
Rear Wishbone, landed short on a huge triple running on a 1/8th track with a 4.5
Front Shock Tower, hit a wall flatout
Front Shock Shaft, landed nose first off a jump into a block

I've never had to replace any pulleys, the belts I replaced once as they where starting to look a little tatty. My diff's go months between rebuilds and never lose any smoothness, I just re-grease them every so often. I've never had to remove camber links or the shocks to get the diff's out either, there is plenty of room to manoeuvre them in and out with the shocks and camber link's left on.

I wouldn't say the DEX is a bad car, I would love one myself but I have to say the Tamiya doesn't need much maintenance to keep it going well.

Rich, the trick is as follows; undo the four screws (obviously), then pry each belt, one at a time, to the side of the pulley and turn the wheels. Eventually, with some force, it'll slide off. Do the same to get it back on again.
Its a little tricky but can be done. I wouldnt recommend it though if you're not in a hurry. Its a little tough on the various parts, but it wont flat out break them. It can be done on the 501 aswell.

I don't see screw count as an issue... it is really not that much of a difference if you have to screw 4 screws instead of 8 to access the diffs. And besides, you could mod the top decks (cut them under the shock tower bulkhead) on a 501 so you could access the diff by opening just 4 screws.

Accessing (removing it, changing pinion etc) the motor on a 501 is, on the other hand, not very handy. But it is fixed on the 501.

Ive not broken any wishbones yet but do agree the plastics tamiya use are the worst quality and for a company thats been going this long should have learnt by now. Diffs well they are rough and worse than my lazer zxr ones and they were bad but they still work fine with my gearbox covers on to stop dirt getting in. Other than that and three broken spur gears and a faulty layshaft the cars been a dream.

Simples, The 511 is now discontinued and the DEX 410 aint ;)

And this is a fact? Url or it didn't happen ;)

No ETA from Tamiya USA on stock...and Tower shows it as discontinued:

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXWXX8&P=7

RC Mart also replied to my recent inquiry that it was discontinued...

As far as braking the arms on a 501 goes, here is a quote from the DEX410R review here at oOple.

"The suspension arms are (identical to the DEX410) moulded with plenty of glass or and are proven to be really tough - possibly too tough depending on your point of view since something else might well break instead of these arms. I bought some spare sets for the original car and never used them - it seems the Tamiya TRF501X finally has a match in the toughness stakes."

As I understand that quote, the 501 arms are (according to the writer) one of the toughest available, and before the DEX came possibly the toughest available.

Round 1 Euro's Qualifying:

Fastest: Lee Martin (Tamiya) 12/315.97

Case settled.

The 201 beats the 511 and DEX410? ;)

Cheers for the info my friend :)

I've had a 501 And a Durango and now a lazer

I've had a lot of trouble with the db-01 which all turned out to be faults in building or adjusting it.
Still it's such a pig getting to the diffs that I just wanted something easier to work on and got the 511 and it's brilliant. It's just so easy to drive.

And this thread is about 501X?;)

What is a DEX410?? Never seen one at my local track run (and never will)... But I hear they are simply AWESOME (and the chassis looks the business).

Pete68, if parts support is not a problem, flip a coin and let the chips fall where they may. You have a win win decision ;)

Any decision yet?