endurance Durango

[Lowie]

I am thinking about competing with a team in an indoor astro-track 12H-endurance.
As I know that the DUrango is a strong car (or am I wrong??) I was thinking of buying one (second hand).

COuld I do with a DEX410R or does that car needs to much decent upgrades to get 12-houres-racing-ready and should i choose for the DEX410.
It must be said that we will have a 10.5-motor obliged so no immense power.

Thx for all advice

[paulc]

We did a 24hr race with a Durango R the only things that were changed was the front hinge pin brace to the alloy one and the side pod was modifyed so it was on like a hinge so the spur gear didn't have to be taken out everytime the battery needed changing (there are pics on oOple somewhere) and possibly the bearings got changed too i think we broke a servo arm in the 24 hrs other than that the car ran spot on

[Lowie]

i'm most interested in that modification for the spur. COuld you point me to those pictures, PaulC?
most obliged

[jameswilkinson7]

http://www.oople.com/rc/photos/ebor2010/

[Skye]

Ive never seen the inside of a Dex410 close up, do you really have to remove the spur gear every time you want to change a battery!?

[Lowie]

thx jameswilkinson7

unfortunatly, these pictures are not so clear. Also, if I saw well, the batterybrace was modified, and as we can't modify that (stated in the rules of the endurance we will be attending) ...

[phil c]

Hi lowie I now own that car, if you pm me your mobile number I can send you pics tonight of the modified side brace , the battery strap was not modified in any way

[Lowie]

aha, great
i'll pm you my mobilenumber but have never send or recieved pictures before
hope it works on my cellphone/mobile-account

[wacattack]

Originally Posted by Skye

Ive never seen the inside of a Dex410 close up, do you really have to remove the spur gear every time you want to change a battery!?

Yes, but its a doddle. The spure is held in by what is effectively a clip. Takes 2 seconds to remove.

[Big G]

I just lift mine up slightly and slide out the lipo without a problem. The spur doesn't actually come out. Just lifts up slightly.

[Lowie]

We participated in the 12h-event this weekend.
We had our share of broken parts: most of all the bearings. EVERY original 5X10X4 Durango-bearing in the hubs (front and rear) broke, desintegrated.
It was only after switching to new 5X10X4-bearings and to the Tresrey-rearhubs that the bearing-desintegrating finally stopped.

We also broke the rear diff loop (*), the servosaver crank (*), and the complete rear was destroyed when a car torpeded ours from behind : Both plastic bulkheads broken + both rear gearbox inserts
(*) all replaced by Tresrey-parts ...

It was a great event. Our goal was first of all: finishing the event, proving it is perfectly do-able with a modern 4WD-car: CHECK
secondly: having fun: CHECK
great team: CHECK ...

but it does leave a nasty taste for me ( the founder of the team, owner of the 410R-which i bought especially for this event): it became bl**dy expensive in the end to get the car strong!!
The advantage will be that I will have a car that is ready for our next years nationals ... but it did cut heavely in my budget.
The Durango 410R was very cheap when buying it (value for money) ... but it became expensive while driving it.
Durango-parts are expensive when compared to some other cars.

Addendum: those durango-bearings, provided in my kit were rubbish! We drove on an indoor Astro-racetrack and had a very flewent driving style, but still ALL 5x10x4-bearings in the hubs broke down.
Also, I bought a anti-rollbar-kit ... OUCH EXPENSIVE!!
+ one of the anti-rollbar pivot balls has a bad threading and the little locking screw turns loose, is not usable.
I find those things unacceptable but I guess there is nothing I can do about that?


Addendum II: all of my team-mates (Team Saloe), who never drove a 410 before, where very pleased with the quality of the car, once it was fixed. It was very forgiving yet quick and it suited our our purpose.