Ripper - Special Ed's First Maxx...
...but now it belongs to Dageek
If you've read the page on Dumb you'll know that his acquisition led Special Ed to buy his own T-Maxx. He found Ripper in a pawn shop in Longmont, Colorado. He came with four bodies, 3 complete tire/wheel sets, a roll cage, three engines, two chassis and a host of extra parts. All this for less than a new 2.5R T-Maxx. What a deal, right? Not exactly. Special Ed ended up having to replace everything related to the engine, carburetor and fuel delivery system. Fortunately the chassis and suspension were in good shape.
Special Ed put tons of money into Ripper to get him running right. He even upgraded him to the 2.5R racing engine. He installed a new spur gear and clutch bell. The gas tank was replaced and the carburetor was rebuilt. Shortly after breaking in the engine the pull-start system on Ripper decided to stop working. This was the straw that broke the camel's back. Special Ed spoke to Traxxas and found that the one-way bearing had gone bad (it had actually fused itself to the driveshaft so couldn't be removed). Traxxas sent him everything he needed to rebuilt Ripper (for free) and get him running again.
Even though Ripper was now running again, Special Ed decided he'd had enough of tuning, after run maintenace and nitro fuel all over every part of the truck. He told Dageek he was selling the truck. Dageek opted to buy Ripper so he could remain in the family. Special Ed ended up losing nearly $600 on the deal because there was no way to recoup the cost of bringing that damn truck back to life. Regardless, Dageek is getting along well with Ripper now. He has the patience you have to have in order to run nitro trucks.
!!!UPDATE Jan 11, 2007!!!
As far as his chassis goes, Ripper is now pretty much a 2.5R T-Maxx with the addition of the longer RPM A-Arms that were just intalled on him along with the 2.5R turnbuckles. He is now 1.2 inches wider and should be much more stable. Ripper is primarily an off-road
vehicle, but Christmas was very kind to him and he now has a new set of street shoes for better traction on road-type surfaces. With his Dirt Dawg, street and rear paddle tires, Ripper is now equiped to handle just about any condition. And with the knuklehead
shock towers, the shocks can be put in various positions to raise or lower the center of gravity depending on the conditions. As long as the engine starts, he is good to go. About the only upgrade left is some aluminum chassis braces.
!!!Update Sept, 10, 2007!!!
Pain in the friggin ars the 2.5R motor is to tune. For that reason, a brand new O.S. .18TM w/11k slide carb and T-maxx manifold has just been
purchased for Ripper and should be installed in the next couple of days. With all the other upgrades, this motor should fit in quite well. Now if
I can just keep the front wheels on the ground. Pics coming soon.
Here are Ripper's details and some pics....
Traxxas T-maxx 2.5r (Upgraded from Pro .15)
O.S. .18TM w/11K slide carb
Dynamite Aluminum F/R bulkheads
RacerX KnuckleHead Shock Towers F/R
Team Blue Star F/R shiny aluminum body posts
MIP Shiny aluminum center drive kit
RDLogics CVD's F/R
Traxxas Big Bore Shock w/HD Springs
Blue Lightning Shock Covers
Aluminum f/r/c skid plates
Integy Super Duty Chassis Brace Type II Blue
Hitec HS 645MG steering servo w/Kimbrough Servo Gear Saver
RPM front bumper (black)
RPM rear step bumper (black)
RPM A-Arms for the 2.5R (black)
THS Racing 1/10 Tuned Pipe
Traxxas tranny w/FOC
Pro-Line aluminum steering kit
Imex Dirt Dawg Tires on Maximizer Products blue composite 5-hole standard offset beadlock wheels w/blue Trinity wheel nuts
Exhaust deflector
Motor Saver Air Filter
Team Losi Throttle return spring
DuraTrax Micro Fail Safe Unit
Ballistic 5 cell 2500Mah NiMH RX Pack
TQ3 radio w/yellow crystals
EZ-Start 2 Electric Starting System
Duratrax SX-100 Throttle/break servo
Duratrax SX-100 forward/reverse servo
