Something more mundane, a Bandit... :) And a question.

[cunawarit]

Hi everyone, I've been reading this forum on and off for a while mostly for the awesome photos of old RC buggies that some of you guys post.

I'll be the first to admit, that I really haven't got anything to post that even starts to compare to some of the awesome older race buggies I have seen here, nor am I as deeply involved in this hobby as some of you guys are. But what I do have is a Bandit bought back in 1997, that makes it 15 years old which makes it older than many of the kids buying Traxxas cars today

In 15 years obviously it hasn't remained fully stock, but it isn't a totally different car either. Here are some pics, be warned, it isn't built for show... That's the 15 year old bodyshell all cracked up and damaged

As you can see it has "street" tyres in these pics, but I do use minipins when I take it to AstroTurf tracks. One question I have is this, my biggest gripe with the Bandit is the funny sized front wheels which means nothing will quite fit. So what I have done is fit front axles, steering blocks, and hex nut from a Rustler so I can fit "normal" 4WD 1/10 scale buggy wheels. The only issue is that I have to drill out the wheels as the axles are too big... Anyone know how to fit standard 2WD wheels on a Bandit?







Even the electronics are kinda vintage:





PS: Apologies, the car hasn't even been cleaned for those pics. Took them straight after running it

[SRTracer121]

thats actually a very nice looking example of an original bandit.

in order to fit 2.2 buggy rims on my trx buggies i too drill out the axle (on the rear) and just not use the hex. for the front i have nitro rusty steering knuckles/camber blocks and use rc10gt spindles if i want to use ae wheels. i also have a ton of the old trx/rad series 2.15 rims too so ill use the stock nitro rusty spindles as well.

[cunawarit]

Thanks, that's a good tip!

It runs OK with the slightly wider front wheels,but I would just like it to look a little closer to the original and be able to use minipin tyres

[3trxvintage]

Nice looking Bandit . I like the older style bandit bodies compared to the newer ones. The older sytle bandit bodies look very similar to the TCP bodies.

[SRTracer121]

agreed. the new style bandit body is ugly as sin. even the jconcepts one is fugly.

[cunawarit]

I agree guys, the current body looks weird.

The Bandit is sort of a typical older buggy which sits higher up and is bulkier than modern stuff, and to top it off it looks kinda back heavy. The swoopy new body doesn't suit the older chassis, and it just looks weird, and bulky. Oh, and the chrome wheels don't help either!

I'm no racer, but I do enjoy tracks during practise days when I can so something more challenging than driving up and down car parks Which is why I don't think I'd buy one of the modern 70 MPH Bandits, they just seem insane. I have no idea how fast mine is, but it only has a 16 turn brushed motor and it seems fast enough if I'm actually somewhere that isn't just blasting back and fort at full throttle.

PS: I didn't start this to trash modern RTR cars, but I kinda think that if I am going to be running something that does 70 mph I'd rather know how it is put together. Because it isn't a matter of if it will break, but of how soon it will break.

[klavy69]

The issues for a 70 mph bandit is having to gear it all to hell, run high cell lipos, and get it to stay steady at that speed. When thats all said and done its good for 2 things...running in a parking lot and overheating it .

Traxxas made some good things in the past but they are just trying to hit all the demographics with their stuff. Alot of people buy the stuff just to go fast...I've bought alot of 'go fast' cars locally cheap cuz they were basket cases from hi-speed mishaps .

The bandit is a fun buggy to mess with and good thing is you can still go to a LHS and pick parts up off the hooks. The most common,easy, most inexpensive, most durable way to get regular buggy wheels on these has already been mentioned above but there are several other ways to go about it. Good luck with your endeavor

Todd

[cunawarit]

Little bit of progress... For some reason decided to race the Bandit at a local club, they are pretty relaxed and said it was OK to race it in the 2WD buggy category. Did a number of test runs before it started raining like this and I need to fix a few things.

Biggest issue is that a rear wheel is shaking itself silly and it isn't the wheel itself. No matter what wheel you put there it shakes.

So what I have done is order new drive shafts and ball bearings for the lot. Hopefully that'll fix it.

Also there are a couple of the 15 year old screws that could do with replacing, so I bought a screw set. It is for the Bandit, but non-Traxxas, it comes all in a bag all mixed... not too helpful but will go through it soon. The biggest issue in terms of bad screws are the one holding the gearbox together. The rest are pretty darn good to be honest.

Slowly getting ready:



PS: I've never ever raced an RC car. I used to take the Bandit to tracks but never raced it because back in the late 90s it was too slow compared to all the other buggies at the track Now that I am older I not easily embarrassed so why not give it a go.

PPS: I had forgotten how long it takes to clean an RC car properly....

[vwjuice]

Don't the newer Bandits use standard sized wheels? I thought they did anyway.

[klavy69]

Don't the newer Bandits use standard sized wheels? I thought they did anyway.

yep, 2.2 all around. Still have the funky front end for wheels but can easily be altered to accept regular wheels.

Todd

[cunawarit]

You know what, I didn't know that!

Had I known that the front Traxxas Bandit wheels were now 2.2 I would have probably left my front end alone.

[Chewbacca]

You know what, I didn't know that!

Had I known that the front Traxxas Bandit wheels were now 2.2 I would have probably left my front end alone.

Yeah they’re 2.2 but still on a rotating spindle, not on a fixed axle.