Come hither and learn from the experience from your brethren before you! Here's our collection of cool tricks, building & tuning tips and other useful info that you might be better off not having to learn the hard way.
No more popping driveshafts!
(Background: A number of early Mad Force owners found that one weakness of the truck its the tendency for the center driveshafts to pop out when big jumps are landed. This is caused by stress loading of the main suspension linkages, slightly decreasing the space between the drive hub and the axles.)
Link arm reinforcements
(by Nitro Rulz)
The link arms on these trucks are super easy
to bend. Just grab hold of the rear axle and twist it up and down. The
arms bend very easy which is what they are doing while this truck is running
under hard acceleration or jumping really big. I installed some links
I made up to go the full span of the arms, somewhat like traction bars.
They're pretty simple, they are the rear toe-links off a T-Maxx. They
have adjustable ends w/ ball connectors, so they have great movement.
The trick thing here is, they are adjustable, so you could actually add
a little more stiffness to them, or take some out! They still let the
axle swing up and down just like stock and they still articulate the same
too, they just don't flex in the middle. Heres a couple pics:
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(click to zoom in)
Kyosho upgrade joint cups
Apparently Kyosho found out about the popping
driveshaft issue and found it prudent to come up with a fix. The Mad Armor
shipped with a new, longer driveshaft cup on each of the diffs, and this
seems to take care of the issue for many people. Here's the part:
Kyosho Joint Cup Long Version Mad Force/Armour
Engine Performance
Remove your baffle
(by AudiMAXX)
I removed the two screws that hold the pipe together
and took out the cone that was inside. It was not held in by anything.
I then closed the pipe back up and put RTV sealant around the crack where
the two halves come together. The performance was great. Noticed MORE
lowend and topspeed was definately not effected. Its worth a try until
I decide what Motor/Pipe combo I am going to go to....eventually.
Handling
Wider stance for cheap
(from The JANG)
A cheap way to widen your Mad Force by about
an inch is to buy Kyosho Mega Force wheels for it (part #MT004, sold in
sets of 2). These have the proper 19mm hubs and fit the same sized tires
as stock. They also look a bit better from the outside.
Foam inserts for your tires
(from various sources)
The stock Mad Force comes with no foam. Blue
foam inserts from the Ofna Monster Pirate are a perfect fit. Use these
and you'll have more consistent handling and smoother landings off of
big jumps.
Clod Buster tires fit!
(from Nitromethane)
A number of companies make stock replacement
tires for the Tamiya Clod Buster, which will fit on your Mad Force rims.
This will give you many new choices of treads to suit your tastes.
Fitting Ofna Pirate wheels & tires
(from Nitro Rulz)
If you want to widen the stance and stability
of your Mad-Force a little, you can do it for very little money! All I
did was order Ofna Pirate wheels, but the ones with the 19mm hub size
(part #81169). These are a direct bolt up, no adapters needed. These will
widen the truck about 2" total. The stock tires will go right on
them and they look great too!
Smoother brake action
(submitted by ntcmb)
There was a post on Maxxtraxx about brakes binding,
this also happened to me in a big way. Beatsfriend recommended the HPI
fiber brake disk, part #A844. I installed and the brakes are much smoother,
more progressive and still have plenty of power to flip it on its lid.