recommended 210 upgrades and mods

[johnnygibbon]

allthough there is good set up advice and pics of upgrades ect i wanted to start a thread to see what was the most poular upgrades and or recommended mods for the 210 and what weak points it may have
the main parts i think may need upgrading are

.front hubs/spindles - saw one break of a crash on some doubles
.shock towers - look strong but carbon towers seem poular
.rear hubs - do they hold up well or is alloy the way forward
.gear diff or ball diff - most people seem to be running ball
.extra weight - is it neccesary and where should it go
.what front tyres - for outdoor astro as a good starting point
i will be running yellow mini spikes on the rear but unsure what front to use .. thinking staggers or slim spikes .. am i right ?

i no these cars are pretty damm tough generally but i would like to make mine a little more bomb proof so its got a better chance of surviving my 2wd efforts
but dont want to spend a fortune on uneccesary upgrades cos these cars seem to run dam well as standard but any little mods or tips that help are well appreciated

i will be running big 5200 lipo stick packs and full size servo in mine so i dont no if extra weight will be needed

thanks in advance

[Gunthar Guntharsën]

The car is really tough. I still havent broken anything and my car is box stock. I've cleaned the diff once in I guess a hundred or more runs and flipped the diff rings.

I've replaced the the ballcups with rpm cups and tc5 ballstud. The cups were fine at first but after 2 months they start popping off.

In mid motor configuration the car needs a lot more weight in the rear (imo), that's hard to achieve with a full lipo. I'm hoping somebody will make a conversion to change the battery layout to side by side saddles.

Havent ran the car in rear motor config, but it will need weight in the front. Neumann's car at the reedy race had a 60gram brass piece in the front.

[mattr]

Just weight in the front.
Cream does an under servo weight, and there are a few others doing "heavy" components for the front.
Just have a poke round on the forum.

I just broke my first 210 bit. The steering plate.

Other than that, the only thing i can think of is to convert to the metal shock stand offs, as opposed to the plastic+bolts that the car comes with.

http://www.oople.com/forums/showthread.php?t=95403

[jamiekerr14]

when I had my 210 all I broke was X2 front towers on 1st test day. That is all

Hop ups I put on it

Ackula Racing Front/Rear towers and battery strap
Cream battery weight Kit
10g under the steering ack plate
AE SC10 Gear diff

Car was spot on and built like a tank.

[Big G]

All I broke was the steering plate which was replaced with a Atomic Carbon one.

I've fitted the alu shock stands for easier adjustment.

[NeilRalph77]

Some of the factory driver's are running smaller spurs so they can get the motor/weight further back guess that negates the idea of putting weight in the front, but as always it's down to personal preferance. Rear towers, RF toe block's (including balls) and front axles would be on my spares list.

[losichris]

i would 100% get a CF steering rack, or the ally one off Nick which is 15g i think. i broke 2 of the kit ones on nothing

[Si Coe]

I'm sure the upright was down to the cold more than anything else.

I've fitted the carbon steering parts as the plastic ones don't look that strong.
Otherwise have a look over Matt's car as its got almost everything going on it - I only fitted the bits I figured were worth bothering.

Most people are running the ball diff, but thats cos it comes with one and very few places are selling the gear diff!

[Streetfighter-r]

I'm sure the upright was down to the cold more than anything else.

I've fitted the carbon steering parts as the plastic ones don't look that strong.
Otherwise have a look over Matt's car as its got almost everything going on it - I only fitted the bits I figured were worth bothering.

Most people are running the ball diff, but thats cos it comes with one and very few places are selling the gear diff!

Re gear diff, what is Durango up to? A revised version following wide discussions around being too tight?

Good call on the carbon steering plate, kit ver feels way too flimsy!

Just waiting for the Akula cf towers as mention earlier - this forum is hurting my wallet, I foresee £1k set-up (working from scratch ..)

[hotrodchris]

carbon towers and steering and cream weights,(battery, under servo and rear weight) car is awesome and built like a tank!
Still to try a geared diff!
Upgrade the ball diff to ceramic balls!

[budfish]

Upgrade the ball diff to ceramic balls!

Unfortunately he was round yesterday afternoon at buds balls hq!!

[johnnygibbon]

Nice one fellas I think the steering rack will have to be changed and I've always been a fan of carbon shock towers
Might have to try atomic carbon bits there stuff looks great
So it seems this car is as tough as I thought it was and doesn't need to many extras

But it does look damn good with em on
A bit of bling never hurt any one
Just the wallet

[cigbunt]

number one thing i think should be changed is the ball cups, as stock cups are just shi*t and pop off!

[mattr]

weird, i drive like a loon (ask onekiwi) and very very rarely pop a ball cup (HD), maybe once or twice a month, usually after slamming into a wall at full speed......

[cigbunt]

weird, i drive like a loon (ask onekiwi) and very very rarely pop a ball cup (HD), maybe once or twice a month, usually after slamming into a wall at full speed......

i changed mine when i built it.. never had it pop off...

[TonyM]

Added:
Cream front and rear shock towers (I broke one of each of the standard)
Cream rear battery block - more rear weight
Cream rear brace - more rear weight
Cream knurled nuts for the battery strap (bling really, but nice)
TD Geared Diff - superb compared to the balled diff
Atomic steering plate (broke a standard)
Nick's rear camber link plate
410 rear shock mounts for both front and rear shocks
Titanium front camber links (most likely to bend)
60g brass plate weight under the rear half of the lipo

[neil_p]

The only thing I have broke is the plastic rear front hinge pin holder. Little surprised as it didn't need much to do it, but since the pins run on balls they are easily lost, so it is a double whammy!

I bought the aluminium ones from rcjunky (he is on here a few threads down), and they are excellent.

I have done a spur in and have snapped 2 spur covers which must have been bad luck. Replaced the spur for a RW one.

Running a 66g under lipo weight and the car felt nice and stable for me.

Nick Gurnell pistons feel good on astro to.

Hope that helps.

[mof]

In mid motor configuration the car needs a lot more weight in the rear (imo), that's hard to achieve with a full lipo. I'm hoping somebody will make a conversion to change the battery layout to side by side saddles.

Havent ran the car in rear motor config, but it will need weight in the front. Neumann's car at the reedy race had a 60gram brass piece in the front.

Neumann had a lot of weight in the front (+65g) in mid motor config, too, at "off road wars"...

[johnnygibbon]

Ok I'm on for some carbon goodies this week
I might make myself some weight ballast to experiment with on track
Car has ceramics in the diff
Feeling confident in it and it hasn't even hit the track yet
What tyres seem popular for the front wheels
I'm thinking of going for a set of staggers on the front or maybe spikes
Cheers for all the help people

[rcjunky]

All my locals here in Canada run aluminum steering racks and rf pivots because the stock ones are flimsy, hence why I now sell them

[hottuna]

The stock ball cups are great, no need to upgrade.
From my experience with lots of training and some races with the 210:

Steering rack is a bit weak, shock towers, at least the rear one tend to give up easily.
Other when that it's a very rigid car that needs no further upgrades.
Don't get tempted to buy all all the "must upgrade parts" you read on the net. The 210 is a very well build car out of the box.

[s22jgs]

The stock ball cups are great, no need to upgrade.
From my experience with lots of training and some races with the 210:

Steering rack is a bit weak, shock towers, at least the rear one tend to give up easily.
Other when that it's a very rigid car that needs no further upgrades.
Don't get tempted to by all all the "must upgrade parts" you read on the net. The 210 is a very well build car out of the box.

got to agree. seems very good out of the box. ran mine for first time yesterday. No upgrades, no weight and its spot on, just needs the right setup for your driving.

[av4625]

got to disagree on the ball cups built them as it said on the td website and when the car grip rolled and didnt hit anything they where coming off so annoying rpm ones are brill and you cant adjust the standard ones without them popping of :(

[Skye]

In my experience the essential changes are similar to what has already been said...

I have changed :

Front shock tower to the Cream CF one with the alloy ball stud holders. This is the best option in my opinion as it enables you to keep the ball studs in their original position.

Rear shock tower to Akula CF version.

Steering rack to Akula CF version.

Ball studs to Losi ones. I have Losi 22 cups, studs and turnbuckles on the front and haven't had any problems since. I've left the kit ones on the back, but up front they were hopeless. They came off far too regularly and also used to slip on the turnbuckles on impact so the camber was forever ending up way out by the end of a race.

Since I have made these changes I haven't had any further problems. :thumbsup:

[s22jgs]

and you cant adjust the standard ones without them popping of :(

ure not building them properly then. they just need alot of prep work. in and out at least 5 times, each time with a clean off and fresh grease.

they will then turn no problem at all

[cigbunt]

ure not building them properly then. they just need alot of prep work. in and out at least 5 times, each time with a clean off and fresh grease.

they will then turn no problem at all

You can adjust the stock cups you just need hold a driver in each ball stud then use you spanner to adjust...

Or you can just simply change them :thumbsup: (in my eyes its well worth it as its one less thing to worry about)

[s22jgs]

You can adjust the stock cups you just need hold a driver in each ball stud then use you spanner to adjust...

Or you can just simply change them :thumbsup: (in my eyes its well worth it as its one less thing to worry about)


lol as i said, not enough prep put in... mine turn fine without locking them with drivers.

I do however fully expect the cups to loosen in true durango style and start popping off before long.

[Skye]

ure not building them properly then. they just need alot of prep work. in and out at least 5 times, each time with a clean off and fresh grease.

they will then turn no problem at all

In my opinion that is not a reasonable expectation to have to go to such lengths! :thumbdown:

If you want to see how ball studs should be, look at the Kyosho RB5. I screwed them straight on, the adjusted perfectly, held their position, and never popped off once in 6 months of racing.

I then bought a 210, screwed them in and out 3 times, applied grease to the threads, and still couldn't adjust them without a driver stuck in each end or they would pop off. Then after they had popped off in a race for about the third time in as many race meetings they got binned! Problem solved!!

[Si Coe]

Two people cracked AC rear towers in accidents at the same corner, whilst the plastics faired fine, so it looks like carbon (at least for the rear) is not better at all.

[av4625]

You can adjust the stock cups you just need hold a driver in each ball stud then use you spanner to adjust...

Or you can just simply change them :thumbsup: (in my eyes its well worth it as its one less thing to worry about)

i think that its silly that you have hold drivers in them cause you nearly need 2 people i think i agree with the changing thing i did it on 410 w8in for them tom arrive for 210

[Alan Reeves]

i think that its silly that you have hold drivers in them cause you nearly need 2 people i think i agree with the changing thing i did it on 410 w8in for them tom arrive for 210

had to read that 3 times to understand it! :p

One of my ball studs went through a spell of popping off during racing but they have now survived the last 3 meetings intact, they can be a pain though and do pop off during adjustment.
Might use some Losi ones if I get around to it, ....although maybe not, maybe they have saved other things from breaking by popping off? :confused:

[Alan Reeves]

Two people cracked AC rear towers in accidents at the same corner, whilst the plastics faired fine, so it looks like carbon (at least for the rear) is not better at all.


That wouldn't be by smacking into the wall after the straight would it Si? A few in your heat did smack it pretty hard!! no names of course :p

[Si Coe]

Yes that wall! Whoever moved that track marker totally messed the flow of that corner, so people kept smacking it. Of course most people only did it the once, then remembered :blush:

[Alan Reeves]

....Most people :p

Someone who wasn't racing wanted a bit of entertainment :D

It suited me with my 10.5 in as it effectively shortened the straight meaning you needed to BRAKE earlier before hitting the slippy stuff and watching that corner in your heat meant I knew what was coming! :lol:

[johnnygibbon]

Thanks again for the info
My car allready has the metal shock mounts and ceramic diff
But otherwise ran box standard all day as did another 210 with plastic towers and normal steering
I ended up with cut staggers on the front and yellow mini spikes on tge rear they worked fantastically on the carpet and surprisingly on the slippy floor almost as well
Qualified 3rd in the a final
Gotta say I am very impressed with this car on both performance and build quality
And it's fantastic to be back using metric tools and screws again
Lovin the Durango

[johnnygibbon]

Double post on iPhone sorry

[av4625]

Thanks again for the info
My car allready has the metal shock mounts and ceramic diff
But otherwise ran box standard all day as did another 210 with plastic towers and normal steering
I ended up with cut staggers on the front and yellow mini spikes on tge rear they worked fantastically on the carpet and surprisingly on the slippy floor almost as well
Qualified 3rd in the a final
Gotta say I am very impressed with this car on both performance and build quality
And it's fantastic to be back using metric tools and screws again
Lovin the Durango

where did you get the metal shock mounts? rear ones?

[Si Coe]

where did you get the metal shock mounts? rear ones?

In Johnny's case his car came with it as its 2nd hand.
Virtually all those running with the metal mounts have a 410 somewhere they nicked the mounts off!

[mattr]

In Johnny's case his car came with it as its 2nd hand.
Virtually all those running with the metal mounts have a 410 somewhere they nicked the mounts off!nah, I bought some more. Still using the 410 mounts on the 410.......

[AiR]

I just got my DEX210 ready and went to my local track. Broke two(!) stock rear towers on first battery very easily without big crashes. Not very happy with it.
They broke from the very same spot, which is one of the bulkiest spots of the tower.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3453719/finRC2012/dex210_reartower_broke.jpg

Ordered cf rear tower. Thinking about buying cf steering rack and front tower.

[/tobys]

Most of the rear tower breaks I have seen have been in that same spot. My theory is that it can press on the motor mount in a crash and this causes it to break. I spaced my tower out by 1mm using some washers and this improved matters no end, having had a couple of rolls that I would have expected to break the tower. I eventually decided to run a CF tower and the washers in order to further improve my chances of surviving a crash! There is a small mark on the CF tower where it must flex and touch the motor mount so there must be something in my logic...!

I also have CF steering linkage as I broke one just clipping a corner (HD ball cups stayed fully intact :woot:).

[cornishboy176]

I'm using the 410 wing mounts on my 210 and I have flipped mine a couple times now and it just lands on the wing,not touching the shock tower at all

Seems to take the jumps better too!!

[Alan Reeves]

I just got my DEX210 ready and went to my local track. Broke two(!) stock rear towers on first battery very easily without big crashes. Not very happy with it.
They broke from the very same spot, which is one of the bulkiest spots of the tower.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3453719/finRC2012/dex210_reartower_broke.jpg

Ordered cf rear tower. Thinking about buying cf steering rack and front tower.


I've done 3 or 4 now in exactly the same place too :thumbdown: including one carbon one :thumbdown: :thumbdown: will check out the spacing to the motor mount sounds very likely that could be the problem.

[mattr]

Yes, i've done a couple as well, time to dig out some 3mm washers.......

[tomvanelsen]

if i were you, i'd go with cut staggers in place of normal staggers, and on the rear i would use mini pin in yellow, they work better than the mini spikes, i just started driving an dex210 and those tires work well even when its wet.
i haven't broken anything yet, but thats because our track only has one big jump and two really small ones it was originally an 1/5 scale track but 1/10th buggy's are getting more and more popular

[s22jgs]

Having been driving the 210 for a while now i can tell you it is very strong considering its mainly plastic.

Only thing i have broken is a front hub, and that was after landing on a wall lining a table top jump.

in all honesty, the car does not NEED any upgrades. Its fantastic out of the box, as is Durangos selection of kit springs.

If you want to upgrade items i would suggest:

Changing the plastic shims/spacers for the gold ones as the plastic ones seem pretty soft and once you tighten up a ball stud, a 2mm spacer is no longer 2mm but less.
Shock stand offs - change these for the 410 rear ones. Again i dont think its needed, kit style is fine, but the 410 ones allow for an easier and quicker adjustment should you wish to move them.
Rear camber plate. This is something i havent done myself, but it allows you to run a much shorter link at the rear which seems to help handling on a high grip track. Personally i find the rear end fine as kit.
Weight wise i dont personally beleive the car needs any. but then this is going to be a personal thing according to your driving style. I am running about 60g behind the servo purely as i run saddles which are lighter than a stick pack, and also run a low profile servo.
Tyres depends on track surface and weather conditions. staggers are the general front choice, cut stagger will give you a bit more steering, but have a high side wall which can generate some grip role.

[Gunthar Guntharsën]

I've been using the DE Racing Borrego wheels for a while now. Much stronger than the originals, which bend. My original rear wheels are completely out of round but the DE wheels are still perfect.

Wheels and ballcups = plastic too soft!

Otherwise, still no breakages and running everyting stock except springs and pistons.

[Big G]

Shock stand offs - change these for the 410 rear ones. Again i dont think its needed, kit style is fine, but the 410 ones allow for an easier and quicker adjustment should you wish to move them.


I run the shorter ones personally. I wanted to upgrade my v3 and they were out of long ones. I pinched the longer ones off my 210 and fitted the shorter ones no problems.

[fastinfastout]

I'm using the 410 wing mounts on my 210 and I have flipped mine a couple times now and it just lands on the wing,not touching the shock tower at all

Seems to take the jumps better too!!
apologize for bringing this post back up after 4 weeks, but with the 410 wing mounts, is it higher than the standard 210?

when you say it lands better, what do you mean and how? If it is to provide more down force, it should land more nose high, which I have seen a problem with the 210. Little confused, hope you can enlighten me....

[mattr]

apologize for bringing this post back up after 4 weeks, but with the 410 wing mounts, is it higher than the standard 210?

when you say it lands better, what do you mean and how? If it is to provide more down force, it should land more nose high, which I have seen a problem with the 210. Little confused, hope you can enlighten me....If you flip a stock 210, with the stock wing and stock tower, the tips of the tower dig in and snap the tower off.

With the 410 (and other) mounts, you lift the wing sufficiently to make that the highest point of the car, so if you land upside down, you just bend/crack the wing, which takes 30 seconds to replace, or can be left "slightly" broken.

The tower snapping is a race finishing failure.

As long as the orientation of the wing is the same (attack angle and fore/aft position) the aerodynamic performance *should* be pretty similar.

[jayropes]

where can i get this cream and atomic stuff you speak of?????:confused:

[hotrodchris]

Atomic Carbon google his web site!A t o m i c - C a r b o n . c o . u k (http://www.nortechracing.com/ac/):thumbsup:
Cream is his log on here search the durango posts you will find plenty!:thumbsup:

[Cream]

where can i get this cream and atomic stuff you speak of?????:confused:
Helloooooo :D

Link to all my Durango stuff can be found here http://www.oople.com/forums/member.php?u=4055