B-Max III or B44.3
 

Before everyone starts about the negatives i.e. B-Max is now discontinued and B44.3 has issues I wanted a genuine response from people on a which of these 2 shaft driven 4wd will suit me.

I have an opportunity to get a B-Max which to be fair was and still is even though the YZ-4 has now taken over (really don't want a belt driven car) or do I go for the B44.3 and be prepared to make some changes to it e.g upgrade to RPM wishbones etc ???????????????????????????

My racing ability is only ever going to be at club level as I can't commit to anything higher and these 2 cars are my considerations, I would appreciate people's opinions please on these buggys especially if you have or do own one currently.

Regs

Should have checked my grammar !

Meant to say that the B-Max III still is a proven 4wd buggy if setup correctly.

I am still running my B44 which will soon basically be a 44.1. I am interested to know what the issues with the car are? I put the RPM wishbones on as a precaution, and it has a few other bits and touch wood is reliable. I have not driven a more modern car so not sure where its weaknesses are! I am not racing at at any high level though.

do you have tools already? I bought a B44.1 but quickly got frustrated by the fact that everything was imperial. I presume the 44.3 is the same

I switched to a Bma4iii which was great, used all my normal tools (metric) and was easy to work on. I sold it as I never seemed to find time to run 4wd as I mainly drive 2wd, but that was only reason

Yes Team Associated kept using imperial hardware for the 44.3 to keep it the same as the previous models.

In terms of which to get, does anyone run either of these cars at the clubs you are planning to go to? If yes, will they let you have a couple of laps to see if you feel that you will like how the car drives?
HTH

i have tried the bmax 4 iii and loved it but not owned one.
I have my b44.3 on here for sale and at the beginning it was hard to use with it having gear diffs but once I changed the oils and made some very basic setup changes it was fine.

I have driven a B44.3 and must say I was rather impressed by the way it drove. I have previously owned a B44.2 and have no complaints.

I haven't tried a B Max 4 III but have run a B44.3 for a little over a year now. I haven't had an issue with the front wishbones but did put the RPM arms on as a precaution. The best thing I did to the car was install the B5M HD ball studs and ball cups. If you have a look on the RCTech forum you will see on the first page of the B44.3 thread a list of all the part numbers etc that you need to do this so that is something to consider. If you carry out this modification you need to tap the holes as the B5 cars are metric - I think it's a 2mm tap and you can get one and a dye off eBay for about £3 that will get the job done if you don't have one already. The extra tools you need if you don't already have them due to the car being imperial are, off the top of my head, a .63, .78 and .93 hexdriver. You may also want to consider a 12mm hex conversion which AE do. I don't think there's really anything else that you 'need' - I also have the alloy front and rear shock tower mounts which make the car noticeably more sturdy but I ran it for a year without these and it was fine.

Hope this helps you a bit,
Thanks,
Martin

I've owned a B44.2, and currently own a BMAX4iii.

I struggled to get the B44.2 set up for carpet, but to be fair I'd only just returned to the sport about 2 and a half years ago...which is probably why I also broke a ton of wishbones! RPM have now at least sorted this, and I think the geared diffs would make changing the balance of the car easier.

I recently bought a second hand BMAX4iii, was lucky and got a good one with everything on it, yz2 rear end/shocks, lightweight chassis, carbon bits etc, and I'm really impressed with it. Rebuilt both 4WD cars completely and the quality of yokomo is for me higher than the B44.2, and it's metric. Have a mega setup from an EOS set up sheet that works a treat.

I mostly run 2WD with a B5m, and the car is great, bullet proof, way less slop than my b44 developed in no time. If Team Associated did with the b44 what they did with the b4 to create the B5, and made a metric B55 with chunkier parts with less slop, it'd be close, but for me currently, assuming you're talking the lightweight bmax4, the Yokomo edges it.

PS if you go for the B44 core rc do a multi tool with all the drivers in it for about £12 I think.

Hi,

It's an M3 tap that you need for the b5 ball studs they are a metric 3mm thread.

MiCk B. :-)