As I had mentioned earlier, my first RC purchase recently was a Jato 3.3 off of Craigslist. Now you can be on the very beneficial end of a deal on Craigslist, but the question always ends up being, who was on that beneficial end? I had no idea what I was getting into. The last RC truck I had owned was on the better side of a decade, and apparently electronics have improved quite a bit over the last 6-7 years. I had no idea, didn't do any research or anything...just jumped right into it. Looked around on craigslist for a couple weeks, and found this Jato 3.3. The owner was willing to run it for me, and had all the extra goodies most people wouldn't include, such as a quick battery charger for the starter battery, a couple extra starter wands, a crate to keep everything in, and of course the truck. We decided to meet up at a local parking lot, where I could try the truck out, and everything seemed to work great. We decided on a price tag of $150, I walked away with a truck, he walked away a little richer. The Jato 3.3 is a very fast truck. Some consider it too fast, and for its race categories, it most definitely is too fast, you would need a smaller engine. Not Traxxas though. No Sir. Traxxas likes to be known as "The Fastest". So instead of getting a race ready truck, instead you get something that goes like a bullet, 70 mph on the stock set up. So even though this was a truck, it had a low center of gravity, was advertised and sold with on road tires, I decided to set the truck up for the road. This is when we started finding all of the issues. Many parts throughout the vehicle were already cracked, to include the rear diff case, the battery case, and the electronics tray are just a few I can remember. One of the drive hex's was damaged and stripped the first run I opened it up. The engine itself leaks oil and fuel all over the inside of the truck, directly onto the brake, which even when clean is not enough stopping power. The steering servo is metal! woo!...but unfortunately it doesn't have enough power to turn the truck...booo!...As mentioned earlier the roll cage was beaten up, but when I pulled it off, it was actually so bent, that I had trouble getting it to fit back on. And lastly, though this is not too much of a downside, it has a 27mhz controller still. Apparently, these are outdated. I am still going through and having to replace the electronics on it, as I bought it, expecting it to be ready, and did not have a lot of extra to put back into it. The Plastics were probably under $50 all in all to replace, so I guess it was not all that bad of a buy. There is however a lot that can be learned from my experience.
This can be a rather complex hobby at times, I mean in many cases we build these cars, and then the points by which we have to tune them can seem innumerable at times. We still benefit though from understanding all of these points of tune, so that our trucks and cars can perform at their optimum. When someone has a vehicle that does not quite understand it, or as in my case, not give it the proper care and maintenance it deserves, you can see some of these factors usually before buying. Before asking to drive it, ask to know what electronics are on it. Servo's can be expensive for a good one, and you want to make sure that you will not need to put one into it right away. There are several things you want to know about your servo's. Is it Digital vs Analog? Is it Coreless. Is it Metal Gear (at least for steering)? How much Torque does it have and at what Speed? All things you want to know. A high torque servo that is 5 yrs old, will not be the same "high" torque of todays servo's, so don't just settle for them telling you it is "high torque" Ask for a model number. If its 27 MHz transmitter, understand that it is old technology. Before your test drive you should look over all the plastics. Make sure that the A-arms are not cracked, the diff case and transmission are solid, and any plastic trays that hold your electronics. Impacts from the front tend to transfer this power into these trays and they can crack or break where screwed down. And lastly after driving, check around the engine. It will be hot so be careful. You want to check around the seems where the metal is supposed to have seals. If oil is leaking out this could mean you have a engine rebuild project on your hands.
While I had a lot of issues from mine, that I hope anyone can learn from, I do not, at all feel that I got a bad deal. I paid for a working (albeight needing a lot of TLC) what some can only get a roller for, but it is because I have no issues with turning a wrench either and that can take time. Even now not all of those issues have been addressed, we will go over some of them as I prep the Jato for the track, and how we will go about it. If your wanting something that is perfect and ready to go, you should consider brand new.
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