I have, at last, made time to wield the wrenches in the direction of my Durango DEX410. I picked this up recently at a good price and have been looking forward to putting it together.
Team Durango have just released the V3 version of this car which, I am pleased to report, seems to be an evolution of this platform rather than an entirely new model.
The car remains ostensibly the same with the addition of big bore shocks and a new hex fitting for the wheels, thus confirming my purchase as a wise one.
Inside everything is as one would expect, mostly divided up into numbered bags that correspond with the build stages in the manual. The exception, and slight pain in the a*** is that the plastics are all in one big bag still attached to their sprues. I laid them out on the bench to make locating the correct part easier.
The manual consists of a series of exploded diagrams, mainly without explanation, making this a model best suited to those with at least a little experience. That said with a little care and attention this car could be built by a first timer such is the excellent fit of the parts.
The first job is to put together the slipper assembly. Dont forget the threadlock.
Next up are the diffs, strangely an imperial 0.05" wrench is required here. The kit does come with some diff oil (2k) but most UK drivers seem to favour something heavier, look up some set up sheets on the Team Durango website and go from there. I opted for 15k in the front and 5k in the rear.
I marked the diffs so I know what oil I have installed when I remove them. The design ensures this is an easy job if my oil choice proves disastrous!
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Pay attention to the shimming when installing the diffs, this should guarantee a long, reliable, life.
Durango supply a little pot of gear grease.
The servo and steering assembly was next, my servo of choice is a Sanwa ERG-WRX. I also opted for a Tresrey servo arm supplied by the nice chaps at RClazy, it should be tough and adds a little bling, and we all love a bit of bling!
Now it's time to start fishing through the plastics and bolting them to the nifty alloy chassis. All straightforward enough.
I could then set about dropping in all the parts I had been assembling and putting aside.
First the spur assembly, this is pretty cool, it drops into place and is secured by a big quick release clip. This is necessary as the assy needs to be removed in order to swap cells.
Slotting in the steering module is next, again a nice fit.
Phwoaar . . . Look at that, starting to look purposeful. Pay attention to my carbon shock towers, I spent ages sealing and polishing those!
Drive shafts next, little bits of gold bling are a nice touch.
The entire manual is in this format, all the info is there, sometimes you just need to look for it.
All the turnbuckles are the same length so easy to assemble to the specs given in the manual.
Durango have released some heavy duty ball joints (standard on the V3) as they are apparently prone to popping off.
Small bore shocks are standard, they look a little puny compared to the Cat SX big bores but were, after all, the shocks of choice for TD drivers at the worlds. They are a bladderless design but easy to build and look kinda cool with the gold and red parts.
So here 'she' is. I will be using the Tekin 6.5 turn motor you see fitted.
There is not alot of room for electrics so I have ordered a Spektrum micro rx. I need to have a think about my speedo but suspect I will opt for the great value Hobbywing V2.1, although they are soon to release a V3 so I might delay a while.
I quite enjoyed the build, not quite as much as my SX3, but that's personal preference. The kit is undoubtedly good quality and looks to be pretty tough. I need to get the electrics sorted, the shell painted and then to hit the astro.
I will post up some pics of the finished car soon.
More helpful information on this and much else can be found 'in the pits' on the great Team Durango website.
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