Vorsprung durch Technik – Durango DEX410

Track test
The initial test of the Team Durango DEX410 took place on a very dry and dusty track. With the tweaked kit set-up and Losi IFMAR Stud tyres the DEX410 felt very good right from the start. Acceleration was impressive thanks to the non-slipping gear differentials. The stock slipper setting as mentioned in the manual was too tight so we unscrewed the slipper nut by half a turn. The drivetrain felt a bit tight at first, mainly because we may have used a bit too much TD gear grease so we used the first two battery packs to bed in the drivetrain parts and to shoot some pictures of the car. After the second battery pack we checked all screws and noticed that the drivetrain had developed a huge amount of play. At first we thought this was because of a gear failure but after further investigations it became apparent that the grub screws that secure the gear input shaft on the bevel gear had come loose both front and rear! Not much of a problem as the differential case is separated from the car in seconds. The problem was that we apparently forgot to use the supplied thread lock on the grub screws in questions and that’s why they became loose. Lesson learned: used thread lock in ALL screws that go into metal parts! Fortunately the grub screws only scraped away some plastic and no other damage was done. While we had the gears laid out we removed some grease from the bevel gears to further free up the drivetrain. Another lesson learned: only use a minimum of grease on the gears.

So far we were quite happy with the feeling of the car but the only downfall was a bouncy rear end on the very rough parts of the track. We would of liked to use the optional ‘LiPo weights’ but we did not have them on hand. Therefore we reduced the wheel base of the DEX410 by shimming the wishbones and the wheel carrier all the way to the front to add a bit of weight to the rear. The buggy felt better now but was still a bit away from being perfect. To soften the rear damper up a bit without changing the damper oil we moved the shocks in on the wishbones. We run the suggested middle hole at first but the inner hole seems to work better with LiPo’s and no additional weight. Now the DEX410 felt pretty much transformed and was a pleasure to drive. The front of the buggy was pretty much planted and did not need any changes to geometry or damper settings despite running the softer dark green springs and 22.5wt oil.

Although we had some severe crashes during testing the DEX410 held up very well. No damage is to report beside a slightly bent wing. But this is normal with every buggy as the wing has to take most of the hits when things go wrong while landing.

Conclusion
Team Durango’s DEX410 is a real work of art. It combines the often radical ideas of the original Durango prototype with clever design ideas never seen on a 1/10 scale buggy before to one of the easiest to maintain and fastest to set-up electric 4WD buggies around. Gerd Strenge has to be applauded for his insistence to make his vision finally came true and to let the Durango concept become available for everyone. To be frank, the DEX410 is not free of issues like two missing ballcups for the steering (thanks to Michael Vollmer for supplying us with some!), the tight fit of the rear wishbones or the (too) short pins for the rear wheels and the somewhat basic information given in the manual. But hey! This is the first kit of a brand new company and given this the Team Durango DEX410 is simply stunning!

Specifications
Scale: 1/10
Chassis: 2.0 mm aluminium
Upperdeck: Composite plastic
Drivetrain: Fulltime 4WD
Differentials: Gear differentials
Suspension: Independent double wishbone
Shocks: Alloy/oil filled/coil over spring

Dimensions
Length: 370 mm
Width (f/r): 248/246 mm
Wheelbase (kit set-up): 281 mm
Track – front: 216 mm
Track – rear: 204 mm
Weight: 1615 gr
*Stock set-up with wheels as tested

Equipment
Car Team: Durango DEX410 [team-durango.com]
Motor: Team Orion Vortex 6.5T [teamorion.com]
Speedo: CS Electronic Rocket Competition [cs-shop.de]
Battery: Speed Passion Speed Power 4200mAh/30C [speedpassion.net]
Charger: Speed Passion Eraiser [speedpassion.net]