TLR 22 SCT 2.0 review

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It’s been a while, but I decided to start blogging my experiences with the RC cars I own.  I now own a Traxxas Slash 4x4 Platinum, an Associated RC10B5, a TLR 22 SCT 2.0, and a TLR 22T 2.0.

I’ve owned the SCT 2.0 for about 8 months now, and have experienced the highs and lows of owning one and think I have some useful information to share.  Since owning the B5, I decided to try one of the other major brands, Losi, and the SCT 2.0 had just come out and was considered one of the premiere 2WD short course trucks.  A discount at my local hobby shop and $280 later, the SCT 2.0 was mine.

The build: 8/10

The build went well, the instructions are fairly clear, but when building the truck I decided to go with the Chris Wheeler setup which meant doing some research on the changes I needed to make.  Referring to the stock setup sheet helps, as it’s a little unclear on the stock kickup angle, the stock toe-in, anti-squat, etc..  So it took me a while to build.  This being my second kit build, I think the total time took me about 13 hours from opening the box to a fully painted and running car.  What can I say, I’m slow and methodical.  I also built the car mid-motor which delayed my start for a while, because the mid-motor kit was out of stock for about 3 months.  I finally found one on eBay.

About the only part I did not like about the build is the TLR fascination with using a lot of different hex sizes.  You need a 0.50″, 1.3mm, 1.5mm, 2.0mm, and a 2.5mm hex driver.  The car is a little fiddly this way, and it’s not 100% metric – there are a couple of ballstuds and screws/nuts that are standard, which is rather annoying.

Performance:  6/10

In mid-motor configuration, you really need a few parts before the car is reasonable.  One is the mid-motor brass rear pivot block.  MM, this car has very little rear bite/forward traction, and the minimum you need to do to fix this is to add some rear weight.  Rear springs are also too stiff (they’re designed for rear motor).  I recommend the TLR 22 yellow SCT/T springs, which are a 2.0 lbs/in rate.  You also want to drop down to 27.5W rear oil to start with and tune from there.

With those changes, the car is at least acceptable driving.  It jumps VERY well, quite flat and predictable, it also carries pretty good corner speed with the MM placement.  It feels light, almost too light really.  But the weaknesses are absolutely no rear bite, and a tendency to swap ends/spin out under the slightest provocation of braking/turning with anything but perfect driving.

So the main issue with the car is that it cannot generate forward bite at all.  I highly recommend looking at some of the later setup sheets (Dunford/Casper), and you’ll see a trend towards adding rear weight, softening up the rear a lot and doing everything they can towards rear weight transfer under acceleration and reducing front weight transfer.

The other main issue I have is that the stock slipper and stock diff aren’t really up to the task of the amount of power and weight this car has (in mod form).  I run a mild 9.5T motor, and you have to snug the slipper almost all the way down, and you have to do the same to the diff spring to get the diff to not slip.  I actually switched to an AE slipper spring, because the stock spring is quite weak.

So performance-wise, as my friend Alex would say, “this is an evil-handling truck!”.

I will say that the body on this truck is awesome.  The Lexan is
super-thick, it has a nice low profile, and tons of cutouts you can make
to get it to flow air.  I liked it so much, I bought a 1.0 RTR body for
my Slash.

Upgrades/Support: 9/10

Losi’s in general have a strong aftermarket as well as first-party upgrades/option list.  You can do a LOT to this truck to tune it exactly to how you want it to run.  The Dunford/Casper mod is to put 22T rear arms on the back to widen the rear a bit, and I did go through that work and the car does handle better, especially under bad landings and mid-exit cornering in terms of roll and exiting grip.  I’ve spent a lot on TLR tuning parts (aluminum/brass parts for added weight front/rear) which is a pro and a con.  It’s great that you can get these parts to get the car to perform better, but it’s a con that you kind of need them to get the truck to handle decently.

Value: 5/10

Value-wise, out of the box as rear-motor the truck is solid.  You get an aluminum chassis, nice plastics, rear aluminum hexes, a quality body and wheels, all for $339.  It’s pretty comparable to most high end kits, maybe a little on the expensive side.  But the quality of the parts are good. 

You also have the option to go mid-motor with the purchase of a reasonably inexpensive kit.  But the reason I mark value only average is that you really need to invest in a fair amount of parts if you go mid-motor.  You need the kit, the brass rear pivot, the aluminum front hexes, some springs and the AE slipper spring just to get started, and then probably additional brass weights front and rear and maybe the Dunford/Casper rear mod.  All of which can add up to $100+.

Overall: 6/10

When it comes to high-end 2WD short course trucks, you really only have a few to choose from.  I don’t know anything about Durango trucks, but other than that you have the big 3:  TLR, Associated, and Kyosho.

With the release of the SC5M, it’s hard to recommend this truck over that.  From all accounts the SC5M is really the hot new car to beat, and if it drives anything like my B5, it’s probably the one to get.

The Losi is super-tunable, has high quality parts, but is a little fiddly with respect to the upgrades you need to get, and the slipper/diff issue is a bit of a problem too.  Some people are switching to the 22SCT RTR gear diff, and I will probably experiment with that when my ball diff needs a rebuild.  If you’re a Losi 22 fan or you need rear-motor, this truck is fine and you will enjoy it and this is probably the car to get, but if you’re not brand loyal and want mid-motor for high trip tracks, I would probably give the SC5M a try.

Build tips:

If you’re going to go mid-motor, I recommend the following:

• Mid-motor kit (duh)
• Associated RC10B5 slipper spring
• TLR 22 rear yellow springs for the SCT/T (they also make a buggy one that you don’t want).
• Super-sticky rear tires, fronts tires are good, but you definitely need grippy rear tires.
• Brass rear pivot hinge pin.  Probably the additional rear brass camber block as well.
• Use longer screws on the rear body mount that attaches to the rear waterfall.  The stock ones are too short and they will strip out of the waterfall.
• Use shorter screws on the bottom of the front of the transmission case.  I think stock is 20mm, but use 16mm.
• Cut out every freakin’ panel on the body.  With the skinny chassis, the parachute effect is tremendous on this car, and you need to flow as much air as possible.