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Page six of the article beginning here.
I gave the Mayhem a good pounding today, it wound up in the water a couple times and on its lid more than I'm willing to admit. :-) Let the engine cool, peel back the layers of mud, and let's see what we find.
Several reviews and bulletin board members have stressed that the Mayhem should be inspected for bolts, screws, and fasteners that have not been properly treated with loctite. On my first post-run inspection, I only found them working loose in two areas. The hex screw holding the rear chassis brace worked loose and fell out, and the rear sway bar screws were on their way. Everything else seemed to hold fast and sturdy, I could find no other fasteners loosening up.
Perhaps the most apparent defect I found was the state of the tires. On my pre-inspection, the tires appeared to be solidly glued to the rims, but after today's run it turns out that was not the case. The inside bead of three of them came completely loose, with the fourth having breaks in the glue in several places, also only on the inside of the rim. Fortunately I was able to gently extract the inserts, clean everything up and dry it well, and re-glue them properly.
The battery/RX box, although not watertight, managed to keep the electronics snug and dry. Even after a good wash-down, the inside of the battery box didn't have a single drop of water inside it.
I blasted most of the crud off with an air compressor, gave it a wet wash with water, blew it all out, and worked it over with WD-40 to drive any remaining moisture out of the bearings, CVD joints, and other metal parts. One of the coolest things I've discovered about the Mayhem is that almost no exhaust leakage at all makes its way anywhere inside the chassis. Just a little deposit on the rear left suspension. But I made up for it in mud.
A healthy dose of ARO goes down the carb, a few cranks of the engine, and we're good to go for next weekend.
So let's address the question, what do you think of the Sportwerks Mayhem RTR?
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