Dromida 4.18 BL Series

Dromida has followed a rather natural line of progression in how they have handled their 4.18 series of off road vehicles. First came a set of five cool vehicles that all came with brushed power plants, were plenty of fun and priced right. Dromida followed them up by giving each vehicle a facelift, so to speak, with a sharp new paint scheme and sent them back to market with powerful brushless power systems and only a modest price increase. Since a few of my 4.18BL vehicles had seen more use than others and were in need of a little TLC, I decided to take the next step and install a bunch of the cool option parts that Dromida has to offer on two of my vehicles while giving a third a facelift of its own.

DB4.18BL
Let me start with the DB4.18BL. This is the vehicle that had been used the most, by a large margin over the others. Why you ask? Well, I really like the look, the tires work well most anywhere and the lights let me use it at night. Accordingly, there was plenty of wear and tear throughout so it needed some freshening up. The first place I looked was the drivetrain as there was a crackling noise coming from the spur gear area. Upon inspection,  I found small bits of debris had gotten into this area and started to chew up the spur and brass pinion gear. Additionally, the dogbones and axles were well worn so I felt it best to grab the Dromida Blue Anodized Aluminum Drivetrain Kit. This kit comes with a new 45-tooth spur gear, center driveshaft with center cross pin, 3 dogbones and drive axles. This combination got rid of most of the worn components and looks great as all the parts are sharply anodized in eye catching blue. Note that I said it got rid of most of the worn components. I also replaced the chewed up stock brass pinion gear with a new 13-tooth gear.
Looking to the suspension, the shocks had started to leak and there was plenty of slop at the wheels and suspension arms. To start, I swapped out the front and rear plastic hinge pin mounts with the blue anodized aluminum option part that Dromida offers. Immediately there was considerably less slop, but still more than I wanted. Therefore, I replaced the stock plastic hubs and knuckles. Once complete, the suspension was much tighter, but the shocks still needed some attention. Instead of just changing the shock oil, I went with new blue anodized aluminum shocks that feature threaded bodies. Not only are they smoother than the stock shocks, but the bodies are threaded, so adjusting spring pre-load is as easy as turning the shock collar. In other words, goodbye pre-load clips!

Since I used the DB4.18BL on the indoor off road carpet track at R/C Madness as well as for outdoor bashing, I wanted to tighten up the overall feel of the buggy. Looking at the chassis, and wanting to eliminate some of the flex, I decided to install the blue anodized aluminum chassis brace. This piece extends the length of the chassis, attaching to the front and rear diff cases, and really helps cut down on chassis flex. Lastly, while not really needed, I replaced the stock plastic battery strap with a cool carbon fiber unit. No, this does not step up performance nor was the stock strap broken, I just like the look of this part.

The MT4.18BL had been used quite a bit, just not as much as the DB4.18. It was also used exclusively for bashing and jumping, not on a track. Like the DB4.18, the drivetrain on the MT was well worn so I replaced the spur, dogbones and axles with their aluminum replacement option counterparts. I also replaced the worn pinion gear with new a 10-tooth gear. The area that needed the most tending to on the MT4.18BL was the shocks. It seemed that all the jump- ing caused two of the shocks to leak out all of their oil while the other two shocks were close to dry. Going a bit overkill here, I went with the Blue Anodized Aluminum Shock Kit that comes with four new aluminum bodies, threaded shocks and new shock springs as well as blue anodized aluminum shock towers. The new shocks were absolutely necessary because of the poor condi- tion of the stock shocks and the new towers are much more rigid and durable than the plastic pieces they replace. Personally, I like the new towers because they look great!

PARTS USED ON THE DT4.18BL ‹
Clear Body with Decals,     DIDC1085
The DT4.18 had been used very little, but when friends and relatives asked me my opinion on the 4.18BL series, I always showed them this truck and explained that all the other vehicles in this series were virtually identical under the body. So, wanting a shelf queen type vehicle that I could show to people who asked about what mini to get and since the vehicle was still in phenomenal shape, I sent a clear DT4.18 body off to Bradley Farmer of Bradley Fine Line Design and asked him to work some of his magic. The result was a green and white body with crisp lines (as expected with a name like Fine Line Design). Please note – When taking the lights and light bar off of an old body, pop each LED out of the light bar and pull them through the hole in the body one at a time. The on/off switch is too large to pull through the hole in the body.

CONCLUSION
You can’t beat what the 4.18BL vehicles have to offer fresh from the factory without any option parts. Once the hop-up items that Dromida has to off er are installed, performance, durability, longevity and looks are all elevated a few notches. Two of these project vehicles, the DB4.18BL and MT4.18BL, are going to see hours of additional use and will most likely only need fresh shock oil from time to time. The third, the DT4.18BL, will remain my showpiece for people who want to see what a new 4.18BL has to off er. Now that three of my five Dromida 4.18BL vehicles have been cleaned-up and/or hopped-up, I think I’ll have to get another box of goodies to deck out my BX4.18BL and SC4.18BL … so stay tuned!

LINK
Dromida dromida.com

Photos by Edwin Rodriguez