Early fg marder parts vs later parts

[Dalekbuilder]

I remember from my first marder buggy that there were some differences between the very early cars and the later but my findings when going over my second marder spares car the differences are greater than I remember.
Biggest difference is cable operated throttle and brake not rods like on the later car.
The rear shock tower is very different too. Not as wide and different shape.
The differential is majorly different too.
The early car being held together with grub screws internally instead of the diff drive output cups being splined and pushing into the gears.

The marder I am rebuilding has an alloy diff cage but the drive cups are really badly worn on the slots.

As usual can I find any reasonably priced replacements.
Nope all expensive so looked at other car.
The diff parts are unworn and good condition but diff in in plastic diff cage so will need swapping.

When I had my fg monster truck I used to go through quite a lot of dog bones and drive cups for whatever reason.
I don’t remember breaking a single one with the early marder.
Are the earlier differential parts stronger/better made or is it just the early car has seen less use?

One difference is early car is totally stock down to full plastic gearing and exhaust where car I am rebuilding has a samba pipe.
Early and later engined too with cooling covers bring different along with spark plug size.
The early engine uses a bigger spark plug which I have no idea of type used as it came with spark plug missing.
I will try and grab some photos when I strip the diffs for comparison.

 

[Bogan Thunder]

i bought a new FG marder july 2023 it's collecting dust on the shelf i have never started it because the body is too difficult to take off without getting angry.

 

[kg5000]

I have an FG clone made by Smartech with Duratrax branding. I bought an FG limited slip diff in 2006 and I believe I reused the Duratrax out drives. There's a set on eBay for $40.

https://ebay.us/m/m0E4XO

You could also contact rc-car-online.de (HobbyThek) and see if they have FG or clone compatible out drives that would work. The staff there is great at responding to questions.

 

[kg5000]

Here's the official FG drive cups for 29 Euros

https://rc-car-online.de/en/6069-01-FG-Differential-axle-spline-drive/fg-6069-01

 

[Dalekbuilder]

i bought a new FG marder july 2023 it's collecting dust on the shelf i have never started it because the body is too difficult to take off without getting angry.

To be honest I have a beat up body that I am restoring and a new old stock (but still damaged) body that hasn’t been cut.
I would always remove the rear part of the body so it’s easier to remove.
The body ends up with quite a large portion chopped away anyway depending on which pipe you are using.

 

[Dalekbuilder]

Here's the official FG drive cups for 29 Euros

https://rc-car-online.de/en/6069-01-FG-Differential-axle-spline-drive/fg-6069-01

The idea of this build is to do it on a limited budget as it’s a very budget build.
The duratrax out drives are like the earlier fg drives and I have a perfect set here so may as well use them.
I wanted to see what others thought of durability of early v later type fg parts.
From memory I broke nothing on my marder except diff cage and various gears and suspension parts where the later monster truck was quite fragile on the outdrives and driveshafts.
Could be linked to the larger tyres I suppose and gearing.
I would have thought the marder pin type tyres would offer more grip than the monster tractor type treaded tyres.
Well will see when I get it built up.
I know the earlier car is very much stock as that hasn’t been touched for at least 15 years and its owner was very much a believer of running things in stock form. He was the same with the 1:10 cars we used to race.

 

[Bogan Thunder]

I would always remove the rear part of the body so it’s easier to remove.

i don't want to cut the body but i don't have much option...i have had the body off once it was a struggle i thought it was going to crack when it eventually came off.

 

[kg5000]

I busted up my original Firehammer buggy body shell so I decided "Baja" it! I gave the remaining shell a rattle-can paint job of textured paint to hide the bumps and scrapes.

Plenty of room for a tuned pipe with this body

 

[Dalekbuilder]

I busted up my original Firehammer buggy body shell so I decided "Baja" it! I gave the remaining shell a rattle-can paint job of textured paint to hide the bumps and scrapes.

Plenty of room for a tuned pipe with this body

I’ve made some pretty extreme cuts to bodies for pipes over the years but that’s at another level.
Cracking solution though.
Good work.

 

[Dapillo]

i bought a new FG marder july 2023 it's collecting dust on the shelf i have never started it because the body is too difficult to take off without getting angry.

Id gladly take that off your hands…?