BEHIND THE WHEEL

I took the TLR 22T 4.0 over to my backyard test track to get some laps in. I was fully expecting a truck that would turn on a dime but would struggle a bit with rear traction because my track is outdoors, is hard-packed, and has a loose top surface. I was on the money with the steering and way off when it came to rear traction. After completing one lap, I found the truck to be easy to drive, and I knew that it wouldn’t take much to get it dialed in. The 22T has a lot more rear traction than I expected; almost enough to make me happy right out of the box. A soft finger was needed to keep the rear end from stepping out when exiting the turns, and I found that, if I entered a turn a little too hot, the rear end would swing out from time to time. I brought the truck over to my bench and moved the rear hubs fully forward, which puts more of the truck’s weight over the rear axle. After this adjustment, the truck was almost perfect in the rear traction department, and the stepping out in the turns pretty much went away, helped perhaps by a slight driving-style adjustment.

The truck turns extremely well. My track has some tight corners, and the 22T made it around them with ease. The truck feels smooth when going through those turns, not jerky like some vehicles can be, and this made it easy to get it lined up for jumps or the next turn. The low-speed turning ability was something that I fully expected, but I was surprised at how much corner speed that the 22T is able to carry. Just a slight amount of brake was needed to get the truck in and through the high-speed corners. With some tuning, it wouldn’t surprise me if I didn’t have to use any brake at all. The size of the truck and its smooth shocks made for a stable platform on the bumpy sections of my track, and as expected, jumps were equally manageable. Having an exposed spur gear means that any debris that enters the chassis is going to possibly get stuck in that gear, and of course, after about a half pack of run time, I heard that card-in-the-spokes sound. A rock ended up in the gear, but I kept running (mainly because I was too lazy to stop the truck and get the rock out) and eventually the rock worked its way out of the gear. If you’re running on carpet, Astroturf, or a hard-packed and swept track, this won’t be an issue.