Team Associated Reflex 14B 1/14 4WD Electric Buggy Kit

Would of expected better from team associated Screws are absolutely terrible and the motor mount can’t get the gear mesh correct or it slips I regret buying it and wasting money You also have to only use there electrics or you have to modify a bunch ans will still not work and there electronics over heat

I'm a little bit of a Associated fan-boy. I have always liked even loved their products Rc10,TC3 OG,TC3 NITRO OG,and B4.2e. The only problem I have with the Reflex 14b. Is the instruction manual it needs some work. Sometimes I was just guessing on what goes wear. For me i need a little more clarification on things. Missing parts the shock spring collars O rings. Email them they had them in the mail the next day. This was in two car kits they were missing. So just a little Q/C miss step. But i cannot wait to race it. I do recommend this kit.

This buggy gets a lot of mixed reviews and I understand why. The main complaints are the spur gear strips easily, and the gear mesh is difficult to set correctly, the instructions/ parts bags don’t match, and the drivetrain is very tight. I found a few helpful reviews/build videos on YouTube and decided to build the kit version. It was worth the gamble considering the kit only costs $179! For sure the build experience was frustrating. The instructions don’t clearly indicate the correct hardware in a few steps. The hardware needed may be in a different bag meaning you will have to dig through other bags, example you might be working though bag B, but the hardware you need might be in bag E. Also in a couple of steps, the hardware needed doesn’t match the hardware called for. There is a little bit of trial and error to figure this out! In fact my kit was missing 2 screws and luckily I had what I needed lying around that enabled me to complete the build. You might be asking yourself, how did this buggy get a 5 star review! Regarding the stripping spur gear/gear mesh issue. Mine started to strip the spur gear within the first 5 minutes of run time. I stopped running the car immediately and saw that the motor had shifted so that the pinion gear was not parallel with the spur gear. I used a dense piece of foam to support the motor at the opposite end and have had no problems since. The gear mesh in fact is not difficult to set, but can shift when installing the gear cover if you are not careful. The drivetrain is very tight and this is a noisy car but the car rolls very smoothly after the first couple of runs. I used all of the same electronics that come with the RTR buggy to Complete the car, very happy with everything although there is an identical Hobbywing ESC/motor combo that costs about $45 less than the Reedy branded components. We run this car on a small backyard track and it was over geared resulting in a very hot motor. I found an ARRMA 13tooth pinion gear, but it required some filing to may it work. I also added an ARRMA motor fan and this solved the overheating problem. The box stock suspension set up may be perfect for a carpet track but was moving WAY TOO SLOW for our rough backyard track. The holes in the shock pistons are very tiny and combined with 30 weight shock oil included in the kit results in super slow movement. I used a 1/16 drill bit to drill out the holes in the pistons and used 10 weight shock oil to improve this. Working great now! I’m conclusion, I gave the buggy a 5 star rating based on the FINAL product, which required some creativity and problem solving! The car is very durable! Runs and drives great! If you compare this to an ARRMA Typhon Grom, you can see this Reflex 14B is a race car! You can adjust the droop, roll centers and upper mount for shock location to optimize handling. I actually bought a 2nd one and my son and I race every day. Getting about 40 minutes of run time on a warm day. Hope this helps!

Kit is not the same as a Traditional Team Associated Kit. 1 Bag of Molded of Parts, A Couple Small Numbered Bags and no Bag Number References in the Assembly Drawings. Took a Little Longer to Build. Differentials are Not the Sealed Versions, Kit Comes with Diff Fluid.. Make sure you have a heavy Grease if you choose to not have leaks. Take your time and look through every page of the Assembly Instructions before you start. Break the Traditional Assembly routine and Open Every bag and sort out all the Screws and hardware. I did have to file the Arms where the Hinge pins slide Through as well as Sand the Outer Hinge Pin Openings and spacers on the Suspension Arms (F/R) to ensure free play after assembly. Crammed (Hobbywing Xerun XR14 Sensored Brushless ESC/2848SD Motor Combo (4600kV)). Caution - VERY Tight Fit!! Did have to Break out the old Dremel tool and do some trimming. If you don't use the (ESC Mount) you may not have to use the Dremel. I mounted my Receiver on the ESC Mount. You will need to Provide a Pinion gear for any Motor you choose. The one that came in the kit has an odd size Bore. Final Outcome - Car is a Smothe Operator.

Quality of parts is great. But this kit is not a finish and go. Needs a lot of elbow grease to smooth that suspension. I was missing a set of screws to mount the shocks to lower arms. Dug into my pile...no biggie. Included motor pinion is for that Reedy motor TA sells (really small shaft), if you buy a different 28 motor, it will come with 3.125mm you need different pinion, also very limited space for trying bigger ones, the cover is a tight space to work with. And also serves as the motor holder so no much room. Do they sell upgrades for this cover?? Transmission feels tight to turn. Maybe needs break in time. Noisy. Time will tell. I was used to other kits with zero interference and super free while moving it with my fingers. I kind of thought of buying the RTR while putting it together. More time consuming than a 1/10!!! Lol cheers! Amain shipping service is out of this world!!! Thank you for the super fast service.