THE ARRMA MOJAVE
Review by Evo RC
The Arrma Mojave desert truck is large and powerful, capable of around 95KMPH or 60MPH right out of the box. It pulls off the desert truck look pretty and the body designs and decals are similar to the Infraction which are awesome.
The Mojave is nearly 76cm long and 35cm wide, with a weight of about 5.5KG. The truck handles really well, it’s well balanced, power slides aggressively and is capable of high speed driving without rolling.
The Mojave is not designed to wheelie so it allows you to stay on the throttle for longer. The independent suspension on the Mojave is extremely playful and it’s designed to soak up the surface like a proper desert truck with its alloy long shock filled with 45WT shock fluid and a robust steel spring.
The suspension performs its best in rough terrain where the suspension quickly works to keep the tires on the ground and in control with the surface. With a desert truck, you want the truck to stay connected to the surface at all times, and the Mojave tries really hard to make it happen.
Now let’s compare the Mojave to some similar models. The Traxxas UDR and the LOSI Super Baja Rey. I have played around with both of them and I can say that although the Mojave is similar, I don’t think it can be compared to them.
The Traxxas UDR is solid, it’s exactly what a desert truck should look, the LOSI is larger, heavier and 8S. These are both bottom accessible vehicles and are in many ways unlike the Mojave.
I’m in no way saying that they’re not good RCs, actually quite the opposite. I’m just saying one shouldn’t compare the Mojave as at the end of the day the Mojave is a different truck, it’s top fed, 4 pins and the body is off, has independent swing arm suspension on the rear unlike the UDRs with the actual link setup solid rear axle.
That body is sort of an advantage, I mean with just 4 pins you take of the body and have access to all the internals, makes for easy maintenance. The other UDRs take around 16 bolts to take off the body but then again the internals are well protected so you won’t have so much dirt going inside.
I’m a bit of an Arrma fan so I obviously went for the Mojave. I ran the truck stock for months without ever having any issues. I don’t quite understand why this model comes with a heatsink on the motor but no fan. Well, it’s not like the stock fans are any good anyways but I stuck an efficient high flow fan to keep it cool.
One immediate issue anyone will have with the Mojave is dirt going inside the body when you’re throttling sideways. Any dirt the wheel pulls off the ground goes straight inside and onto the chassis. I can’t believe Arrma didn’t feel the need to deflect all that gravel away.
I invested some time online and quickly found a solution, Scorched RC makes these inner fenders / mudguards which are custom made for the Mojave.
There are T-Bone racing guards which is another option as well. This is one of those upgrades which you just have to get. It changes everything, now you can give it all the throttle without worrying. Makes the whole experience so much more enjoyable.
I had parted ways with my Mojave, its now owned by a friend of mine and at least I get to see it every now and then. I do miss it.
The thing I miss the most about it is difficult to explain. For me the Mojave just screams out dirt, let me try to explain it. You know that day comes when it’s shitty weather outside and you’re wondering if you’re gonna spend the day indoors because of the weather. Well those are the ideal conditions to unleash the Mojave. It’s the truck that you don’t mind getting dirty and you just think twice about cleaning cause it looks so much better with those muddy sprays on the body.
It’s tough but I mean really tough. I remember one time I was hitting it hard, the truck was doing like 50KMPH easy. I noticed a rock in the truck’s path, I took me by surprise, shit, this is not gonna be good. There just wasn’t enough time to manoeuvre around, I was sure to hit it. The truck hit the rock with the inner side of the front left arm. The rock exploded in pieces, the truck is that solid.
recommend UPGRADES
Well let’s talk upgrades, there is a lot you can do to this truck but do you have to? It’s just perfect the way it is, or at least that’s my take on it. If you’re thinking of getting one, I can’t give you one reason to go for something else. The fenders, those you have to get.
Another upgrade worth considering is the Polo Creation custom lights. I’m not much into offroading when the sun’s not up but if you’re into that sort of thing these lights are awesome.
