Review: Tekno RC MT410 1:10 Pro E-Monster Truck

Words and Photos: Minsoo Kim, CompetitionX Contributor

The MT410 – Build Your Own Monster

What would you say if I told you I found a RC car that could do it all – bash, backflips, wheelies, attacks big jumps, has excellent track performance and capable of some serious speed? Well, Tekno RC does it all with their amazingly versatile MT410 1:10 scale E-Monster Truck. This innovative design and outstanding durability remain unmatched in the Monster Truck Class.

Located in San Diego, California, Tekno RC has been producing excellent competition platforms for 1:8 buggy, truggy and Short Course classes for quite some time. Tekno RC emphasizes on “Innovative Design, Extreme Durability, Top Tier Performance and Superior Adjustability” and uses all of these qualities in the MT410. Read on to find out why this truck can be called the “PRO” Monster Truck.

Features
Chassis
The MT410 is based on mix of proven ET48.3 competition 1:8th Truggy and SCT410.3 Short Course Truck. At a glance, the sturdy 4mm, black-anodized aluminum chassis is narrow enough to be held by the just palm of your hand and inhibits a very low center of gravity designed to provide unmatched traction. It also features an adjustable chassis brace system to help you tune flex at both ends of the truck.

The layout of the chassis makes the MT410 simple to work on. There is plenty of room for electronics and includes an enclosed receiver box with integrated transponder mount. Access to the set screw is unhindered and the servo horn is not hidden behind anything, allowing easy adjustment if needed.

Suspension
The suspension on the MT410 is extremely solid. They’ve used their extensive 1:8 racing background to provide the same features on the Pro-level MT; features like adjustable arm sweep, adjustable hinge pin braces, Ackermann and bumpsteer. The shock towers are CNC-machined aluminum cut to 4mm thickness and have four mounting points for tuning. The shocks are held to the tower with a nut on each side, allowing the position to be changed quite easily. Other notable features are the lower shock mounting nuts that are embedded into the suspension arm and setscrews to hold the spring retainer in place.

One thing I found was that the shocks did not come with aluminum shock caps. Being a Monster Truck, I assumed it would include these based on the amount of hardcore bashing it’s going to go through. Although I had to drill holes in them to bleed the oil, the plastic caps did a fine job overall. There was no leaking at all and the shock action was smooth as well.

Drivetrain
THe MT410 has a bulletproof drivetrain that includes a unique center drive system; the 2-piece, CNC-machined motor mount sits way back in the chassis and uses a very long front shaft and a very short rear shaft. Three fluid-filled differentials offer the driver a true “AWD” feel, giving maximum traction through the CVDs and out to the 17mm hexes at the wheels. The strong inner differential gears provide bind-free operation and have yet to fail me even on large, harsh landings.

Steering
A dual-bellcrank setup is standard on the MT410 and uses a very short link between the servo and the steering system, providing a fast steering response. It rides on a full set of bearings and has an excellent turning radius with no binding or slop in the bellcrank.

The steering also has the standard adjustments; you can tweak bumpsteer, toe, camber and Ackermann.

Electronics
The kit does not include any electronics but since this is a Monster Truck, I decided to build this truck for the ultimate bashing experience on a budget. Therefore, I went with Castle Creations Mamba Monster 2 and 2200kV 1515 sensorless motor. This setup has extreme power up to 6S, but I was informed by Tekno that I should stick to a maximum of 4S unless I’m strickly doing speed runs.

To command the MT410, I installed a Hitec 7950TH High Torque servo and Futaba 3PL radio system. Both of these provided excellent control under the extreme abuse I put this truck through.

Finally, a SMC 4S 6700mAh LiPo pack pumped the Castle system full of power; and it was alot of power!

Body and Bumpers
The front and rear bumpers on the Tekno MT are identical from the SCT410.3 chassis and provide a measurable amount of protection from heavy crash impact. After a pretty major crash straight into a fence (while trying to perform a backflip), I did manage to get the front bumper stuck and sheared it right off. It was a pretty hard hit that would have most certainly broken any other vehicle, but $15 later from AMain Hobbies and I was back in business. I’m confident that the front bumper gave it’s life to protect the rest of the truck!

The MT410 doesn’t come with a body, wheels or tires which left quite a bit of customization up to me. Most of the popular brands of bodies will work; Pro-Line, JConcepts, HPI and Traxxas. For the sake of ease and the fact that I had a clear one lying around, I painted up and mounted up an older Traxxas T-Maxx body I had here.

To the wheels and tires, I bolted up a set of Pro-Line’s pre-mounted 3.8 MT Trenchers! Combined with the massive monster Castle system, these tires did a great job of throwing dirt while in large quantities!

Performance
For an in-depth performance review, I have tested out MT 410 in three different environments; a local dirt bike track (jumping and durability), local dirt track (racing and performance) and a local park with lots of grass, dirt and asphalt (bashing and versatility).

Speed and Braking
With a 17T pinion (not included) on the 4600kV motor, the MT410 was a monster with the 4S battery. Sitting high up on the Pro-Line 3.8 Trencher tires, the car would pull wheelies at almost every throttle position. This was fun most of the time but made it difficult to actually drive. Still, pulling the front tires off the ground and turning them into thin strips of rubber is always a good time!

This overdose of power was also noticeable while jumping. Backflips were flowing like water on even the smallest of jumps; double backflips were also easily achieved with just a little more run up. I felt like this truck was begging me to abuse it; I even took it to a baseball mount (which is pretty flat) and it performed backflips with ease. The oversized rubber also acted as a massive in-air gyro; hitting the throttle or brakes would cause the MT to violently rotate back and forth for some additional stunt action.

From bashing in the dirt to some speed runs in a parking lot, I was able to hit speeds easily over 50mph with the 17T pinion. While I had trouble keeping the front end down, I think this truck had quite a bit more speed available. From full throttle to full break, the weight transfer caused the rear end to pop up and sometimes flip over, but it was pretty planted with no spinning out.

Taking it to the track, MT410’s real competitive edge started to shine. I swapped out the Trenchers for a set of JConcepts Truggy Hybrid Elevated Bead tires and the wheelie action instantly turned to awesome acceleration off the line. Thanks to center differentials, the MT410 had no flipping issues while accelerating through the turns and braking action was smooth and predictable. Moreover, the stability during the jumps and landing was amazing. The shocks worked amazingly well and no speed was lost during landing. It totally out-performed my initial expectations as a “Basher” Monster Truck. The MT410 chassis has great potential to be a professional MT racer.

Steering and Handling
The MT410 was a ton of fun during my bash session. I literally found every mound of dirt and sent the MT flying, rarely lifting the throttle (as you can see from a few of the pictures). It has excellent steering and handling traits with the big Pro-Line rubber, also using those tires as added cushions off of the big jumps.

With the 3.8 Pro-Line MT tires, the MT410 can easily perform a “self-righting” action when the car has flipped over. This involves a quick ‘full throttle’ / ‘full reverse’ action in which the large tires quickly spin in opposite directions. With a little practice, the tires will grip the ground during the rocking motion and flip itself right back over, allowing you to get back to the MT action!

On the track, the steering became way more sensitive; I’m assuming due to the JConcepts tires. The rear felt a little looser than I expected, probably due to the front wheels having more traction. I tried two methods to take the turns: slow in and fast out or quick in and slow out. For this MT, the slow in and fast out worked better. The rear tires grip as soon as you “fast out” and eliminates any unstable fish tails. I tried lowering the front ride height and raising the rear ride height slightly to minimize the wheelie action. I also noticed the MT410 handled great through the rough, triple bumps section.

Durability and Maintenance
I have to give the MT410 a 10 on this section of the review. The durability of this truck is unmatched to any other RC vehicles I have used. The plastics used in A-Arms, dust guards, spindles and hub carriers did not break at all from hard day of jumping/racing/bashing.

I did, however, have one issue. Although the body posts are good for adjusting the body height, they did not last the abuse of my first 4S battery. From the moment I started wheeling and flipping over, the body clips started flying everywhere. Even though I used “body saver” plastic washers, the body clips had trouble staying connected to the posts and cracked the body holes. This resulted in my body getting ripped to shreds from that moment on. I know this isn’t a fault of MT410 (maybe more of my driving style), but I was pretty bummed. Take a little care while driving or you’ll end up with a ruined piece of Lexan after the first run.

Tuning
If you’ve never built a kit before (like me), don’t be scared to take the plunge. Tekno RC did a great job to make the building experience as user friendly as possible. The manual is written in English (USA company) and they are printed in color. They use red to emphasise things to watch out for. The parts are bagged in order of A, B, C, etc. through bag P. Each bag contains all the parts you need to complete that step of the instruction so you do not have to open all the bags looking for parts. For me, I took my time to complete the build over 5 days; 1-2 hours each day. All of the oil, threadlock and grease was provided in the kit so you do not have to purchase separate consumables.

One thing you do need to spend money on would be the proper tools. Had I not had the Tekno Shock Clamp, I would have had trouble assembling the pivot balls and shock guides. It is also important to have a very good set of hex drivers and nut wrench.

Additional

Spec Data

Conclusion
I have three words to describe the MT410: durability, performance and versatility. Thanks to it’s seasoned 1:8 scale design, this truck will outperform almost all the RTR monster trucks out in the market. If you are a beginner who’s never built a kit before (like me), this is one of the best trucks to start with. This truck can go from basher to racer with just a quick change of tires. As a kit, you can completely customize it with your choice of electronics, tires, wheels and body. I strongly recommend the MT410 over RTR trucks because of the overall experience.

Features – 9.5
Appearance – 8.5
Performance – Speed & Braking – 10
Performance – Steering & Handling – 10
Performance – Durability & Maintenance – 9.5
Performance – Tuning – 10
Overall Value – 9.5

Connect
Tekno RC, www.teknorc.com
Castle Creations, www.castlecreations.com
Futaba, www.futaba-rc.com
SMC, www.smc-racing.net
Traxxas, www.traxxas.com
Pro-Line Racing, www.prolineracing.com
JConcepts, www.jconcepts.net

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