For our regular readers you’ll have seen our previous article showing how to modify Pro-Line’s Bash Armor Heavy Duty suspension arms to fit a V1 Arrma Senton 4×4 MEGA. While slight, some trimming is necessary to make the two compatible with each other but thankfully it is not to the point of weakening the arms to the point of uselessness.
INSTALLATION
Bolting on the center chassis skid as well as the front and rear skid plates is as simple as removing a few stock screws, placing the skid in place and bolting it down. Each hole lines up precisely, Pro-Line definitely nailed their measurements! Leave each screw slightly loose until all the screws have been installed, then tighten them in a criss-cross pattern to apply even torque across the chassis. This makes screw installation a breeze and also ensures that the chassis doesn’t during installation. 10/10
APPEARANCE
Aesthetically the blue PL parts really pop against the grey of the chassis. I am sure the red is equally as striking; if a stealth look is what you’re after the stone grey is a great choice. I am a fan of coordinating accent colors with the main theme of the body and these parts definitely scratch that itch. 10/10
ABUSE… ERR, TESTING. YEAH, TESTING
To see what the Pro-Line Bash Armor components are truly made of I chose an area with every type of terrain one can expect to find when out bashing: pavement, grass, dirt, jumps, rocks, you name it. With the low ride height of the Senton the lower skids definitely got a workout but the truck didn’t succumb to the torture. The center skid is showing some scratches and gouges but otherwise is still functional.. The rear skid took several hard hits when the rear of the chassis slapped while landing jumps and this definitely took its toll on the silky smooth finish of the skid. I would now associate its appearance to that of a professional wrestler after a bad blading job, it’s that scarred up. In all fairness, the Pro-Line parts saved the chassis from suffering the damage, extending its life and saving driver’s from a lengthy teardown. The front skid plate is a different story unfortunately. After roughly two minutes of running the front skid had torn loose from its mounting screws and slid under the center skid. The front screw hole shows some damage on the underside but this does not prevent it from being reinstalled. The hit that caused this was directly to the front of the front skid, which makes sense as to why it slid straight back. The rear mounting screw is nowhere to be found unfortunately and this may have expedited its retreat rearward. Upon reinstallation both screws tightened as normal (I replaced the rearward screw with a stainless m3 screw that I had on hand) and the truck is back to 100%.
No matter what I hit or at what angle the suspension arms shrugged it off and came back for more. After the harder-than-usual bash session each arm still looks as good as new and the suspension still feels tight at all points of movement. I would be interested to see how these arms compare to other HD suspension arms on the market, they are that good. Hard cornering didn’t cause any unwanted flex or weird handling traits; the arms are stiff enough to maintain performance but yet give when called upon to do so. Hard landing on each corner made for some cringe inducing sounds but luckily the truck drove back to the shop rather than needing to be carried; a definite win in my book. 7.5/10
FINAL THOUGHTS
There is no doubt about it, these parts will save your chassis. It may not happen the first run out but it will save your bacon at some point. I smacked my truck into concrete curbs, tree stumps, downed limbs, my full size van’s tire; you name it and this truck hit it at full throttle, all with no damage. The front skid did dislodge itself and find refuse under the center skid but it was not damaged (other than cosmetically) so I’ll give it a pass. All in all, I can confidently recommend the Bash Armor parts for anyone wanting to make their Arrma 3s/MEGA a little bit tougher for a fair price.
Link to the Bash Armor parts used: https://www.prolineracing.com/search?q=blue+bash+armor&search-button=&lang=default