by The JANG
When I bought my first E-Maxx in January 2001, I quickly learned the hard way that the shock towers were a weak point. After replacing a handful of stockers in rapid succession, I decided to spring for some sturdier units. My local shop only carried GPM 'Maxx parts in aluminum, but I was nevertheless presented with a choice. Part #TMX1028 was the standard T6 6061 aluminum upgrade, but also available was #EMX1028, the "light weight" version made specifically for the E-Maxx, but also usable on the 'T. With racing on the brain, I went for the lightweight units to keep the grams down along with my truck's center of gravity.
First Impressions
The GPM towers are multi-part units. First, the two top plates bolt to the main upright section with two 3mm countersunk machine screws per. On each side, the cylindrical shock mounting bracket actually slips through a large hole in the top plate and one of the screws goes right through it to hold it in place. This seemed to be a bit excessive in the complexity department at first for a stock replacement part, but the end result seemed very sturdy. For anyone keeping track, the three main pieces appear to be cast, not machined, with the GPM logo and threading added in a second manufacturing step. I should also point out that the tower comes annodized blue -- the picture above shows the unit after I stripped & brushed it. Additionally, the body post set pictured does not come with the tower. More on the body posts later, though.
Field Testing
As stock replacement parts, the towers went on the truck quickly & easily, so I was able to start using them immediately. On the track, I tried to trick myself into believing I could feel a difference in handling, but it didn't work. On a 10lb. E-Maxx, the approx 1/4 oz. of added weight is simply not noticeable. What I did notice, however, was that the regular shock tower breakages stopped.
I had also broken a number of bulkheads before (in generally ridiculously low-speed flips over small jumps or berms), and this slowed as well. This didn't make sense, though. Replace a plastic part with metal, and what it's mounted to should suffer in durability, right? Keep reading.
The next major breaking points on the truck were the body posts, so I got a pair of GPM #TMX1032E rear body post/plate kits. I got two rears because they're sturdier than the fronts and don't swivel at the top. This is when things started going south on me.
Bad News
The solid posts of the new body mount kit are held in place by two collars (not pictured above) that are slid down to the top of the tower and fixed in place with a set screw, and then by set screws threaded into the standard body post screw holes on the tower. Unfortunately, these screws don't have enough material to bite into, and the threaded holes on both sides stripped out very easily (one on each tower at the time of initial assembly, and the others later down the line). This is simply a design flaw. The shock towers need more bulk around the posts, or a different mounting method needs to be used. I thus have to strongly recommend against #TMX1032E, #TMX1032EL (long), #EMX1032E (E-Maxx rear part, doesn't have EZ-Start bracket) and #TMX1029E (front posts only), all of which use the same mounting system. Instead, if you want GPM parts, use #TMX1032 (rear) or #TMX1029 (front), which have holes in the posts for using the standard mounting setup. I ended up going back to stock body posts and used a lot of blue Loctite on the threads to hold the screws in place. I also ran the posts as low as I could to keep mechanical leverage in rollovers to a minimum.
Now back to the shock towers themselves. The next unfortunate issue I came across was the gradual backing out of the stock shock mounting shoulder screws. A bit of blue Loctite got this under control, though it was difficult to get the screws back on without the Loctite finding its way onto the shoulders and inside of the shock cap eyelets.
I was still bothered by the reduction in bulkhead breakages. I was glad to not be replacing these very hard-to-extract parts so often, but it didn't make sense. Then, one afternoon, it hit me. Or rather, I hit a jump, took a very poor landing, and went through a number of ego-smashing endos before coming to a stop on my lid. I ran over & flipped the truck back onto its wheels, but it didn't look right at all. The front & back of the body were squished together by an inch or so and the whole thing was bulging up in the center. A quick look-over revealed that nothing was broken, so I took it back to my pit for a thorough exam. It wasn't long before I spotted the culprit, and a disgusting sight it was. The rear shock tower had bent forward at a good 10- to 15-degree angle. The area that had given away was around the upper two mounting screws (that attach the tower to the bulkheads). The countersinking is deep and there's very little material around the edges.
I took the tower off and did my best to bang it back into shape, but I couldn't get it perfect. I also noticed that the front tower was bent back very slightly. In the following weeks, rebending the towers became a regular chore. I actually quickly tired of taking them off, and found that I could bend them back by hand while they were still mounted. After about a month, I got tired of it all and switched to a new, significantly stronger set by Powerline.
Final Analysis
I don't think I need to say anything further. Parts
that bend & strip like this should not be on the market. I would strongly
recommend against the purchase of these lightweight towers. In looking
at the standard version of the tower, #TMX1028,
I can see that they have the same points of weakness, with only a thin
strip of aluminum webbing added in between the lower tabs to add any resistance
to bending. I wouldn't recommend those either. Sorry.
