There are a number of companies making LCG chassis’s for the Traxxas Slash and Pro-Line is the most recent to throw their hat in the ring. Pro-Line has a rep for putting out the coolest of the cool, and the best of the best, so how does their new Pro-2 LCG chassis stack up? Let’s find out…
From: Pro-Line Racing
Direct Link: Pro-2 Performance Chassis
Review By: Cubby
Pics By: Cubby
Street Price: $120
Part Number: #6093-00
What Is It?: An upgrade chassis designed for greater durability and better handling than the stocker.
What’s In The Box: A lot of stuff. LOL. All the needed chassis parts, fasteners, and instructions.
Test Drivers: Cubby, Brian, Tim, and Iron Mike
Test Venues: RC Outlaws in Collinsville IL, Dirtburners in St Louis MO, backyard, and a CostCo parking lot
Review Platform: We used an extensively modified Slash for the chassis review. Our Slash was already loaded to the hilt with Pro-Line mods such as their performance transmission, steering rack, and suspension system. We used a Dynamite 3S Lipo SpeedPack for power, a Hitec servo to keep the front wheels pointed where we wanted them, a Castle Sidewinder speedo, a Castle 5700 kv motor, and a Futaba 4PK Super-R to control the beast.
Durability: Attempting to destroy a chassis is some evil stuff. We purposely cased jumps, lawn darted, butt landed, and smashed into hard objects to our hearts content and the Pro-Line chassis remained non-taco’ed and did not get tweaked. The Pro-2 chassis doesn’t have a lot of excessive bracing, but is made out of 7075 aluminum and used upturned sides to provide strength. It was quite obvious a designer (with some common sense) sat down with a blank sheet of paper and plotted out a simple yet strong design. They hit the nail on the head.
Issues: Zero that we came across.
Misc Notes:
Fit and finish on all the chassis pieces was exceptional, typical Pro-Line. All the metal pieces were perfect, as were all the molded plastic parts, kudos.
The nerf bars were smartly done on the Pro-2 kit. Angled to the rear and fairly flexible, they perform their function properly.
All our actions shots of the Pro-2 were taken true basher style, sans body. We did this for a few reasons- to show off the chassis, to be a tougher test of the chassis, and lastly, to pay some homage to all you super gnar-core bashers out there.
This has nothing to do with the chassis kit, but our PL tuned Slash uses the extended PL body mounts which come with Pro-Line’s screw on body clip replacments (they really need a formal name). Any which way, I freak’n totally dig the screw on PL body clip replacements. They don’t get knocked off while driving, they don’t get permanently “borrowed” by your buddies, and they totally rock. I wish every car/truck came stock with them.
Also something that doesn’t have anything to do with the actual Pro-Line chassis- our truck uses the PL steering rack which comes with the best working servo saver of its type. The PL rack uses the typical V cut servo saver, which on most cars barely works then stops working all together after a few runs. The PL unit worked awesome, better than any other of its design I’ve ever used. Another kudos.
The Pro-2 chassis uses velcro to keep your battery in place. Velcro is great for using different sized battery packs, it allows you to quickly go from a 2S to a 3S pack, a hard case to a soft pack, etc.
The instructions were minimal but did the job. Most importantly, they came in paper form with the chassis kit. I hate viewing instructions on a computer while wrenching, thankfully the Pro-2 came in proper written paper form.
Summary:
Time to Bash – 8/10 – The Pro-Line chassis went in exceptionally smoothly, but an entire chassis swap isn’t a quick mod.
Car Show Rating – 9/10 – The anodized chassis looks uber-trick, but the molded plastic pieces keep it from being a “10″. Molded plastic is certainly a good material for the job it was intended for, but for “car show rating” carbon fiber would have landed the PL a perfect score.
Bash-A-Bility – 10/10 – We broke various other parts on the Slash while trying to taco the Pro-2 chassis, but the chassis itself was unharmed. This is the strongest Slash LCG chassis we’ve tested.
Handling – 9.5/10 – Awesome handling chassis, great in the corners and in the rough. A true night and day difference from the stocker.
Value – 9/10 – The PL chassis is the same price as the Anza, and a bit more than some of the others on the market, but arguably it outperforms them all.
BigSquid Rating – 9.1/10 – Tentacles. The Pro-Line Pro-2 performance is the best LCG Slash chassis we have reviewed. It handles at least as well as its competitors and is a stronger and better executed design. Whether you are a racer looking to put your Slash into the A, or a basher simply looking for a chassis that doesn’t traction roll or taco, the Pro-2 hits the mark for both, proof of a truly excellent overall design.
Source: BigSquidRC.com
