ZD Racing - Pirates 2 V3 9116 - 1/8 4WD MT

I received this ZD Racing Pirates 2 V3 MT from banggood to do a review.

ZD racing website : http://zdhobby.com


Photos :







Unboxing :

• ZD Racing - Pirates 2 V3 - 1/8 4WD MT - In-Depth unboxing 👀 • (18 min 3 sec)

Specifications :

Scale : 1/8
Lenght : 471mm
Width : 380mm
Wheelbase : 322 - 326mm
Height : 230mm
ESC : 120A brushless same model as racerstar/goolrc
Motor : 4068 (Ø42mm with thin heatsink) unknow KV but 1800Kv on banggood website
Steering servo : Unknow brand and torque
Transmitter : 2.4Ghz 2ch, 4 x LR6/AA batteries (not included)

Parts inspection :

Hardware :

This car mainly use 10.8 allen screws. Screws are good quality.


Transmission :

It use : Steel Mod. 1 13T motor pinion, 46T steel spur gear, 11T input pinion gear and 38T differential's crown gear. 3 differentials.

Drive shafts :


- Ø4mm axle drive shaft all arround.
- Universal drive shaft on front.
- Dog bone on rear.
- Rear dog bone and both center dog bone have the same size.


Hex hub and wheel nut :


- Aluminum.
- Ø3mm axle hex hub retainer.
- The wheel nut are slick, nothing to lock them on the rim side. I advise to use threadlocker.


Differential :


- Crown gear with slightly curved teeth.
- Diff. case is smaller than many other 1/8 scale differentials.
- Four spider gears.
- Filled with oil.
- The bigger differential come from a BSR Berseker/HSP sea rover.


Input gear :


- 11T steel.


Motor pinion and spur gear :


- steel.
- 13T motor pinion.
- 46T spur gear.



Chassis :

Suspension :

A-arm :

Rear :


- A-arms aren't symetrical, not from front to rear or left to right.
- Almost 10mm thick.
- Made with stiff plastic but a little bit flexible.

Hinge axle :


- A long screw with a secure nut for all the a-arms.


A-arm hinge pin retainer :


- Aluminum all arround.
- The part on the photo is the RR part.


Rear hub carrier :


- Aluminum hub carrier.
- 8mm wheel axle.
- 8x16x5mm bearings.
- Hub carrier hinge pin is a screw with secure nut.
- There is a machined area where goes the hinge pin which make think we can put a plastic bushing. And as there isn't plastic bushing, there is play on this area.


Front hub carrier :


- Plastic C-hub with a kind of mud guard.
- Plastic C-hub is made in two parts.
- Aluminum hub carrier.
- Bottom hub carrier's screw goes through a ball and top screw go through a metal bushing.


Shock absorber :


- Fully aluminum.
- Ø18mm body (without thread)
- Adjustable spring preload ring.
- Ø3.5mm shaft.
- Rubber boot which portect the shaft.
- Filled with oil.


Ohters :

Stiffener chassis support :


- Look really small for what it suppose to do


Battery tray :


- 138x46mm.
- Very long velcro strap, which won't scratch with too small batteries.


Rear suspension overall view :





Electronics :

Transmitter :


- Same button/knob layout as a Flysky GT2.



First thought : (without have used it yet)

- At first look the chassis look good with all the orange aluminum parts.
- Aluminum a-arms hinge pins holder is nice as i broke very quickly the plastic ones on the truggy version.
- Big 150x78mm wheels.
- Tires rubber compound seems not bad.
- A-arms have a decent size.
- Sliightly curved teeth on the differentials' crown gear is a good thing.
- Good screws quality (better than on my Arrma Kraton).
- Seems well damped with a not thin shock absorber oil. Oil is more heavy on rear than front.
- Buggy front bumper on a MT isn't very nice.
- Lot of play on the rear hub carrier.
- Too small part to fix the rear chassis stiffener to the rear gearbox, this will be a weak point.
- I don't like the small differentials compared to many other of my 1/8.
- I don't like the small battery tray.
- Parts can be hard to find. We kind find a few in few EU webshop or on aliexpress (avoid TPD Hobby seller). Banggood sel the a-arms and center differential.
- I highly advise to check all the screws with nuts and add threalocker on every nuts.
- The ESC is a cheap 120A racerstar/goolrc esc. I have many of this ESC, on my JLB or Berserker for exemple, and they do the job with 3s or 4s so far. Not waterproof and almost splashproof but don't play with it in too big puddle.

At first look and at the today price, it look not bad for the price. It is cheaper than the ZD Racing truggy i have, with better parts as they are aluminum. I have a better first impression compared to the truggy, excepted the few point listed above. I did a short test and it worked nice and seems fast with 4s, brake isn't set on the heavy side, which is better to avoid to put the truck up side down. Don't expect to have Arrma or pro-line quality, this truck won't be at this level. But for the price and light bashing, imo, it can do the job and be fun. Banggood product title talk about 100km/h, it can maybe reach 100km/h with 6s battery. But, if you expect to bash it with 6s, other than doing speed run in straight line, don't be surprise to break it quickly. Imo 4s battery in far enough for this truck.

Theoricaly it can reach 60Km/h (~37mph) with 4s and 92Km/h (~57mph) with 6s.



Video :

4S bashing :

• ZD Racing - Pirates 2 V3 - 1/8 4WD MT - 4S Bashing • (2 min 43 sec)

As i said at the end of my video, some will say to not bash on concret or asphalt. Break things happens. But the bad landing wasn't so bad and the result is worst than what i thought. So, this small stiffener bar support is really weak and can be a big problem on this car.
Some will say it is a cheap car, so we can't expect something same as high end cars. But at this price point it is nice for beginner, but beginners do mistakes, this can happen really fast, and, imo, on any kind of surface (excepted in sand on a beach). EDIT : Shutter_up (see link to his thread below) just say to me, in a youtube comment on my video, that the same thing happened to him on grass.
Plus, chassis plate and stiffener parts are really hard to find. After having spent many time on internet to try to find the chassis plate, i find one on a russian webshop (i won't buy it from russia) and stiffener parts on a german website only (but as the parts are weak it is useless to replace, they need to be stronger).
Otherwise, the ESC coggs a little bit. The truck seems to be fast with 4s. I hoped to give a better feedback on this truck, but once again, 1/8 ZD Racing is a bad experience for me.

So, for the moment, as there is nothing on the market to improve this car, i don't advise to buy it.



Shutter-up's thread about this truck.



Feel free to ask any questions

More to come , stay tuned

I just add a bashing video at the end of the first post.

Were you able to get your 9116 v3 back on the road and running right? If so, after fixing it, would you still not recommend it?

Were you able to get your 9116 v3 back on the road and running right?

I don't know. I need to find aluminum and time to make my own parts. And i don't really have time for that for the moment.

For the moment, i won't recommand it. If you do a bad landing on the rear you won't be able to repair it. And even if the parts were available, they are too weak, so you will need to make your own parts to avoid to brake the truck a second time.

If you have tools, skill, and time to do your how parts why not.

Originally Posted by Jym73

I don't know. I need to find aluminum and time to make my own parts. And i don't really have time for that for the moment.

For the moment, i won't recommand it. If you do a bad landing on the rear you won't be able to repair it. And even if the parts were available, they are too weak, so you will need to make your own parts to avoid to brake the truck a second time.

If you have tools, skill, and time to do your how parts why not.

Hey buddy, to add, I think the only way of keeping this truck on the road will be self made parts, not something many of us can do, Im unlikey to ever put my own money into a ZD Hobby Truck again

not something many of us can do, Im unlikey to ever put my own money into a ZD Hobby Truck again

I was already not a big fan of the ZD racing 1/8 with the bad experience i had with the truggy. I hoped to give a better feedback for this one, but finally no. If it bent the rear shock tower i would have say, ok, normal after a landing like that, but not when the chassis is bent at 45°.

the only way of keeping this truck on the road will be self made parts, not something many of us can do

Yes, that why i don't advise to buy it. For a good handyman with tools and skill to draw parts and make the pats, why no, but it won't be as solid as many other 1/8 with a poor parts support and no aftermarket parts. I crashed the JLB more badly than this truck and it was still able to run. Excepted better chassis stiffeners, this truck need bigger front and rear bumper and maybe a wheely bar as it can do wheelies with 4s.

Originally Posted by Jym73

I was already not a big fan of the ZD racing 1/8 with the bad experience i had with the truggy. I hoped to give a better feedback for this one, but finally no. If it bent the rear shock tower i would have say, ok, normal after a landing like that, but not when the chassis is bent at 45°.



Yes, that why i don't advise to buy it. For a good handyman with tools and skill to draw parts and make the pats, why no, but it won't be as solid as many other 1/8 with a poor parts support and no aftermarket parts. I crashed the JLB more badly than this truck and it was still able to run. Excepted better chassis stiffeners, this truck need bigger front and rear bumper and maybe a wheely bar as it can do wheelies with 4s.

I'd accept it with parts and upgrades available but without either

It's just a totally do not buy IMHO

The front and rear chassis stiffener are now available on banggood :



Now i wait for the center differential support

For the rear stiffener support i will try to make one from aluminum.

Originally Posted by Jym73

The front and rear chassis stiffener are now available on banggood :

Attachment 12070329

Now i wait for the center differential support

For the rear stiffener support i will try to make one from aluminum.

yeees

Hi all,

Can anyone tell me what bearings the front hub carrier takes? Are both bearings that fit into the hub carrier 8x16x5?

Yes, 8x16x5.

I modded mine today. Got a bit scared by this bendy chassis and added this copper tube, to brace it.

I needed to a small aluminum square tube at the front, and at the back just secured it with a long bolt, which is going into that tube.
I've measured the correct length, cut it to size and mounted it.

Please let me know of your thoughts.

Many aluminum chassis need tower to tower brace. What you have done will surely renforce the chassis and avoid it to bend.

Even if more expensive chassis can bend, they never bend as bad as on the ZD Racing 9116 though.

I still wait for a bloc of aluminum to make a new chassis brace suppert nd i will surely add an aluminum tube to reinforce the chassis.

Aluminum chassis plate is now unvailable on banggood.

Hi. I look for second car and found ZD pirates 2. All day watched many different reviews, and anybody didn't break chassis like you. As I understood you didn't advise the pirates 2 because it has poor spare parts support. Do you have the same opinion after aluminum chassis plate is available on banggood(right now it availabel for 19.99)?