Pro-Line Pro-2 SC Truck Review!

Yes! That’s right! We’ve got another hot new review kit in the RCTV Towers, and we’re proud to say that this time around it’s the awesome Pro-Line Pro-2 short course racing truck!

This kit has been burning up tracks around the world, especially in the hands of Ty Tessman, and we’re so happy to get this kit in our hands that RCTV’s Joey has been jumping up and down all week!

Follow along as we go through the features of the Pro-2 and do ye olde unboxing!

The various components of the Pro-2 SC truck have been around for a while – Pro-Line introduced their Protrac suspension for the Traxxas short course trucks many years back, and it’s been winning races ever since. Next up was the LCG chassis for the Traxxas trucks, then a custom transmission. Then they released the PowerStroke shocks, and those have been doing really well, too. Combine that with their always impressive body tech and their release of the high speed, low drag Flo-Tek racing body, and welp, you’ve nearly got a racing truck!

Pretty much all they had to do was make the box to contain all the bits and give that sucker a name!

So here we are with the box, and we’ll show you the bits inside!

First up, we’ll go over the details of the box as Pro-Line have conveniently given us all the details of the Pro-2 truck right on the outside.

First up, we’re checking out the main features of the Pro-2. Of course one of the main things that helps a 2WD racing vehicle do well is a good transmission, and you can’t go wrong with this one, it does so much right. Vented slipper clutch plates, oil-filled gear diff and LiPo ready. Plus, rubber-sealed ball bearings to keep all the nasty stuff out.

The chassis is fully assembled, all you have to do is assemble and add the suspension parts – handy! Machined out of 7075 aluminum and with all the molded braces, steering and bulkheads already in place, there’s not a whole lot to do to get the Pro-2 out on the track.

One of the big features is the Protrack suspension, a big deal on the Pro-2! This is a wide-track suspension set that does all the hard work on the race track. The arms are super thick, the shock towers are nice and sturdy and with 4mm thick steel turnbuckles you can bet that the suspension will be solid as a rock.

The PowerStroke shocks are quite nice. Pro-Line has been making their own aluminum components for a while now and this shock set really shows it. With other bits like Ti-Nitride coated shock shafts, self-bleeding bladder seals up top, dual-rate springs and double o-ring seals, these are really top-rate shocks.

Pro-Line even throw in a set of mounted Blockade SC tires in the super-soft M3 compound. These are meant to tackle nearly any type of off-road terrain – those big square blocks look like they mean business! They could have tossed in a set of play tires like Gladiators or some of their motocross-inspired designs, but this is a racing truck. Not a plaything! Black F-11 complete the all-business look as far as round black things go.

Up top, the Flo-Tek SC body is another all-business proposition. It’s a low-drag design that sheds air from underneath like a…thing that really wants to get out of another thing. As it’s a Pro-Line body, you know what to expect: solid construction, good looks, decal sheets and window mask.

Of course Pro-Line offer option parts for the Pro-2 – it’s a racing truck! First up is a set of rear anti-squat blocks. These change the angle of the rear hingepins. Pro-Line even tell you what changing the angle does! A lower angle gives you more side grip and a higher angle gives you better acceleration.

Another thing you can stock up on are different spur gears. The stock spur is an 86 tooth, Pro-Line offer a 78T and 82T as options for altering your gear ratio.

Naturally, if you’re a racer you’re going to need different spring sets. Pro-Line make it easy and give you just 2 part numbers to worry about: one for optional front springs and another for rear springs. Simple.

Here’s all the bits you’ll need to finish the kit: all the electronics and a selection of metric hex wrenches from 1.5 to 2.5mm, plus nut drivers in 5mm, 5.5mm and 7mm sizes. A hobby knife or side cutters make getting the parts off the sprues easier and body trimming tools like scissors and a body reamer make life easier when it comes time to mount the body.

The kit specs – basically, it’s about the same size as other short course trucks you’ve seen. Not too much going on here.

Just for the completionists, here’s the barcode label and part number: #4001-00

Wha-hey! We’ve got the box open. It’s actually a pretty nice layout. White everywhere inside and even logos inside the end flaps!

The instruction manual looks nicely laid out, full of CAD drawings and full-size parts illustrations.

At the back you even get some blank setup sheets, plus one already filled out for when you get a bit ‘lost’ on setup and need to go back to square 1.

Ah, here’s the Flo-Teck body. Looking good!

There’s so many vents on this body that I lost count!

And way more vents at the rear!

The number plates and stabilizing fins to keep the truck straight in the air, plus blue aluminum hardware to install them. Pretty sweet!

Vinyl window masks should help get the body painting done just a little faster.

Nice set of decals! Not one but TWO sheets, loaded with ‘sponsor’ logos, grills and lights. Noice!

Ah-HA! NOW we get to the meat of the matter – the chassis! But first…

…first we look at the shocks! Two pairs of PowerStroke shocks, one rear (on the left) and one front. Nicely packaged, like you just picked them off your hobby shop’s shelf!

The shocks really are loaded with features: nitride, Teflon, o-rings, big bore, bump stop, dual-rate, bladder, self-bleeding…you can read the packaging for yourself!

A nice touch for those of us who are a bit more forgetful than others: tags on the shock tops telling you that no oil is inside!

Here you can see the plastic spring separator that the dual-rate shocks rest on. The top spring is softer and compresses first, then the longer stiffer spring starts to do its work.

The shock springs are each marked with a dab of colored paint. Yellow short springs and green rear. The fronts and rears have the same colors of springs.

Nicely machined threading shows that Pro-Line definitely put their time in on making sure the shocks are top-notch. If you can look at something as finely detailed as this and spot the quality, you know the rest of the kit will be quite nice too! And again – no shock oil.

Ah, now we take a good look at the chassis! This is the front end – you can clearly see the steering is already installed and waiting for the steering links. It looks like at least 4 ball bearings are situated in there, and probably 6, we’ll get a good look when we get around to installed the front end.

The steering servo mounts are nicely machined from aluminum, just like the chassis. Those cool blue washers really help set off the bronze of the anodizing, and that front servo mount is slotted to fit various servos. The rear mount is attached to the chassis as well as the top plastic brace.

The side braces are made of molded plastic but look to be really solid, you can tell some good engineering went into the design of the Pro-2!

Velcro battery straps are good, I’ve never liked having screws or even thumbscrews for battery hold-downs…but then I did enjoy my Velcro shoes when I was a kid! You can see the areas that are milled out on the chassis to lower the weight as well. When they say LCG, they mean Low Center of Gravity! Which is handy, because that is what LCG means.

And now to the rear end – this is our first glimpse of the transmission, with its steel output shafts and rubber-sealed balled bearings. you can see the shelf for the electronics just in front of the bulkhead, and thick plastic braces on either side too.

The crystal-clear spur gear cover encloses the spur gear and the vented slipper clutch plates, and has a plastic plug that lets you adjust the slipper clutch without having to take off the whole cover.

The other side of the transmission lets you see the milled out areas on the motor mount that not only lighten the motor plate but add extra surface area for motor cooling.

Pro-Line say the nerf wings are ‘fighter jet inspired’, and as an ex-military brat I’m trying to place these…F-105? Tornado? They do have a certain familiarity to them…

The chassis is held in place on the cardboard backing with thick zip ties front and rear.

Underneath the chassis rest the suspension bits you’ll need to assemble and the wheels and tires. Let’s attack that tire bag first!

The tires are the Pro-Line (duh) Blockade SC in M3 compound – a good all-around racing tire with a medium-size square block pattern. And hey, they’re already glued onto the wheels! That’s lucky, as gluing tires is one of the few things I really don’t like to do for my RC vehicles. The wheels look great too, they’re F-11 wheels with a fake beadlock pattern that will wear in nicely once they get a bit of dirt in those lines.

You can see the Blockade tread give plenty of side bite! Look at those chunky treads.

The inner sidewall of the wheel is the usual low-profile, and the inside of the wheel has a thin webbing all the way around.

This is the Protrac suspension bag, and is packed full of both shock towers, all the suspension arms and the 4mm steel turnbuckles.

Nice touch! All the individual parts have their part number molded into them, plus an L or R to tell you what side the arms go on. No bonus points for getting that right, now!

The steel turnbuckles are HEAVY – but that tells you (usually) that the part is hefty enough for the job. In this case, I’ll believe Pro-Line!

The final bag is the MASTER BAG. What a name for the main parts bag!

The Master Bag has bags A through L and more, with bits like Fluids and Foam getting their bags. You can see the front and rear bumpers, body mounts, suspension uprights, hardware and more here. We’ll get to these when we start the build!

And start the build we shall…check back soon for the next part of the Pro-Line Pro-2 build, when we tackle the front end!

But that’s not all! We’ve got a nice little video here that lets you relive the highlights of the bits you’ve just seen! Check it out:

We’d like to thank everyone at Pro-Line for sending us this review kit – we really have been wanting to check out this truck in person for quite some time, and we’re so happy Pro-Line graciously sent us the Pro-2 to review and share with all you RC Racing TV fans!

We’ll have plenty more where this came from! Click here for the first build article, where we assemble the front end!