[Rimrock]

Sad to hear about the troubles someone experiences with the equipment. I guess one can state that RC4WD is more of a pure 'forwarder' of deals/money between the customer and the fabricator, Eagle. Not a real 'dealer' like one have with full scale machinery, that test runs, upgrades things before delivery, give full service, keep spare parts locally and so on. It's all very cost driven, companies like RC4Wd want's to have minimum stock and personnel, to keep costs down. That naturally influence the degree of service and quality of the delivery. I don't know if there are, or there should be, a professional dealer of the machines in e.g the US, that have good technical knowledge, keep spare parts in stock locally, and really test, check and possible upgrade the machines before delivery. the hobby is quite new..but hopefully things will improve over time and one will have more options than relate to unprofessional 'forwarders' or relate directly to a factory in China, that also keeps number of staff down in order to keep low cost.
If not getting original hydraulics properly up and go, there is always the option to put proper hydraulics in, Premacon, 1000-1200-1400 usd (If so, ask/look for advice at the forum concerning all parts needed in such a upgrade first, if one are not very into hydraulics)