How Strong Are Ultimate Scale Yota Axles?

[alexchen86]

I've been eyeing these axles for a while now from RC4WD. As far as durability and replacement parts will these be hard to find?

Freaking expensive but man do they look sweet!

Thinking about SCX frame, tranny TBD (most likely Axial with Robinsons), CMS, leaf sprung and of course a Hilux hardbody with interior.

Powering it will be a Sidewinder (waterproofed), motor TBD, and running 3s.

[heinie_21]

+1 on this question. I want to know

[wcdfmt510]

+1 also. also curious about these axles

[heinie_21]

Dbl post

[alexchen86]

Wow no one seems to know?! I posted this on Scale4x4 as well but no replies.

Good to know that RC4WD sells replacement gears for them lol. I'm not concerned about the axle housing themselves more on the strength of the rings, pinions, and lockers.

I won't be bashing these beauties by any means but good to have peace of mind.

[bryan_crawler]

x5 i would like to know too hahahaha

[Rook82]

The ones that come in the Trail Finder 2 are very similar. The only difference is the TF2 housings are cast metal where as the Ultimates are aluminum (hence the increased cost). The guts and shafts, etc are the same. They have been very durable for me. I use them often with 3s on a 35 turn motor. Underwater, hill climbs full throttle trying to right yourself when upsidedown, etc. Not any issue so far. I did only get the rig this summer but it has been well used. There is almost no paint left on them from scraping on rocks. I do lube the bearings often and I added grease to the diffs when new to make sure they were well lubed and ready to go.

There is not much you can upgrade other then the xvd axles through RC4WD. The stock axles are dogbone like a stock SCX10, etc. I have heard of people breaking them, but I never have neither has anyone I run with who has them. None of us have had any issues that I am aware of yet. So I would say they are a decent axle.

[Szczerba]

Not very strong from my experiences.

I run them on my 1.55/1.9 SCX Leaf Spring F-Toy. 6 lbs

1. Broke front dog bone first 20 minutes of light wheeling.
2. Stripped front gears in less than 30 minutes of light wheeling. Pinion gear needs shimming into ring gear.
3. Replaced front gears and within 3 hours of driving I had to put front gear set # 3 in.

So less than 4 hours of driving. upgrade to XVDs and on 3rd front gear set.
Also, keep a stock of axle bearings handy. i replaced the front small axle shaft bearings to bronze bushing but bearings still get ate up quick.

I also had an issues with the factory powder coating where the 3rd member mounts up. that was the cause of the first gear stripping. small amount causes the 3rd member and axle housing to not mount up correctly. A little dremel action and it fixed it but after the
gears got toasted.

The rear axle has held up fine.

[Rook82]

Here is a link to TF2 takeoffs from a new kit:

RC4WD Trail Finder 2 Axles Front/Rear

Maybe they cast ones in the TF2's hold up better for some reason. Maybe they are assembling them different or something. They came well greased although I added extra after about 4 or 5 hours of running. I wanted to pull the diffs to see how they were holding up. There was no noticeable wear on my gear sets front or rear. I placed plenty of extra grease when re assembling them. But like Szczerba mentioned, some have had issues with axle shaft dog bones. I havent, though I only run a 1.55 4.1 inch tall rock stomper tire. They have very little traction which leads to less stress on the shafts. I may run my 1.9 PitBulls on the rig to see what happens. Much more traction on those and hence will strain the axle shafts a bit more as will the leverage from the taller tire. But like I mentioned before, I have really thrashed on my cast TF2 axles. And the TF2 is fairly hefty. Hard body, spare tire, large 4,000 mah 2s battery or 5,400 mah 3s lipo. I have never weighed it though it is heavier then most of my SCX10's by a good amount. The only rig heavier is my TTC SCX with Wraith axles and heavy 2.2 aluminum rims and 2.2 Boggers.

I think maybe try the cast take offs from RPP's salvage. Look the same as the "ultimate scale" versions, just made with cast housings rather then machined aluminum. At $90 or so for both front and rear, it is not a bad price or much of a loss if they don't work out.

Another option may be to just go with a TF2 kit. Comes with everything you list as a desire but adds a two speed trans and scale transfercase. The gears are huge and all metal in both in the TF2. The frame is the correct width for the leaf springs on the Yota axles. You would have to fab something or buy an RCBRO kit for the Axial as the frame is too narrow.