Re: Sevastra's Monster G.O.A.T.
 

So, spent the whole day sunday putting the goat together in preparation for next weekend. Got pretty far, knowing I wont have much time this week to tinker with it.

Went out for a test run around 8pm, and guess what I broke? (Hint: Wasnt even crawling anything, just cruzing around on the grass...)





Give up?








Lets see if your right.

I sheered off the front output shaft on the AX2 transmission. :evil: Looks like the front bearing seized up and caused the damage. Spent another hour or so afterwards taking it all back apart and inspecting the transmission. Gear internals are fine, sent RC4wd an email to see if it's under warranty or not.. Doubtful.

So I swapped in the origional wraith transmission for this coming weekend. We'll see how long that lasts...

On the bright side, this throws some nice dirt roostertails in two wheel drive. :flipoff:

I will have to do some more fine tuning sometime soon.. Doesnt turn to the right very well. Will do a left turn on a dime.

Suspension needs tweaking. Loving the ride height, but I believe it's bottoming out the rear shocks under throttle.

Rear sway bar links need to be longer.. Some allthread will fix that.

Re: Sevastra's Monster G.O.A.T.
 

Rc3wd part failure? I don't believe it.

Re: Sevastra's Monster G.O.A.T.
 

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k2...roketrans3.jpg

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k2...roketrans1.jpg

Yeah.. I dont think I can glue that together. But on the bright side..

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k2...wler/goat1.jpg

The goat is together in a temporairy config for this coming weekend! Got to trim up the new panels and configure a better way to mount 'em up.

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k2...wler/goat3.jpg

Lights all work.

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k2...wler/goat2.jpg

Got my steering all sorted out. Full turns from lock to lock. "thumbsup"

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k2...wler/goat4.jpg

I really like these crawler innovation foams, they broke in quick and do an excellent job. How did I live without them before? They handle bumps and jumps as well, and I've got another broken part to prove it!

Since my AX2 is down, I'm running the stock axial trans with hardened gears. Using the 15t pinion, and the plastic 60t spur the AX2 came with. Decided I wanted to do a speed run off the road, through the ditch and ramp the other side. Here's the outcome:

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k2...ripperspur.jpg

The Wraith flew off the road just fine! It nose dived into the ditch, hitting the far bank where it left a nice indentation in the dirt. Thinking I could save it as I saw the nose dive I goosed the throttle, hoping to drive out of it. See my mistake? Tires hit first, the foams kept everything from breaking on impact, and the wheels immediatly stopped spinning while the motor did not. Bye bye spur gear teeth..

Re: Sevastra's Monster G.O.A.T.
 

Props for being so hard on shit.

Not saying that's why a 3wd part broke though. I've seen too much junk from them to blame drivers.

Re: Sevastra's Monster G.O.A.T.
 

Thats the problem tho.. I was much harder on the previous version. Hell, I havent even been rough on it yet when I broke the trans output. :| Eying the HD output shaft at the moment, along with some new bearings. I really think the front one seized up and thats what snapped it off..

As for the plastic spur, had the slipper too tight. :ror: So no, this wont be a beauty / shelf queen. But I had really expected to break one of the plastic axle housings before anything else went. 'Course I could be looking for an excuse to upgrade those, but at this rate I dont think that'll be in the budget for awhile. :mrgreen:

Re: Sevastra's Monster G.O.A.T.
 

When you do end up snapping a housing contact dlux for a truss or two.

What brand spur were you using? I've seen traxxas stuff take a pounding.

Re: Sevastra's Monster G.O.A.T.
 

Not sure on the spur. It's the one that came with the AX2 tranny. Already got a Robinson Racing slipper / 32p steel spur setup, but it's a 54 tooth and I dont want to use it on the stock axial transmission. Bad ratio for the single speed..

Eying the differences between the standard AX2 output shaft and the heavy duty one. The standard shaft sheered off at the c-clip groove. The HD version eliminates the C-clip all together and uses a shim in its place. Kinda wish they had installed this from the factory knowing it was a weak point. Still, I do like being able to choose between speed and crawling without compromising for a bit of both.

Re: Sevastra's Monster G.O.A.T.
 

They've released 6 cvd, uni, and xvd setups for one axle and they still sucked.

Re: Sevastra's Monster G.O.A.T.
 

So I'm pretty happy right now. RC4WD has went out of their way to help me out, I'm expecting a package in the next couple days in preparation for this weekend. :mrgreen:

The hotel & rental car are booked and paid for, and the parts are ordered.. Whats left to do?


...Time to attack the chassis / axle screws with locktite!

Re: Sevastra's Monster G.O.A.T.
 

If it's not one thing it's another..

AX2 Transmission is repaired and back together. Just took it for a quick test run around the yard, trans is working flawlessly. On the down side, during a speed run across the yard my front MIP drive shaft came flying apart. The cross pin at the flare came out, didnt find it in the grass. Found everything else..

I've got the Hot Racing sway bars sitting here, and they happen to be the perfect diameter. Since the arms are useless and the set screws strip out so easily I'm going to cut them to link and use it as my new pins before heat shrinking over the pin holes for extra security. Just gotta wait till tomorrow, my dremel and heat shrink are at the shop.

Re: Sevastra's Monster G.O.A.T.
 

Same problem. Used red loctite. MAP gas is part of the toolbox now.

Re: Sevastra's Monster G.O.A.T.
 

Half tempted to just throw a tack weld on both sides of the pin and be done with it. Problem is breaking one of the pins if I do, especially since I seem to break something every time I drive it. Eventually I'll get to the point I can be rough with it before breaking it. :lmao:

Hey Winnerone23! You have the same problem with "Crunchy"? :mrgreen:

Re: Sevastra's Monster G.O.A.T.
 

A cutoff wheel will clean the weld up. That's a great idea actually.

Re: Sevastra's Monster G.O.A.T.
 

MIP has to be mounted correct. Notice there's a little groove in the cross pins for the grub screw. Use Locktite on the grub screws, and you're good to go. This must be the strongest drive shafts available. I've seen pics of split female bones though..

Re: Sevastra's Monster G.O.A.T.
 

Wasnt the grub screw that came out. ;-)

Re: Sevastra's Monster G.O.A.T.
 

The pin comes out because you've not got the grub screw (locktited) in to the groove. I've done the same thing a couple of times.

Re: Sevastra's Monster G.O.A.T.
 

Wow, been a long time since I've updated this. Reason? I've moved, and had put the RC hobby on a back burner for awhile. Damn thing kept staring at me from the back of my closet, so I've dug it out recently and started re-familiarizing myself with it.

So, thing's I've done to it since the last post.. I attended a gathering sponsored by Super Shafty last spring. That was a blast! Rig really handled itself well in areas others had problems with. I was impressed.. and then it stripped the front ring & pinion half way through the day. At first I thought it was the stock housing flexing under the torque that did it. Replaced the ring & pinion with a spare stock set and finished the day, tho it started clicking at the end.

About 15 minutes ago as I finished re-assembling the front dif I found the culprit. I'd moved my front axle closer to the body, and hadn't lost any suspension. When I re-assembled my front diff after inspection I put a small washer between the MIP drive shaft and pinion bearing to keep it from walking forward and back so I can limp the front diff by till I order a new set of gears. Now I see when I compress the suspension the MIP shaft is slightly too long, they bottom out and jam the pinion gear forward into the ring gear. With the washer there the pinion doesn't move forward, and my suspension won't fully compress.

So.. I'm either going to have to shorten my MIP shafts slightly, or add a little length to my front 3-link setup so I have adiquate clearance. Haven't decided which yet..

On another note, the Hot Racing tie rods suck. Love the look of them, and the bends are nice and tight to the axle.. but the press in brass fittings pop out under load and leave alot of slop in your steering. Temporairy fix? Nitro RC fuel line. Cut small bushings of sorts to cap the top and bottom of the tie rod ball to keep them from rattling around and retain some measure of equal steering.

Went ahead and put my Vanquish tie-rod back on, and did the fuel line trick to it as well to keep the steering servo from twisting it too bad when it turns in either direction. I forget why I replaced it, but I suspect it's because I couldn't get the toe equal with the rest of the setup I'm using..

Ah, almost forgot. I killed my 3s Lipo battery somehow. My charger sets off an alarm every time I go to charge it up. Tried it on a friends charger and it did the same. Time to replace it.. Atleast I kept the old 6 cell Nimh battery, so I can still run it till the new ones arrive.

Next thing on the check list? Find some crawling partners out here in West Texas. Plenty of canyons and etc to explore. :mrgreen:

Re: Sevastra's Monster G.O.A.T.
 

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k2...yworkbench.jpg

Guess it's time I clean off my workbench and get back to work on this, eh?

Placed an order with RPP today for a bunch of much needed goodies to remedy some of my previous problems. Some of you already know what I've been leaning towards from my responses to other threads, but for those that dont:

http://www.gmade.net/image/product/s..._shock_103.jpg

4 Gmade XD Piggyback shocks are on their way. Opted for the 103mm length. I also ordered a set of dual rate springs from the Slash Proline Powerstrokes, thought I'd try them on it for a better ride height adjustment. Only concern is if the spring diameter is the same as what the piggybacks use. Brief forum and internet search didn't provide any answers, but even if they dont I've got another project in mind I'll use them on.

The 3Racing shocks I've been running have been leaking from day 1. While they did a decent job, I really like the looks and added tuneability the Gmade piggybacks offer. I never really tried to prevent them from leaking, all they ever received was an occasional bleed & refill, with 1 cleaning the entire time I've owned them. Might tear them down and try sliming the o-rings for use later on.

http://www.beadlok.com/product/image...ont%20Axle.jpg

RC4WD D44 Wraith length axle set for the front and rear are on their way as well. I likely could've gotten a set of Currie's for the same price, but I haven't seen anybody else running these yet so I figured I'd give them a shot. That and I like the looks of them. "thumbsup"

Ordered the matching steering link set for them as well.

http://i1308.photobucket.com/albums/...ps10ppjnd8.jpg

A pair of Gripfab lockers are on their way. I've read some fantastic reviews on them so far, and nothing negative. While the HR lockers I bought haven't given me anything to worry about yet I'm not satisfied with the amount of slop they have. Will save them for another upcoming project.

The 43/13 Ring & pinion gears I put in the rear so no wear whatsoever, so I'll be moving them to the new D44 housing. But the stock 38/13 I've been running in the front is done for.. No teeth left on it. I did find the cause tho, when the suspension was compressing it was jamming the pinion gear in. Solution? I grounded the male and female MIP shafts down (Rather crudely at that) to shorten their lengths.

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k2...veshaftmod.jpg

All I had available to do this at the time was a hand held grinder. Will purchase a better sander in the future for cleaner work. But, it serves it's purpose and gained me the clearance I needed.

A set of the thrust washers SuperShafty sells are on their way to prevent this from happening again with the new housings. Too much money invested not to take precautions against this. I've also got a set of 36/14 overdrive gears coming for the front. I know there's been issues with the gear mesh on that set, but I'm going to give them a try anyway. If I'm not satisfied I'll get the heavy duty 38/13 for the front again.

Aside from ordering parts I've also began some panel work:

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k2...raith22815.jpg

Nothing fancy. Battery tray / splash shield, side panels, and you can't see it but there's a flat panel under the Dinky dropbox as well. I relocated the panels the chassis came with to use as inner door panels. Because of the servo for the 2 speed trans I'm going to have to make a custom interior. Haven't quite figured that one out yet on what I'd like to do.

Speaking of the 2 speed trans.. I ordered up a set of the HSP throttle linkages.

http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTIwMFgxMj...Ub~i5/$_35.JPG

My servo horn on the shift servo stripped out. Too much throw was being applied from improper setup. Saw another forum member use something similiar, and realized it's the perfect setup for what I need. Will put a spring on either side of the shaft, so it'll allow full throw of the servo horn in either direction without putting too much tension on it and stripping anything out.



Future planned upgrades:

Better radio / receiver. The 3 channel I bought from RC4WD just doesn't have much range on it. A thing made painfully clear when I was at HonchoForever's gathering last year.

Another 3s lipo battery. The Venom I've been using refuses to charge anymore, and is less than a year old. I'm convinced this is my fault tho, that I didn't set my lipo cutoff correctly and ran it down below what was needed. Still looking into getting it revived.

Benjamin at HobbyTown USA in Lubbock offered to try and revive it for me, I just haven't taken the 70 mile trip yet. Some people might say that's too far to drive, but look at it this way. Lubbock has the nearest Walmart to where I live in the little town of Spur, Texas. It's an hour drive for me, and a trip I take atleast once a month for supplies, and etc.. So really it's not that big of a deal to go. I just don't want to go to Lubbock for that reason alone.

Speaking of which, if anybody is in the Lubbock / Abilene area and want's to meet up sometime, shoot me a PM. "thumbsup"

Another upgrade I plan to do is a new set of links. My front upper 3 link is kinda cobbled together. Would like to find something cleaner and stronger, I'm half convinced it'll break off if I have a half decent fall.

Re: Sevastra's Monster G.O.A.T.
 

Another minor update thanks to not being able to sleep. Shouldn't have napped so long earlier today..

I've been eying the Blue Monkey trailing arms for a few days now. Think I'll add a set of these to my to get list. I do have a question tho, anybody converted the trailing arms to run without the upper 4 link bars yet? I'd be interested in seeing how it was done.

Oh, and I weighed the wraith in it's current setup. 9.8 lbs.. Will see what it weighs when the new axles are installed.

Re: Sevastra's Monster G.O.A.T.
 

Got the chassis stripped down for the next round of upgrades.

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k2...hassisredo.jpg


Can you guess what these are for?

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k2.../material1.jpg

I'll give you another hint. I got the idea from one of Szczerba's awesome builds. "thumbsup"