New to YXL- Build Advice for Reliability

[ejfiii]

Hey guys, 9 months in the hobby with both 2WD and 4WD Slashes and I am ready for more. My 11 year old daughter wants something bigger and with the money we have spent upgrading the Slashes we could have a pretty bad ass YXL. But I am also tired of breaking something on the slashes all the time.

I know the YXL will have breakage as well but is there a way to build one for reliability and minimize the downtime? Of course it depends on how and where you drive- i get that. But we are looking for just general bashing fun and maybe a trip to the 1/8 buggy track every once in a while to run with the 4WD slash.

I have read here and elsewhere for days about the YXL and for me the hobby is as much about building as it is for running, but once built i would like some reliability and not have to deal with what i consider nuisance breaking. And I LOVE the scale factor and uniqueness of the YXL over the myriad monster trucks available.

So is it possible to build a reliable YXL? Here are the upgraded parts I have heard about mostly on this great site:

1. steering system total upgrade (servo, horn, rack and other parts)
2. metal shock caps
3. bearings
4. not sure about diffs and gears. Do we still need to fix the gears on newer vehicles or were the issues only on the early release units? I would probably do HR sealed diff cases where available anyway.
5. HR main rear driveshaft
6. HR motor mount
7. Aluminum shock towers
8. Front/rear bulkheads

Other questions that i can't sort out:
1. what about shimming gears and such
2. do I need hardened steel pinion and spur gears? Are the factory 32P?

I am sure there are others that I am forgetting. This site is a wonderful resource and I appreciate the help. Hope to be adding to the content here soon.

[tonyfalkon]

If your gonna put reliability upgrades get a used one instead of a BN kit, there is a used roller being offered on the classifieds with upgraded steering for less than $300 shipped. Check other forums or auction sites as well so you can compare which is the best deal.

From my experience it all boils down to how much are you willing to shell out for reliability, metal shock caps are great when you do a lot of jumping and if your gonna do that you need to upgrade the shock tower, lower control arms, c-hubs, hub carrier and ceramic bearings all around. Also your gonna need steel rear drive shafts, sealed aluminum bulkheads and aluminum rear axle housing if available that would go a long way in protecting the bearings and the diffs.

Lastly, and this is where I differ from most if not all the other YXL bashers, Aluminum trans case and shimming/modifying straight or beveled diff gears. My experience has led me to believe dirt that gets in the bearings, bearing size and heat are the ones causing chaos in the differentials. My take, dirt gets into the bearing causes it to wobble, shreds the ring and pinion gear and shreds the axle housing in the process and that's just from the bearing holding the pinion, there are also 2 outer bearings on the side and 2 diff bearings. All of them exposed and if that doesn't happen the small bearings generate heat faster than the bigger ones. Best case is to seal off the bearings so dirt can't get in and use ceramic bearings to manage the heat (if your using the same bearing size as OEM and stilling using plastic bulkheads and rear diff housing). But that's just me I haven't heard any to the contrary of the rest who tried this route and so far it seems to be working out very well for them so that would be up to you to decide.

Then there's the aluminum trans cover, bearings are even smaller and exposed dirt can easily wreak havoc there and the aluminum slipper clutch plate. The slipper drive gear shaft is made of hardened steel, the clutch plates are aluminum, after a while the the notches on the back clutch plate gets dinged causes the spur gear to wobble. Then again that's just me I haven't heard any YXL owners having clutch plate problem or any dirt wreaking havoc with there trans bearings mostly what I read about is loose pin fittings.

Don't get me wrong I'm not saying I'm right and they are wrong because like I said I haven't read anything to the contrary of what they tried and looks like it worked out very well for them, I took a different route and its working out nicely for me as well. Try their suggestions with the lack of bad experiences from that many YXL bashers who have tried it, statistically, that's the best route to go with. Good luck with your new project, stay safe, have fun and Welcome to the YXL community.

[xwoop]

Alloy cases for front and rear gears and alloy tranny case
Deflector/boot for rear pinion/housing
Better clutch, e.g Robinson Racing Yeti clutch (needs a little mod to expand the spur shaft hole)
If using HD sioral gears, BHB pinion mod (except with dhawk v2 front bulkhead)
Alloy front clip

Alloy steering parts
RPM a-arms (needs a mod to alloy front bulkheads, dremelling a little to allow free a-arm movement)

A lot more upgrades (tires, foams, shocks...) But To start with these I'd say you'll get pretty far. 350-400$ investment for upgrades and some work.

Or get an 8s X-maxx. Nevertheless not as much fun IMO.

[ferp420]

I have a almost bone stock rtr yxl i only run it on 3 s it seems to b holding up fine when i ran 6s it blew bearings and gears every run i got tiered of tearing it down and rebuilding it so i just run 3s and i turned down the power to 80% and i only run 1 3s 50c 5000mah battery it totaly tame and hasent broken anything since going 3s it even servived axial fest lol my freind has one that has just about every upgrade it dident have the hub carieres though i spent 3 days tearing it apart to fix the diff 5 min in to its fist run and he Goosed it it took off hit a fence broke the hub carrier i did the same thing with my rtr although alot slower and keept drivin its still fun but not insane i do have a list of upgrades i would like to do but i dont run it all that much so there low on the list of things to buy the next upgrade will be the steering then rear axle then front diff bulk head and thats it for me