"I just bought my first RS10" *** YOU NEED TO READ THIS!***

[jsowens]

Originally Posted by StomperCrawler

If I understand correctly, the reason for this pin is to prevent damage to the gears, cups, dog bones, motor, etc. if and when the tires get locked up.

While the existing pin may indeed be too soft, I'm wondering whether a hardened steel replacement may be too hard and actually cause further damage.

Perhaps a better solution would be a slightly harder pin (anyone have ideas?) along with a metal cover (see Newfie's work-in-progress here) to hold it; then if/when it broke, it would only happen when the wheels actually do get locked up, plus with a metal cover to contain the damage, only the pin should (in theory) need replaced.

I've seen plenty of instances where the stock pin has snapped and caused all kinds of chaos. Since folks have been putting in hardened pins, I've not seen an instance where that hardened pin has caused any damage.

I think in some cases, driving style can be contributed to the diff pins causing damage. I ran some pretty powerful motors in my RS10 on plastic gears and the stock diff pins for quite a while with the only issue being stripped gears due to a heavy trigger finger once. I was somewhat careful with the rig, though. If my tires ever got bound up, I never tried to drive out of it because I didn't want to be replacing parts. Ultimately I put hardened pins in my axles, but never snapped a stock pin.

[riskyjedi]

Mine looked like the damaged spur gear plate after about a year of driving. Hard driving with hardend pins. (my son is 4).so I bought the metal ones from Zno rc and no problems so far.

[The Jackalope]

As much as it may have been designed to break, and protect the other components, this little pin is in exactly the HARDEST point to access in the entire crawler, and makes for quite a bit of down time. And most guys are NOT exactly equipped to "field fix" this part when out on a crawl. And so, have to do the axle tear-down back at home.

But I do see your point.

That said, the plastic gears seem to hold up pretty good to most guys running stock motors. And anyone (like me) running 540's should run the metal gears anyways (which are indestructible btw)

Next is the dogbones. I have yet to bend one, though I know many who have. but if you need to keep a pair of those in your toolbox, they cost $5.99 pair, and can be replaced by removing the steering knuckle. I'd sooner change one of these than tear down my axle any day

[StomperCrawler]

Originally Posted by The Jackalope

As much as it may have been designed to break, and protect the other components, this little pin is in exactly the HARDEST point to access in the entire crawler, and makes for quite a bit of down time. And most guys are NOT exactly equipped to "field fix" this part when out on a crawl. And so, have to do the axle tear-down back at home.

Yeah, I don't like that it's so hard to get to; maybe they shouldn't have used a pin there but rather just made the dog bones a little weaker so they would break instead of stripping the gears. Of course, then we would complain about broken dog bones, so it's a lose-lose for RedCat.

The fact of the matter is that they've done a heck of a job creating a crawler that performs as well as it does for a fraction of the cost of other brands. Yes it needs a metal gear servo ($20) and a few little free hacks like the pin upgrade & tire sipping, but overall for the price, it's pretty stinking amazing.

[AutoCrawler]

It unclear to me if the original intent of the spur gear pin was to be a shear pin since it is locked in place with a plastic plate Generally a shear pin should be made break more easily than the parts it pins together. Hardly the case here. Could just be a poor design or it could be because the gear box was originally designed with a differential (it's available as an optional extra RCT-T007 diff. assembly) and they changed their minds and had to create a new part after the fact.

There are also shear pins in the wheel hexes which are much easier to fix. You only have to take the wheel off with an M4 (7mm) nut driver and uses 1.5 mm hex wrench on the grub (set) screw. In theory making the spur pin less prone to fail just moves the failure point out the the wheel hexes where you what them. Not sure if they ever break though. The wheel hex pins appear to be the same part as the spur gear pin.

I'm going to order a differential set just because it will be fun to play with so I'll let you know.

[StomperCrawler]

So Auto, you're saying that the plastic plate breaks before the pin? I thought that it was the other way around - the pin breaks and then it tears up the plastic plate; is that not the case?

[riskyjedi]

In my experience the stock pin brakes before the plate then it damages the plastic. With the harder pin the plastic just breaks. So I found a metal plate for it from Zno Rc. If it was just me driving the cat I probably wouldn't need it but my 4 year old son drives it to. He is more when in doubt throttle it out. Lol. I've only changed the plastic gears once from stripped gears once in a year of driving it this way and that was my fault for not checking the gear mesh when changing the motor. I hope my experience can help you guys out. Also if your running 540 motors the metal gears probably are needed. Next time I (my son) strips the gears I'm going to get the metal gears. Just the added weight down lower is beneficial and the 10t pinion it comes with should make the cat roar lol.

[AutoCrawler]

Originally Posted by StomperCrawler

So Auto, you're saying that the plastic plate breaks before the pin? I thought that it was the other way around - the pin breaks and then it tears up the plastic plate; is that not the case?

No I didn't mean that. Was just commenting on the design. If it was a proper shear pin design then just the shear pin would break leaving the surrounds intact. Since the surrounds are plastic, it is more or less inevitable that if the metal pin breaks then the plastic will get chewed up.

Really it's academic what order they fail in. You still end up with a busted plate which Redcat does not sell as a separate part.

As I said somewhere else, they really should include a metal replacement plate with the metal gears

[StomperCrawler]

I'll talk to RedCat about it.

[jboehler04]

Originally Posted by StomperCrawler

If I understand correctly, the reason for this pin is to prevent damage to the gears, cups, dog bones, motor, etc. if and when the tires get locked up.

While the existing pin may indeed be too soft, I'm wondering whether a hardened steel replacement may be too hard and actually cause further damage.

Perhaps a better solution would be a slightly harder pin (anyone have ideas?) along with a metal cover (see Newfie's work-in-progress here) to hold it; then if/when it broke, it would only happen when the wheels actually do get locked up, plus with a metal cover to contain the damage, only the pin should (in theory) need replaced.

so do they make a steel cover to replace the stock plastic one.

[blinkme]

Yes they make a whole set of steel gears all you need is the shaft and the pin

[jboehler04]

I found the gears but do they make a replacement metal cover this pin that everyone is talking about sits in?

[riskyjedi]

Here is a link to metal plates from zno rchttp://www.zno-rc.com/mobile/default.aspx#P37507 you may need to contact them as they have had website issues. Good luck :^)

[jboehler04]

Thanks

[Churb]

anyone running the aluminum chubs? are they worth it?
My plastic ones seem to be fatigued and bend anymore with the slightest load on them, although not broken yet.

[Olle P]

Love this thread!

A few questions regarding the diff pins though:
1. Is it (typically) an issue with both axles, or just the front OR rear?
2. What size is the pin? (So I can make a replacement before tearing the axle apart.)

[pajey]

It is an issue in both front and rear. I think they are 1.5mm.

[Olle P]

After my previous post I found a notion that the pins are 2.5mm diameter.
Remains to find out how long they should be.

[pajey]

Well I have used a drill bit and Allen keys to make the pins. Once you've pulled the spur apart just cut whatever your using to length. Normally I made mine a bit longer than stock so it fits perfectly.