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Old 11-14-2010, 06:17 PM   #1
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Default Knuckle weights. Offical thread

I have V1 of the knuckle weights done.

Let me start by saying one thing. Your car needs to be in good working order. If not, you could run into problems with these knuckles. The tolerances are VERY tight since I wanted as much weight as I can slam on there. If you have toe in you could lose steering throw. If your hexes are worn out and the pin goes in to far the wheel can drag on the weight. If your wheel is worn and the hex sits too far in the wheel your wheel could drag on the weight. There are a lot of things that could cause binding. These are designed around parts that are in good working order.

Weights are made to work with Losi AL knuckles. They will also work with stock plastic knuckles but there is a tiny, tiny bit more slop. They fit the AL knuckles really snug.

I could not be happier with this mod. I just went to my local play ground and they are nothing less than amazing. There are a couple obstacles that range from difficult to "impossible". After putting on the weights, those same obstacles went from "difficult to impossible" to "simple to challenging". One of those obstacles I have been trying all summer. I have never made it until last week when I put the Boss claws on the back. I could only make it the one time, I really had to work for it. After putting the knuckle weights on I can drive up it all day long. Almost too easy. Another obstacle I have made a total of 4 times over the summer. After knuckle weights I went up it 2 times out of 5 tries.

The weights give the obvious advantages of less rotating mass giving you:
Less broken parts
More wheel speed
More run time per battery

What I was not ready for is:
Serious, serious increase in stability, side, uphill, downhill
Car pulls out/does not get into "binds" like running with wheel weights
The car just feels MUCH lighter. Feels like it climbs 1000x better

Here are a couple of pictures. More to come in additional posts.












Last edited by Erik D_lux; 11-14-2010 at 06:30 PM.
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Old 11-14-2010, 06:26 PM   #2
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Weights....

These were made to fit the stock LCC/LNC wheels. They may or may not fit all wheels depending on what the backside of the wheel looks like. I cant imagine too many wheels having less clearance than a stock LCC wheel though.

The weights can be run bare with a stock LCC/LNC wheel or for wheels that have more room you can bolt on rings for extra weight. Vanquish DH wheels with a 585 hub can fit 2 extra rings. With a 460 hub I can fit one extra ring and with a 335 I cant fit any extra rings. If you have calipers you can measure the distance from where the hex sits to the inside of the wheel. Each ring is .100 thick so if you have .250 clearance, you can fit both rings. Also, the rings are 1.5 O.D. and 1 I.D.

Weight with no rings 2.3 oz



Each ring is approx .5 ounces so, if you have 2 rings the weight will be 3.3 oz



Full set:


With no rings:



With one ring:

Last edited by Erik D_lux; 11-14-2010 at 07:26 PM.
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Old 11-14-2010, 06:28 PM   #3
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Depending on a price, I would be in for a set. I have been wanting something like this for sure.
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Old 11-14-2010, 06:29 PM   #4
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My Losi wants a set!!
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Old 11-14-2010, 06:51 PM   #5
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I need input from you guys on a couple of things.

The first thing I need input on is whether the rings being 1.5 O.D. and 1 I.D. is the best choice. I dont have every wheel in my possession to check which would be best. Obviously I know they fit a DH hub and I am guessing a SLW hub would easily fit with extra room. How about the rest of the wheels? I did check to see the weight difference of doing .750 I.D. It would be approx .2 oz per ring. Not a lot but if it fits for most I could do it. You could also turn down a DH hub in the lathe for more clearance but your losing some weight and gaining some. I didnt think it was worth it, even for myself.

Here is where things get better and more interesting.

I wanted to keep only 2 oz extra in my wheels so I can have something to help roll back over and get my belly off rocks. When I was figuring this out I saw that I could EASILY fit more weight around the O.D. of the weight with my new .725 wide wheels. To check it temporarily I zip tied some stick on wheel weights to the knuckle weight. I could easily fit 3 rings round the knuckle weight if I wanted to. I only added enough to give me 16oz total for the weight, tire/wheel. The absolute best part is where I was able to put the weights. I put it all down below the center line and forward of the weight. You have no idea how much this helps while climbing, side hillling and surprisingly down hilling. Its almost like cheating. I didnt use the tape on the weights, just the zip tie and they held in for testing.

The question is....

Would you guys like to see a brass spacer that works just like the lead stick on weights? The lead weights are nice because the are adjustable, super cheap and easy. I could do the brass the same way as the lead but I dont want to see these things get out of control on the price of these. They are reasonable as they sit but the spacer will add quite a bit more.

So whats your vote?

Add the brass spacers on the bottom and increase the price?

Screw it, I like the simplicity of adding my own lead weights.

I can make my own brass plates on the bottom myself.

If you made your own plates on the bottom yourself I would think it could be easy and cheap. Just take some brass flat bar, cut to length, hold up to the brass knuckle weight, drill and tap in two spots. I could even offer the flat bar in 2.5" strips?







Added stability is gangsta!!! That is a 2.2 wheel/Sedona under the rear!!!

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Old 11-14-2010, 06:52 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by crazyorigin View Post
Depending on a price, I would be in for a set. I have been wanting something like this for sure.
Should be in the ballpark of $50 for 2 knuckle weights, 4 rings and all hardware. Pretty reasonable.
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Old 11-14-2010, 06:53 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 666 View Post
My Losi wants a set!!
If I dont make any changes these should be shipping early next week (8 days).
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Old 11-14-2010, 06:59 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by firekiddc02 View Post
Very nice. How much do they weigh.
See post above.

2.3 oz for wheels that cannot fit extra rings

3.3 oz with both rings. You could possibly even fit more with a different wheel.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Almighty Malach View Post
Brass? Steel? Either way I'm interested.
All brass

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tydl View Post
thats just mean teasing like that.

Good job, like to see more pics, is it a production version?
Could be production. Need input on the final design.

Quote:
Originally Posted by benoj View Post
nice, do they only work with those wheel or do they work with others?
If the wheel goes beyond where the hex sits it will not work. I am guessing that 99% of wheels should work at least with the standard knuckle with no rings.
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Old 11-14-2010, 07:23 PM   #9
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I drilled the holes so you can also cut and customize the rings if you want most of the weight down below the center line or in front of the center line.



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Old 11-14-2010, 07:36 PM   #10
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Default knuckles

so how are they working out? I noticed the weights on them do they get hung up on the rocks?
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Old 11-14-2010, 07:58 PM   #11
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Originally Posted by warner crawling View Post
so how are they working out? I noticed the weights on them do they get hung up on the rocks?
So far they are working out great. As I said above, I really feel like I am cheating in a way. With that much weight down below it makes a HUGE difference. Bigger than any mod I have ever made.

I have not hung up on the rocks yet. I am sure I will find situations where I will. The advantage greatly overcomes the disadvantage. The looks are deceiving since I am taking the pics from a certain angle. Look at the picture where my rear tire is on the Sedona, rolling over. In that picture you can see how far the weights sit in and how well they are/are not protected from the rocks.

If I did find that they were hanging up in certain spots like the very bottom or bottom front, I could simply remove them from that certain spot and run weight in the places where they do not hang up. It might be nice to have 8 different threaded holes along the outside diameter so you can place weights where you want. Again, I am not sure where to draw the line since it will just keep adding to cost. Its also something the end user could easily do if thats what they desire.

Putting these weights on opens up a can of worms. I feel like I have never driven this car in my life. There is a lot of tuning to be done as far as how much weight to run in the wheels vs knuckles, where to run weight on the knuckles etc,.

Last edited by Erik D_lux; 11-14-2010 at 08:00 PM.
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Old 11-14-2010, 08:08 PM   #12
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put me down for a set

how much would the price go up if you Add the brass spacers on the bottom ?

id still buy a set with the spacer at the bottom, i think its a great option to have.
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Old 11-14-2010, 08:09 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Erik D_lux View Post
If I dont make any changes these should be shipping early next week (8 days).

I will be in for a set when your ready to ship........
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Old 11-14-2010, 08:51 PM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bruiser View Post
put me down for a set

how much would the price go up if you Add the brass spacers on the bottom ?

id still buy a set with the spacer at the bottom, i think its a great option to have.
I would have to figure out a clean effective way to bend flat bar to a radius. I thought I could just use some 1.5 I.D. tube or solid round. Doing it that way would add about $30 just in materials. Not an option IMO. Flat bar is cheap though.

Just throwing a wild guess out there I would say adding the bottom pieces would be $25 extra???

The other thing to think about is that you need to run .7 wide wheels or less to take advantage of the bottom spacers. There is not enough room other wise. I dont know how many people would be willing to change wheels. If not, just the base price would go up a touch in price even without the spacers so the holes can be drilled and tapped.

I have some flat bar on the way. I will see how hard it is to make. I will post up step by step to see if people would be willing to do it themselves and save a decent amount of money.

IMO if running weight this way it will give the LCC a big advantage.
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Old 11-14-2010, 08:55 PM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Erik D_lux View Post
Should be in the ballpark of $50 for 2 knuckle weights, 4 rings and all hardware. Pretty reasonable.
Hell yes! Been wanting a set myself, just too damned lazy to cast my own.
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Old 11-14-2010, 09:19 PM   #16
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Pretty nice setup. Any mods to the knuckle necessary?
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Old 11-14-2010, 09:55 PM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Almighty Malach View Post
Hell yes! Been wanting a set myself, just too damned lazy to cast my own.
I actually cast a set for myself out of lead awhile ago. I took them off because it looked like crap and the tolerances were way too tight to be reliable. I thought I could do it cheap enough to justify it.

I was not happy with those. I am VERY happy with the way these turned out.
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Old 11-14-2010, 09:56 PM   #18
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rob_b View Post
Pretty nice setup. Any mods to the knuckle necessary?
Nada. As long as your setup is in good shape as I mentioned in the first post, you should be good to go.

They are fast and simple to install. It takes just as long to take the wheel off as it does to install these weights.
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Old 11-15-2010, 12:28 AM   #19
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Nice work dam shame they wont fit my rigs
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Old 11-15-2010, 04:58 AM   #20
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Shit yeah sold! I was going to ask you if you had knuckes in the works when i recently bought those links!! Damn! Put me down for a set, im liking the spacer too, as i have wide hubs on slws
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