jebster's lcc

[jebster]

I was running my rig this morning and it seems like the front axle started making a chirping/squealing sound after about 10 minutes of running. I packed the worms with grease just the other day and hadnwrun it until this morning. Even more interesting is the the sound only happens while moving forward. Thoughts? I'm still new to he lcc and haven't figured out all its behaviors. I took a video of it to record the sound. I'm going to try and figure out how to post it.

[jebster]

i ran it a little while longer and the noise is still there. any ideas?

[hoghead5150]

first do the easy things. do you have a can of spray grease? hell even dish soap will work, lube up the driveshaft joints and the cvd joints and see if the noise stops. if so tear them down, clean them, and grease them up properly.

remember to do one at a time so you will know what was making the noise!

report back if this doesn't fix it.

[jebster]

Originally Posted by hoghead5150

first do the easy things. do you have a can of spray grease? hell even dish soap will work, lube up the driveshaft joints and the cvd joints and see if the noise stops. if so tear them down, clean them, and grease them up properly.

remember to do one at a time so you will know what was making the noise!

report back if this doesn't fix it.

i'll be sure to do that. as you said i need to think simple first.

just struck me as odd that the noise was occurring only in one direction. i was curious if the worm drives would be under more strain moving forward, causing some heat and binding vs. reverse.

[hoghead5150]

Could be, it could also be a bearing. Mine made a squeak squeak sound only in forward and it turned out to be the front driveshaft joint at the tranny.

[Tgreer]

That would leed me to believe its in the drive lines. If you think about it you have a little of pushing or pulling going on when you go forward or reverse, especially if you have the front overdrive gears. so when you go forward its actually pulling on your drivlines, and when your in reverse it doing some pushing on them. Im not saying thats your problem, but that is definitly were i would start. grease them up one at a time like hoghead5150 said.

[losikid]

sounds like drivelines to me...it could also be a bad bearing in the axles or stripped axle holes (the axle is spreading open, applying weird force to your worm, so it starts makin noise

think of a worm drive as a screw, if your spool is bound up, its going to try and push/screw the worm through your housing, which can either spread your axle housing if their not tight (stripped holes is usually the issue here) and its not an ideal load for the pinion bearings, so if their starting to go out then you might here weird noises. One of my pinon bearings just exploded without warning and destroyed my spool...the dlux worm stayed in tip top shape though.

[jebster]

I appreciate all the information. One of the reasons I love this site. I will be taking all this advice and applying it step by step.

[CAIRN]

Hey Jebster, just found your thread. I remember you talking about picking up a Losi - how many trucks in that garage of yours!

That LCC is looking good. The front axle work is impressive. Some nice upgraded parts there as well. Are you installing a dig servo or running this in the Sportsman class?

[jebster]

Originally Posted by CAIRN

Hey Jebster, just found your thread. I remember you talking about picking up a Losi - how many trucks in that garage of yours!

That LCC is looking good. The front axle work is impressive. Some nice upgraded parts there as well. Are you installing a dig servo or running this in the Sportsman class?

the garage has gone down some. xr10, creeper, bully, lcc, summit, scx10, maxstone 16. seems pretty empty!

i'm pretty happy with the lcc. traded a nitro 4wd buggy (i set up for electric) for almost the complete rig in roller form. had a lot of upgrades already. i spent a lot of time working on the front axle and it seems to be working really well. weight bias is very front end heavy. i may need to make an adjustment. when i engage the dig the rear doesn't have enough weight to keep it planted!
i got the lcc to play around with and try out a worm gear axled rig. it does have a dig installed so i won't be running it in sportsman (got the venom for that). maybe i'll pull the dig once i get use to the lcc. only time will tell.

[CAIRN]

Originally Posted by jebster

the garage has gone down some. xr10, creeper, bully, lcc, summit, scx10, maxstone 16. seems pretty empty!

Nice list, and great work on the LCC.

[jebster]

Originally Posted by CAIRN

Nice list, and great work on the LCC.

thanks. the one thing (minus the strange noises out of the front axle i need to deal with) that is challenging me is the link setup. since my creeper has the driveshafts centered i can run hi-clearance links. i'm use to that. on the lcc it isn't that easy. i saw one thread on here were someone offset the tranny to get the driveshaft centered by cutting through the chassis sideplate. i also saw a cool thread where they were using a flexible shaft. need to see what i want to do and what i can afford to do. maintaining too many rigs right now!

[hoghead5150]

usually on the lcc you can flip the tranny. this means unbolting it and turning it around 180*. this will center the driveshaft outputs so the links don't hit them. a couple mods need to be done to do this, the chassis sideplate has to be cut out because the motor now sticks out past it, the transmission needs 1/8 inch spacers under it so the outputs and driveshafts will clear the lower link rod ends, AND since there is only 2 bolts holding the tranny in afterward, you need to brace the ranny to keep it from rocking side to side.

i did this, a dremel makes quick work of the sideplate. for spacers i used two 4mm nuts under the tranny. this actually worked pretty good since the nuts are easier to hold than round spacers and when you tighten down the bolts the nuts seem to hold to the skid alot better. as for bracing what most people do is mount their reciever between the opposite sideplate and the dig servo. i did this (thanks to rubbaneck's thread) and it works great.

[jebster]

Originally Posted by hoghead5150

usually on the lcc you can flip the tranny. this means unbolting it and turning it around 180*. this will center the driveshaft outputs so the links don't hit them. a couple mods need to be done to do this, the chassis sideplate has to be cut out because the motor now sticks out past it, the transmission needs 1/8 inch spacers under it so the outputs and driveshafts will clear the lower link rod ends, AND since there is only 2 bolts holding the tranny in afterward, you need to brace the ranny to keep it from rocking side to side.

i did this, a dremel makes quick work of the sideplate. for spacers i used two 4mm nuts under the tranny. this actually worked pretty good since the nuts are easier to hold than round spacers and when you tighten down the bolts the nuts seem to hold to the skid alot better. as for bracing what most people do is mount their reciever between the opposite sideplate and the dig servo. i did this (thanks to rubbaneck's thread) and it works great.

i think i read about the tranny flip and center in your build thread. i will probably do that at some point. i'm also considering making a new skid plate. not sure i have the material or tools to do that but it might be worth a shot. one of my goals with a new skidplate would be to spread the lowers at the chassis end enough that i wouldn't have to raise the tranny to avoid the lower links.

[losikid]

How much are you going to spread em?

[jebster]

Originally Posted by losikid

How much are you going to spread em?

i don't have the rig in front of me but i was thinking between .5" to .75". i still want to maintain a reasonable amount of triangulation but give the driveshaft room between the links.

[dentonmac]

Originally Posted by jebster

i'm also considering making a new skid plate. not sure i have the material or tools to do that but it might be worth a shot. one of my goals with a new skidplate would be to spread the lowers at the chassis end enough that i wouldn't have to raise the tranny to avoid the lower links.

Very cool! Please keep us posted, I would love to hear more about your thought process through that.

[Robbob]

Originally Posted by jebster

i think i read about the tranny flip and center in your build thread. i will probably do that at some point. i'm also considering making a new skid plate. not sure i have the material or tools to do that but it might be worth a shot. one of my goals with a new skidplate would be to spread the lowers at the chassis end enough that i wouldn't have to raise the tranny to avoid the lower links.

My opinion you would be better off centering the tranny then moveing your links.

Rubbaneck poted up a while ago how he did it. If you dont want that setup then Don's (BWD) tranny would be the next best thing.

The triangulation on the lowers play a key role in the trucks setup. I know, I tried an Axial base chassis for the LCC and it was nothing near capable as the stock geometry.

My rear walked alot when I seperated them at the chassis. I dont think anyone could tell ya what the perfect geometry is but the LCC (and GC3) I think are darn close to it for a shafty vehicle.


Just my 2 cents ....

[jebster]

Originally Posted by Robbob

My opinion you would be better off centering the tranny then moveing your links.

Rubbaneck poted up a while ago how he did it. If you dont want that setup then Don's (BWD) tranny would be the next best thing.

The triangulation on the lowers play a key role in the trucks setup. I know, I tried an Axial base chassis for the LCC and it was nothing near capable as the stock geometry.

My rear walked alot when I seperated them at the chassis. I dont think anyone could tell ya what the perfect geometry is but the LCC (and GC3) I think are darn close to it for a shafty vehicle.


Just my 2 cents ....

looks like i need to do a little more research.

your 2 cents are appreciated. i was thinking of doing the tranny center (i.e. get the driveshafts centered) so i could use hi-clearance lower links. if that put the driveshaft and chassis end of the lower links in a binding situation i thought spreading the lowers could fix that issue. given i haven't started moving/cutting anything yet only time will tell.

[jebster]

no work on centering the tranny yet but i did figure out the source of the strange noise. knuckle bearing had exploded. not quite sure why it only made noise in one direction but installed new bearings and no more noise.