Clod axle rebuild question

[a69baldone]

Im in the process of rebuilding a set of clod axles for a gecko chassis. I have one set done with the steering tabs ground off for better steering and locked with jb weld.
Im on a tight budget so I cant go all out with the set but I would like to have a tuff set for crawling. The steel gears and cvd's and such is out of the budget. Is there anything elts I can do to the axles to make them worthy for a gecko? Some basic crawling with out destroying.
They will both have axle brace servo mounts and I was considering the inner and outer axle stiffeners for them since they are pretty cheap.
Any helpful tips while I have them out would be appreciated.

 

[iwantoffroad]

http://tcscrawlers.com/product.php?productid=16244&cat=0&page=1

i think the gecko comes with upper link mounts
but if your buying a used one and it doesnt then i would recomend these
they are very beefy and sturdy i have a set my self

 

[Kamikaze]

I ran bone stock axles up untill a few months ago. They are pretty tough, just don't gas it when you have one tire bound. One way to keep them alive is to run 9 tooth pinions or higher and a 55t lathe with only 6 cells, this will be good to crawl with but not have that axle snapping power that a setup like mine will have.

 

[a69baldone]

Yea, It has the upper link mounts. Im not really sure if they are the mounts that come with the gecko but they will serve there purpose. Any comments on the inner and outer axle stiffener braces that Crawford Performance has out? Looks like a decent way to add some strength to the axles for the money.

 

[heavyD]

I have the Crawford inner/outer axle stiffeners fitted on my clod axles and i would highly recommend them.

I have suffered no breakages since fitting them
You have to slightly mod the gearbox cases but nothing major(to compensate for the extra thickness of the braces).Also watch out for the kingpin screws working loose but that should be remedied with some loctite.

I feel a good fix without going to the expense of ali axle tubes

heavyD"thumbsup"

 

[a69baldone]

Thanks Heavy, Im going to pick them up. Thats the answer I was looking for. Any other cheap mods come to mind LMK. Thanks again.