they were in stock briefly about 3 weeks ago. those G-4's go FAST.

Anyways, after the bash session, came the tear down and inspection:

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n...laMaxx/154.jpg

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http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n...laMaxx/156.jpg

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I owe an apology to someone- seems that the steel idler did indeed eat into the aluminium output gear. Its not as bad as it looks though, seems like its just worn down one half roughly of each tooth's face, creating a little burr along the edges. Reluctantly then, I've decided to swap over the idler for one of the rc4wd items- I'll open up the tranny again after a few more runs and see how it looks.

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n...laMaxx/160.jpg

Pebble dashed lower A-arms. I could put some dirt guards over them like some guys are doing on their buggies and truggies, but Im not really bothered as such- battle scars are sexy :yes:

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n...laMaxx/161.jpg

I even opened up the rear diff for an inspection, and was happy to see zero wear on the ring & pinion gears. The only slight wear to report is on the output shafts- the hole for driveshaft yolk retaining screw pin has been slightly elongated into an oval shape. Not a big issue really, and its better that the metal has a bit of stretch to it rather than sheering unexpectedly- it may snap one day, but it wont be for a while, and is easily replaced.

I also fixed the slipper- a few bits of sandpaper super glued to the spur and onto the slipper plates creates alot of friction that will be hard to budge- I'll have to test that theory though.

Beyond that, the Gmaxx will live to fight another day. :smile:

I brought the fact up that a steel gear will eat up an aluminum one. No apology needed, how many run did you have on it since you lubed it last?. Now with the new setup, the steel input gear is going to eat up the aluminum idler gear. Aluminum does not make good gears for sure, when it wears it turns into alumminum oxide which is used for sandpaper. I wonder if we could find a delrin gear we could make work. I also read you can boil the stock plastic gear for 10 minutes and it would last longer but I have no way to confirm this. I would just run the steel idler with a stock plastic gear mine seem to be holding good on 6s. When it lets go just buy a new one for ~$5 shiped. Maybe put smaller lighter tires and rims to free up some rotational mass.

Who made that aluminum output gear? It's not an Ultramaxx GenIII gear is it? If not, there is no wonder that steel idler chewed it up...if it is, it can only be run with the other Ultramaxx gears (idler and input).

Anyway, the larger the gear, the less stress it receives due to its larger diameter, so the stock nylon output gear will be fine when run with the hardened-steel idler gear and steel input gear, even on high-powered brushless systems.

The ultimate single-speed E-Maxx transmission is one with all aluminum gears that have been titanium nitride (Ti-Ni) coated! The aluminum is more than strong enough, it just can't be run against other aluminum gears, so coating them in Ti-Ni would be perfect, since Ti-Ni is currently the best wearing surface in RC right now.

Hey Chad, I dont think you can put that ti-ni coating on aluminum, only steel but I could be wrong. Plus I have never seen one. As far as Ultramaxx gen III gears the idlers are made out of the same bronse alloy that was used in the otb gears input gear. I am almost positive the 1st and second gen Ultramaxx gears had the same issues with wear thats why there is 3 generations, the latest is the greatest and almost impossible too find.

The output gear I have is form rc4wd- they stopped making them just after I got mine, so no idea on the quality of the metal, but its aluminum at any rate- If I found some proper Ultramaxxed gears for sale... I doubt I would buy them anyway because they are so expensive, lol.

Tranny is lubed every half a dozen sessions or so- there was still a fair amount on the gears when I dismantled it, so its not wear caused by lack of lube or what-not.

The stock gears didnt work well for me at all, the teeth either sheered off or just ground down very quicky- delrin of softer plastic might last a bit longer (self lubing plastic...), but I doubt muchlonger; they are actually hard to find in the UK, very few places have many parts for the old emaxx tranny, or if they do they arent actually very cheap- too much hassle swapping it out half way through a run.

What I really need to do is build a CD unit something like the Candyman has, unless Mike starts cranking them out shortly.

As for lighter wheels and tires, I has a suprize in store.... :mdr:

Other than the big tires its hard to believe your truck is making more power or heavier than mine and so far the plastic gear work fine for me. I do have a strobe slipper with sprong though maybe it slips a little better. I have read that boiling the gears makes them not as brittle but who knows? as far a a cd "dont hold your horses as the saying goes" If it become a problem I will adapt a 3905 tranny in my g-maxx. I just got one for my g-4 maxx build and I really like the layout and how the motors position over the center.

You know what, I think you are right about not being able to coat aluminum with titanium-nitride.

Yea, the GenIII Ultramaxx gears were actually part OTB, which is why they were so bad-ass and so expensive. For some reason, the special bronze and aluminum gears can be run against each other with no problems, which is why the OTB gear-sets were so successful! Aluminum against aluminum is bad news, and acts like sandpaper rubbing against skin...nothing lasts. Even aluminum against steel wears very quickly, as Neil found out.

Anyway, if you can't find the Ultramaxx GenIII set, your best best is to run the stock steel input gear, UE/RCM/RRP steel idler gear, and the stock nylon output gear. With proper slipper settings, that transmission setup will last a long time.

I almost bought a NIP Ultramaxx GenIII gear-set not too long ago, for just $175 shipped, but at the time I didn't need it and had no clue how much it was worth.

Hey guys I had sent gmaxx an email and asked a couple of weeks ago when will they have the g4 available and they sent me an email yesterday and said they are in stock so get them while there in stock I purchased my G4 and ready for my build and back to rcmonster now: where do I get the motor mount? I looked on RCM but couldnt find it.

gorillamaxx makes ans sells the mount also. Buy it from them and save on shipping.

I see most guys have the xbraces between the chassis where do i buy those makes the chassis more stable ??????????

Motor mount? Gorillamaxx only sells the motor mounting plate for the 3906 tranny, you have to use either the stock 3905 item or the FLM version on the 3905 tranny.

Noob! :lol:

G3 chassis = X-braces.
G4 = new design, uses posts and molded upper plate instead of x-braces.

I believe the the braces are probably stiffer and much better with the amount of weight exerted in the center, strange they dont include it for 184dollars

Arent the metal posts going to bend at the ridiculous speed i plan on going and then my luck probably a small crash LOL

Ok Suicide I joined before you I just Dropped out ok I am back to a NOOB lol

Thanks NEIL Im going to have to read more LOL

Yep, after 3 year absense you go back down to noob level :mdr:

As you can see though the G3 and G4 are two completely different designs of chassis, you cant swap parts over between the two.
Take the time to read my thread, you will quickly see that the old X-brace design doesnt hold up well to impacts at any kind of speed- cant speak for the new G4 design, but I believe it may actually be stonger and less prone to damage- easier and cheaper to fix if it does bend.

Very funny River but I think this NOOB will make it work with the 1521 and my quark 125 just have to get hip to what that called LIPO lol ouch am i behind

ok hey thats a nice build I have picks under my name but havent figured out how to insert the pics thats another story< go ahead pick on me but my build will be just as nice

Quark 125? Yep, you need to catch up a bit with the rest of us :lol:

I would suggest reading my emaxx faq and tutorials linked to in my signature, that should catch you up pretty well- big read though, so grab a few cold ones :yes:

I will definitely get the new tranny and yes Suicide I have read many of your threads your quite knowledgable , but most guys here are now are really in tune with the electric, couldnt believe i saw Candyman here too!!! Neil YOur builds are sweet too

Photobucket.com > sign up > upload pics > 800x600 > copy & paste image url into a new post (start a new thread for your own build to post said pics into etc). Piece of cake.

OK Well back to Reading ouch before I Burn another esc I will keep up and post pics when I start the build I"LL BE BACK

Cool thanks it would have probably taken me a couple days to find that LOL

So guys you think I should swap out the quark 125pro for something else or what? Should I start with that, Well i will save money for the next build

Trust me that castle neu 2200 has more than enough power anything more is just overkill. What 1521 is it.?

OOPs a NEU 1515 1y/f

I even had to go look at my profile to be right oh well

Personal request- can you please start another thread to ask questions and post pictures/updates in? This is actually my own personal epic build thread for my own truck....

:wink:

Neil I hope you don't mind me asking in bringing this thread out but I'm about to make some towers out of CF much like the Gmaxx towers but I won't have the arm shock mount extensions or the Gmaxx arms of course I may make those extensions out of CF if need be but my question is do you think you could mount your buggy(they are 8B shocks aren't they?) on the arms without the extensions?

Thanks,
-Zack

Gimme ~10 minutes and I'll be able to tell you :yes:

They are indeed 8B shocks ( with 8T springs- needed something a bit stiffer ).

Make that 30- I needed a poo :lol:

Well, I reckon they would mount fine really- the angles are alright, not too laid down, pretty much how most 1/8 things look I'd say. Only minor concern would be the fat springs rubbing on the inside edges of the upper a-arms- cant check that as I dont have any to play with, but at worst a tiny bit of filing for clearance might be needed, no biggy.

To soften up the suspension a little I made a few slight changes to the truck recently; swapped over 4 of the RC8B shocks for the 4... whatever they are from the TXT-1; not a huge amount of difference but the Gmaxx does feel a bit more flexible now, not quite so stiff as a plank of wood. Looks a little odd since the shocks are different diamters and lengths ( ~5mm total difference, nothing major so far as effects my driving abilities :lol: ), but it should handle a bit better along with the new shoes- Axial terrorizers. Photo time:

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n...laMaxx/162.jpg

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n...laMaxx/163.jpg

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Saddly the weather has taken a turn for the worse- not cold and windy anymore, just raining/ drizzling; must be nearly summer :sarcastic:

The G3 X-Braces are MUCH stronger than the G2 X-Braces because they are solid where the G2 X-Braces were pocketed to make them lighter.

I wouldnt say it made 'much' difference really- I've managed to put a slight kink in my G3s after a few nose dives last summer, and that was at much lower speeds than when I turned the G2s into bananas after a frontal impact. The extra material certainly helps, but the whole design of the X-brace was just baddly flawed- creates one giant weak point right in the middle of the chassis where it would naturally want to bend/ flex regardless. What I found after my frontal impact was that the screws stripped out the front-underside , meaning the X-braces bent upwards at the front, but the battery tray just pinged away and was unharmed. What I'd like are more or less solid rails to replace the braces, just stick some M4 sized holes through them so you can still bolt up through into the tranny to mount it like normal. That would eliminate the weak point completely, and weight gain doesnt really concern me too much- wouldnt be more than a few hundred grams = meh.

Very cool! I'll do it! Be sure to check my thread at the end of next week to see how things are going! HEHE. Your truck looks great as always BTW!! Although I've thought for a long time that I'd never feel comfortable jumping with that drag bar. You can't be jumping much with it.

Heh-heh, go back a page or 2 and you'll see what happended to the dragbar when I did try jumping with it still installed.... :lol:

Hmm, seems the old girl was complaining about being neglected, so I treated her to some shiny new things:

7mm black heatshrink tubing
6mm blue UV cable sleeving
Spektrum AR500 receiver
Savox SC-1256 digital coreless servo 277in/oz @ 6v

I think she'll be happy now :mdr: ( I'll post pictures once everything arrives and is installed )

Nice!

Hmmm...I think I have a great idea to brace/strengthen the X-Braces (carbon-fiber, of course), and it will look awesome as well as be super-lightweight!