I reworked the HPI Flux motor mount that serves as a rear motor support on my XXL. I made it thinner and lighter and did some sanding to make it look purdier. I also installed one of my 8th scale CDs in the tranny. It has something like 250k in it so it is stiff but still unloads a bit. Wheelies are still there but are more controllable.

http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...r_support4.jpg

Last I stripped a wheel with the Losi 17 mm hexes I installed. I measured the size of the Losi hexes compared to Traxxas hexes I had and wasn't using.

Losi: 16.87 mm
Traxxas: 16.97 mm

The bigger size of the Traxxas hexes should result in a snugger fit in the wheels with less chance of stripping them so I modified them to fit.

http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...xas_hexes1.jpg

This is why I use 23mm hexes all the way. The splined Traxxas hubs are nice though and I've never stripped a splined hub when I once used them.

There aren't a lot of choices for 23mm hubs though. Proline's are about it, and I don't feel like they are all that great. The alum is thin and over time, the centers wear and become misshaped causing your wheels to wobble. I use another brand of 23mm hubs now, and they work GREAT. They don't work on Traxxas veh's though, because you have to use the Pro Line ones specific to Traxxas. Bummer. I generally don't tell anyone about them for fear that everyone and their brother will start using them, thus increasing the supply and demand... and the PRICE! They are dirt cheap now....

The other problem is... 23mm rims are somewhat hard to find too. However I've heard that HPI is coming out with a new hub size or something like that... which would allow us to use 1/5 scale rims and tires if we wanted. That could be cool.

j

That is very interesting and I'll keep an eye out to see if it's true. I hope it is.

Use Dace Mfg. 23mm Hex-Adapters, they are the best made!

I believe the HPIs are 24mm to run the 5B/T wheels on a savage. I have been running the Dynamite 23mm adapters for a while. They seem to be holding up fantastic.

-JB

The Dace 23mm hexes are made out of 7075-T6 billet, are drilled for lightness, and have a flange on the nut for increased contact between the nut and the wheel, which causes more friction, resulting in less loosening of the nuts over time. Plus, the flanges on the nuts have holes drilled in them, so they add extra friction to keep the nuts from loosening.

http://pics.offroadextremes.com/rc/dace_hexes2_1.jpg


http://pics.offroadextremes.com/rc/dace_hexes2_2.jpg

The CEN 23mm hubs fit the LST2/XXL/Muggy axles better than anything and their made of steel. They can be found on Fleabay for under $15.00 delivered.

From what I've seen from the specs of the HPI Baja 5B rear hexes, all that is needed is a small sleeve with an 8 mm I.D, 2.35 mm wall and 12.7 mm O.D. The hole for the pin would have to be drilled to 4 mm diam. on the LST's axles and then Baja 5B rear hexes could be installed on the LST to run Baja 5B rear wheels and tires all around. But I don't know if the hole of the hex would line up with the hole of the axle. So who's gonna do it :lol:

I won't. I have a bin full of many tires and wheels all with 17 mm hexes. When I use up all of them then I might look into other options.

I'll second that - so far my 17's have worked fine for me - nary a stripped hex so far.

My car is all packed, I'm going to the race track today for a few hours to see how well (or how poorly) this LST XXL of mine will handle an 8th scale off road track.

I'm back from the track. Today was an open practice day so I got to run this truck on 6S with a new set of Panther Pythons mounted on TRX dish wheels. These tires give good traction on any kind of track surface, dusty, loamy, blue groove, it doesn't matter, the tires just have great bite and I love them. I didn't have any problems clearing the big jumps. It was even easy to over shoot them farther than the Truggys did. I still had the stock springs on and my diffs were way too stiff. The truck was squirrely and it bottomed out in many places. Other than that, the handling was very good and with yellow springs and lighter lube in the diffs, this truck would be an awesome racer.

The temps after a set of 3S Turnigy 5800 mah were 150 motor, 125 ESC, 110 lipos. The weather was sunny and very humid with no wind and a temperature in the 30 Celsius. Very hot day.

My driving was rusty to say the least, I hadn't been on a track in over a year so I made quite a few mistakes. But that is fine, all those missed landings and hits and cartwheels really tested the durability of the truck. That thing is tough!The only thing that didn't hold up to the abuse was one of the battery boxes. I was very disappointed with that and it put an end to my day prematurely.
There is a huge double immediately followed by a small single. I had to come in at a controlled speed to just make the double and glide through the small single. That is the fast way of doing it. I over shot the double and lawn darted the small single from 12 feet high. One of the battery box wasn't strong enough for the weight of the lipo moving forward and the front of the box completely snapped off.
So I will have to find either a better to mount these boxes or find a stronger alternative.

Here's what I came up with to strengthen my battery boxes. Brackets made of aluminum angle with reinforcements at the corners. I'm thinking of testing this by putting my heaviest lipos in the boxes and dropping the truck on its nose from 16 feet.

http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w..._brackets1.jpg http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w..._brackets2.jpg http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w..._brackets3.jpg

Great idea! Let us know how it turns out. If it passes this test, get the truck up to top speed and run it into a brick wall. Then you'll really know that you're good to go.

[btw: the brackets look nice]

Thanks and I'm not dumb enough the run the truck in a brick wall. I was thinking more of jumping it in a wood chipper. :na: :smile: Dropping it on the nose would simulate that jump I missed at the track when I lawn darted in the face of a jump. That's when the battery box broke. If I can recreate that event and the battery boxes survive then I'll know these brackets are good. If not then I'll have to get back to the drawing board.

................