edit.. yep as moth said :)

THanks for the comments...

Nix- This is why i have custom motor mounts made up so i can use motor brakes that this esc doesnt offer. At least i dont have to worry about brake spikes through the ESC

But.. it should rip hard!!!

Moth - i cant send you PM because your inbox is full bud.

inbox cleared bud!

I did some polishing of the alloy to see how it would turn out... Check out the shinyness haha :lol:

No reflection
http://i878.photobucket.com/albums/a...3-08204600.jpg

Slight Reflection ;)
http://i878.photobucket.com/albums/a...3-08204547.jpg

I think i am going to be getting everything anodised red apart from the shock towers and the new arm braces which i will leave polished.

http://i878.photobucket.com/albums/a...3-09011208.jpg

http://i878.photobucket.com/albums/a...3-09011238.jpg

http://i878.photobucket.com/albums/a...3-09011256.jpg


Thought i would try and fit some carbon vinyl to the plastic bits...
http://i878.photobucket.com/albums/a...3-08184942.jpg

Thinking about doing my whole nylon roll cage as it is looking a bit scratched - it isnt perfect but it is better than the scratched black nylon
http://i878.photobucket.com/albums/a...3-08185325.jpg

Once you get it completed, I expect to see it on Top Gear!

Very small update...

Still waiting on a whole load of parts before things can progress which is really frustrating...

New Era are probably the worst people i have ever dealt with... They have no responded any of my emails! Never will i be giving them business again, and discourage people to buy from them unless really necessary and you cant find the parts you need.

Anyway...

Firstly... Here is my new motor mount spacer so i can run mech brakes... Designed by the one and only Dejan once again! He has done an amazing job once again and turned them around in a couple of days even though he is extremely busy! THANKS DEJAN

http://i878.photobucket.com/albums/a...7/IMG_6862.jpg

http://i878.photobucket.com/albums/a...7/IMG_6860.jpg


And as this is not going to be a hardcore basher as in it wont be doing the same huge jumps it once was (i have my second flux for that) i thought i would try and improve the handling and take off on this XXL... I thought i would stiffen up the rear arms with some carbon arms from Vantage racing... I do not want front carbon arms as i need the flex when cartwheeling (i always broke front arms, never have i broken a rear arm in a cartwheel... It is because the majority of the weight is up front)

http://i878.photobucket.com/albums/a...3-16132328.jpg

http://i878.photobucket.com/albums/a...3-16132358.jpg

Im going to have to work out a way of mounting my sway bars to them and my rear mud guards too....

Next are my new 23mm extended hexs... These will be anodised Red as well

http://i878.photobucket.com/albums/a...3-16132453.jpg

They will be extending my width because my SPIs are going to be shelved now for these below :)

I will be running red plastic beadlocks from MMR... Should be awesome... yes they are heavy but they will offer stability at speed and NO BALLOONING

Desperados and BowTies ----- I didnt want Hostile tyres as the side grip is too much resulting in roll overs... The bow tie will allow me to drift corners nicely but give me great straight line grip and acceleration due to the huge tread... People say they also wear down quickly... but this happens on bajas which are 10lbs heavier and all there weigh on the rear tyres. Which is the opposite to my setup.


http://i878.photobucket.com/albums/a...3-16143849.jpg

now thats a pile of parts. more machined aluminum than ferrari. wow. epic build
:surprised:

My rear 1/5 bow-ties have held up very well (I gorilla-taped both the foams and the tires). The front bow-ties have shown more wear - they seem to be softer and don't like the pavement. But I think you said you're going to run all 4 rears - so they should last a while.

Looking good so far - when do we see it up and running? :whip:

Thanks a lot for the comments...

Brian, you are right... im running 4 rear bow ties... i have the blue foams which seem to be very stiff... i cannot see these tyres ballooning at all...but maybe i could be wrong.

Im still waiting for a New Era order for all my alloy hubs... I need them before everything gets sent off for anodising!!!!!!
That is all that is holding me back! My custom tvps should be with me by next week from GCM.. .Chris was kind enough to make custom tvps our of the original DB-17 chassis :)

BRIAN - also wit the hexs, i found that the 3mm pin is quite difficult to slide in... i take it is meant to be this way so it doesnt fall out? Do yours behave like this?

My rears were ballooning some for sure - I thought it was making the truck a little squirrely under acceleration - so I taped them.

The 3mm pins I use go in fairly easily - it's the set screw inside the axle that holds them in place. I can get an exact measurement of my pins when I'm home and you can compare.

-brian

my pins are measuring at 2.96mm using a digital vernier...

my pin hole on the hex is 2.95mm which is annooying...

i guess i will have to tape the tyres and leave the foams...

Well you do get some variance in the tolerance during manufacturing; and at this level the toleranaces are probably a bit looser than if dealing with the more expensive race vehicles.

I did have one of my Integy 23mm hubs have a slight issue, so I just took a 3mm bit and bored it out carefully and then didn't have any issues.

i guess im going to have to take a 3mm drill bit to it... i dont want anything getting stuck in there

I measured the pin holes on my adapters to be between 2.95 and 3.00mm. The pins I use, however are only 2.76mm - so not a snug fit, but I've had no problems.

well i do not have pins from an LST... i just bought some 3mmx16mm pins which work with the cvds... but seem a little large for the hexs... They provide a perfect fit for the axle, so i will very slightly increase the holes of the hex by 0.3mm or so... Should provide a very nice fit with very minimal slop

Thanks for the help brian

I use these hinge pins - cut to size:

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...I=ASCC9620&P=K

may have to get them brian... thanks for the link!!!

Brian, i have been waiting for my new era order for 1 month now and nothing has arrived and i do not hitnk that they have even posted my spindles and rear hubs!

I know yours are not new era, but you are using them succesfully with the 3 bearing mod, which is what i want to do...(i know you said they only required a little dremel sanding to get the bearings to slide in.

Where did you get your spindles from? seems no one makes alloy spindles for a LST 2, and they seem to break often!

THANKS BUD

josh

I also had trouble trying to order from New Era recently - no response to emails.

My aluminum spindles are the RDLogics - bought them on eBay (and recently picked up another set):

http://compare.ebay.com/like/3102286...=263602_309572

I'm not sure if they're available elsewhere, though - nothing else showed up on google.

They have been fine so far, and what I like about them is the beefy arm (which is the weak point on the plastic ones) - but I haven't really put them through a lot, since I installed them near the end of the summer and really didn't run my buggy in the fall.

The only other ones that I know of are the dynamite spindles, but haven't found them available anywhere.

So I agree that it seems to be difficult to find any aluminum spindles - which to me are an important upgrade.

-brian


Edit:
Link to dynamite spindles on eBay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/DYNAMITE-DYN7224...item3f04707e92

Thanks Brian,

I need to get my money back from new era to the sum of $150!!! i think i will open a paypal dispute. as i have emailed over 5 times and received no responses and i am a little worried.

I will just order those dynamite ones. I was going to put them on the new era C Hub and put the new era rear hubs on too.

How much modding was required to get the bearing to fit the dynamite spindle???

I haven't used the dynamite ones, just the RDLogics.

sorry i meant the RDLogics

For the RDLogics, I only needed to sand the inside lightly with a dremel sanding drum and the bearing went right in.

awesome... from what people have said about the new era rear hubs... people are wrapping one piece of electrical tape around the bearing or inside of the hub and the bearing fits snug.

Im worried that if i buy the rdlogics one, the new era one will arrive haha

Some Carbon mounted to some alloy *:twisted:

http://i878.photobucket.com/albums/a...3-18002856.jpg

http://i878.photobucket.com/albums/a...3-18003104.jpg

im getting very impatient about the rest of my parts so thought i would take some teaser pics...

Josh - It's looking good! The motor mount and spacer look very solid. Hope those parts come in soon.

:yes:

Cheers Brian!

A couple of things to think about....

My Silver Back beadlocks came in...

Old
http://i878.photobucket.com/albums/a...3-24132009.jpg

Vs

New

http://i878.photobucket.com/albums/a...3-24131947.jpg



Also.. yesterday, my integy (yes it is the only integy part on my truck) receiver box arrived yesterday. I then asked a few people whether or not it came with a bottom case.... And people said no, and that it just sits on a mini slash chassis. So looks like i need something new made up for it to sit on...CUE DEJAN

http://i878.photobucket.com/albums/a...3-24131840.jpg

http://i878.photobucket.com/albums/a...3-24131904.jpg

as i need something for my BEC to sit on, i may get a plate for this rx box and BEC to sit on together :P

FYI, the 1/16th Revo rx box just sits on the chassis and the chassis has a lip on it. The lip helps hold the rubber gasket in place and provides a sealing surface for it. You could just use a flat plate and glue the gasket in the rx box, thats if you care about making the box waterproof though. Just figured I'd let you know if you didn't already.

Looking good man. Can't wait to see more!

Thanks bud, i did realise this once i received it... A little annoying, but im not really going to be getting this truck soaked, so i will just install it on a flat plate i guess...
I need to buy the gasket too but dont think i will need it or want it if it costs me $8.00 just to my door

Hey Josh, I got an email from new era today - they tell me the front spindles I tried to order a month ago are out of stock - the charge never went through to my credit card, so I assumed I wasn't going to get them - but now I guess I know for sure.

They just wanted to yank yer chains. Surprised though, I ordered one of their dogbones as it basically fit what I was going to do and everything went through without issue.

i guess they were just holding my money till it came into stock... But they could have responsed to my emails at least! i got very worried...

Overdrive rc sorted me out, but im yet to receive anything

it has been over 5 weeks now since i started trying to get these hubs!

Dang boy! Thats looking absolutely great :)

Will be interesting to see how it pans out... and if the 3rd bearing has any effect except (minimal) added drag. I do love how you always go all in with you conversions!

Cheers bud... i just hope the 3rd bearing does help the larger axle bearing with the strain.

Decided to get things moving... Started grinding down the lst hubs to fit in the savage arms... Im now ready to send everything off...

http://i878.photobucket.com/albums/a...3-29200810.jpg

http://i878.photobucket.com/albums/a...3-29200936.jpg

Cant wait to put all this back together!

http://i878.photobucket.com/albums/a...3-29201217.jpg

Hope it does what you want but I'm not sure it will help; the forces should be on the outer and inner bearings because that is where the flex points on the axles will be I would imagine.

That very true bud...

Considering what you have said, i took a close look at the hubs and bearings...

There is around 4mm of play for the 3rd centre bearing.

I will make a 12x16x4mm spacer made up which will push the 3rd bearing towards the shaft supporting the load on the larger,weaker 22mm bearing.

Hopefully this should help take a little stress from the heavy baja wheels... If it works, then awesome, if it doesnt, then its all good anyway...


Just wondering... is it possible to get custom bearings made up?
Because it would be nice to have a 8x16x8mm bearing as the third bearing....???

The way these fail is that the force on the tire/wheel pivots the axle on the outer bearing and the skinny 22mm inner bearing fails. Anything that can help support the axle on the inner side of the outer bearing should help these sustain that force.


Josh - I agree that having the third bearing closer to the inner bearing is best.

Thanks for chiming in brian. How have your wheel bearings been holding up since you ran the baja wheels and third bearing?

They've been holding up fine - but I haven't had a chance to run it that often - with the nicer weather arriving, I'll be able to get this out more and see how everything is holding up.