Upgrades, upgrades, upgrades...

[Megazone23]

Hey, guys -- just want to pick the collective brain here. I just bought a heavy duty Maxx drive train on eBay (well about a month ago, but I recently returned from a 5 month project in China, so I haven't been able to do anything until now). Included in the lot was center drive shafts, CVDs for each corner, and front and rear diffs (aluminum cases/collars with aluminum diff cup, 3mm screws, and modified gears) -- not sure what exactly is inside, though.

Anyway, one of the diffs has no play at all in the outdrives, and it seems to spin a little tight, but not necessarily overly tight. The other one spins a lot more freely, but there's probably about half a mm of play in the outdrives. If I hold it with the outdrives vertically, it almost feels like the teeth of the ring gear is buzzing against something else. If I flip it 180, it spins very smoothly. I'm pretty sure this one needs to be torn down and at the very least re-shimmed, if not just rebuilt and greased. Do you think the other one needs it as well?

The ultimate point of this is to go brushless one of these days. To that end, I've gone ahead and bought some Integy bulks (F/R) with braces to hold the new hardware. I don't know if I'll be able to pull off both a GMaxx frame and a brushless setup (thinking Warrior 9920 and Feigao 9L running on 12 cells, eventually 14), but I know I can pull off one or the other.

If I go brushless first, how long would the rest of the stock chassis hold up? I understand excessive wheelies and backflips may ensue, but like I said, I don't think I can get both major upgrades. I don't race; probably never will. I'm more interested in the lower maintenance/better efficiency of brushless for my bashing.

Then again, my bashing may force the frame upgrade if this weekend was any indication. Missed an approach and caught the edge of my driveway exiting the ditch. Somehow the wheel nut popped off, and the lower A-arm was ripped from the hinge pin. I only noticed it this morning as I was walking out the door, so I haven't had a chance to see if any damaged was incurred to the hinge pin itself or my Powerstrokes. :eek: So I'm thinking about replacing all four corners with RPMs.

Sorry for the ramble -- I look forward to your collective wisdom.