As finished as it'll ever be

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Rebuild time again!

I machined up a slipper clutch setup that uses the RR base & pad & accepts TRX style hardened steel gears - works well & the regular steel gears are holding up heaps better than the RR ones.

Out bashing a couple of weeks ago I carwheeled the thing for what must have been a good 30 metres, high speed over a bit of a jump & hit the brakes a little early & she flipped & kept on flipping, didn't look like it was ever gonna stop, but finally did under a bush.
Flipped it over & kept on going - thing is tough now!

Had it out yesterday & drifted it real hard into a steel pole, smashed the fuel tank, front bulkheads, tie rod end & pushrod end.
Pole hit directly on the fuel tank & chassis, tank exploded in a shower of fuel, chassis shrugged it off - there is blue paint on the chassis from the pole.

Now who reckons the Vantage CF chassis is brittle?

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Anyway, now that I've finally got the thing to the point of being reliable & damn near unkillable I reckon it's time to pull it down to a bare chassis again & go through it all - blew a diff a couple of weeks ago & patched it up, but I know it won't last real long, I know most of the bearings in the trans are near dead, front diff bearings have got to be getting sad, wheels bearings are sounding ordinary, axle stubs are flogged out etc etc.
It's due for a birthday.
 
after seeing the abuse that vantage chassis can take at your hands really makes me want to get one ,but then I guess I'd end up building a new truck again
hows the engine holding up? the ofna .28 in the swb build is an animal night and day difference over the .26 not to say the .26 is a slouch , I had to take the cd out of the lwb revo ,picco makes too much power for it to be effective .just waiting for some cooler weather to go out with some new setups. keep up the good work
 


LOL

It looks like you actually broke the outdrive! How the &^%@ did you do that? :whhooo:

You have a gift, for breaking the unbreakable . . . yet that CF chassis is still in one piece . . . there have been a few times where I was sure you would be retrieving your Revo in two pieces! :D

Nice work mate - I reckon your poor Revo deserves a B day!
 
after seeing the abuse that vantage chassis can take at your hands really makes me want to get one ,but then I guess I'd end up building a new truck again
hows the engine holding up? the ofna .28 in the swb build is an animal night and day difference over the .26 not to say the .26 is a slouch , I had to take the cd out of the lwb revo ,picco makes too much power for it to be effective .just waiting for some cooler weather to go out with some new setups. keep up the good work

I'm sure TK3510 will get back to ya . . . I'll add my 2c.

I commented to TK the other day when we were out, that his Losi 454 (LRP .28 3 spec) goes really well.

He has the turbo head conversion, and popped a shim in to drop the compression a little - we run 30% race fuel - it's drinks the juice (hence the large tank) but it goes really well.

For a basha - a $400 racing engine (Rossy, OS or whatever) . . . or a $100 .28 LRP - I would buy 4 LRP's for sure.


We bash in a carpark - sliding around, 90% of the time we are at full throttle, constant 35,000 rpm abuse - and it's still going :first_place:


The day will come (and soon knowing the abuse we put our cars through) when the engine will go POP - TK's 454 would have paid itself off twice over - he'll take it out, pop it in the bin without a moments remorse or regret and get another one! . . . . . and do the same thing again :hehe:
 
Yup, that cheap ass losi 454 hauls ass with the turbo head conversion & ERCM pipe on 30% race juice.
When it's flogged out I'll just grab another one & throw my turbo head on it, they are cheap enough on ebay to be looked at as a consumable.

Bill - just chipped the drive cup, axle must have popped out in the impact & given it a smak, it'll live.

In other news not even my hotwash gets F(*&ing diff locking grease out.

Cleans everything else up real good tho - good enough to reveal a LOT of wear & tear.

I've got the trans, both diffs & even the shocks apart, shock oil was an interesting colour & you would have had a hernia looking at the front diff oil, or what was left of it.

This rebuild is gonna take a while, poor ol revo is beat to sh|t & needs a lot of work - despite still performing like a champ she's rough.

I wonder what she'll be like all freshened up - gonna lay it all out tonight & start making a list of bits I need as I go through everything.
It's gonna be quite a long list, sigh...
 
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No doubt when rebuilt, it will roll quietly and freely . . . instead of sounding like a pepper grinder filled with gravel ;) (It's not quite that bad . . . )


You will be able to use a lot of the parts from that other Revo you have - that has many of the same hop ups, and all the holes in the a arms etc will be round, and the bearings are near new as are the ball ends . . .

I've probably got bearings you can use in your tranz . . . .

I've got a bearing cleaner too - although the hub bearings that come out of your Revo should go straight in the bin! (Might be ok for the basic Revo if you wanna be tight).
 
I reckon I've got enough new or near new bearings to get most of it done without pirating the other revo.
Got the trans & diffs done last night, 2nd gear bearing in the trans was about to disintegrate, the spring in the dog clutch was dead & the output gear pin was busted - that'll explain the inconsistant shifting.
Smooth as silk now.
The front diff cross shaft was actually significantly worn - like groved up pretty bad where the spider gear run on it, rear diff cases were toast from rubbing against gravel & crap caught between them & the bulkheads. I had a fresh cross shaft & a few new cases, got both diffs together with new bearings & shimmed them up nicely.

The wheel bearings actually feel pretty good, NFI how - they are still the original RPM bearings. I reckon I can just flush them out & they'll be good.

Had a bit of a dig in the revo crap box & turned up a set of only lightly cracked front bulkheads, glued up the cracks but I think I'll keep them as spares & get some new ones.

Shock ends are flogged out bad, reckon I'll get some alloy shock ends.

List of bits I'm gonna grab:

Front bulkheads
Alloy pillow balls
Alloy shock ends
Alloy shock mounts
Alloy rocker posts
Rear diff pinion support
Power switch
18t clutch bell
38t steel spur gear
Spektrum steering servo (one of them big uns)

That lot should cut a little unsprung weight & sharpen up the handling a little, 18/38 gearing is around the sweet spot - the 19/38 gearing in it now lacks a little punch in grass & stuff.

---------- Post added at 5:24 PM ---------- Previous post was at 5:18 PM ----------

No doubt when rebuilt, it will roll quietly and freely . . . instead of sounding like a pepper grinder filled with gravel (It's not quite that bad . . . )

Yup, she was sounding rough, dunno if you heard it last time we were out - on a high speed flyby you could hear a high pitched scream coming from the drivetrain, or actually, several slightly different pitch screams.

My custom machined slipper adaptor thing I made was busted, think I'll have to make one out of steel instead of alloy.
The slipper pad came out in about 10 pieces - would have been dust very soon.
 
TRX big block mount, shift the trans forward & make some custom length driveshafts (or buy telescoping shafts).
I used a buggy header & bent it a little to clear the body & roll cage.
You'll need to use something like a losi 8 clutch & savage clutch bell.
I run a werks clutch - it's the only clutch I've had that lasts ok.

I think that's it, but I've had a big block in this thing for a long time, with a couple of different mounts.
 
Might be best to hunt down some rpm ball-ends TK. Better that they bend and bounce back than stretch and/or break....

I expect the dogbone pins would be worn down. I've got a pin press and pins if you wanna give your dogbones a birthday too...
 
What tank you going to replace the one that came with the tekno kit? I personally don't like it. I have problems with it not sealing and it has a crack in it.
 
Tank was a hyper 1/7 - the lids do leak, but I made up a new seal arrangement that fixes it, so I'll just switch that over to a new tank.

Front & rear suspensions are both done & fitted up bar shocks - gotta get some shock oil, I'm all out.
Electronics & servo's mostly fitted up.

Waiting on new clutch bell & spur gear + a few other little odss & sods to finish it off.

Bill - dogbones are fine, haven't done a bunch of work - they are the newish TRX axles.
I meant the shock caps - the ends are pounded & can't be replaced without replacing the whole cap, may just get some new plastic caps.

CBF'd waiting on alloy pillow balls, I had some new steel ones so I just used them, I'll get some alloy ones later.

One of the axles was badly bent in a couple of places, had to strip it down to a bare shaft & straighten it carefully - got it pretty good.

Wheel bearings were mint, it seems a bit of automotive wheel bearing grease does longevity wonders, I just cleaned them up, put a little more grease in them & some 3 in 1 oil to thin the grease for less bearing drag.
 
Long time since I was on here!

Revo is in a sad pile of dusty bits at the moment, starting to gather stuff to get it back together.

It shat yet another RRP slipper, the losi 454 had finally cried enough (still running just fine, but low comp & no grunt at low rpm - she's toast) & while it was apart to figure out a new slipper setup I pinched the radio & receiver for my boy's ECX ruckus when his died.
All that added up to a significant $ investment to get it up & running again with no real promise of having a slipper gear survive, so it just sat & gathered dust.

Time to sort it out!

Plan is to grab a new piston & sleeve for the losi 454, maybe a new rear bearing as well, rest is ok.
I'm going to try out one of the new hot racing HD slipper setups with the full captive pad & bolt on gears (you can just replace the gear if it dies, not the whole damn thing like the RRP ones).
I'm also going to figure out a way to brace the motor to the trans - I think the biggest problem is the motor shifting a little when she ends up upside down violently & knocking the mesh out a bit, quickly followed by a stripped gear. If I can brace the motor to the trans I should be able to stop that happening.
I'm going to grab another flysky radio - cheap & the last one works just fine.
I'm also probably going to grab a fast eddy revo bearing kit & replace the whole lot, while I've got the trans apart I'll replace the beat to hell cases with some fresh ones.

On the upside the diffs are hanging tough, nasty integy alloy diff cases seem to be rigid enough to stop the cases flexing & allowing the pinion to strip - they were crap cases, had to linish down the ring gears to get them in - didn't fit, but in the end they're worked out pretty good.
 
Cool - I look forward to burning some fuel with you again!

Dam - you got a good run out of that 454! That thing spent most of its life at 35,000 rpm! Not sure how many gallon's we put though that engine, but it was quite a few!
 
glad to see you're back on board.
I built something similar to yours for my cousin using a lrp .28 ,the engine itself is great its just trying to iron the bugs out of everything else lol . I used a dynamite 1/8 exhaust but with the new era mount the exhaust sat way too high so I cut the header in half and put a coupler the and it seems to be working ,deffo need a wheelie bar.
I cheated a bit on the slipper I did the old 2.5 maxx brake disc mod on the std slipper assembly and so far so good.
 
Here's hows mine has been for about A Year. I need fuel tubing and a better way to keep the exhaust system connected. The tank is cracked, but not leaking. I need a better glow plug igniter also. Last time i ran it i had a problem with the buku clutch contantly slipping on the crank shaft. Even after changing out that tapered brass collar. And those little springs for the exhause manifold to the ercm pipe stretching and breaking. Wish i got the ercm that connected together with a rubber coupler and zip ties. One day I'll get it going again.....

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Just ordered a new radio (cheaply flysky), hot racing HD slipper & hot racing 38t steel spur gear.
Dug around in the shed & turned up a low usage lrp piston, rod & sleeve (win!) so I pulled down the losi 454, ran it all through the ultrasonic cleaner & popped it back together with the newish bits. Bearings felt OK, carb boot needed replacing ( its an old lrp carb) seems to be pretty much good to go.
I'm taking the rest of the revo to work tomorrow for a good clean, tomorrow night I'll rebuild the trans with some fresh cases & start getting it all back together.
Slipper & gear are 7-10 days off, should a ordered them last week.

Ausher - dust that base boy off & get er running!
 
So I got this all back together & up & running.
The hot racing slipper conversion is a good thing.
Finally got a chance to take it out yesterday & after some faffing around with the tune had a ball at a BMX track - forgot how well this thing jumps & how much grunt it has!
Finished the day after 2 tanks of juice with a busted front diff, should have freshened that one up, it wasn't feeling great when I put the truck back together.
Smashed it real good, both side bearings totalled & took out the hot racing alloy diff cup, 1x pinion bearing pretty much exploded & took out the diff case, stripped the crownwheel & pinion & broke the erevo dogbone.
The only salvageable parts were the side gears, fortunately I had forseen this & had a new crownwheel & pinion, a spare second hand hot racing diff cup, spare near new diff cases, fresh bearings & a good second hand erevo dogbone - put together a new front diff last night.
 
I'm in the process of moving to the country into a bigger house and bigger yard. I'll have plenty of workspace now to do stuff. Hopefully I get it going soon.
 

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