TwistedCreations
Colt Python/SR9c
well, there has been several people that has asked me info about my axles. so i decided to post some info up about them and a few things i have learned from doin it.
what i will list is to do just 1 axle. so to make both, you need to double up some stuff. i had limited tools at the time, so made it work with what i had:110 welder,4.5" grinder w/ 5" cutoff discs and flap wheel,drill w/ various bit sizes, Autozone brakeline bender w/ degree marks on it, various screwdrivers,pliers,etc. i also had some tap and dies around here. i mainly used 4-40" bolts,6-32" bolts. so you will need tap for those 2 sizes and you will need a 5mm tap. you can use whatever size bolts you want and use that size tap, but you DO NEED a 5mm tap
the parts i had used were the Emaxx diff(1),axles(2), knuckle ends(2),bearings that goes into the knuckle(4), pivot balls(4) and the caps(4). Then needed the material to build it from,which was 1/4" solid rod,3/16" solid rod, 1/4" Aluminum rod, rod ends( 1 bag), various nuts and bolts and washers, 5mm nuts(4) and you will also need 1" washers( 2). The washer is intended for a 1" bolt. the inner diameter hole will be 1" and outside diameter is 2 1/2". The holes are a little bit big, but work just fine. Also make sure you have Loctite. i used the blue stuff and it seemed to do just fine. i forgot to Loctite a few bolts and they worked loose, so make sure you have Loctite
To start off, i started on the washers. these things are pretty thick and would be a good idea to grind them down some so they're not as thick.That will also help in the drilling department 8) you will need to drill out holes big enough for that pinion collar to fit in. i had just notched mine in the front where the collar would sit and it has worked great. In the 2nd pic,the hole that is just above the pinion collar hole is the hole for the top links. these can be done now or later. its up to you
Now after you get them drilled/notched, you can put the diff in between the 2 and figure out where you want to drill for the top links and for the braces that hold it together. after you get them marked where you want them, drill them out . so your washers should be done now. now hold it all together and measure to see how long your braces will be. mine are 1" long. now you will need to cut off (3) 1" pieces of 1/4" Alum. then drill both ends and tap them to what size bolt you are using.you will need to do this to the other 2 pieces now( in the pic, you can see i just have a bolt and nut in there. i had it taken apart at the time and just slapped it back together to get a pic. normally there is a 1" alum. piece there)
Now you can put it all together( no need for Loctite just yet). now to figure out the arms. i mainly just eyeballed everything at this point . I had an axle attached to the diff and the other end through the knuckle, that way i could get an idea of the angle i wanted. by the time i figured where i wanted to put it, i had done went nuts trying to figure it all out( maybe lack of sleep had something to do with it :? ) but with the knuckles on the ground and the diff sitting on some small pieces of wood i stacked, i found it would work great with about 1 1/4"-1 1/2" under the diff. so with the diff sitting there,now you figure out how wide you want it. I made mine too wide, i recommend making them the same width as the widemaxx version, that way you can still get CVD's for them. since mine was that wide( 14.5" WMS-WMS) i wasn't sure how the sliders would hold up.well they didn't hold up very well. so i lengthen both the male and female sides of the slider. by the time i was done,i only had about an 1/8" of slip in the shafts.they looked like a fully compressed slider, but at the length i needed. those seemed to hold up fine. anyway back on topic :roll:
after you find how wide you want to go,cut the 1/4" rod to that length( mine were 5 5/8" for the top brace and 5.5" for the lower brace).You will also need to angle the ends a little that will fit onto the washer. after you get all 4 main braces cut to length, its time to drill the end of it to fit the pivot ball. After you get, them drilled, you now need to tap them with a 5mm tap. take your time when running the tap( they will break!). now when you have all four tapped, you can run the pivot ball through the knuckle. on the backside of the knuckle, put a 5mm nut on it and screw it into the main brace. then put your pivot caps on also.
now with everything on, it actually holds the braces where you want them( making it easier to handle). with the diff still setting up on the 1 1/4" wood,place the braces up where you want them( work with the top brace 1st). once in place, give it a tack weld on both sides of the brace to hold it there. then put the lower brace up to the washer and tack weld it also. now you have 1 side done. Now you go and do the same thing to the other side( remember to only tack them on real quick. if not you will melt the diff housing) after everything is tacked into place, you can undo the diff . once removed you can weld the braces fully on now.keep the knuckles on, because the braces will move when welded. so the knuckles will help hold them into place. you may also want to have water near by so you can cool it down faster. now after that's all done and cleaned up, you can run your side braces other braces. on my 1st axle, i used 1/4" rod also but the 2nd one i used 3/16" rod which worked much better. so take your 3/16" rod and measure from the front of the washer to the top brace( rememeber, you drilled out the end of the brace, so i don't recommend you going all the way to the end of it as you will burn through and screw up the brace and pivot balls) now measure and put a brace at the bottom also.After your braces are done,it should look something like this( unless your going a different route
this is the one with the 1/4" bracing also)
Now after all that's done, go get a beer if you haven't already 8) :lol:
so your that far and it's time to mount the braces for the lower links. i used 3/16" rod for that also. now when measuring, just take into thought that your wheels will be turning and you don't want your links out so far that they rub the links. i ran the piece of rod in between where the braces were welded up front. mine measure 3" out from the washer. i found that was a average spot to mount them that way they were not in the way of anything. you want to drill and tap the ends of the braces before you weld them in also. i believe i used 4-40 screws to mount my links. those screws were about the best that fit through the Traxxas rod ends. in the pic below,the lower link brace was out way to far and i had to recut it and retap it. so like i said, mine now are 3" from the washer and work great
Your almost done, time to drink another beer now now you have all the braces done, you can bolt it all back together. figure out where you want to mount your servo.i used a piece of 16ga or 18ga( cant remember) that was 1" x 2 1/4". then marked out where the servo would sit and cut that out. by the time i was done, it looked like this [ . then drilled the 4 mounting holes in it and welded it onto the top brace( take your time welding, unless you want to take it apart again) my servo mounting bracket sits almost all the way over to the washer.
now its time to make steering links. i think everyone knows how to do that. if not, there is a great writeup on Rccrawler about it. also Mudcow has a good writeup on it. After the steering links are made, done and put on, you can make a skidplate( trust me, you need one) I just used a scrap piece laying around here. it was 1"x3.5" long and was 1/8"-3/16" thick. I put the last 3/4" in a vice and bent it up so it would cover the front of the servo saver. it looked good, so it got welded to the bottom brace.
so your done now. time to drink another beer( if your not drunk by now anyway) time to take it all apart so you can finish cleaning it up and paint it. after paint dries, put it back together and MAKE SURE you use some Loctite on it.. Now start on the other axle and build it exactly like the 1st one
if anyone has any questions now, ask away and hopefully me taking the time to write this up will at least help someone out there wanting to make a set.
Jeremy
what i will list is to do just 1 axle. so to make both, you need to double up some stuff. i had limited tools at the time, so made it work with what i had:110 welder,4.5" grinder w/ 5" cutoff discs and flap wheel,drill w/ various bit sizes, Autozone brakeline bender w/ degree marks on it, various screwdrivers,pliers,etc. i also had some tap and dies around here. i mainly used 4-40" bolts,6-32" bolts. so you will need tap for those 2 sizes and you will need a 5mm tap. you can use whatever size bolts you want and use that size tap, but you DO NEED a 5mm tap
the parts i had used were the Emaxx diff(1),axles(2), knuckle ends(2),bearings that goes into the knuckle(4), pivot balls(4) and the caps(4). Then needed the material to build it from,which was 1/4" solid rod,3/16" solid rod, 1/4" Aluminum rod, rod ends( 1 bag), various nuts and bolts and washers, 5mm nuts(4) and you will also need 1" washers( 2). The washer is intended for a 1" bolt. the inner diameter hole will be 1" and outside diameter is 2 1/2". The holes are a little bit big, but work just fine. Also make sure you have Loctite. i used the blue stuff and it seemed to do just fine. i forgot to Loctite a few bolts and they worked loose, so make sure you have Loctite
To start off, i started on the washers. these things are pretty thick and would be a good idea to grind them down some so they're not as thick.That will also help in the drilling department 8) you will need to drill out holes big enough for that pinion collar to fit in. i had just notched mine in the front where the collar would sit and it has worked great. In the 2nd pic,the hole that is just above the pinion collar hole is the hole for the top links. these can be done now or later. its up to you
Now after you get them drilled/notched, you can put the diff in between the 2 and figure out where you want to drill for the top links and for the braces that hold it together. after you get them marked where you want them, drill them out . so your washers should be done now. now hold it all together and measure to see how long your braces will be. mine are 1" long. now you will need to cut off (3) 1" pieces of 1/4" Alum. then drill both ends and tap them to what size bolt you are using.you will need to do this to the other 2 pieces now( in the pic, you can see i just have a bolt and nut in there. i had it taken apart at the time and just slapped it back together to get a pic. normally there is a 1" alum. piece there)
Now you can put it all together( no need for Loctite just yet). now to figure out the arms. i mainly just eyeballed everything at this point
. I had an axle attached to the diff and the other end through the knuckle, that way i could get an idea of the angle i wanted. by the time i figured where i wanted to put it, i had done went nuts trying to figure it all out( maybe lack of sleep had something to do with it :? ) but with the knuckles on the ground and the diff sitting on some small pieces of wood i stacked, i found it would work great with about 1 1/4"-1 1/2" under the diff. so with the diff sitting there,now you figure out how wide you want it. I made mine too wide, i recommend making them the same width as the widemaxx version, that way you can still get CVD's for them. since mine was that wide( 14.5" WMS-WMS) i wasn't sure how the sliders would hold up.well they didn't hold up very well. so i lengthen both the male and female sides of the slider. by the time i was done,i only had about an 1/8" of slip in the shafts.they looked like a fully compressed slider, but at the length i needed. those seemed to hold up fine. anyway back on topic :roll: after you find how wide you want to go,cut the 1/4" rod to that length( mine were 5 5/8" for the top brace and 5.5" for the lower brace).You will also need to angle the ends a little that will fit onto the washer. after you get all 4 main braces cut to length, its time to drill the end of it to fit the pivot ball. After you get, them drilled, you now need to tap them with a 5mm tap. take your time when running the tap( they will break!). now when you have all four tapped, you can run the pivot ball through the knuckle. on the backside of the knuckle, put a 5mm nut on it and screw it into the main brace. then put your pivot caps on also.
now with everything on, it actually holds the braces where you want them( making it easier to handle). with the diff still setting up on the 1 1/4" wood,place the braces up where you want them( work with the top brace 1st). once in place, give it a tack weld on both sides of the brace to hold it there. then put the lower brace up to the washer and tack weld it also. now you have 1 side done. Now you go and do the same thing to the other side( remember to only tack them on real quick. if not you will melt the diff housing) after everything is tacked into place, you can undo the diff . once removed you can weld the braces fully on now.keep the knuckles on, because the braces will move when welded. so the knuckles will help hold them into place. you may also want to have water near by so you can cool it down faster. now after that's all done and cleaned up, you can run your side braces other braces. on my 1st axle, i used 1/4" rod also but the 2nd one i used 3/16" rod which worked much better. so take your 3/16" rod and measure from the front of the washer to the top brace( rememeber, you drilled out the end of the brace, so i don't recommend you going all the way to the end of it as you will burn through and screw up the brace and pivot balls) now measure and put a brace at the bottom also.After your braces are done,it should look something like this( unless your going a different route
this is the one with the 1/4" bracing also)
Now after all that's done, go get a beer if you haven't already 8) :lol:
so your that far and it's time to mount the braces for the lower links. i used 3/16" rod for that also. now when measuring, just take into thought that your wheels will be turning and you don't want your links out so far that they rub the links. i ran the piece of rod in between where the braces were welded up front. mine measure 3" out from the washer. i found that was a average spot to mount them that way they were not in the way of anything. you want to drill and tap the ends of the braces before you weld them in also. i believe i used 4-40 screws to mount my links. those screws were about the best that fit through the Traxxas rod ends. in the pic below,the lower link brace was out way to far and i had to recut it and retap it. so like i said, mine now are 3" from the washer and work great
Your almost done, time to drink another beer now
now you have all the braces done, you can bolt it all back together. figure out where you want to mount your servo.i used a piece of 16ga or 18ga( cant remember) that was 1" x 2 1/4". then marked out where the servo would sit and cut that out. by the time i was done, it looked like this [ . then drilled the 4 mounting holes in it and welded it onto the top brace( take your time welding, unless you want to take it apart again) my servo mounting bracket sits almost all the way over to the washer.
now its time to make steering links. i think everyone knows how to do that. if not, there is a great writeup on Rccrawler about it. also Mudcow has a good writeup on it. After the steering links are made, done and put on, you can make a skidplate( trust me, you need one) I just used a scrap piece laying around here. it was 1"x3.5" long and was 1/8"-3/16" thick. I put the last 3/4" in a vice and bent it up so it would cover the front of the servo saver. it looked good, so it got welded to the bottom brace.
so your done now. time to drink another beer( if your not drunk by now anyway)
time to take it all apart so you can finish cleaning it up and paint it. after paint dries, put it back together and MAKE SURE you use some Loctite on it.. Now start on the other axle and build it exactly like the 1st oneif anyone has any questions now, ask away and hopefully me taking the time to write this up will at least help someone out there wanting to make a set.
Jeremy
