Grab a drink and some popcorn and sit down because this post will be a long one. Enjoy the show.
The Origin build is definitely on hold indefinitely. It's too cold to paint and I don't see Mother Nature cooperating anytime soon as we are just about to enter winter. I need to have enough time to warm up the garage, protect my motorcycles and quad and paint all in the same day. It's tough to get that all finished after work. Before any of that even happens, I have to mask though. I have off all of next week though so to be continued...
In the meantime, I was anxious to start the TK build. I couldn't hold out any longer. In some ways I'm more excited about this build than the Origin. I'm not sure why, but I think it's mainly because of the Chevy small block and the scale transmission. Scale nerd stuff, bro! "thumbsup"
It's kind of unfair to the TK to build it after a "high-end" kit like the Origin, but, as "they" say, life isn't fair. I'll try to keep in mind that this kit is a very reasonable $370! That may seem like a lot of money to some since it doesn't include a body, tires or wheels, but you have to remember this is, basically, a significantly upgraded SCX10 II with the addition of a scale drivetrain.
Inside the manual was a small addendum and the coolest stickers in all of RC. These chrome SSD logo beauties. These are sure to add 4V, or around 100 scale horsepower, to any RC.
Let's get started with Bag A which is the rear axle. You will soon learn, like I did, that SSD loves bags as much as Vanquish.
What's inside Bag A? More bags some of which are filled with...you guessed it - bags!
Besides bags, another theme in this build is oil. Every metal part, including some of the hardware, is soaked in oil. This is sure to protect the parts in the box for the long boat ride to the US. This is not a complaint, but more just an observation.
I was very confused when the locker had one screw in the bag.
I had a tough time finding the six M2 x 8mm screws to attach the ring gear to the locker. It wasn't until I went to install an M2 x 6mm screw that I saw the M2 x 8mm screws were preinstalled in the locker. And now it makes sense why the spare screw was in that bag.
After lots of hard work of installing six screws we have this. Tada! I'm sure y'all (I'm not southern, but I play one on TV) have never seen one of these thingamajigs! Err I guess you probably have. All that fanfare for nothing!
Remember me saying there was a lot of oil on the metal parts and hardware? Well I wiped each of these six screws down before applying blue thread lock. Here is the result. Wipe off that oil if you want your thread lock to do any work.
Now, let's layout all of the plastic pieces. I own a set of still unused SSD axles, but I didn't assemble them as I bought them from somebody else that did. This is my first time assembling SSD axles and I have to say this is a very clever system!
As you can see, SSD provided two covers for each axle. This is an awesome touch! It allows you to choose the stock looking version or the aftermarket, performance version that has a beveled, lower edge for more rock slide-
ability.
Here we run into the first not-so-good thing. The bearing retainers are plastic! Are they the first company to do this? Nope. I saw SSD offers metal versions on their website, but I just assumed they were replacement parts. I should have known the parts listed on their site are upgrades. Had I known this I surely would have upgraded these parts. Is it necessary? Probably not, but I do like these to be metal.
And here's more of the clever three-piece, modular axle design.
Getting the axle housings into the pumpkin is kinda tough. These sumbitches fit tight, but that is a good thing! No slop here. This is the last place that you'd want slop. Nicely done, SSD.
And here we come to my first pet peeve. Each axle housing is held to the center diff section via 3 screws. 2 of these screws are M3 x 5mm and 1 is M3 x 4mm. Really?
This 1mm difference in length shouldn't be critical. If 1mm is critical then there are some tight tolerances going on here. Don't do this. Don't mix and match screws that are close in length wherever possible.
This is where I made my first booboo. I use M3 x 5 screws for all 6 (3 on each side) and only then realized two of these screws are 1mm shorter. Does it matter? It shouldn't. And I didn't think so, but maybe my mistake caused more issues. More on that later.
Here's the 3-piece axle housing assembled using the correct size screws.
For the most part the plastic is very nicely molded. There is a minuscule amount of flashing at some points, but not even enough for me to get out the knife. I'd do more damage to the housing removing this plastic than I would just leaving it alone.
These plastics are thankfully precut from the sprues. This is becoming common practice in the RC industry and I'm so happy about it. The cut is nice. No trimming needed here.
The inner, pinion bearing took some effort to install. I don't remember a pinion bearing seat being this tight before, but it's not tight enough to damage the bearing and this sucker isn't falling out which I really like. Nothing is more annoying than having a bearing constantly fall out and then you only realize it's still lying on your workbench after you have everything assembled.
The ring gear/locker assembly bearings are unshielded which also seems to becoming standard practice. The difference is that these are filled with grease. Interesting. It's translucent green grease that looks very similar to the grease that Axial included in the SCX10 II kit.
Here's the locker assembly installed into the axle housing. I slopped the gears with Vanquish grease. Sorry, SSD, you don't offer your own grease.
I had some trouble with the four screws that hold the bearing retainers in place. I thought they were tight, but when trying to install the pumpkin cover it wouldn't seat properly as it was hitting these four screws. I had to go past what I initially thought was tight and the screws freed up a little bit and then got tight again later on. It was very odd.
A side benefit of using the "performance" pumpkin cover is that I had to install less screws. Laziness...I tell ya! This may allow some water in through the bottom of the diff cover, but even with more screws down there it won't be water tight anyway.
I did notice that the screws I received were more M2 x 6mm rather than M2 x 5mm as called out in the manual. I found the manual not matching the physical screw length on more than one occasion.
I installed one axle shaft and realized I could not get the other side in no matter what I tried. I even remove the installed shaft and tried it on the other side to no avail. So I had to disassemble the axle and that really annoyed me more than it should have.
It was hard to see inside the axle housing so I assume the locker was the culprit. Upon removal I found out that my assumption was wrong. Both axles slid right into either side of the locker.
Then I looked inside the plastic pieces and found plastic burrs on one side. I am not sure where these came from, but I removed them with an X-Acto knife.
I seriously do not think this was caused by my use of the 5mm long screws instead of the 4mm screws in two places, but it's plausible.
Upon reassembly I still couldn't get the axle shaft in the one side. I had to push pretty hard and then it slid into place and didn't bind. I have no idea what was hindering it.
The fit of the end caps onto the axle housing is also tight like a tiga so eat your Wheaties, punk! They are held on by two M3 x 6mm screws. Mine measured M3 x 5mm so this is another discrepancy that I found. Hopefully that extra 1mm doesn't make a difference here. ;-)
Were's almost at the commercial break. Stay focused, Daniel San!
Next up was installing the 12mm drive hexes. These are aluminum which is a very nice touch. Plastic hexes should go the way of plastic hollow balls - straight to hell! :twisted:
You can also see the aluminum spacer between the axle end caps and the axle shafts. This works in conjunction with the bearing to keep the axle shaft centered. Nice.
Sorry, that was a long first step, but I think you'll survive. We're in this together! :mrgreen:
