Been busy dealing with 1:1 scale life stuff. lol Took time and reorganized the pile of broken crete into something more usable.
Have a few bugs to deal with on the Axe, other than the steering/panhard bug.
Broke the left side slider off a while back. not many options, stock, Reefs, or the KXY stuff. I went with the KXY. Didn't care for the look of the reefs sliders, and the KXY do have a nice look so I order a set of them for a bit over 20 bucks and they arrived today so on they went.
These are pretty nicely built. the step is adjustable to the slider mount. So once you install the slider, you can shift the step forward or backwards to get the fit/look you want under the body you are running. With the Axe rig, which these are made specifically for, they were almost right on. Well the Drivers side is, just need to move the passenger side forward a few mm. 3 screws secure the foot plate to the slider mount. Overall, Great look, and nice design in that respect. They'll be stronger than stock no doubt, but will transfer that shock load to the plastic mounting side plate. We'll see how it holds up. they are not very heavy, and I didn't weigh them, which I can do at some point soon, but they are heavier than stockers obviously. Overall, until I run them, I'll give them a B+,A- score. only because I have not run them yet to see if they slide well or hang up on every corner. Will report back on that when I get there.
Also ordered some SSD link mounts for her. They arrived today as well as the 16 light kit I bought thinking it was the light kit with a controller. Its just a single plug split out so all on always. So I may return it, or more likely sell it off, or clip it up and use is for other lighting setups that need more than the stock kits have.
Got the SSD stuff installed. Back were great, but I did have to lightly trim the balls down just a smidge on the front to get them to fit into the mounts. FYI for anyone adding them. The ball links may be a smidge to wide to fit into the link mounts. The anodizing is very good on these parts, and it may be a bit thicker on this set, causing the ball to be a bit to wide to slide in the mounts.
They are pretty much duplicates of the stock mounts, so everything went back together as it should otherwise.
Next parts I need to get are the portal knuckles The stock one on the left side is twisting up on the steering arm. This happened before I made the changes recently. The mount off the housing is fairly thin, not real beefy in its mounting to the knuckle itself, so it gives a bit under the stress of steering in pinched lines. A more beefy mount area for the steering arm on the knucle would minimize that issue. but until RC beefs up the knuckle part, the arm will continue to see high stress, and it will likely continue to give.
So the options besides stock are Hot Racing, Treal, one Amazon Special maker, and Red Cat themselves I think make Aluminum portal housings f and r.
Metal will obviously be a more viable fix. And will add some non rotational, unsprung weight low, so will help lower CoG as well in increase Stability.
The RedCat parts look good and i can only presume the are more than adequate. But adding some more weight in that area can only lead to more benefits than detractions. So I am going to use the Brass Housings, and will probably stick with the stock covers. Dont want to add more weight than needed. It does add stress to components, and static load is increased.
The HR doesn't look bad, but Treal makes a nice looking set that are Bass, then powder coated black then finish machined to let the brass pop out from the black. They look really good, and so far, many people seem to like the Treal gear, as there seems to be minimal or no issues with fit, machine work, or quality.
They wont be in stock here stateside for a week or so yet it appears, so I have them on stand by in the cart for when they can be shipped out when ordered.
One other thing I have coming is a set of the Treal 8mm hexes. It's a 4 pack, but I am only going to add them to the front. The extra 2mm will give the clearance needed to stop the links from rubbing the inside of the front tires. Especially when under a load and the tires are biting in. Expect those to be here end of the week, which will help reduce any drivetrain drag caused by the rubbing.
Dripping the steering crops bar to under the links did create a bit of clearance, but the drag link is still attached to the top of the knuckle are, and while it is not as much into the tire, it still rubs. That added 2 mils will solve the rub, and add just a little rotational weight to the front. So the impact will be minimal, but the clearance they add will be crucial.
The stock Traxxas 12mm Slash hexes are 8mm wide, so you can use them if you don't want to add weight or fancy hexes that ar e only seen when the wheels are off. lol
Few pics of the KXY sliders and SSD Links installed.
And the needle goes in.