Redcat Gen7 Axle Upgrade Choice of Two

[fenderville]

Hey all,


I know this has been asked a million times but.....


I have had my Gen7 Pro for about two years. I just now decided to strip it down and rebuild just to see what was inside and how it all worked.


I the process of doing so, I noticed the axles are soft plastic. And... they bind up when the screws are tightened.


I swore i would never need portals And still not sure i want them so.. I have narrowed down my decision to two..


Aluminum replacements:


https://www.amainhobbies.com/redcat-aluminum-gen7-front-rear-axle-housing-rer09894/p711784


OR:



https://www.amainhobbies.com/redcat-racing-assembled-v2-portal-axle-kit-rer13366/p1314184


I know the portals give way more clearance but is the aluminum choice going to be better than just dealing with the stock plastic?



Thank you all for the great site! And.. please bare with me, I am just learning about what works and doesn't work so i will have a bunch of questions.

 

[ferp420]

your best upgrade will be axial scx10 ii axles
the gen7 is just a scx10 clone so allmost every aftermarket part can be adapted to the gen7
the scx10ii axles are leaps and bounds better than the og style scx10 axles and that much better than the gen7 axles
the best part the scx10ii axles are a almost direct bolt in and will work better than the gen8 axles on the gen7 chassie

 

[TheLetterJ]

I recently put a set of Axial scx10.3 straight axles under my son's Gen7 after considering the Redcat portal conversion kit. The 10.3 straight axles have been on sale recently (still?) for $100 which also includes shorter shocks. There's nothing wrong with plastic axles so long as they're designed well... the old ax10 style that Redcat copied had a lot going against them. Even if you were to beef everything up on them, the Redcat cv axleshafts are the weak link, my son has twisted at least 4 sets of them into drill bits and he's a pretty careful driver. The 10.3 straight axles turn roughly 50% sharper (with very simple modifications they'll turn 60 degrees... but your tires will hit the links/chassis before that anyway), have high pinions so the driveshafts are up out of the rocks and have better angles, have stronger gears/spools/axle shafts, and have much better parts support. Even though they're not portals, they still gain about 1/4" of clearance at the diff which is significant enough to really appreciate. I bought a 3d printed servo on axle mount that kept the front 4 link setup, which made the swap pretty easy.

 

[fenderville]

Thanks for the advice.. I am worried I will get the wrong parts when it comes to Axial.. Can you provide a link or part # so i can find it online?


Again.. Thank you all for the help!

 

[TheLetterJ]

These are the axles I used: https://www.horizonhobby.com/produc...on-kit-12.3-and-13.9-scx10-iii/AXI238000.html

with this servo/4 link mount: https://1tenth.com/shop/ols/products/1tenth-soa-and-4-link-for-scx10-iii-straight-axles ,they're also selling a stainless steel version now too.

I can't comment on how well the stock links work since I have a flat skid (with triangulated lower links) which required me to make some link changes anyway, as well as a mirrored transmission so your installation will vary... there's a good chance the stock links will work if you make use of the optional mounting holes of the stock chassis.

 

[ferp420]

i was worried the offset pumpkin on the 10.3 might cause a problem but if not they are alot cooler than the centered front pumpkin on the 10.2

 

[TheLetterJ]

Yeah, that's where the "your installation will vary" part came in... I had to set the front end up the ol' Wroncho way having the trans output on the opposite side as the diff. That also necessitated bending the upper links to clear the driveshaft when the suspension bottoms out. My kid's Gen7 has been modified enough that it's probably a poor comparison for someone starting with a stock truck.

That said, I still think a stock gen7 would be easier than what I described since the lower links come straight forward off the outside of the chassis, you could leave the trans alone (leaving the output on the driver's side) and the driveshaft would be nearly perfectly inline with the offset ar45 straight axle. For that matter, one could just convert the truck to a 3 link with panhard and chassis mounted servo (like the Redcat portal conversion does) and not have any linkage interferrence. For simplicities sake, that's when the portal conversion kit would start making more sense though. Lots of ways to skin this cat, it largely depends on one's ability to adapt/problem solve the mechanics of the path chosen.

 

[ferp420]

Yeah, that's where the "your installation will vary" part came in... I had to set the front end up the ol' Wroncho way having the trans output on the opposite side as the diff. That also necessitated bending the upper links to clear the driveshaft when the suspension bottoms out. My kid's Gen7 has been modified enough that it's probably a poor comparison for someone starting with a stock truck.

That said, I still think a stock gen7 would be easier than what I described since the lower links come straight forward off the outside of the chassis, you could leave the trans alone (leaving the output on the driver's side) and the driveshaft would be nearly perfectly inline with the offset ar45 straight axle. For that matter, one could just convert the truck to a 3 link with panhard and chassis mounted servo (like the Redcat portal conversion does) and not have any linkage interferrence. For simplicities sake, that's when the portal conversion kit would start making more sense though. Lots of ways to skin this cat, it largely depends on one's ability to adapt/problem solve the mechanics of the path chosen.

ive herd the gen8 axle kit is hard to get set up right and the aluminum redcat axle housings are way overpriced and you would still have that huge pumpkin

the 10.2 axles are in my opinion much better way to go

10.2 axles are cheap used and even cheap to build new and there are so many upgrade options like brassknuckles and universal shafts and diff covers and all kinds of stuff

also the element enduro axles are pretty close to the 10.2 axles and share some of the same parts if you can find a set of take offs at the right price there a good option to but 10.2 arw best

 

[TheLetterJ]

I'd have to agree that unless you got ahold of the 10.3 straight axles at the $99 sale price (their normal $169 is a hard pill to swallow when swapping under a truck that cost less than that in the first place!) , I'd probably feel more comfortable suggesting AR44's/10.2 axles and a servo on axle/4 link bracket.

fenderville: what's your budget, and how bolt-on do you need your new axles to be?

 

[fenderville]

Hey all. Thanks for the help and suggestions. I went with the redcat portals. Now if I could just get this vader skid to fit. Lol

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

 

[NERodrigues]

Good to know, I was just trying to figure out the same thing in another thread. Let us know how the build in goes.

 

[NERodrigues]

Hey all,


I know this has been asked a million times but.....


I have had my Gen7 Pro for about two years. I just now decided to strip it down and rebuild just to see what was inside and how it all worked.


I the process of doing so, I noticed the axles are soft plastic. And... they bind up when the screws are tightened.


I swore i would never need portals And still not sure i want them so.. I have narrowed down my decision to two..


Aluminum replacements:


https://www.amainhobbies.com/redcat-aluminum-gen7-front-rear-axle-housing-rer09894/p711784


OR:



https://www.amainhobbies.com/redcat-racing-assembled-v2-portal-axle-kit-rer13366/p1314184


I know the portals give way more clearance but is the aluminum choice going to be better than just dealing with the stock plastic?



Thank you all for the great site! And.. please bare with me, I am just learning about what works and doesn't work so i will have a bunch of questions.

I am just now getting around to that. I replaced the diffs with metal versions, the main gearbox with metal and now I just have the driveshafts and the spur gear. Ill let you know how it turns out.