Hope everyone had a nice Christmas. I personally got everything I wanted from Santa, including some pretty H10 aluminum axles.
A lot of hay has been made on VP Facebook groups about the price and quality of the VP metal axles vs competitors. Looking past the drama, I thought it might be helpful to folks to take some photos of the VP fronts (all I was able to secure were two sets of fronts as rear axles sold out lightning fast, so this will go on the 4WS rig eventually) to the already available Treal axles.
Granted, this is not a direct comparison due to the color differences but I was more interested in the overall manufacturing quality anyways.
Some things to note: The VP axle, according to measurements taken by others, is the heavier of the two (completely bare housing only) Treal is (claiming to) using 7075 aluminum vs the 6061 aluminum that VP is using. Obviously 7075 is harder but also more brittle, so it remains to be seen what which will hold up better to abuse. At the end of the day it is really just bling, plastic would probably be the better choice for serious comping due to cost and weight placement, but
shiny is cool. And I am nowhere near the pro crawling skill level to care so much.
Some quick comparison photos below.
What you get in each package - I appreciate that everything I need is included with the Treal axles, even some bearings. No need to separately purchase a 3rd member and figure out hardware. The metal cover for the faux hydro tube steering is a very nice touch. Makes me wish I had the clear Treals, but they were unfortunately not available when I bought these.
Veeeeery interesting that Treal chose to eliminate much of the ridge sitting below the hydro steer area that acts as a bit of a skid for the hydro ram setup. I have seen several posts on FB/elsewhere regarding clearance issues between this ridge feature and the steering ram forks. some are having issues with clashes, and others are not. My RTR doesn't have this issue but I have fully rebuilt the steering there so I don't know what it was like stock. Others have reported a similar problem on the plastic axles, and I believe a user on RCC made a 3D printable riser that can resolve this. Will have to test it once my printer is up and running. Makes me wonder if the missing feature was purposely designed on the Treal to mitigate this issue.
Pretty obvious the difference in milling quality, the soft edges of the VP axles feel smooth compared to the much sharper Treals. Subjectively gives the VP a feeling of quality vs the more machine time optimization seen on the Treals.
VP clearly beefed up the edges of the axles where the knuckles will be installed on. Throughout the Treal axles, you can see where measures were taken to save on production costs. I don't necessarily disagree with this practice and the choices seem mostly sensible, except for perhaps in the above image with the thinner steering hinge points.
Purdy.
Now for the l
ess than Purdy.
Really small flaws, but still worth showing
That's all I have for now, will get around to installing both sets on my two rigs soon but waiting on a couple small parts before diving back in.
Would love to hear the thoughts of anyone else who has both sets of axles. Can also take other photos upon request. Thanks for taking a look.
