Moonstone's winter builds/rebuilds

[Moonstonemike]

So I'm back on my wltoys 124019. I did not like the hobby queen esc. It doesn't have a way to set endpoints and although I was able to improve the cogging, I couldn't eliminate it.

I picked up a granite esc from Jenny's and tested it out . It took off, no hesitation . Now just have to cram this esc in.

 

[Moonstonemike]

Ok got it in today. Decided to bolt it in instead of using the 3m double sided tape. This way it sits a little bit lower. Had to drill a new hole and trim the center brace and side guard a little.

 

[Moonstonemike]

Not the prettiest but squeezed in the wiring.

 

[Moonstonemike]

So today I fixed this little toy "crawler". I have 3 of these the kids or any kids visiting to play with. One had a problem with servo not returning to center. The other the front motor stopped working.

So just swapped the whole front axle on one and took a gear off the other so it is rear wheel drive at least. Nothing too exciting but for a cheap crawler they are pretty fun.

 

[Moonstonemike]

So going to start work on my viper.
Plans were to change to a new dirt oval body. It will be my first attempt at painting. Also will probably switch the esc to a blx100.

So.... Just before I put her away for winter I had to fix the diffs. I replaced the rear and re-shimmed r front. Well I felt some heavy binding now. Started unscrewing the front diff housing and 3 of the 4 screws snapped. Well turns out the fronts weren't binding. So must be the new back ones. Start taking those apart. Then go to unbolt the motor mount and the heads start striping.

Decide to unbolt the motor only to realize that it was the motor that was intermittently binding. Arggg

Took the chassis outside today and luckily after torching the heck out of it I was able to get the motor mount screws out.

 

[Moonstonemike]

Got a little side tracked today because the new front diff for my son's wltoys mini infraction arrived yesterday. Long story sorry he crashed into my knee at full throttle. Snapped the diff cups and cut my knee pretty good.

While changing that out I noticed an extra spot on the servo saver to increase the travel a bit more. Only problem was the hole was slightly to big for the screw. I added a couple layers of shrink tube and it tightened nicely.

 

[Moonstonemike]

Got it back together. Gears were a bit stiff but loosened up after running a full battery.

 

[Moonstonemike]

Also replaced broken wing on the wltoys 144001 buggy. It's a bit big being a 1/10 wing but it was always nose diving anyways. Maybe this will help?

 

[Moonstonemike]

Ok back to it..

Installed aluminum front diff since plastic one had screws snapped in it.

Also fitted a new sway bar.

 

[Moonstonemike]

Got only slightly farther

 

[Moonstonemike]

So yet again I'm slightly off tracked. Picked up a Team Associated Sr10 off Kijiji. Got it from a great guy. Pretty clean car. Has one leaky shock that needs attention but decided to take a break from all the projects and test out this car. Very fun car but I wish the dvc was adjustable by the remote. Noticed a odd sound from the motor differential so took it apart and one of the diff bearings was a bit off. Like the balls weren't fully seated. So when you spin the diff the the bearing woddled. Managed to fix it but should probably order new sets of bearings just to be safe.

Stripped of all of the decals that were previously placed on it.

 

[Moonstonemike]

Took apart rear suspension and rear diff and cleaned up the mess from the shock that leaked. Also balanced up the tires

 

[Moonstonemike]

Still to cold to paint the new sr10 body but started tearing into a new Typhon. Pinion mesh was to tight with no backlash

Shimmed up the play in the control arms and knuckles. Next thing is check the diff and tighten up the play in the pivot balls.

 

[Moonstonemike]

Both front and rear diff were low.

Also did the bearing mod to the steering rack. Removed most of the slop in the front end.

 

[Moonstonemike]

So I've been jumping around a lot on various builds. Today is no exception. Picked up my favorite toy when I was a kid off eBay. Tyco Turbo Hammer.
It was untested so was pleasantly surprised that it was still working. Came with original battery and charger also. Just needs a good cleaning.

 

[Moonstonemike]

Remounted the tires but added some foam from some crawler tires I had.

Took apart suspension to clean up. Surprisingly the front end has way less slop than a brand new arrma.

Also have to cleaned up some of the contacts and the servo.

 

[Moonstonemike]

Cleaned up.

 

[Moonstonemike]

So been working on my crawler. Added front and rear lights and moved the battery from the side to up closer to the front. Only have pictures of the headlights so far.

 

[Moonstonemike]

So I've been still working away jumping from one project to another wherever I have a couple minutes free. Haven't taken many pictures.

Took my son out for a quick drive when there was a nice break in the weather. He clipped the side of a building while making a turn. Snapped the control arm and bent a couple pieces on his wltoys 144001. So that's all back together now.

Also added a trail gate protector from Traxxas to his granite since it will probably take a beating now that he's going to be getting the blx upgrade. The plastics was so hard to cut to fit properly but I think it came out ok.

With a couple of the left over scraps I epoxied some roof skid plates on. We will see if they hold up.

 

[Moonstonemike]

Converted my hsp chassis from a high speed road basher to a brushed motor, jacked up, slow speed short course truck so my 4 year old can come out with me and my son. Only problem is it's still surprisingly fast. Going to pick up a much smaller pinion today to try to tone it down.