My next Rlaarlo build, AK 917 aluminum chassis roller.

[Dan B.]

Having just finished my first ever Rlaarlo (https://www.arrmaforum.com/threads/rlaarlo-ak917-carbon-roller-build.67014/ ) I figured I’d just go ahead and build the next one. The first one was a carbon roller, this one is their cheaper aluminum roller. And what a difference there is! This one doesn’t come with nearly the amount of hop-up parts, and actually looks pretty naked by comparison.
I put it on my bench and started tearing it down. The whole tail, wing support, and lighting was removed, and none of that will be going back on.

One of my first planned upgrades was to install the center driveshaft carrier bearing, which I had ordered when I got the car. Unfortunately, I wasn’t really paying attention and never noticed that this one has a single, solid center shaft and not the two piece arrangement of the carbon roller. I ordered the two center shafts from the Carbon car yesterday and I’ll install them when they arrive. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, while disassembling things I was stymied as to why the drive cups weren’t coming off and was wondering if they had multiple set screws I was missing. Nope. I finally heated the heck out of them and got them pulled only to discover that during manufacturing the shafts and the bores had been bathed in RED thread locker! After I got them pulled and cleaned there was literally a mound of powdered threadlocker under each cup. In the picture you can see the goopy stuff on the shaft, and even on the surface of the bearing. I’m surprised they still spun. The weird thing is, when I built the carbon roller there was not only zero threadlocker used in the middle anywhere, but the shafts and cups and pins were coated with machine oil that apparently ran out of the bearings. Everything had to get a solvent dip before I could even reassemble them and apply loctite.

I’ll be installing the sliding aluminum motor mount, the two piece center shafts with bearing carrier, and not really much else for upgrades until I start breaking things.
Finally, the intended purpose of this car will be all new to me. I’ll be building this for use on an indoor carpet track road course at a LHS near me. I’ve no experience here whatsoever, so during the course of the build I would really appreciate any and all feedback that any of you experienced carpet guys could give me. I’m quite sure I’ll be making multiple mistakes during the build and setup related to making a decent carpet car. TIA, peeps.

 

[Cheez]

Enjoy and have fun

 

[Xjeepguy]

Sweet! Looking forward to following the build. The last one turned out awesome. Can’t wait until it’s body time to see what you come up with.

 

[Dan B.]

Sweet! Looking forward to following the build. The last one turned out awesome. Can’t wait until it’s body time to see what you come up with.

Funny you should mention that… I kind of copped out on this one and won’t be doing the finished body myself. I bought one already done up and finished, and it’s one of my favorite cars of all time. Stay tuned…
HOWEVER…the last Rlaarlo build I did will be losing the stock AK917 body I stickered and that one will be replaced with another 917 body that will be done (by me again) in the very basic Grand Prix White scheme of the original 25 917’s that were provided to the FIA for homologation in 1969. I’m super stoked about it, not only because the lack of a sponsor livery really shows the lines of the 917 beautifully, but also because it’s going to be the easiest paint job I’ve done in years!

 

[Xjeepguy]

Funny you should mention that… I kind of copped out on this one and won’t be doing the finished body myself. I bought one already done up and finished, and it’s one of my favorite cars of all time. Stay tuned…
HOWEVER…the last Rlaarlo build I did will be losing the stock AK917 body I stickered and that one will be replaced with another 917 body that will be done (by me again) in the very basic Grand Prix White scheme of the original 25 917’s that were provided to the FIA for homologation in 1969. I’m super stoked about it, not only because the lack of a sponsor livery really shows the lines of the 917 beautifully, but also because it’s going to be the easiest paint job I’ve done in years!
View attachment 341675

That’s gonna look awesome!

 

[Ron Burgandy]

The carpet racing sounds like a good time actually…..

It’s probably not for me as I would take “rubbing is racing “ to a new level …

As usual your build looks awesome…..

I am a little concerned with the ridiculousness of your work bench and lack of clutter…..your ultra organization and cleanliness actually irks me …..

It vexes me …
I’m terribly vexed that anyone has a work bench that looks like that !
Sheeeeesh

 

[Dan B.]

The carpet racing sounds like a good time actually…..

It’s probably not for me as I would take “rubbing is racing “ to a new level …

As usual your build looks awesome…..

I am a little concerned with the ridiculousness of your work bench and lack of clutter…..your ultra organization and cleanliness actually irks me …..

It vexes me …
I’m terribly vexed that anyone has a work bench that looks like that !
Sheeeeesh

I totally get what you’re saying. The truth is, I have to clean it off three times a day before I can take update photos. Here’s one I just took especially for you.

 

[Dan B.]

Just kidding!

It’s going to have an HW Max-10 G2 system in it.

 

[Dan B.]

Gosh damn it, same sh’t, different day. I ordered the sliding motor mount and a Rlaarlo pinion and it’s the same problem as last time. I was hoping I just got a poorly machined mount the first time. The pinion (for 5mm shaft motor) barely fits in the bore of the motor mount plate and the grub screw rubs on the bore.
So I guess that’s it, then. If anyone wants the much better motor mount from Rlaarlo, then don’t plan on running a motor with a 5mm shaft unless you want to machine out the middle of the motor mount plate. This is absolute stupidity. The fact that I’m ordering Rlaarlo ”upgrade” parts and they won’t work with one another right out of the box is irritating the living excrement right out of me. Did you run into this, @Jerold ?
See this picture? Pinion no turnee, sh’t don’t workee. Many effing expletives deleted.

My left is eye is twitching uncontrollably and I feel the urge to embark on a five state killing spree.
I have a bag of pinions around here somewhere. Maybe I have some for 5mm motors that have a slightly narrower shoulder.

 

[Jerold]

Gosh damn it, same sh’t, different day. I ordered the sliding motor mount and a Rlaarlo pinion and it’s the same problem as last time. I was hoping I just got a poorly machined mount the first time. The pinion (for 5mm shaft motor) barely fits in the bore of the motor mount plate and the grub screw rubs on the bore.
So I guess that’s it, then. If anyone wants the much better motor mount from Rlaarlo, then don’t plan on running a motor with a 5mm shaft unless you want to machine out the middle of the motor mount plate. This is absolute stupidity. The fact that I’m ordering Rlaarlo ”upgrade” parts and they won’t work with one another right out of the box is irritating the living excrement right out of me. Did you run into this, @Jerold ?
See this picture? Pinion no turnee, sh’t don’t workee. Many effing expletives deleted.
View attachment 341928
View attachment 341929
My left is eye is twitching uncontrollably and I feel the urge to embark on a five state killing spree.
I have a bag of pinions around here somewhere. Maybe I have some for 5mm motors that have a slightly narrower shoulder.

Yup it was a tight fit. I have the Rlaarlo mount and started with the 5mm 50T pinion. I might have mounted it backwards, I dunno? But then I went to Mod1 gears and one gear is Saga the other is an Arrma Pinion gear. I don't remember which is which, because I threw it together and said good enough.

Sorry, I don't have a picture of it (just looked), because I put the cover back over it. Something just made me nervous about the spur gear being uncovered and spinning around at 60K RPM near the battery. If I get some time this weekend I can take a pick and send it to you.


You're still running 48P?

 

[Dan B.]

Yup it was a tight fit. I have the Rlaarlo mount and started with the 5mm 50T pinion. I might have mounted it backwards, I dunno? But then I went to Mod1 gears and one gear is Saga the other is an Arrma Pinion gear. I don't remember which is which, because I threw it together and said good enough.

Sorry, I don't have a picture of it (just looked), because I put the cover back over it.

Ok, that’s weird. The cover wouldn’t fit back over mine after I installed the sliding motor mount on both of these builds. I wonder if they revised the sliding mount since you got yours?

Something just made me nervous about the spur gear being uncovered and spinning around at 60K RPM near the battery. If I get some time this weekend I can take a pick and send it to you.


You're still running 48P?

Yes, I’m running the steel spur and pinions in 48p until I get my gearing figured out, then I’ll go to .8 Mod. in my first build. That one is going to get run hard and put up wet.
On this build I’ll probably just stay with the 48p steel gears because it’s going to be running on carpet and the LHS that has the track limits Open TC class to 2s batteries.

 

[SrC]

Having just finished my first ever Rlaarlo (https://www.arrmaforum.com/threads/rlaarlo-ak917-carbon-roller-build.67014/ ) I figured I’d just go ahead and build the next one. The first one was a carbon roller, this one is their cheaper aluminum roller. And what a difference there is! This one doesn’t come with nearly the amount of hop-up parts, and actually looks pretty naked by comparison.
I put it on my bench and started tearing it down. The whole tail, wing support, and lighting was removed, and none of that will be going back on.
View attachment 341645
One of my first planned upgrades was to install the center driveshaft carrier bearing, which I had ordered when I got the car. Unfortunately, I wasn’t really paying attention and never noticed that this one has a single, solid center shaft and not the two piece arrangement of the carbon roller. I ordered the two center shafts from the Carbon car yesterday and I’ll install them when they arrive. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, while disassembling things I was stymied as to why the drive cups weren’t coming off and was wondering if they had multiple set screws I was missing. Nope. I finally heated the heck out of them and got them pulled only to discover that during manufacturing the shafts and the bores had been bathed in RED thread locker! After I got them pulled and cleaned there was literally a mound of powdered threadlocker under each cup. In the picture you can see the goopy stuff on the shaft, and even on the surface of the bearing. I’m surprised they still spun. The weird thing is, when I built the carbon roller there was not only zero threadlocker used in the middle anywhere, but the shafts and cups and pins were coated with machine oil that apparently ran out of the bearings. Everything had to get a solvent dip before I could even reassemble them and apply loctite.
View attachment 341647
I’ll be installing the sliding aluminum motor mount, the two piece center shafts with bearing carrier, and not really much else for upgrades until I start breaking things.
Finally, the intended purpose of this car will be all new to me. I’ll be building this for use on an indoor carpet track road course at a LHS near me. I’ve no experience here whatsoever, so during the course of the build I would really appreciate any and all feedback that any of you experienced carpet guys could give me. I’m quite sure I’ll be making multiple mistakes during the build and setup related to making a decent carpet car. TIA, peeps.

Nice project there. You like it light, lean and mean.

 

[Jerold]

Ok, that’s weird. The cover wouldn’t fit back over mine after I installed the sliding motor mount on both of these builds. I wonder if they revised the sliding mount since you got yours?

Yes, I’m running the steel spur and pinions in 48p until I get my gearing figured out, then I’ll go to .8 Mod. in my first build. That one is going to get run hard and put up wet.
On this build I’ll probably just stay with the 48p steel gears because it’s going to be running on carpet and the LHS that has the track limits Open TC class to 2s batteries.

I Dremeled the gear cover to fit. My shaft was too long and had to drill a hole in the back side to make it fit with the 48P gears. Then took some off the edges when I moved to the Mod1 stuff.

I will see if I can get some pictures this weekend and post them of the gear cover and and mounting for you. If I can find my 48P gears I can send them to you. I won't use them on anything else that I can think of. I don't have anything else with a 36mm can with a 5mm shaft.

 

[Dan B.]

You mentioned above that you started with a 50t pinion but that it was a tight fit. Was it a Rlaarlo pinion? If so, I’m stumped. They must have either revised the motor mount (but why would they make the motor plate bore smaller?) or perhaps changed pinion suppliers and are now getting pinions with a slightly larger diameter shoulder. That’s probably the more likely explanation. At any rate, I wish they’d try their own stuff out before they bring it to market. So frustrating, Thanks for the info, @Jerold !

 

[Dan B.]

Well, I’ve looked and looked and dang if I didn’t lose a big box of pinions. I remembered they were in a white cardboard box about the size of a cigarette carton. That sucks, there was a lot of money in that box. Especially in all those Mod 1 and Mod 1.5 1/5th scale pinions and spur gears.
I ordered a few from Amazon to keep me going for now. Robinson Racing, balanced with ShareGoo.

 

[Jerold]

OK I got some pictures. I did indeed flip the pinion so the "nipple" side is out.

This is with the cover on, which got ventilated to make space. Originally I just drilled a hole for the shaft to clear it with the original mount and the 48P gears. When I moved to the Mod1 gears I had to re-jigger then whole cover.

Gears without the cover and you can see the orientation of the pinion is "backwards". BTW don't show this to anyone it shows my gearing to not get to 80 mph. Wait, that was due to my lack of abilities. Don't worry about it.

The modified cover. The only reason I kept it is my battery is right next to the spur gear and it makes me nervous.

Hope this helps.