Howards

Anything that gets in probably gets flung out again before it reaches the mesh. Pop some tape over it? Imagine this stems from them valuing a low COG over a sealed gearbox. Very few competition cars have a truly sealed gearbox in this regard.

Thicker oil, stiffer springs, travel limiter or two in the shocks. Wouldn't mess with the front pushrod link length as that just moves the travel window. Could pop some wider hexes on there to increase the track width for extra stability. Tighten the diff up and get some tarmac specific tyres, rubber or even foam if you can find it.

There's no reason for it not to run really well being a Lazer ZX5 with a few downgrades and a different shell. Had a go with one the other day with a 6.5t brushless and it was as you'd expect for a competition 4wd chassis - like an enraged, frenzied badger.

Hmmm I should buy a mostly on road rally car

What is the RS actually for? Is the intention that it’s a road going version of the ‘02 for TC racing or is it still ‘rally’ but tarmac rally not dirt? they did something similar with the ‘01 which looked TC not rally.

I like the way this still broadly is a Madcap, not something that looks like one but has entirely departed the original design and intention.

It's possible to strip the splines on high grip surfaces I think. As there's no give in the drive, if the speed of the wheels don't match the speed of the chassis, say when landing a jump, that mismatch is expressed as strain on the transmission and the weakest part can give up. The contact area of the splines is, er, optimistic, and they can float around reducing it further. @StueyS I know the chap at Herts. I think he's running custom gear diffs. When he first ran it, it blew up in every heat and the final! That was hard to watch. I've since seen him do much better though and he's ironed the bugs out it seems. There's another chap who does very well with a Manta which seemed to be more reliable.

I’m luke warm on it, sure. But….high grip astro…. the spline thing…ah it’s a silly design choice. I assumed the best fix for that is just to bond the parts together in the strongest form possible. Remove all play, maximise contact area to spread the load etc. I’ll take a good look at the kit gear diff though, I did think it looked tough. as I understand it, the event has an invite only class and general entry but I think they are releasing more info soon. the track is still great but it’s all astro now. Even mill end is heading in that direction. One buggy meeting in feb and you learn.

Ball diff for the rear arrived. Research indicates I’m best off gluing the outdrives in to the plates to prevent the splines from wearing. Green Threadlock? Or something more industrial like JBWeld?

Getting it bang on probably matters less with the metal bevel gears. I’d just get it where I’m comfortable that it’s not binding and go from there.

This just shows the rpm under a similar load is similar. In reality in controlled 17.5 stock touring and buggy classes you’ll run an FDR that would melt a brushed motor but the brushless will keep on trucking despite…well because of the increased load.

The stock set up is going to be highly conservative - this is a buggy for (big!) kids. It’s cool that you can get it running quicker though and doing stuff beyond its design intention. also I’m amazed a silver can buggy class is run anywhere!

5.5?! Spicy!

They look like the stock XV01 turnbuckles that wilt when you look at them.

All this needs now is lay- down shocks ;p