Mr. Horsepower
-
Posts
26 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Posts posted by Mr. Horsepower
-
-
Been off the grid for a bit but have been running trucks a lot with my son. Broke another stabilizer bar and I'm sure this will be a recurring situation. Since they are unobtainium from Tamiya I went ahead with the bike spokes and it turns out they work quite well. More workable material than music wire yet still seem to have good strength. Time will tell how they hold up in comparison to the OEM part. They feel similar in the hand in terms of springiness. The spokes cut easily with a Dremel cutoff wheel. Was able to cut threads fairly easily. Not as strong as rolled but for this purpose and the loading it receives it's not an issue. Most difficult part is making the super sharp 90° bends on the two shorter legs. With my limited tools I could only get them a fraction as sharp. Mad Ax I did try a hammer, which does get them very close to a 90° profile but it also mangles it up a bit. Will keep experimenting there- might need something like a hardwood block or aluminum intermediate piece between the hammer and wire. But if anyone down the road needs to make these or something similar, 12 gauge carbon steel bike spokes are a good source of raw material.
-
3
-
-
Great looking rig!
What's the top speed in a long straight line run with that motor and gearing?
-
1
-
-
Well, if you do decide to sell them I would absolutely want two pieces. Thank you.
-
This is fantastic! Great pics and write up. Looks like an awesome time and congratulations on the trophies!
-
1
-
-
Apologies in advance to resurrect such an old thread but I have the exact same issue as Saito2. It would be very nice to have an option for steel MR16 replacements but it seems these never were made available for sale and neither @mwitkowski or @Xeqshnr have been seen here for at least a few years now. Saito2, did you ever have any luck implementing any of the prior suggestions to help manage the problem?
It seems to me one of the biggest issues with the stock MR16, in addition to the material, is that the entire hole area is weakened by being so thin walled. Not sure if this will work but I'm going to try filling in the surrounding area with JB Weld to see if it's enough reinforcement to at least help slow the deformation of the hole and flat. Once I've run it for a while I'll post back with my findings.
-
Very late to the party here. Just now seeing this. An astonishing collection. Would have loved to just chat with Larry for a while. No doubt his stories behind all of this would be fascinating.
-
1
-
-
Awesome truck and fun to see what you're doing with it. Have you driven it already? Any issues with the transmission or mechanics?
-
Very interesting and great info- thank you!
-
2 hours ago, 87lc2 said:
......... The key to monster truck racing is tires & foam, not suspension in my opinion. Of course suspension matters, but tires/foam have a much bigger effect. .....
Would you mind elaborating on why foam in particular has such an effect? Basically modifying the softness and/or compressibility of the tire?
-
@Saito2 Thanks for the history- I love that kind of stuff.
Looking again at the pic of your one shock tower, does it seem like the piston is slightly canted in relation to the damper reservoir?
-
1
-
-
Awesome trucks! Do you know what year were these released?
-
1
-
-
Okay, yeah, not going to happen with music wire. Either due to my lack of skill, lack of equipment or both, that material is not friendly to cut threads or the sharp 90º bends. So now I'm looking at stainless steel bicycle spokes. They come in 2.6mm diameter and I think will be much more workable. The finish also matches closely with the original parts. Will also see about rolling on the threads instead of cutting.
-
1
-
-
What a cool truck. I don't remember ever seeing this one before. Love it- and good luck with the restoration!
-
1
-
-
Yes, for sure. The diameter of the Tamiya wire is 2.6mm or roughly 7/64". I have some M3 dies and I'm going to do some experimenting to see how difficult it is to thread music wire of this size.
-
1
-
-
Since getting the truck running again I've been taking it out a lot- maybe more than I should for a twenty year old vehicle. But I love it and it's just too fun to drive. My preference is speed and so I have it geared fairly fast. I haven't broke too many things thus far but just the other day I managed to snap the front stabilizer bar after running into something. I use two cable ties per side and really cinch them down in an attempt to minimize sway and torque twist. But I think that also puts extra stress at the bend where it broke. Searching for a replacement I spoke with Anthony, Tamico, Tamiya USA, scoured eBay and the rest of the internet and it is safe to say that all stock of the OEM parts (#9805803) are long gone. Discontinued over ten years ago. None to be had anywhere at least that I can find. So it got me wondering about fabricating them. I have some experience with bending music wire and that's the first thing that came to mind. The OEM parts seem to be ~3mm spring steel. Music wire in that diameter is easily sourced and I think the bends required are doable with relatively simple equipment, like a K&S bender and vise. But I have never threaded music wire before and I'm not sure how feasible it is. Is it too brittle to use a die on?
I'm wondering if anyone one has already done this? Or does anyone have other ideas about how to make replacements for the future?
Thanks and best wishes for the new year to all!
-
Did not know about CPE. Clearly this is the best solution. However, it seems they only have the 3D printed ones available. I've sent them an inquiry about aluminum. Thanks for the tip!
-
That all makes sense. Thanks guys.
I'm going to experiment with a few types of small adapter rings to see if the Jugg 1 wheels can be modified so that the E3 drive hubs fully engage the smaller locking nibs. Should be a relatively easy mod if I can find the right size adapter ring. Unfortunate since they are otherwise identical to TXT-1 wheels. I'll report back how it works.
-
Can Juggernaut wheels/rims be used on a TXT? It appears that the hub locking holes are smaller on Juggernaut wheels so that you could actually mount them but the E3 wheel hubs would slip within the hole span when shifting from forward/reverse. Can Juggernaut B5 hubs be mounted as a direct replacement onto TXT-1 MD7 brass axle hubs?
-
Thanks guys. 87, you're absolutely correct. It really is a ton of fun. Mad, if you ever did go through the trouble of creating steel star shafts I'd buy some for sure. Ditto your steel drive shafts.
The axle guards, transmission skid plate and other aluminum bits were from New Era Models. Looks like they are still around on eBay but don't seem to stock that stuff anymore. But I'm guessing you have the skills and ability to machine your own from steel...
The New Era ones were well made though. Very nice machining and chamfered edges similar to the stock frames.
-
It took me a while but I have the truck running again. I forgot how much fun it is to drive!
It turns out there were two different problems. The first was a small 8x5 (MR3) ball bearing that totally disintegrated on the end of the long 27T gear in the transmission. It was completely in pieces when I disassembled the gear box. The inner and outer races and carrier were all free parts within the bearing groove. Most of the balls were in the hollow section of the gear. As a result of this the gear was able to wobble on the shaft and it got munched up pretty good. Thankfully it was the only gear that had any damage- the others were fine, even looking at them closely under magnification. I tore the whole assembly apart, tossed all the old ball bearings, cleaned everything and then reassembled with a replacement gear and fresh grease throughout.The other problem was a broken star shaft in the rear differential. All three shafts had fractured near the hub. Interestingly the gears themselves did not show any sign of damage.
I basically took apart the entire drive train just to look everything over. No other major issues found. I did end up replacing many of the phillips head screws with socket heads.For the rebuild I removed the old Super Rooster and black onyx Speed Gem motors I had in there and installed a Traxxas velineon 3S system. So far I’ve only run it on 2S and 8-cell NiMH packs which is a hoot. I’m not even sure I want to run it on 3S.
As a side note, as others already mentioned the kit does include a spare set of transmission gears. I had completely forgotten about them. I had to dig through my attic to find the box and once I opened it up it was kind of like a time capsule. I had some other spare parts in the box including parts bags, axel housings, a spare gear case and spare decal sheets.
I do love Tamiya packaging and artwork. But it’s a shame how difficult it is to find certain parts for this thing now. I was able to get some spare gears and other driveline components but it took a fair amount of digging around and multiple different international sources. I think many of us want to keep these old trucks running. It’s too bad Tamiya doesn’t keep more stock of so many critical items. Then again, it is twenty years old this month I believe.And, Mad, after going through the mechanics and drivetrain, it made me really appreciate your various modifications and enhancements.Thanks again to all for the help and advice.
-
2
-
1
-
-
That thing is awesome- great fabrication! Excellent work!
-
-
Thanks all. Just to clarify, are the driveshafts the parts the the universal joints attach to from the transmission and to the axle?
-
1
-
-
Thanks guys- I'm grateful for all the insights and info.
After looking through the manual and checking part numbers I just ordered a bunch a different gear sets and bags from eBay. I also discovered that the kit came with two sets of transmission gears so I already have a new old stock set.
Unknown Driver, thanks for the tips. The stripped gears are completely my fault as I was messing around with a 3S lipo .... Yes, I realize that was dumb. May I ask which 2S lipos you run?
Tamiya TXT axle gear help
in Monster Trucks, 4x4, Wheelie Rigs and Crawlers
Posted
So I was never able to get any of Mark's steel gears. But luckily similar pieces are now being manufactured in the far east. Got four steel versions of the MR16 from RCdamper on eBay. At first glance they seem well made and match up well with the stock part. Thus far my JB Welded stock gears seem to be holding up okay but when they do fail I'll try these out. I've asked if they have any plans for a replacement star shaft. No word on that yet but hopefully they do.