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So over the last weekend racing I noticed my car developing more and more play all over, so I've decided to give it a good rebuild and cleaning. Of course, I'll take you guys along. What this car has done since the last time I spent some time with it on my desk: - about 100 batteries of practice - 4 qualifiers - 3 mains - setting a lap record for 17.5t touring on my home track - wore out 2 sets of tires - wore out a body shell The list of complains: - The rear diff leaked like a sieve. It stopped last weekend, probably because it is now empty - Play in the steering system - Wobble in the spur gear - stripped screw in the layshaft after it disassembled itself spontaneously last race - the locating peg on one of the rear body posts broke off, so every time I do something with the body shell I have to realign it - .... it's disgusting So yeah, a good cleaning was due. The willing victim, spread out on my desk, ready to go. Seems pretty clean from the outside, right? I'll leave the electronics in. The ESC is barely a few races old, and the receiver is perfectly placed where it is. I quickly took off the shocks, and removed all the easily disassembled sections like the front bumper and the upper deck. Race on carpet they said, your car will remain spotless they said.... The ball nuts are all rather damaged too. I'll get a new set to place these. If you're gonna do it, do it right! Also, the diff blades on the universal ends are worn out, I've got a set around somewhere, so that's one thing less I need to buy. On the left one of the C-hubs I took off the car. On the right a new C-hub. Aluminum things don't break, they bend.... Right steering knuckle assembly. It seemed fine, but the bearings are gritty and the C-hub is bent as well. The motor mount. The escaping layshaft did quite a bit of damage to the surface, but it's still straight and therefor, it goes back in after a deep cleaning. Other layshaft upright. You can see where the pulley nicked it on the way out. The pulley in question. 20 minutes of wrenching later the shock towers, diffs, front and rear hubs and stabilizer rods are gone. The bare chassis, pre-cleaning. I love carbon fiber, and how it changes appearance depending on the angle you look at it. The previous owner of this car was a bit of a klutz. The top deck was originall shoved in there, tweaking the bottom plate. Apparently he spilt some super glue on the rear part as well. It's on a fairly invisible spot (below the rear lower arm, near the droop screw) so I'll leave it be. My TRF's a working girl, not a shelf queen. Stay tuned for more teardowning. We've still got the diffs to do, shocks to rebuild (my least favorite part), clean the whole thing, get the replacement parts, and then screw the whole thing back together. The shopping list thus far: - 51253 TA05 (I think) B-parts for the rear body posts - New C-hubs. Plastic Tamiya ones are out, though maybe the TA07 ones are stronger, so a good set of Yeah Racing hubs, or Square if I can find them somewhere - 53640 Ball Connector nuts - 19804777 CS 2.6mm x 8mm screws to secure the layshaft. One is bent, and the other one I stripped accidentally. - 53601 5mm adjusters. I'm replacing all of them, just to be sure.