XV02 Pro - Popping Drive Shafts

[CKU87 39]

So I was about to place an order with the XV02 Pro kit to have some fun around christmas building and driving.

I feel like the popping drive shafts are a serious issue with this kit and that there isn’t really a solution to it.

Any thoughts? Is the RS version better in that regard?
 

Thanks

[Re-Bugged 11920]

I don’t know about the drive shift issue, but I did speed read somewhere on here recently about the front will take a 39mm drive shaft instead of the supplied 37mm?

I’ve got the RS version myself, run for about an hour or so now with no issues on pavement. It’s a peach of a car to drive IMO.

I added the aluminium steering upgrade, aluminium spur gear holder and front bumper brace to it to stiffen up the front body posts.

 

[OoALEJOoO 3468]

@CKU87 When building mine, I noticed that if the shocks are built per the instructions, they end up being too long and the driveshafts will barely go inside the diff cups. The front seems to suffer more from this. I built mine with one extra o-ring inside each shock to shorten their length and thus increase the drive shaft engagement. This will reduce ground clearance by about 2mm. More info:

XV-02 Lancia Delta - Tamiya Club

Alternatively, you could try going with 39mm shafts instead of the supplied 37mm on the front (on the rear 39mm might prevent full suspension compression). I believe Tamiya does not make 39mm shafts with the pins rotated 90deg end-to-end (like the 51700 37mm supplied with the kit), but flat (53505 and 53506). If you install 39mm shafts with their pins flat end-to-end, they will introduce vibration (torque oscillations) given the steep suspension angles. Another option is to use 39mm double-cardan 42372 for the front (for a higher price). All this was too much hassle/cost, which is why I just reduced suspension height a bit instead.

EDIT: I assume the RS version does not have this issue since it has shorter shocks, which should allow sufficient engagement with its 37mm shafts.

[Kowalski86 4753]

Not the most exciting answer, but maybe you could try out an XV-01 instead? They seem more solid and they come with bodyshells.

[CKU87 39]

Thanks all.

Yes this is what I was expecting. You have to fiddle around to make the solution work...buy new parts and the build goes into 400 Euro plus region...which then isn't really worth this chassis. I can add a couple Euros then and go with the CEN M Sport (which I will not because it's not a kit). Or just take the TT02BR - but then it's only a TT02 and I was looking for a more challenging build.

The problem is, that as a rally car I take some bumps on the road constantly, which makes the car wobble and jump. That alone is enough to engage the drive shafts as one can see also in some YouTube videos. Too bad, it really is a design flaw.

I don't know what it is about the XV01, but it never appealed to me. I would then probably stick with the XV02RS and build rather an onroad car or just really buy another Egress Black Edition, this time for running. 

You see, pretty indecisive and I need to place an order soon to get the kit before Christmas 😒

[chris.alex 1773]

So I highly recommend the XV02. The assembly was a great pleasure and the car just drives sensationally well. Although I didn't have any problems, after a year I installed the 39mm drive shafts at the front as a preventive measure. I like my XV01 too and yet I clearly would prefer the XV02.

[Willy iine 18842]

Great info @Re-Bugged and @OoALEJOoO !   I will definitely look into getting some 39mm drive shafts/CVD for my XV02-Pro.  👍   　I've not run into issues yet driving on smoother surfaces.

[Juls1 1730]

So the issue is the stock dampers can be built with physically too much travel. Should you attempt to give a xv01 the same travel it suffers many many more issues than simply the dogbone popping out. 
 

putting an extra spacer in the shocks solves the issue, it would have been nice if tamiya would have put a slightly longer dogbone in however i believe that would limit the uptravel. The trick here is tamiya lowered the diffs significantly in order to give more ground clearance, add to that the buggy suspension parts and the dogbone lives at an odd angle compared to most vehicles we are used to. 
 

it is a ongoing issue to me that tamiya chose to put the buggy shocks on the car instead of GF01/CC01 dampers which have 2mm less stroke (which you have to shim out of the buggy dampers anyway) and they could have used reduced shock towers that would have allowed standard body mount positions. 
 

don’t get me wrong i think its a very good car, it single handedly solves most of the xv01’s limitations in terms of off road capability and raises the bar, particularly in grip and rallying ability. Like the XV01 is has a few problems, nothing that cannot be easily overcome. 
 

 

[Willy iine 18842]

Good info @Juls1     For me, I want to maximize suspension travel and ground clearance on my XV02-Pro so will try to maintain that.  Otherwise, I would just get the RS (street) version and call it a day.  👍   

[OoALEJOoO 3468]

@CKU87, @Willy iine Another option for the front, instead of changing the included 37mm driveshafts to 39mm, could be to change the wheel axles. The kit comes with 51445 and, if you replace them with 54623, the driveshafts would be moved towards the diff cups by about 2mm. This could allow keeping maximum damper length. Since 54623 will now stick 2mm from the front uprights, they might interfere with the caster blocks. I haven't tried this on the XV-02, try at your own risk .

On other cars, such as the TT-02S, indeed there is space to change 51445 to 54623 to gain some diff cup engagement. Conversely, on other cars such as the M-06, you can change 54623 to 51445 to lose some diff cup engagement (so that you can fit 33mm driveshafts for rally conversions).

Note that 54623 is also longer from its bearing shoulder to the cross-pin location. When going from a car designed for 51445 to 54623, you will need to shim about 1mm behind the cross-pin (and thus gain 1mm track width per side). On cars designed for 54623 and changing to 51445, you need to replace the inner regular 4mm-thick 1050 bearing, with a 3mm-thick one.

[chris.alex 1773]

1 hour ago, OoALEJOoO said:

@CKU87, @Willy iine Another option for the front, instead of changing the included 37mm driveshafts to 39mm, could be to change the wheel axles. The kit comes with 51445 and, if you replace them with 54623, the driveshafts would be moved towards the diff cups by about 2mm. This could allow keeping maximum damper length. Since 54623 will now stick 2mm from the front uprights, they might interfere with the caster blocks. I haven't tried this on the XV-02, try at your own risk .

On other cars, such as the TT-02S, indeed there is space to change 51445 to 54623 to gain some diff cup engagement. Conversely, on other cars such as the M-06, you can change 54623 to 51445 to lose some diff cup engagement (so that you can fit 33mm driveshafts for rally conversions).

Note that 54623 is also longer from its bearing shoulder to the cross-pin location. When going from a car designed for 51445 to 54623, you will need to shim about 1mm behind the cross-pin (and thus gain 1mm track width per side). On cars designed for 54623 and changing to 51445, you need to replace the inner regular 4mm-thick 1050 bearing, with a 3mm-thick one.

Thanks a lot for the very useful info on the two axles. 👌