TXT-1 Fragility

[Jonesy76]

Well yet again the superb TXT-1 is off the road for the time being due to another component fracture!

Through all my running with the twin 19x2 motors that it now has I have not broken any part of the drive-train internals, or even the supposed "made from butter" driveshafts.

The things that keep breaking are the things that get the infernal power into the ground!

I now have broken my first front axle gear casing after trashing two rear ones since I've had the thing. The front, and the second time I broke the rear, have been due to those ball ends ripping out of the top of the diff casing with the suspension linkages. I've even reinforced them with a metal plate across the top but still they fail. Yesterdays failure involved precisely zero jumping too.........just bashing around in loose gravel, and cornering hard caused the failure this time! I've set the suspension up nicely so that on loose gravel or sand I can corner hard and not roll over, so possibly that puts more force from the suspension linkages, but STILL!

I've broken two hub units as well over my times with it! It seems to spend more time waiting for new components than it does running at the moment, which bugs me as it's such good fun to drive.

I already have the GPM alloy bits for the axle guards, suspension components, and body mounts, but does anyone have any experience of the GPM alloy hubs? Contemplating the hubs as the next upgrade for the TXT-1.

The next thing for me is finding the alloy axle units...........anyone know where they're available from at a decent price

[Rob Buckle]

Clod Buster?

Seriously;

The front, and the second time I broke the rear, have been due to those ball ends ripping out of the top of the diff casing with the suspension linkages. I've even reinforced them with a metal plate across the top but still they fail. Yesterdays failure involved precisely zero jumping too.........just bashing around in loose gravel, and cornering hard caused the failure this time!

Would you mind posting photo(s) showing the casing, the breakage and the metal plate you installed? I am interested in seeing the failure.

[mobias]

The next thing for me is finding the alloy axle units...........anyone know where they're available from at a decent price

If you're talking about full alloy TXT axles I've never seen them for anything less than mega bucks. 100 odd quid each at least the last time I looked. They do look lovely though.

The TXT-1 can be a headache of a truck. Once you start putting higher turn motors in it it just starts becoming an increasingly large money pit you have to throw increasingly large amounts of hard earned dosh into to keep on the road. I had 17 turn motors in mine at one point and decided it just wasn't worth it. It ate ESC's for breakfast, tore apart drive shafts, broke plastic components of various description and even with large capacity batteries got fairly short run times. The money and time spent repairing it just wasn't worth the eight or so minutes I would get tearing up the dirt.

I put Tamiya's own RZ motors in mine and decided that was the best balance of power/speed verses wear and tear versus battery life. Big beefy ESC that can more than handle the motors and I've never had another problem with it. I must admit I'd quite like to put a brushless system in mine but then I'd no doubt have the wear and tear problem back to haunt me. I'm probably more likely to go the other route and lock the diff and put much lower turn motors in it to turn it into a crawler. There's no denying the TXT is a lot of fun with a ton of power going through its wheels though.

[MadInventor]

Sorry to hear you're having so much trouble wit the TXT. I've got the GPM alloy wheel hubs. I boughtn them several years ago, and when I got mine, they didn't fit !!!!! The recess that the brass hex drive fits into didn't have a large enough diameter hole for the collar on the brass hex to fit into. I had to turn down the lip on the brass heexes in my lathe to get them to fit. Perhaps I had a bad batch, or the problem has since been resolved, but I wouldn't recommend getting them.

Re the breakages, where you're fitting the metal brace across the ball joints, is this limitting the amount of thread on the ball joint going into the mount on the top of the gearbox, creating more leverage on the ball joint, which is now not screwed in so far. I would suggest using a diffrent joint, with a ball with a hole through that you can then put a screw right through the plastic casing, and space permitting a nut on the inside (Don't know if the nuts will fit, but this will far stronger than screwing in a standard ball joint.

I have to say, I've never had the problem with breaking these particular bits on my TXT, and have given it quite a battering rolling it down steep (1:1)+ hills. Having said that I've given it little use with the 19turn motor I now have in it, it's mostly been run with 22turn motors. Perhaps it's down to differences in terrain. I've used mine mostly for hill climbing, but on relatively smooth ground, and up until recently I had the diffs locked. Perhaps this is why I've eaten drive shafts, but have not trashed suspension mounts. Certainly locking the diffs front and rear will put a lot more strain the transmission when trying to corner on anything but very loose surfaces, as the front axle will try to turn faster than the rear axle, putting a lot of twist on the centre drive shafts.

DO you run it on a lot of rough ground where its bouncing a lot , or kicking the front end up ?

[BiggusDitchus]

I used to have similar issues with my TXT with fast motors, I found the problem to be torque twist ripping ball joints out of top of casing. The answer I found was a metal bracket too BUT the joints didnt screw into plastic at all, just attached to metal plate with a nut, never had another failure. THe bracket went right accross top with a slot cut in to allow the cantilever arm through.