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JasonDawg

Steel Differential Gears for Clodbuster

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I'm building a 6WD, 6WS truck like a Clod.It weighs 30 lbs now.  The axles are locked.  But I want to open the diffs, and use steel gears for open differentials. But I can't find such gears anywhere. Any suggestions?

Attached is a picture of my truck, which I will use to plow snow.

60089329245__25718439-08B3-4BF4-9175-EFFB919A3D00.jpeg

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Wow, that's quite a beast... honestly, I think you'll be fine with the stock nylon diff gears. I've done some really ill-advised things with Clods in the past, and the one thing I didn't break was diff gears...

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15 minutes ago, markbt73 said:

Wow, that's quite a beast... honestly, I think you'll be fine with the stock nylon diff gears. I've done some really ill-advised things with Clods in the past, and the one thing I didn't break was diff gears...

Thanks. That's what I was wondering.

I'm worried that with the axles currently locked, and the truck being soooooo heavy, that I run the risk of breaking stuff. So, I'm figuring if I open the diffs,  that will take off some of the load. Plus, since the truck is still sooo heavy, I don't think I will lose much by way of traction.

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Thorp, Integy and Thundertech/MIP all made ball diffs for the Clod, but they're long since discontinued
Integy
Thundertech

With the diffs locked, the most common part to break is the driveshaft out of the diff (the ball at the knuckle end shears off), and it's a pig to replace as you have to strip the axle to get to the inner circlip

The stock nylon diff is plenty strong though, I built a few race trucks with open Tamiya diffs and never had a problem with them

 

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Triple MOA design - very cool.

 

Are you running brushed or brushless motors?

Are you making a custom splitter for the esc?

 

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4 hours ago, smirk-racing said:

Triple MOA design - very cool.

 

Are you running brushed or brushless motors?

Are you making a custom splitter for the esc?

 

I'm running three 540 brushed motors with 80T.  Using one beefy ESC by Team Tekin.  Right now I'm using three hi-torque steering servos by HiTec.  But once I open the diffs, I might just go with front steering.  

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As others have mentioned, you should be fine with the stock diff gears, have yet to break a set but have broken everything else in a Clod axle.  With the axles locked the biggest failure point is the axle shafts themselves as TWINSET said.  They usually break when the axles are locked and you're jumping the truck coming down on one wheel.

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My current pinion gear is a steel pinion from Crawford.  Do you think this will eat up the stock diff gears? Maybe I should go back to the stock pinion.

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No, a steel pinion is ideal for use with your stock plastic gears. The stock alloy pinion is soft a will wear fairly quickly, spreading a mixture of aluminium particles and grease throughout the gearbox.

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As Saito said, always use a steel pinion in a Clod gearbox, even a stock truck.  The original aluminum will chew itself up in no time and make your gearbox a sludgy mess.  I like the Robinson Absolute steel gears, nice pinions that never wear and will not wear the stock nylon gears.

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Thanks, everyone.  I appreciate all the advice. I think I'm all set for now. I replaced the locked gears in the rear axle with stock-Clod-gears, along with the steel pinion.  Only took me like 3 hours!!!  Two more axles to go.  Anyway, I think I got it all figured out now.

By the way,  here's a pic of my stock Clod.  :)

 

5986F6BE-171A-41AC-AAC6-427D4C2E9562_1_201_a.jpeg

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Nice plow!   Looks like a lot of fun.  Been meaning to do that for years to one of my Clods.    

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I'm having a problem with the servos. The rear steering servo moves slowly. So, when the center wheels turn, they hit the rear wheels.  I think I'm overloading the BEC.  So, I think I need an External BEC.  Any suggestions? I'm running three hi-torque steering servos on one channel, and two high torque steering servos for the snow plow.

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@JasonDawgSounds like a current problem.

I have a Castle product for my TXT-2 running two servos that supplies 10 amps direct to the servos because the receiver cannot supply enough for them directly. 

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Another problem: 

The truck drove around fine today. But then I would notice a clicking noise. Upon closer inspection, if I hold one of the tires, and spin the tire on the opposite side, sometimes the motor turns (as it should), or there is the clicking noise and the motor won't turn. Feels like something is stripped. This is happening on all three axles, with stock Clod gears.

I opened the axles and can find NOTHING stripped! Gears look great, splines on the shafts (going from gears to wheels) look great. I can't see anything wrong, but clearly something is wrong.  I just realized that I forgot to install the "counter gear spacer" that you see in the Clod manual.  Maybe that is the problem?

Something is fishy.

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