MITCH316 ERBE rebuild

[MITCH316]

So, it is time for a revamp of my truck. You will find the original post of my upgrades here http://traxxas.com/forums/showthread...-E-revo-hop-up

Since my original post its unbelievable how much I have learnt about the E-Revo, especially the information in the E-Revo brushless forum and the advice from others.

I am in search of creating a bullet proof build that works for me as an all round setting for the way I like to bash my truck. I am wanting to share this info with you...I was about 80% there with a bullet proof build before this rebuild, I just needed to tweak a few settings on my truck to get there.

I am a 6s basher, big air and jumps and track race from time to time but not competitively (just waiting for my local track to be rebuilt at the moment as council have bulldozed down) and like to thrash my truck on just about anything I can ride on.

Here is my truck stripped down and ready for its rebuild



I will end up stripping the RX box, ESC, motor, tranny and servos from the chassis; giving it a much deserved clean. I plan on reusing the existing chassis as it is still good for a while, I too am doing the Losi LST2 diff conversion. This will give me some practice at trimming back the chassis for the diff conversion.



These are the parts I am replacing with new and doing a few RPM upgrades in the process...I am just waiting on some parts to arrive in the post.



I thought I would get a start on my post for now. I will keep it updated as I make progress.

[Brewers74]

You gonna clean a dye the chassis ? I think that looks loads better black...grey with the dirt just looks horrible imo

[MITCH316]

You gonna clean a dye the chassis ? I think that looks loads better black...grey with the dirt just looks horrible imo

Yeah mate, I've been thinking about dying it black. Will trim the chasis first for the diff conversion

[MITCH316]

The mail man was kind to me this morning. I received these items in the post:



As you can see I could not find a complete Losi LST2 diff for sale on eBay for postage to Australia; so I ended up having to build the diffs. I find it's the best way to learn when you have to build it yourself.

During the course of this week I will be modifying bulk heads and chassis to suit the Losi LST2diff conversion

[87 GN]

looks like a bunch of parts Aaaa, till you start assembling.
if possible might get a good bit of info on you diff assembling, shim ect.
there are a few threads on the diff mod, but not much on building the LST2 diff...

[Revoroller]

Hi Craig. Here is an exploded view of the diff. Hope it's helpful. I was fortunate to locate two diffs already assembled, so it was very easy to work with.

[Revoroller]

BTW, my diffs came with one shim in each diff. Part # A6356 in the pic. It was placed in each diff to move the gears away from each other a little. I tried placing the shim in the opposite position to move the gears closer together, but seemed rough when turning. So I placed the shim back where it was moving the gears away from each other again and gear movement was butter smooth. No issues with mine and going on 10 serious sessions. An all time record for me, lol!

[MITCH316]

looks like a bunch of parts Aaaa, till you start assembling.
if possible might get a good bit of info on you diff assembling, shim ect.
there are a few threads on the diff mod, but not much on building the LST2 diff...

Thanks GN, will post my process on building the diff for all to see

BTW, my diffs came with one shim in each diff. Part # A6356 in the pic. It was placed in each diff to move the gears away from each other a little. I tried placing the shim in the opposite position to move the gears closer together, but seemed rough when turning. So I placed the shim back where it was moving the gears away from each other again and gear movement was butter smooth. No issues with mine and going on 10 serious sessions. An all time record for me, lol!

Cheers mate...thanks for that info. I will assemble the diff dry with no lube or grease and mod the bulk head and chassis first

[MITCH316]

So I opened up some of my packets of parts that arrived today; and here is a comparison of the Losi LST2 diff to the Traxxas diff.

The Traxxas diff setup you see in the picture is an ST Racing aluminium diff case and Hot Racing aluminium diff cup. I was going to use this setup as a bulletproof version of the Traxxis diff but since then have changed my mind. I am going with the Losi LST2 diff as my bulletproof version now.

I have read some good reviews and have had positive feed back from people using this mod.

LST2 diff on the left and Traxxas diff on the right.


As you can see in the picture the LST2 diff is a beefier diff all round.

[MITCH316]

I've finally trimmed out my bulk heads and chassis to fit the Losi LST2 diff. I've decided to try rit dying and see how it goes. Here is a couple off pics of my trimmed chassis before been rit dyed

Front end of the chassis


Rear end of chassis

[MITCH316]

Here is the end result of my attempt at rit dying...it didn't come out too bad. This is my P2 rockers and chassis

[steveski4]

Good heavens is that..........is that.........is that your wife's good cutting board?!?

Here is the end result of my attempt at rit dying...it didn't come out too bad. This is my P2 rockers and chassis

[MITCH316]

Good heavens is that..........is that.........is that your wife's good cutting board?!?

Sure is mate...what she doesn't know, doesn't hurt (LOL!)

[CPrime]

Good heavens is that..........is that.........is that your wife's good cutting board?!?

LOL! (Craig promptly running to Ikea to get a new board...). Black dye is definitely on my list on the first overhaul...And getting rid of all the blue stuff too.
Nice pics Craig. Thx!

[MITCH316]

I just received some more parts for my build today from eBay. I must say that I am a little dissapointed as I only received half more order . This means I need to wait another couple weeks for the outstanding parts to arrive.

As you can see in the pic my chassis next to the RPM arms came out quite dark...I should of left it in the dye probably an hour or so more to be slightly darker...none the less I am happy with the end result.



Still out standing, Hitec servo, RPM axle carriers and bumper mounts; and the new wing.

[MITCH316]

Still waiting on parts to arrive...I thought I would include this in my new build thread.

Where I live it rains quite a bit and have sweltering humid summers. I am not a big fan of the outwears shroud so I went the Plasti Dip route. Note* Doing this mod to your ESC will void your warranty.

First of all I cut the switch off...I kept having problems with it. This way I am forced to unplug my batteries when finished using my truck. I just soldered the 2 wires together to bypass the switch.



I then went and used electrical tape to cover the heat sink and plugs to protect while coating with Plasti Dip:





My advice is don't coat to thick or you will have issues trying to fit the ESC back into the cover.

This has proven to be very successful in running in wet conditions with no issues what so ever. I knowingly can go drive my truck with confidence now and not worry about killing my ESC.

I have been running this mod for about 5 months now with no heat issues or any issues with my ESC

[MITCH316]

So I have decided to try RPM Axle Carriers. I found that there is nothing wrong with stock carriers, except for me the bearings never seemed to last.

Here is a comparison of stock bearings to RPM.
RPM left / Stock right


As you can see the RPM bearings have a lot more surface area...in theory these bearings should be able to take more forces that they are subjected to over stock. Greater surface area = less stress on the bearing.

Here is a comparison of stock axle carriers to RPM.

RPM left / Stock right



I have heard that the pivot balls pull out of the RPM axles, it is a weak point of theirs. Thanks to danielhr77 for this bit of info...I took the stock axle carriers and removed the retainer ring with a xacto knife.



I then pressed the retainer ring onto the RPM axle carrier (knuckle)...it fitted no problem and is a press fit.



I then fitted the stock pivot ball dust boots and rings along with the rubber caps that fit into the pivot ball cap onto the RPM axle carriers.



I haven't tested these axles yet but will give some feed back after a few hard bashing sessions

[steelersfan1972]

it definitely works craig mitch...i had that prob and swapped the rings and no prob ever since. NOW...if i can get my front and rear diffs to last would be great! im starting to think this car wasnt made for 6S lipo power.

[MITCH316]

it definitely works craig mitch...i had that prob and swapped the rings and no prob ever since. NOW...if i can get my front and rear diffs to last would be great! im starting to think this car wasnt made for 6S lipo power.

Thanks mate...I got tired of rebuilding diffs. I only run 6s and so now I have decided the Losi LST2 conversion is the way.

I am following revorollers mod for the LST 2 conversion as I am also using the traxxas steel cvd. He has informed me that he has had great success with the mod so far

I am still waiting for a couple of parts to arrive so I can put my truck back together, hopefully sometime next week they'll be here. Then put the truck back together and rip it up with some gnarly bashing again

[MITCH316]

I have decided to run a single servo in my rebuild. I had a go last night at installing an external CC BEC. First thing I did was neaten up the battery wires. I must admit it was a pet hate of mine the way they originally were as seen below.



I found that the wires to the left of the ESC and the wire that connected the batteries in series was to long for my liking. For some time now I have been wanting to shorten and neaten this up and thought what a perfect opportunity it would be while installing the BEC.

I came across a few methods to install the BEC but decided to follow this method of powering the BEC from a single battery.



IMO this made for a neater installation of the BEC for me. Overall I shortened the wires on the left of the ESC by 5cm and installed the BEC to the new battery connectors as per the above schematic. The wires on the right I cut off directly behind the old connector and soldered on a new connector in its place.



I am happy with the outcome and don't have this long wire looping up when the batteries are connected anymore, especially on the left.

I still need to either cut the red wire or remove it from the ESC plug that connects to the RX so that my ESC is solely powered now from the CC BEC. I have also set my CC BEC to 6V with the castle field programmer as my new servo requires a continuous 6V supply to have optimal function.

[MITCH316]

I have noticed this from all the bashing I have been doing. I think this has happened from the truck landing on its roof, I have some how managed to cut the sheath of the motor wiring. This has happened on the red and white wires that run to the MMM ESC and have now exposed the core.



The way I went about trying to fix the problem was to heat shrink the exposed areas. I used Dia.10mm heat shrink and cut 40mm long and slipped over each wire to the motor end.



I am happy the way it turned out as the heat shrink is a tight fit covering the exposed areas.

[Brewers74]

I have the same issue there...mines worst the white wire is exposed too close to cover you can see bare wire

[MITCH316]

I have the same issue there...mines worst the white wire is exposed too close to cover you can see bare wire

What about if you wrapped some gorilla tape around the exposed area as best you could. One nice and neat tight wrap on each wire and then heat shrinked around the gorilla tape...its just a thought, IDK, it may work .

[sideshow]

i wrapped some material tape around the three motor wires which i use on my automotive engine harnesses
it feels like heavy duty thin denim and sticks much better than electrical tape

[MITCH316]

I had 3 attempts at modding the bulkhead to accommodate the Losi LST2 diff. I wasn't happy with my first 2 attempts as I felt I dremeled away far to much material and penetrated right trough the bulkheads.

I followed revoroller and mistercrashes thread on the Losi LST2 mod.

Below you can see the rear bulkhead where I dremeled material away. On my third attempt I realised you could fit the Losi diff in without actually penetrating through the bulkhead.



The front bulkhead required a lot more dremelng and removal of material.



I took my time and because it was my third time I knew exactly where to dremel. The problem I came across on the rear bulkhead is that because I used my old bulkheads I didn't realise at the time that the rear holes were stripped.

I fixed that with using Du-bro 6/32 brass inserts



& here they are installed into the bulkhead and epoxied in place.



They are a nice snug fit...I will need to test them now and see if they hold up to serious bashing.

[MITCH316]

I replaced the Losi drive cups with the traxxas drive axial for the eRevo. Part no.5454.



I hack sawed the threaded end off and then grinded down so that the drive axial was a length of 22.25mm. I also chamfered the sharp edge so it was nice and smooth fit in the diff cup.



I used 50K diff lube in the front and a mixture of 50K and 30K in the rear diff cup.



I filled to the top of the diff cup and removed as much of the air bubbles as practically possible.



I then fitted the ring gear and tightened 3 of the 4 screws leaving the 4th one out to allow excess diff lube to escape through the open screw hole.



I then greased the ring gear with Mobil 1 red grease and closed up the diff case.



Once together the gear mesh was relatively smooth..I tried various places shimming around the diff cup and found that no shimming was necessary. The only place I found necessary to shim was on the pinion gear externally where the centre drive shaft connects to the pinion.



I used these shims Kyosho 8x10mm Shim Set. Part #KYO96644a, s they came in 3 different thicknesses...0.1, 0.2 and 0.3



I found when attaching the centre drive shaft to the pinion that each diff took 1 .0.2 shim which made the ring and pinion a nice and smooth mesh.

[MITCH316]

Credit goes to revoroller as I followed his mod as to re-using the traxxas centre cvd.

I removed the red aluminium ring so I could remove the cup as it was not necessary for the mod. These are the parts I used to complete the mod.



Losi CV Driveshaft Rebuild Set #LOSB3505
Losi Front or Rear Diff/Differential Drive Yoke #LOSB3541
Du-Bro Flat Washer 2.5mm #DUB2108
Dia. 13mm Heat shrink cut 12mm long





The 2.5mm washer went on each side of cvd in the yoke to close the space and made a nice snug fit. I then heat shrinked around the yoke to keep the pin that is holding the cvd in place

[MITCH316]

This is the only exploded view I found that uses the H.D. diff cup like I used in my build, which is for an 8ight Truggy. I may have misled in post #26 when I said that the diff required no shimming. I built my diff exactly as per the exploded view below. I shimmed 1 x 6mm shim under ring gear and 1 x 6mm shim on the opposite end internal diff cup.



and then followed the rest of this view that revoroller provided in post #6



I found that building my diff as per the 8ight Truggy exploded view that no additional shimming was necessary in the LST2 exploded.

Only in the diff cup and as shown where by me in post #26 photo #7.

Below is a link to the 8ight Truggy exploded view.

http://www.losi.com/ProdInfo/Files/8...RPartsList.pdf

[Revoroller]

Credit goes to revoroller as I followed his mod as to re-using the traxxas centre cvd.

I removed the red aluminium ring so I could remove the cup as it was not necessary for the mod. These are the parts I used to complete the mod.



Losi CV Driveshaft Rebuild Set #LOSB3505
Losi Front or Rear Diff/Differential Drive Yoke #LOSB3541
Du-Bro Flat Washer 2.5mm #DUB2108
Dia. 13mm Heat shrink cut 12mm long





The 2.5mm washer went on each side of cvd in the yoke to close the space and made a nice snug fit. I then heat shrinked around the yoke to keep the pin that is holding the cvd in place

Sweet! Very detailed thread! Better than mine

I recently inspected my drive shaft and it is still holding up very well !!!!!!

[MITCH316]

Sweet! Very detailed thread! Better than mine

I recently inspected my drive shaft and it is still holding up very well !!!!!!

Thanks mate...it couldn't have been done with out your help

[MITCH316]

After modding the bulkheads to accommodate the Losi LST2 diff, I felt the bulkheads may be a tad bit on the weak side where I dremeled a lot of the material away.



I used this epoxy to add structural strength on the weakened side walls of the bulkheads as seen in the pic below.



I am not sure if this is going to work but I will try and give my feed back after a good few hard bashing sessions

[MITCH316]

Here are my shocks before the rebuild. I was running 50W oil front and rear with a VDP #2 and green springs front and tan rear. This set up worked very well for me, but, I thought would try something different on this build.

I am going to try 60W oil front and rear with VDP #2 and gold spring front and black rear.



I stripped the shocks down to give a good clean and emptied the old shock oil out. I was happy that the old shock oil wasn't to dirty which meant my shocks were in a fairly good operating condition still. My shocks were last serviced about 6 months ago.



This is the VDP kit with valve on top, I am using piston #2.



I then filled my shock with 60W shock oil. I moved the piston up an down to let any trapped air bubble escape.



Here is an image of how full I made the shock before putting the bladder back in place and the rest of the shock back together.



The end result, a nice clean and easy rebuild.

[sideshow]

hey craig how do u like your gold and black springs
i find the blue and grey springs sag a tiny bit
ive always wanted to upgrade them as ive done most of the other stuff

[87 GN]

nothing really to add, just good write~up

[MITCH316]

hey craig how do u like your gold and black springs

I haven't tested them yet, will get a chance probably during the week. I used Green and Tan before with 50W oil and really liked it. I thought I'd would go 1 stiffer on the springs and up a weight in shock oil.

i find the blue and grey springs sag a tiny bit
ive always wanted to upgrade them as ive done most of the other stuff

Are you referring to the extra springs that came with the truck, blue and silver? They are a lot stiffer than what I am using. The truck is suppose to sag about a 1/3 of its ride height when on the ground.

Green - 3.5N.mm / Tan 4.1N.mm & now
Gold - 3.8N.mm / Black 4.4N.mm & yours
Silver - 4.9 N.mm / Blue 5.9N.mm

Maybe try go one weight thicker with the oil if you like the way your springs handle with current bash settings on your truck...IDK, that's just my thoughts

[MITCH316]

nothing really to add, just good write~up

Thanks mate...I appreciate it

[MITCH316]

I am using on 5319X push rods. These are meant for P3 rockers but I am using with my P2 rockers as i found it reset my ride height and are 10mm longer than the P2 push rods. As I run 6s I thought it was a necessary upgrade for me and found it has made some what of a difference with rear squat under hard acceleration.

I too am using the 5338R toe link. I am a fan of the red anodising look and have been using these push rods and toe links for some time in my truck.



This is what a lot of the rod ends looked like when I stripped my truck down...some of the hollow balls just fell out of the rod ends when I removed from my truck



I am going to try something different on this build and replace all the rod ends with the thicker rod end that is used on the rear toe link. Here is a comparison of the 2.



And here is the the rod ends on all push rods and toe links.

[MITCH316]

I thought to myself that since there were quite a few things I replaced on my rebuild that these parts did not cut it for me in this condition. As you can see in the below pic they look really used and discoloured.



I decided to rit dye these parts to give some them some colour back so at least they have the appearance of being new. I sanded down my skid plates as best I could to make them as smooth as possible and any other parts that were rough before been dyed.

I used sand paper for the job...The end result speaks for itself



I thought I would add this here so you can see a comparison of different dyes. In the pic below is black on the left and scarlet red on the right. I've used the scarlet red chassis in my Summit build.



I also had a go a dying my maximizer beadlock rims I bought as I wanted to try something different.



I am really happy how these turned out, it almost has a rusty look to it



This is my Summit build on the go...it's a long term project over the next month or so. This is just to show you what scarlet red would look like.



My method of Rit Dyeing
To rid dye I would add the whole packet of dye, (I use the powder rit dye), in as much water as I need and mix the powder until all dissolved in the water. I would add my parts along with 500ml of vinegar and leave to over the stove top with low heat. I would keep it at a low heat for a minimum of 2hrs.

I never let the water boil once...when I saw a few bubbles appear I would lower the heat or turn off.

This is my dye bath I use...I got it down at the local hardware store for $12. They call it a galvanised bucket here in Australia.

[87 GN]

http://traxxas.com/forums/showthread...=1#post4904797

if you start breaking shock caps you might need to go back to the stock length, for the P2 rockers.
I had my push rods set for LT's, running on the P2 rockers, & started breaking the shock caps.

[BAD RC]

This thread should be in a magazine! I don't own a ERBE, but your tech write up is AWESOME!!!