Vid on Earthquake/Backdraft diff Shimming
 

A couple people asked how I was shimming the diff on my Backdraft/Earthquake, so I posted some youtube vids for your viewing pleasurehttp://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/js/f.../msn/72_72.gif


<span style="color: #ff0000">NEW Vids added and updated1/27/2011 on opening upand filling the differentials ect......................
</span>
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hZLDVbDTiY!!!

part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukkfjJXFUhQ

part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVaRVpz1oFI

part 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2foA1XOyxc8

part 4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6DkcW2xgPY

part 5 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hZLDVbDTiY

RE: Vid on Earthquake/Backdraft diff Shimming
 

One more on opening up the diffs and inspecting them 6 mos after shimming them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVaRVpz1oFI

RE: Vid on Earthquake/Backdraft diff Shimming
 

One more on shimming the diff on a Redcat : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2foA1XOyxc8

RE: Vid on Earthquake/Backdraft diff Shimming
 

I don't know but does help anyone on here?....... some had asked about it so I posted but I don't want to give Redcat a bad name from posting this?</p>

RE: Vid on Earthquake/Backdraft diff Shimming
 

Great video man...

RE: Vid on Earthquake/Backdraft diff Shimming
 

indeed, nice vids! i think they will help anyone with a 8E or a 3.5 to know how to shim, and your vids help show why to do it as well. nice work!

RE: Vid on Earthquake/Backdraft diff Shimming
 

Yep great vids, I had noticed the side to side play in the diff unit while its in the housing and also the play in the input shaft that the pinion gear is on, of coarse I didnt have any idea about it until my pinion gear busted in half the first 2 minutes my Backdraft was on the ground and slowly moving, but yes you are right about the amount of play being way to much, that a wreck looking for a place to happen and I will be fixing this issue on mine as soon as I get a new gear in.

Good job on the vids, we need to keep this one at the top because a lot of people can be helped by this and potentialy saved from some trouble if they will take the time to get this right, this is for sure an issue Redcat needs to address with these diffs, this will haunt these trucks and buggies and turn many people away from the Redcat brand if it's not fixed very soon, nobody wants to pay $220+ bucks for something and then have to Jerry rig &amp;rebuild it right out of the box and many people dont have the know how anyway and that will suck the life out of the Redcat Brand if not corrected very soon........

Almost 2 weeks later since mine crapped out and it still sitting because of the bad diff right out of the box......

RE: Vid on Earthquake/Backdraft diff Shimming
 

I am not trying to bash Redcat with these vids......... I may have got a bad batch of diff cases and that is what caused the probs........  After shimming I had no problems and others with these have had problems and some not..... Some people on line had asked what I did  and I posted it............Plus I like tinkering with these things cause I like building and working and racing full size cars but with the economy what it is I had to find a cheaper hobby for the time being.

RE: Vid on Earthquake/Backdraft diff Shimming
 

Itnever crosed my mind that you were bashing Redcat in your vids and all you are doing in there is providing a great service to the ones of us who have the cars with the loose diff assemblies that are or will fail because of it.

The point I am making is thatIthink a lot of the bad stuff out there about Redcat cars is do to issues like these obvioustolerance problems that could be easily addressed, and need to be very quickly or the business will suffer for it, that is not bashing that is simply stating the facts, I hate to see good people and a good company that has poured there heart and soul into putting an affordable product out in the market place have trouble because they do what they do to makemoney but alsotheir efforts arefor theones of us who either cant or are unwilling to spend the huge doubled&amp; tripledsums of money some of the other brands charge for there not all that much better stuff, I have to admit that I'm new to the game here but I have been pouring through information, asking loads of questions and scanning many sites relating to these many cars and trucks and it seems to me that the main problem most seem to be having with some of the Redcat vehicles is the drivetrain, spur gears....Pinion gears and some may have some weak areas in the suspension, from some of the reports I've seen but overall I think the Redcat stuff is darn well good for the price.

its as simple as some shims as you have done and wala......! the diff dont hand grenade almost straight out of the box, this should be addressed in manufactering proccess so these diffs quit failing so easy, this would be a win win for everyone, this would be much easier than retooling at the factory and casting diff cases with better tolerances, just a couple shims and the diffs will be good for a lot of trouble free running and this prevents people from having something thats logit to bash the company over.

To much competition out there to make too many quality control mistakes in todays market place, it'll kill ya in business

RE: Vid on Earthquake/Backdraft diff Shimming
 

i also hope that redcat will address this diff issue.

you mentioned that they are sending you a replacement pinion....that usually means they know its a issue, as those kinda parts are not really under warrenty. they warrenty electronics for 90 days, but i dont think drivetrain parts are covered.

it does kinda stink to have to open up the diffs of a brand new RC and shim them.
however, you wont find a 1/8 scale rc that can do 40MPH anywere else for the same money.

even knowing that i will have to shim the diffs before i can drive it, i still plan on getting a earthquake 8E with my tax returns!

RE: Vid on Earthquake/Backdraft diff Shimming
 

Yeah your right it's still a darn good buggy for the money and for thefellas like us that dont mind doing a little wrenching here and there it's just part of the adventure, that is of coarse if it's not everytime the car gets run, because wrenching and major repair everytime out would get old quick even for us fellas that know how to fix things and are willing to do so as needed fromtime to time.

I'm still excited about getting mine up and going again, just that ole hurry up and wait game right now, it's cold out right now anyway been in the teens and 20's with wind here in central Texas the last few days so until that changes I wouldnt be out anyway, we dont care much for the cold down here but for that matter we dont like our summers when we have triple digit heat for 1-2+ months in a row sometime either, man if only we could skip winter and summer and just have spring and fall all year long wooo weee! that would be nice!

play play play work play play play!

RE: Vid on Earthquake/Backdraft diff Shimming
 

Sorry I didn't mean to get on the bashing [:@] thing sounded a bit like that was what you meant.........  Yes it could be adressed at the Factory and they may have made a change but I have a few Traxxas models and they have issues also ............I love my Redcat and don't plan on getting rid of it, but as a newcomer into the hobby when I bought my Redcat It would have been nice to have some idea about what I was getting into But I hope the vids don't discourage poeple in buying them becuase they have adressed some of the issues..... I think mine was one of the first in the shimmimg area on the Earthquakes and Redcat got me straight also with the help of Kurt@URCHobby too...:D  Thanks for thecomments.

RE: Vid on Earthquake/Backdraft diff Shimming
 

Yeah I'm sure these issues with the difs will be resolved asap by Redcat,

I noticed theloose fit of the diff in the caseas soon as Iopened my rear diff and was inspecting it after it locked up on me, I went today and bought some brassshim stock in .005 &amp;.010 thickness that Iwill be making my shims out of, it will be a very simple proccess and Iplan topost some pics as &amp;afterI make one so others can see how to do it, and it will only require basic hand tools and a drill, I dont have the equiptment to make the good vids like you did, my wife does, but she always reminds me that I got all that high dollar camera and video stuff for her and Ineed to leave it alone...LOL

Anyway, I think we need to continue the good info. on this matter and keep it on top of this thread as much as possible so others can know that they need toinspect the diffs on these Trucks and Buggies first rattle out of the box so maybe they can make adjustments that will save them the trouble of replacing busted pinion gears soon after running their new Redcat RC.

Peace

RE: Vid on Earthquake/Backdraft diff Shimming
 

Just a bump up, trying to keep this close to top so others can be helped by the great info. here

RE: Vid on Earthquake/Backdraft diff Shimming
 

i didnt think your vids sounded like you were bashing redcat. just helping fellow redcat owners improve the model.
is there any RTR rc that is perfect right out of the box? dont think so.
in fact, i was just looking through the redcat manual for the volcano s30. i noticed it says to check gear mesh, apply locktite to the motor mount screws and check for any binding before ever starting the motor!
these are good things to check with any RTR.
yes, it really shouldnt be nessesary to open the diff of a brand new truck. redcat has an issue here, no doubt. however, i feel that for the price, its worth alittle elbow grease!

RE: Vid on Earthquake/Backdraft diff Shimming
 

The part you said here aboutthelower price being"worth a little elbow grease " only applies to those who are skilled enough to proform this task, I understand what you mean, but it may be a good idea if the dealers of these vehicles would inform thepotentialbuyersthat this may besomething that isrequired, I know this may discourage some of the sales of these 1/8 scale vehicles but at the same time it would save the company a lot of trouble and it may also stop some of the bad press redcat is getting because of these kind ofproblems, many people that have this issue will never buy another Redcat product because of it and that's not goodfor business.

I just hope they get it resolvedvery soon, I plan on getting other Redcat products in the future myself and one of the reasons is because they are good vehicles for the price and I believethey will get ever better as they continue to improve on them.

Another greta thing I have already experiencedwith Redcat is thereawesome customer service.....they do stand behind their product and thatgoes a long way with me, good service is hard to find these days and I think theirs is better than good.

RE: Vid on Earthquake/Backdraft diff Shimming
 

it would be nice if every redcat dealer pointed out any possible issues with a redcat model.
there are clearly good, and bad dealers. the bad are the guys who up the prices on ebay and make wild claims as the to performance.
there are some honest sellers on ebay, and the guys who own rufaster and urchobby know their stuff and provide quality service.

however, we dealers have not owned every model either. and in my case(i did own a backdraft 3.5) i didnt have any diff issues.
i would love to own and test out ever model, know the "in and outs" and be able to clearly advice people. i do my best. i try not to talk up a model i havent owned myself.
right in the agreement to being a redcat dealer it says that we(dealers) are the 1st line of customer service!

i hope to become more knowledgeble and at some point start a online-store. but its one step at a time for me.

RE: Vid on Earthquake/Backdraft diff Shimming
 

I understand what you are saying completely and I also believe that these issues will be resolved in the future to the best of their ability.

I also wish you the best as you move toward having yourself an online store for the Redcat products, I myself would love to start something here in my area just for the simple fact that we have NO Hobby shops for any RC Vehicles of any kind and so even the people who hav estuff around here have no way to get parts or supplies without having to drive around 200 miles or go online for everything, I wish Ihad been able to get into this great hobby years ago so I would be more knowledgable in it than I am, but with the limited knowledge I have with most of the new technology it would be a real challenge for me to start something and be able to serve the customer like I would want and need too.

I have no doubts that a good Hobby shop would go oververy good in my area, but I dont know how I would ever get it done by myself, it would be a real challenge.

Ihope you get your online stuff set up in the near future and do very well with it, you already provide a great service here on this forum so I'm sure you would do jsut as well in your online store.

Good Luck!

Peace

RE: Vid on Earthquake/Backdraft diff Shimming
 

New vid on opening up the diffs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hZLDVbDTiY

RE: Vid on Earthquake/Backdraft diff Shimming
 

Has anyone adressed the issue of locking the diffs ? Front, front &amp;rear, front only, rear only, front rear and center, center only ? HD Grease, oil, puddy ? I am new and just want to know what you guys are doing/using.
Thanks
Smitty

RE: Vid on Earthquake/Backdraft diff Shimming
 

get this sttuff:
http://www.badhorsie.com/products/diff-lock-grease.html

Im using it in my tmaxx, and I love it, the grease is ridicously thick, but it stills allows you to turn the diff by hand, its great stuff because it doesnt handle like crap when you completly lock up the front and rear diffs, it wil handle horribly.  what im doing with my earthquake is locking the center diff with Jb weld, and putting that grease in the front/rear diff.

RE: Vid on Earthquake/Backdraft diff Shimming
 

Epoxy only in the center diff........ fill it then put in the freezer work great.

RE: Vid on Earthquake/Backdraft diff Shimming
 

Ok so when ordering a earthquake 8e what all extras should i get? extra front and rear diffs a pair of axles what else? more than one pair of axles? wheelie bar? hubs? please list any upgrades you think are neccesary to do or parts to keep on hand. There is no dealer around here so i will have to order parts from urc or rufaster. so i would like to plan ahead and order parts when i order the truck. thanks scott

RE: Vid on Earthquake/Backdraft diff Shimming
 

Well order the shim kit from Kurt that should help strighten out the diffs, You don't need extra diffsjust maybe the gears but shim them first..........I have broken a few turnbuckles but you can't order them seperate so order the susp pkgs, the center diff top plate it is between the 2 blue alum plates and screws to the top of the center diff..... it must take alot of stress. the front c hubs need to have the stock screw replaced with a stainless screw type the stock screws bend easy. just on the bottom. that is about it......................... Oh and Kurt is the Man!!!

RE: Vid on Earthquake/Backdraft diff Shimming
 

BUY 2 EXTRA DIFFS. i would deffinetly recommend it, keep some spares, also get a spare center diff, I like urc hobby

You would think with all the free diffs/gears that redcats given away due to them stripping out, they would address the problem, or include shims/instructions. I cant really complain about how Ive been treated, redcats taken care off all my warranty issues Demagged motor, two stripped diffs, and a leaky shock