poor judgement

do u have any pics of the setup mate?

sschuler

I bet we are going to have to use some kind of longer cvd. I think most of the longer regular shafts will be way to thick. COngratulations Scouser! We are most of the way there!

poor judgement

right - i have the tmaxx hub carriers fitted.

does anyone know if a savage rear centre shaft would fit onto the tmaxx driveshaft cv? also will the dogbone end of the centre shaft fit the cen diff cups?

its the perfect length.... if it fits, then im done! bit concerned as to how it will handle now its so wide tho...

im guessin that u will be tryin to use savage driveshafts with the savage arms? if so keep us posted as to how they fit.

doh just read scousers post sayin that they wont fit the cups... was it a really bad fit scouser?

Scouser

Sadly the dogbone was way too big. I am going to have a look at some buggy driveshafts to see if they will be any better. I have ordered four lower a-arms and four hub assembly units from my LHS. When they arrive I will try a comparison on some buggy shafts while I am there, the owner of the store is very helpful and may also come up with some alternatives. I will see if I can get some pictures done of the set-up to show you what it all looks like. Meantime, if anyone has any ideas as to dogbones that will fit, it is the last piece of the puzzle.

Scouser

One other thing that I noticed. With the Savage arms fitted the standard CEN buggy shocks are too small to reach the mounting point. The distance from the JT shock tower to the Savage shock mount is 125mm, just about right for a set of buggy rear shocks. When completed this thing will be soo mean! Next on the list, an OS .18TZX!!

sschuler

125mm!! That will equal some serious shock travel.

Scouser

At the end of this project I am thinking of entering into some truck racing to see how well the modifications perform against Revos' and T-Maxxs' and Tamiya TNXs'. I think with some low profile tyres like bow ties, the cornering speed will be far higher than stock and it will no longer look small next to its competition. All this depends on me finding a driveshaft that will fit of course! With a good set of bugy shocks and the Savage arms and hubs, I am thinking this truck will be near enough indestructable!

poor judgement

hmm, is there any chance that u would be able to use the savage diff cups, and make up a short shaft to get it to run off the diff?

or are the cups still going to interfere with the savage arms?

Scouser

Dont think there is any way for the Savage diff cups to be modified to fit the CEN. Whereas the CEN diff cups are linked together by a long pin on one of the cups, the Savage cups attatch to the diff itself via pins and grub screws and the diameter of the linkage is much wider than CENs'. It could be that I will have to ask CEN outright if they know of a way to put wider/ heavy duty diff cups through their diffs. That is of course if I cant find a dogbone that is narrow enough to fit in CENs diff cups and beefy enough to work in a Savage drive cup. After a strong start I seem to have stalled a bit.

poor judgement

im in the same boat as u mate...

Scouser

Been searching around and it doesn't look like buggy drive shafts will work. The buggies wheelbase is narrower than a truck so all the drivetrain parts are going to be too narrow to work with the Savage arms.
With this in mind I am asking CEN directly if they know of any way to get one of the drive cups from the Genesis to work with the Fun Factor diffs? I realise this is all warranty voiding stuff but any help or nudges in the right direction would be very much appreciated.

sschuler

too bad we can't find entire diffs that would work ;-)

poor judgement

lol, theres a fine line between loads of mods and a different truck!

right... here is a way to do the shafts and hubs... finally....

i have here the plastic tmaxx driveshafts. the male sliding part has a hole thru the length of it that is very similar in diameter to the cen driveshafts. if we chop the dogbone end off the cen shaft, drill a hole thru it (tricky bit that), and drill a corresponding hole thru the tmaxx male shaft, cut the cv off the male shaft, slide the dogbone into the tmaxx shaft and secure it with a cen hex pin. with me so far? then slide back into the female shaft to avoid the pin falling out.

obviously the tmaxx shafts will need shortening. oh the dogbone from the cen centre shaft may work too. i reckon if we grind a small flat on the dogbone shaft then it will be easier to drill it for the pin...?

the shock lower mount may need a trim for clearance but i reckon its a goer if i can drill thru the shafts ok...

any thoughts?

sschuler

That really sounds like it could work. A drill press would really come in handy, though.

poor judgement

theres more... forget all that complicated stuff above...

the cen stub shaft (that sits in the hub carrier) fits into the tmaxx shaft perfectly, it also has a hole drilled for the hex pin already...

the dogbone part of the cen shaft is exactly the same diameter as the part of the diff cup that goes into the diff gears... if i cut the dogbone shaft down and grind a flat one each side, then they would fit the diff gears perfectly also. however - this means there will be no pin joining the 2 sides like there is with the diff cups...

it does give me a true cvd shaft that slides if i use the tmaxx female shaft with it. (i will have to use it to retain the hex pin anyway...)

i could just use the male part and let the shaft slide in the diff gear, so long as i make the flat areas long enough to do so, and use the female part of the shaft to retain the pin only.

it looks great, old man has my cam lead tho... pics soon!!

Scouser

I have been sitting looking at these danm diffs all day, trying to work out some way to get the Savage hubs powered through CEN diffs but I really dont think it can be done. For this reason I have slightly changed the direction of the project. I am now thinking along the lines of sschuler and seeing if I cant get a set of buggy diffs to sit on the CEN chassis. If this is a possibility then I will put the Savage lower and upper arms on and build a truggy from the ground up using the spare Cen chassis I have sitting doing nothing. There seems more chance of getting this project to work seeing as most of the buggy diffs I look at in the magazines appear to have very similar bolt patterns to the Fun Factor diffs. With the iminent arrival of the Matrix, it is very possible that the diffs from that may work, thus retaining its 'CEN' name.

sschuler

While, I do agree that the lack of clearence do to the mounting position of the uppoer arm being where it is, I am still hopeful that Poor Judgement's solution may work. his idea may get us beyond that point. I also would like to see if another diff would work. There are plenty of better diffs out there. Hopefully one will fit.

poor judgement

what i described above will definately work, dunno how well it will last tho, obviously. clearance is not a prob with the upper arms, just trim the lower shock mount for the driveshaft to clear it ok.

i have no cam lead at the mo, and am trying desperately to finish my new house so i can move in. the rc may finally get a back seat for a while... tut, right when i was gonna actually get the shafts to work...

donor cv shafts are gratefully recieved...

taylormade

Im going to the rc salvage in a couple three days. Im very interested in this project you guys are working on. I bought two rallys that are to arrive this week. One has no power mill. This will be my "insane mod and bash beast", while my mt2 is dedicated for racing. The other rally goes to my son. What shall I look for? Am willing to take pics and measurements in metric.

poor judgement

personally i would be looking at: arms, driveshafts and hubs, shocks, centre diff setups, 2 and 3 speeds, and 3 channel radios. oh and an oddball body would be cool too...

Scouser

For me it would be 1:8 scale buggy diffs that have the same screw mounting dimensions as a CEN and diff cups that are about twice the size as CENs'. Any findings would be much appreciated. Cheers.

taylormade

Poorjudgement, thank you for the direction for my basher. I meant is there anything I might find to help with the t-maxx axle carrier project. What is the benefeit of a center diff? For stability and shorter, stronger shafts or is their more.

poor judgement

taylormade, im just about done fitting the tmaxx shafts and hubs, but there are so many ways of doing it, i think its a case of look round the place and see what jumps out at you mate.

a centre diff will kill wheelies and generally make the mt quicker around a track - in theory. it also allows split front and rear braking. however it does away with the 2 speed, but then who wants that for racing...?

taylormade

Scouser, the rc salvage didnt have a tub with diffs only. What they have are many many tubs with various manufacturers containing variuos parts for each. It would have been a very time consuming venture to find a diff. I was on company buss. so my time was very limited today. There was a tub stocked full of cvds, diff cups, and drive shafts. I know what your looking for would be in this tub. I think I should just tinker with this project and post my findings. Theres just so much to filter through. I need a whole day there just for the t-maxx carrier project. If you could give me some round about metric measurements for the diff cups you want I could be of better service next time.

poor judgement

ok, heres what i got fitted now...

it looks pretty good, bit of a pain getting the lower shock mount to work. as soon as i find a source of shorter shock ends, i will be able to get it just how i want it, til then, its just gonna have to sit a bit higher than i wanted...