1/10 4WD build

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The big bazooka is here - 3660 4000kV Hobbywing to pair with the Max 10 SCT ESC. Wanted the low end grunt it offers over the 3652. Highest kV they offer capable of 3S. Finally will be able to use that temperature input for the ESC. We will be watching temps closely (I still am on 11/45, stock is 9/45). Will we need a 4WD wheelie bar? 🙃

Awaiting gap in weather...God damn mod1 gearing is LOUD.
 

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The skies parted and we excitedly ran outside. The first couple hits it hung the wheels pretty good so I powered up the GPS and all of a sudden it was a turd again with a HORRIBLE drivetrain noise. After doing some investigating, I determined it was the slipper clutch. I have it one full turn backed off max tight per every suggestion as a starting point on the internet. It's waayyyyy too loose, to the point where I took the pinion cover plate off, put my foot in front of the truck hit the throttle and watched it sit there pressing against my foot, wheels not spinning, pinion slipping away and smoke from the clutch. Did it loosen up somehow? Did some grease or oil get on the plates? I'll have to find out later. You can't get it out without disassembling basically the entire truck so I did the best I could wedging a flathead in there to tighten it still in the truck and got it as tight as I could. MUCH BETTER, now the foot test it does a 4 wheel burnout.

It is...a monster. Not as completely uncontrollable as its 2wd counterpart with a very similar setup to this, but it will still baloon all 4 tires with relative ease. It went 50mph before colliding with the same metal guardrail that did the 2wd ruckus in on its big speed run. Relatively speaking, to only 86 the front left knuckle is pretty impressive. Temps were never above 110 on the motor, 140 on the motor bracket, and this run was towards the end of the battery so I think 55 on grass is reasonably achievable with more gearing put to it (which should also help antiwheelie).

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Constant wheelies also finally killed the rear bumper that was holding on by one bolt to begin with. As hard as it is to find a rear bumper for one of these, I may just make one out of aluminum or my own wheelie bar. The bearings I mentioned for the aluminum knuckles previously should be here Tuesday.

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Here's some video I pieced together. This is much more driver friendly for a 3 year old than the 2wd was.
 

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GTR shocks arrived. VG springs not here yet. Oil they came with wasn't labeled and I couldn't find info easily anywhere, so I just put Losi 40wt I had in them. The lower spring mount actually seems to bolt to the lower eyelet which is pretty dope.

The 2WD used to have a bunch of LEDs mounted to it (the Paw Patrol body we did), but as a monster truck basher we could not get them to stay attached to save our life. Super glue, hot glue, epoxy, different ways of prepping the surface. It would just pull the paint off every time. So we are going to mount them to the chassis for this one. Built a 1/8 metal backer to the stock front bumper and attached eight 5mm LEDs. Not sure what color we are doing yet or if they are going to be constant on or channel 3 controlled by the radio like we did the last time.
 

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Boca Bearings arrived fast. 4mm left 3mm right

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You can see the difference when installed, dramatically. There is no binding in the front shafts now going through the full range of steering and suspension movement. Really crappy that this is an ECX part, like did they not test fit these?

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Realized we are missing something from the crash. This prevented us from going out and running it with the new bearings (and essentially new front hubs). New ones on order, but GTR shocks are probably going to be ready first.


Started building a mount for the wheelie bar. The rear bumper is trashed and gone. Obviously no one makes a bolt on 4WD wheelie bar for this. Same unit I used on the 2WD and made a thread about. This would be an ideal 3d printing project, but that's outside what I'm capable of. 1/8 plate and 4mmx5mm tubing will have to do. My goal is to have the position 3 end up level to the ground surface like in the Traxxas documentation for the wheelie bar and to keep it reasonably close to the body to retain a high degree of off-road capability.
 

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Pics pretty much speak for themselves. I may box in the sides of the mount (the triangular shape). I'd also like to find a tubing with a thicker wall. It's 4mm ID 5mm OD 304ss, and even with these fitment tacks, the heat is taking its toll. The supplied Traxxas shoulder bolts are working well enough for mockup. I'm going to electrical tape it to keep them from backing out and go out for a test run when the weather clears to see if the mount is in a good position.
 

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If I remember correctly the oil that comes with the GTRs is 30wt.

Yeah that’s all I could find in some 3rd party Q&A. Nothing on the Traxxas website, or the box, or the included paperwork. So stupid. No part number on the bottle to look up.

VG Racing springs came in today. If you look closely you can see the allen screw that retains the lower spring mount in place by securing it to the lower shock mount. Neat feature.

It would be really cool if they made a helper spring to take up the extra little bit of slack 5mm or so. Or VG make their springs a little longer. These two are the longer springs of the package.
 

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Got the GTR XXL shocks set up along with the VG Racing springs. Kid picked out green, so he gets green (all VG springs are the same rate btw unlike many companies including Traxxas that different colors imply different rates). I set them up at the highest points on all 4 LCAs and shock towers, both for ground clearance and shock rate. The stock ones are identical at all 4 corners, I put the shorter springs in the back, the vehicle has more weight back there. I do wish there was an option that was 10mm or so longer closer to the stock stuff, but was able to get 38mm ground clearance (measured to chassis). I may be able to get a little more. Kid was right, green looks good. We only had a few minutes to run it before baseball but it did really well on the lawns high speed bumps and we were able to test out the wheelie bars on two different settings - which also worked really well. I might be able to put some more punch back into the ESC. I have some bigger 4x8 spacers and hardware on its way to try a version 2.0, and we will add the rubber wheels like on our 2WD Ruckus wheelie bar.

We get a lot of golf balls hit onto our property - like ten a day this time of year. We throw back most of the junk and James keeps the desireable colored ones for his collection. It’s not uncommon for Ruckus to “find” one in the tall grass we didn’t see. Or the dogs, now that they can’t catch Ruckus anymore.
 

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We ran it a little more after dinner, and it seemed to be driving a bit odd. Especially on straight runs it would really start to make some steam and be uncharacteristically difficult to keep straight. I thought maybe suspension/alignment, but when we were blowing it out like we always do before we pack it up and looking everything over the driver side front dogbone was nowhere to be found. Bummer, we were on 3WD that explains it.

Of ALL the spares I don’t have, guess what one of them is. I even have a driveshaft rebuild kit, so I went outside and tried to see if I could find the lost dogbone (a quick Google I saw it’s going to be hard to find one). No dice, but it ended up not mattering - when I got to tearing it down and measuring the other side, I found it wasn’t gone in the sense of fell out, it was gone destroyed. Too much power and too much traction turned the outer joint into shrapnel - so even if I somehow miraculously found that dogbone, I’d be finding a piece of trash.74F9A0FD-C93B-4D94-B70B-44CEC9897B44.webp

Bottom right of the tray. Found a lot on eBay that includes a set, but I’d have to pay a bunch of money to end up with a bunch of parts I don’t want to get the one part I do. I’ve also been looking into replacing the dogbone with one from a different RC and reusing the spindle end and the diff output end. Swapping to a CVD is also an option I’m considering.

Modify
Test
Adjust
Bash
Break
Repair
Modify
Test…

I don’t think we’ve ever even run the full 3s 100c 8000mah battery through it yet in one shot 🤣

My wife called the 4wd one our Roadkill vehicle because we have a bunch of shiny new high performance name brand stuff bolted to an old niche junkbox. She’s not wrong I learned with my cars trucks bikes etc NEVER add up my receipts 🤣
 

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Thanks to your tip earlier in the thread, I settled on that solution to get it running for now. None of the info I could find was as specific as what you just linked, but based on my measurements pretty close. The one area of concern I have is the inner hub bearing.

Amazon says arriving tomorrow by 10pm. I took apart a spare differential to see. A lot more difficult to get a CV type swap done than our 2WD Ruckus that have the pin slots external to the diff.

Part of me wonders whether my original issue with the inner hub bearing could have been caused by a non-OEM axle. Part wasn’t available and got replaced with something a little too long? Next to no info out there on ECX232026 dimensions. I never compared them side to side but the outer spindle parts match each other. I’ve found no other aftermarket parts on this thing but an odd ball like a one side sealed bearing installed backwards and some spare parts included or a 16mm screw where a 12mm should be which tells me someone’s been in it to some degree. Water under the bridge at this point. I hope everyone who bought those front steering knuckles didn’t have to go through what I did.
 

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I'll post pics later, but they aren't going to work (the top link). For starters, the 8mm dogbone ball is too large to fit into the output drives of the ECX front differential. The pin would fit, the ball won't. A dogbone can't function if the end can't move freely in and out of the drive as the suspension moves up and down, and this one will barely fit into the very end of it. I searched online for E10 parts diagrams that show this type of axle to see if possibly I could source their differential output drives and swap them, but I can't find a single manual that shows it. All 3 different part numbers I have found show a dogbone style axle (on both ends, like the rear). The sites that sell this type of aftermarket axle don't offer a listing for a differential output cup.

The other immediately pressing issue is that 11mm OD spindle end. It measures just like the listing. Not only will this not fit the ECX spindle's 10x15x4 bearing (I have 10x15x3 in it now), basically no one makes a 11mm ID bearing in any size (boca makes a 11x21). So I'm really not sure what on Earth this axle could fit. I tried to remove the spindle end from the new axle and install the old spindle end on it, no go. The new axle has a larger ball on that side too, which allows the old spindle end to be installed, but it has almost no range of motion.

I'm going to hold onto these until I get a final answer it always helps to have a part on hand to actually measure it, and try to find a place I can either get better dimenions on that universal set and/or a venue like Amazon where I can just return them when they don't work. I really don't mind being a guinea pig and ordering up 250 sets of axles if that's what it takes and fronting the money so long as I get it back on the backend and I don't end up with $5000 of brand new spare axles in my spares box.

I think we need to consider amending "based on himoto e10" to "very loosely based on himoto e10." I can't remember who I saw post it, but I saw based on himoto e10 from more than one person on here and there is an implication that there is some parts compatibility between them, and yet I can't find one example of someone actually installing parts from it. The more I look for my own parts and look closely at parts diagrams, even parts like the control arms and knuckles are different than ECX. They may be close enough with some modding, but I very seriously doubt anything is direct bolt on at this point (that isn't universal between a bunch of the RC world, like a 12mm hex).
 
I'll post pics later, but they aren't going to work (the top link). For starters, the 8mm dogbone ball is too large to fit into the output drives of the ECX front differential. The pin would fit, the ball won't. A dogbone can't function if the end can't move freely in and out of the drive as the suspension moves up and down, and this one will barely fit into the very end of it. I searched online for E10 parts diagrams that show this type of axle to see if possibly I could source their differential output drives and swap them, but I can't find a single manual that shows it. All 3 different part numbers I have found show a dogbone style axle (on both ends, like the rear). The sites that sell this type of aftermarket axle don't offer a listing for a differential output cup.

The other immediately pressing issue is that 11mm OD spindle end. It measures just like the listing. Not only will this not fit the ECX spindle's 10x15x4 bearing (I have 10x15x3 in it now), basically no one makes a 11mm ID bearing in any size (boca makes a 11x21). So I'm really not sure what on Earth this axle could fit. I tried to remove the spindle end from the new axle and install the old spindle end on it, no go. The new axle has a larger ball on that side too, which allows the old spindle end to be installed, but it has almost no range of motion.

I'm going to hold onto these until I get a final answer it always helps to have a part on hand to actually measure it, and try to find a place I can either get better dimenions on that universal set and/or a venue like Amazon where I can just return them when they don't work. I really don't mind being a guinea pig and ordering up 250 sets of axles if that's what it takes and fronting the money so long as I get it back on the backend and I don't end up with $5000 of brand new spare axles in my spares box.

I think we need to consider amending "based on himoto e10" to "very loosely based on himoto e10." I can't remember who I saw post it, but I saw based on himoto e10 from more than one person on here and there is an implication that there is some parts compatibility between them, and yet I can't find one example of someone actually installing parts from it. The more I look for my own parts and look closely at parts diagrams, even parts like the control arms and knuckles are different than ECX. They may be close enough with some modding, but I very seriously doubt anything is direct bolt on at this point (that isn't universal between a bunch of the RC world, like a 12mm hex).
That was me. I'm sure Himoto designed and made the 4wd models for Ecx I knew they changed some things but was not 100% sure what. I was basing a lot of it on how much the parts look the same in pictures. But here is the Himoto E10 manual https://www.manualslib.com/manual/1234128/Himoto-E10mt.html
 
Another guy named perry claimed he had 1/8 and 1/10 Himoto parts on his, but never responded to a request for more details. My intention wasn't to put anyone on blast, I'm really just digging far back to see if there is a solution to be had here. Everything from the Himoto end seems to be a wall.

Here’s the raw data on the differences. The biggest problem off the bat is the 11mm OD on the knuckle/hub end where a bearing would ride. Not sure what these could possibly fit. Attempting to swap the ECX end onto the Amazon axle is a no-go. Other differences you need to look super super close for are the front knuckle structure, how the rear shock mounts to the rear LCA, and the squiggly bar that connects the front upper and lower control arms in the ECX isn't present on any Himoto. From the side by side pics, I would absolutely agree there is a very strong resemblance.

That's one of the manuals I found. I've been mostly concerning myself with the E10MT of the E10 series. The few pics of the differential outdrives that are out there, they look very different, and there isn't any great info on axle dimensions. Good news - a set of ECX232026 popped up on eBay - for $26+$46 shipping from Australia 🙃
 

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Now I wonder how different the Force Rc stuff is https://www.horizonhobby.com/product/1-10-outbreak-4wd-monster-truck-rtr-black/FCES03001T2.html
I'm trying to remember the guys name that has the short course truck, he broke the chassis on his Warhawk and can't find one the Ecx and Himoto chassis are different lengths. Comparing the manuals the Force Rc is closer to the Himoto than the Ecx is.

I tend to agree. Things like the hinge pins being a U shaped assembly make me think closer to Himoto. In the Force RC manual, the axle in question is FCESS232006, which looks a lot like the universal shaped one you linked. I can find two, which use the same stock pictures 33604 and 33204. No details period on 33604, 33204 is listed as 105mm. 105mm what? Total length? total dogbone length? dogbone length eye to eye? The other thing I've been trying to do is reverse-search those amazon axles I have - finding all the other listings for them, seeing what model they claim they fit, then looking up that model's manual and parts diagram (hoping to find an alternate part number, or if I find that axle find the bearing they are using with it, or different outer cup, or anything really). Each and every time, I find the manual showing the model using a double-end dogbone with a differential output cup and a spindle axle cup, no CVD or universal on either end. So are these sellers just listing this mass produced China axle and hoping people don't return it? There is zero way it fits some of them - manuals like from Redcat are really detailed in their parts diagram and parts list/descriptions they say dogbones 61mm overall length 55mm pin to pin...the Amazon ones are 90mm pin to pin...why are they listed as fitting that Redcat?!?!

the rediculous priced ECX ones are still available, but leaves me with the problem of I now have one spare and no solution after that. there is also a bulk lot with a set of axles in it for $165 plus the shipping. I suppose having something made is always a money-is-no-object way of winning, but leaves me again with no solution past fixing it this one time. if I reverse-engineer to a dual sided dogbone, that actually allows me a lot more flexibility but there is a reason CVD/universal are an optional upgrade on brands. I've been unable to find just the dogbone (the shaft) in the right size thinking I would just swap over my wheel/spindle ends. benchtop lathe? mill down the amazon axles inner hub bearing area to 10mm to work? I really want a 3d printer and a lathe, but that will probably land me and James in BIG trouble.

I began trying to find (through generic 1/10 4wd cvd search) an option which would allow me to run a universal both on the transmission side and the wheel side and a slip joint in the middle (like we do on our 2wd Ruckus), but the problem is that on our 2wd and most 2wd, the differential outputs are a "male" which the axle then uses a set screw with. on this truck and lots of others, the differential output is a cupped "female." so, I need to figure out what models out there are relatively still parts available so I can start looking through their manuals to try and swap the differential outputs (probably including the spider gears), the entire diff guts, or the entire diff and housing.

If anyone wants to contribute to this list of manuals I need to look up and explore, please do. Criteria: 1/10 electric 4WD, SCT or MT type size/style, relatively parts available in USA, hobbyist (why companies like HB Racing is left out, largely a full race company). I did not repeat different models within the same company because they largely interchange parts (example: Slash and Stampede). Bonus points if you know the model has external male differential drives (to save manual looking).

Traxxas Slash 4WD ultimate https://traxxas.com/products/models/electric/slash-4x4-ultimate?t=support
  • uses male differential outdrives
  • swapping entire diff may be a problem as diff bearings are 10x15x4 and 8x16x5 (ECX are both 10x15x4)
  • front diff housing looks reasonably close and is available as a preassembled unit, has provisions to mount lower contol arms and front shock tower

Aarma 1/10 Granite 4WD https://www.astramodel.cz/en/eview/ara102666-granite-3s-blx/chassis.html
  • uses a crazy parallel planetary gear setup like an automatic transmission
  • ring gear built into diff housing, splined male outdrives
  • everything proprietary nothing worth exploring

Team Associated Rival MT10 https://www.manualslib.com/manual/1852575/Associated-Electrics-Rival-Mt10.html?page=10#manual
  • uses male differential outdrives
  • entire diff assembly looks much closer to ECX including 4 planetary gear setup, similar sun gear shim, o rings for outdrives, 4 bolt main gear, diff gasket, 10x15x4 bearings. Ring gear is 37T versus ECX 39T
  • swapping housing would be a whole front end swap, diff casing very involved with mount points
  • 25810 diff rebuild kit looks IDENTICAL to ECX internals except sun gears 14T versus ECX 20T (and diff drives, obviously). 25807 gets all 3 diff cases - look close with slight differences
Redcat Blackout XTE Pro - https://dealer.redcatracing.com/manuals/BLACKOUTXTEMANUAL.pdf
  • almost all Redcat products use cup/female differential outdrives
Team Losi Racing TEN SCTE-3.0 Race - https://www.tlracing.com/ProdInfo/Files/TLR03008-Manual-MULTI.pdf
  • almost all Losi products use cup/female differential outdrive
  • LOSB3569 you'd be hard pressed to convince me that's not identical to the ECX diff internals
  • housing uses 12x18x4 end bearings, ring and pinion cut very different (helical)


edit: updated list with notes. elminated a lot of candidates from list due to parts availability or other factors (example: Axial makes almost exclusively crawler with solid axle setups, not applicable for our IFS application). ordered some Traxxas and Losi parts to compare in person.
 
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Well, there is hope. If I have to buy those stock axles because I have no other choice this thing is getting retired/sold. That’s not a long term solution for a 3 year old driving this. Neither is going back to front dogbones, what next put a carb on it?

Still a long ways to go with shimming, but here’s the money shot…4WD Ruckus diff sporting outboard diff drives and therefore a CVD/universal axle. No reason this couldn’t be done to the rear as well and run the indestructible axles I run on the 2WD. $40 each set, it would be appropriate for Roadkill Ruckus.

1575A8BB-532C-453B-874E-E31032031EC6.webp

I have a couple more options in the mail, but I think this is the most likely solution to work. It also eliminates one of the limiting factors of big power ECX 1/10 4WD builds…the diff guts. The little 6S Ruckus that could?
 

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So, Traxxas 6882X arrived and looked close enough in the bag I decided to give it a shot. They are the spider gears for a 4WD slash, which are also the male output diff drives (the ECX uses a female cup differential drive that is then pinned to the seperate sun gear. One benefit of buying those piles of new old stock brand new in bag ECX stock was having tons and tons of spare parts to measure/photo/fabricate with.

Some key differences: ECX planetary gear pins are 3x16mm and there are two of them for four gear setup (hence the recess cut in the center of the pin). Traxxas are 3x10mm and there is one pin for a two gear setup (like a 2WD ECX diff). Both planetary gears and sun gears have different teeth counts, sizes, and pitches, so they aren't interchangeable.

Some SUPER, SUPER important similarities. Both companies diff drives are 6mm in diameter and are relatively the same length. Both use 3mm diameter pins for the planetaries.

I first cleaned out the ECX housing and dropped the Traxxas guts in. You will need to re-use the ECX sun gear bearing and o-ring seal. The pin wasn't long enough to go to both sides of the ECX housing so I swapped in the ECX pin. At this point that allowed the two planetary gears to sit much wider than they did in the Traxxas housing, so it didn't maintain a good planetary to sun gear mesh and it just acted like an empty housing. I slowly started adding 0.5mm shims (I have 3x5x0.5 for the planetaries and 6x10x0.5) for the sun), disassemble, and reassemble. I ended up with 1.5mm of shim on each planetary and none on the sun gears and have what I would say is an acceptable gear mesh sound and 0.1mm end play at the outdrives when assembled. I threw some wheel bearing grease in there and am going to test run it and see what happens. On the bench, it functions appropriately.

The sun and planetary gears do not affect gear ratio, that's determined by the ring and pinion. Since I'm still using the ECX housing, that should still be the same front to rear. Those gears will, however, affect how power is applied in turns. For that reason, and just for general consistency, should this work I will be making a similar swap in the rear differential to the Traxxas spider gears and ditching the dogbones out back too for universal/CVD. This setup, because a double universal axle has a slip shaft in the middle, allow me to ditch my custom and very expensive front inner wheel bearing setup (10x15x3) that was necessitated by the whole aluminum steering knuckle fiasco.

Realistically, it's going to be a minute for me to get this in the car and update. For starters I need to wait for axles to get here.
 

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So, Traxxas 6882X arrived and looked close enough in the bag I decided to give it a shot. They are the spider gears for a 4WD slash, which are also the male output diff drives (the ECX uses a female cup differential drive that is then pinned to the seperate sun gear. One benefit of buying those piles of new old stock brand new in bag ECX stock was having tons and tons of spare parts to measure/photo/fabricate with.

Some key differences: ECX planetary gear pins are 3x16mm and there are two of them for four gear setup (hence the recess cut in the center of the pin). Traxxas are 3x10mm and there is one pin for a two gear setup (like a 2WD ECX diff). Both planetary gears and sun gears have different teeth counts, sizes, and pitches, so they aren't interchangeable.

Some SUPER, SUPER important similarities. Both companies diff drives are 6mm in diameter and are relatively the same length. Both use 3mm diameter pins for the planetaries.

I first cleaned out the ECX housing and dropped the Traxxas guts in. You will need to re-use the ECX sun gear bearing and o-ring seal. The pin wasn't long enough to go to both sides of the ECX housing so I swapped in the ECX pin. At this point that allowed the two planetary gears to sit much wider than they did in the Traxxas housing, so it didn't maintain a good planetary to sun gear mesh and it just acted like an empty housing. I slowly started adding 0.5mm shims (I have 3x5x0.5 for the planetaries and 6x10x0.5) for the sun), disassemble, and reassemble. I ended up with 1.5mm of shim on each planetary and none on the sun gears and have what I would say is an acceptable gear mesh sound and 0.1mm end play at the outdrives when assembled. I threw some wheel bearing grease in there and am going to test run it and see what happens. On the bench, it functions appropriately.

The sun and planetary gears do not affect gear ratio, that's determined by the ring and pinion. Since I'm still using the ECX housing, that should still be the same front to rear. Those gears will, however, affect how power is applied in turns. For that reason, and just for general consistency, should this work I will be making a similar swap in the rear differential to the Traxxas spider gears and ditching the dogbones out back too for universal/CVD. This setup, because a double universal axle has a slip shaft in the middle, allow me to ditch my custom and very expensive front inner wheel bearing setup (10x15x3) that was necessitated by the whole aluminum steering knuckle fiasco.

Realistically, it's going to be a minute for me to get this in the car and update. For starters I need to wait for axles to get here.
The XO-1 uses diffs like the Slash 4wd but it uses 4 spider gears instead of 2, if you want an option for 4 spider gears.
 

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