Looks like they mount the same way. Slide the hex on the axle, slip the pin in the hole, tighten the grub screw inside the axle.

Yep, that is exactly how they go on. They mount the exact same way the Pro Line's do. W/ the Dace hubs... I have no doubt that they are great, but the fact that they go over a 14mm hex is of not any use to me really. They would have been when I was running Emaxx's though, but back then I didn't use 23mm hubs!

No, Pro-Line's do not mount like 1/8 scale hexes with a grub-screw through the axle end holding the cross-pin tightly in place...they have a groove in the back that fits over the cross-pin in the axle, then a 5mm lock-nut goes onto the axle-stub, tightening the hex against the criss pin...completely different than the 1/8 or CEN style.

I did a little work on the truck this morning. I shimmed my suspension to get rid of the slop. My battery boxes were great but for the larger lipos, I had to tuck the wires inside pretty tight in order to close the doors. I was afraid that bending the wires to much numerous times would damage them in the long run so I made an opening on the doors to let the wires stick out without putting stress on them.

http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...ery_doors1.jpg

For the people who have been running LSTs for a while, I noticed that the shock towers have a lot of flex. Should I worry about that or just leave it like it is. I'm thinking a piece of 3 mm CF would reinforce the ends of the shock towers where the shocks caps are.

http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...ck_towers1.jpg

Just an idea of how my mind works sometimes. My wife is having her period so I'm thinking: ''Why not put wings on my chassis'' :oh: Yup! My mind works in mysterious ways. Here's what I'm thinking. The battery box brackets I made are working well but it's a lot of hardware that was added to the truck. In order to minimize the added weight, I thought of having wings on the upper chassis plate to reinforce the battery box ends with just small and simple aluminum angles to secure the box to the wings. I know it would work, I just don't feel like doing it right now. Maybe later in the summer if the brackets ever fail, which I don't think they will.

http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...ate_wings2.jpg http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...ate_wings3.jpg http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...ate_wings4.jpg

Nice project...you will like it on the track...

I've been running the same basic design since last year..... Truck also runs Losi 8T 2.0 towers and shocks. It will be running at the big AMS race starting tomm.....will be on LiveRC.com since they actually added an MT class. Should be awesome...... Time to see what she can do against Revo's..lol

http://www.rc-monster.com/forum/atta...4&d=1255703523

Look at me thinking I had an original idea with lipos on either side and a Traxxas tranny. :lol:

Good luck at the AMS and your LST really looks like a great racer. How do those shocks handle the weight of the LST?

Well since going with carbon fiber everything including carbon fiber 8T 2.0 shock towers and much lighter E-revo tranny the LST is about the same weight as a RTR 2.0T converted truggy. So running 40wt/35wt and its dialed. Not sure how dialed compared to the big boys at this event, but we will see what she can do.

For the aftershock,LST1 this is correct, for the LST2,XXL it is like the buggy axles where the pin goes through w/grub set screw due to a different design.

Yeah, I was pretty sure they went on with pins, cuz the ones I got on eBay didn't come with them, so I used the ones that were already on there from the rotten prolines that I replaced.

Also MC, I think a little slop in the shock mount is to prevent the shafts from snapping with every little bump. I reead somewhere that if you keep them a kiss loose, you'll be less apt to snapping shafts if you bump something.

I made the shock tower stiffener thingys to try them. They take some flex away but not all of it. Maybe like 60% less flex than before. I also went with M4 screws for the shock towers and shocks, it seems to be a popular thing on the LST forums and I like it. My yellow springs finally came in.

http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...ock_tower1.jpg http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...ock_tower2.jpg http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...ock_tower3.jpg http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...ock_tower4.jpg http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...ock_tower5.jpg http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...ock_tower6.jpg

I bought 5 sets of those RC Raven springs and they seem to be good. What I really liked about them was that they dont really require any of those ugly shock spacers like the stockers do - the price was REALLY nice - about 30 bucks or so for 5 complete sets.

To really stiffen the shock tower, you might also try putting a spreader bar across the backside of the shocks. It will help give a little more "I" value to the cross section.

Right now, I'm satisfied with having just a little flex. I'm afraid that if I make the towers too stiff, it might create breakage of other parts. The towers never broke or failed, it's just that the amount of flex they had was bugging me.

The brackets I made for the battery boxes are doing very well. I think I will go ahead with the making of the new chassis top plate with wings. It would make the whole chassis/batt box assembly a little cleaner with a bit less hardware. I just need to find the funding for another 9X14 CF sheet. If I can't then I might make it out of 6061 T6 alu since I have enough left to make a top plate. The rest of the truck is also doing very well except for the inner bearings of the rear knuckles. They are starting to seize so time for me to hit Avid RC for some new bearings. I made a thicker rear sway bar that is 3.1 mm in diameter. Good for racing I would say but a little stiff for bashing.

That's great news then Ray!

One of my clients works at a manufacuturing plant that builds all kinds of stuff from steel and aluminium. He was in my office one day, so I asked him if he could get me scraps. He said he could. so I showed him what thickness I was looking for (2.5-4mm) and that I preferred 7075. So yesterday he walks into my office, hands me an 8"x48" sheet, and left! I was with a client, so I didn't get to ask him what kind it was. Plus, I didn't want to appear to be ungrateful.

So, is there any way of knowing? It's as thick as a stock Losi chassis. It has a shiney, dull mirror or almost chrome look to it, and the entire sheet has some flex, but is pretty stiff. I bet that smaller pieces would be nearly unbendable. How lucky is that?!

Advice?

Call and ask him, heh!

Yeah, I'm gonna have to. I didn't figure there was a way to know what it was visually. It's hard as a rock though! So I think it might be really good stuff.

So, Ray's shocks are the dual rate RC Raven ones then too? I was thinking of getting a couple sets of those myself. I'm not UNhappy with the stockers, but I'd like to get either shock covers, or diff color springs just for looks.

I had a bearing blow in my LST2 last week, and now something else is wrong with the truck. I've tore both HD diff's apart AND the tranny and found nothing! But when I drive it, I get a clicking sound like it's a blown gear... but there aren't any. So.. I'm not sure if that is a bearing going bad somewhere, or what. I can't seem to duplicate it while it's upside down, or manually spinning the tires myself. It only happens when the car is on the ground driving. Maybe I don't need to be concerned, but it bothers me that a strange sound is present that wasn't there before. I just can't find the source!

It might be something else but it sounds like a pinion has broken a tooth or two in one of the diffs. It's hard to see sometimes. You have to open the diff cases and clean the ring gear and pinion and inspect thoroughly. Use a magnifying glass if you have to.

I tore a tranny apart and rebuilt it once because of a noise. I put it back in the truck and still had the same darn noise. It turns out it was a rock stuck in the spur gear, and I rebuilt my tranny for nothing.

Start with the small easy to get at stuff before you dismantle your whole truck!

I'm pretty sure my diff gears aren't blown. I inspected them pretty closely. Usually it's the output pinion that has broken teeth. But when I didn't see any, I inspected the gears inside the cups. Nothing! I even took the rear diff apart twice! I'll look for rocks next. Beyod that, I may swap diffs as well as carriers with stockers to see if it goes away.

Swapped my rear diff for a brand new diff, and no more clicking noise!! So I took a third look at my old diff and found it wasn't from broken teeth... But a section of three or four slightly stripped teeth! They had meat on them (but were clearly flatter at a certain angle) then the others. So even though there was a mesh, it was causing slip under torque.

Smooth as silk now though!

does anybody know if the rc raven springs will fit integy LST shocks?

I made the top chassis plate with wings. I like it. I wish it was CF but I didn't have any left so it is aluminum. It is 42 grams heavier than the stock plate. I thought I had bad bearings on the truck. It wasn't the bearings, it was two CVDs with cracked and broken parts.

http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...ate_wings5.jpg http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...ate_wings6.jpg http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...ate_wings7.jpg http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...ate_wings8.jpg http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...ate_wings9.jpg http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...te_wings10.jpg

No more brackets for the battery boxes, the top chassis plate and small aluminum angles is what holds the boxes real solid like.

Effing WOW! That is nothing short of amazing! Dude, I didn't think it could be done, but you have topped yourself yet again! Now, as soon as you get some more CF and remake it out of CF, I will probably just quit making parts because clearly you are the KING!

Nooooo! Hang on, how can he kill himself more than once? :lol:

That looks factory its so well done, beats the heck out of the actual factory conversion :yes:

Ray... Do you trace the template over the aluminum by hand, with that knife shown in the picture, then put it on your router? Do you use the same type of bit (Tungston) that you use for cutting your CF? I'm just asking if that router table method is the same for aluminum as it is for CF. Thanks!

Man... that truck is AMAZING now! I can't believe how great your new idea looks! The only thing about it that I don't understand at all, and quite possibly could never come close to duplicating, are the angle brackets. I have no clue how you made them!

So, you got this angle iron at Home Depot then? WHen you buy stuff like this, does it come in one long strip? Then did you have to drill the holes and bend it into shape? I can't believe you were able to make such precise bends with such a small amount of material?

I traced on the aluminum with a hobby knife and punched where the screw holes are with a centering punch. I used a print out of the drawing I made of the chassis, it is pretty accurate judging at how all the holes lined up with no problems.
Yes I used the router table with a Tungsten carbide bit, the same I use for CF. BUT with aluminum, the bit needs a lot of lubrication (I used a can of WD40) so that the aluminum doesn't heat up and gum up the bit. It was pain staking work to spray some lubricant and cut for half an inch then spray some more lubricant and cut another half inch. Sometimes I had to stop and clean the bit of the aluminum that was stuck in the teeth. It was very messy and the shards of aluminum left from the cuts were very sharp. I managed to finish the pieces but the router is not the best method to cut aluminum if you ask me.
If you have someone you know who can CNC machine it that is the best way. I think I can export the drawings I made in DXF or DWG files that can be used by a machinist. I never tried to have a CNC program read the exported drawings so I can't confirm if it would work. It might.
As for the aluminum angle, yes it was bought at Home Depot in a 36 or 48 inch strip. I make the cuts I need and make the bends using a big vise and a hammer. I do it carefully so that the alu doesn't crack too much.

Made a turnbuckle for the Muggy bellcranks. I used a Traxxas Revo turnbukle with Traxxas large ball cups. I had to cut the turnbuckle to the right length so I kept the end with the left handed threads and threaded regular right handed threads on the opposite. With a hole in the middle, it was easy to adjust it to the final length I wanted.

http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...ellcranks1.jpg

I remember reading somewhere about the turning radius of the LSTs being to wide. Running my LST, I don't really notice this lack of turning radius so I measured it. I put the truck parallel to the curb with the wheels touching it and with the wheels turned at full lock, slowly made a U turn and once the truck was parallel to the curb again at the end of my U turn, I made a mark at the front wheel. Then I measured from the curb to the mark and got 71''. So I'm asking the other LST users here, what's your turning radius?

I don't own an LST but my revo with the steering mod is around 64" which I guess could be considered alot if you drive both and can notice the difference--Josh

I reworked my rear motor support system with the other half of the HPI Flux motor mount I had left. The screw for tightening the clamp and the screw that goes through the bracket to support the motor are now on the same side and I think it looks better and cleaner. This system is working extremely well by the way.

You might notice that there's a little bit of a rough edge in the opening of the top chassis plate for the steering linkage. I had to grind a half a millimeter off to clear the linkage's ball cup. It was knocking on the side of the opening at full steering throw. I corrected the issue in my drawing and I also made the opening for the diff's output cup a little less deep so that there is more material left between that opening and the one for the steering linkage.

http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...r_support6.jpg http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...r_support5.jpg http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...r_support7.jpg

The more I play with this truck, the more I like it. The way it handles, the way it jumps, the power it has and how easy it is to work on. This thing should be named Permagrin.

AH -I never noticed that your steering linkage was on top. I scratched my head for a while trying to figure out why you had to make a clearance for it.

Nice work.

Today's damage :lol:

One broken wheel (it was cracked before so no big loss)

http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...ken_wheel1.jpg

And one pebble wedged in the wrong place. I was wondering why I lost steering all of a sudden.

http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...th_pebble1.jpg

So you lost steering but kept the throttle on and that's how you broke the wheel. And you call youself mistercrash, lol.

Not really, the wheel broke like that from hitting a rock on the construction site we were running on. I kept on going. The pebble incident happened some time later on the second set of lipos. :yes:

Hmmm... After a 40 minute run with my 3S 5800 mah lipos, the temps were lipos: 120 F, ESC: 135 F and motor: 200 F :oh:

I was not happy that my beloved NEU 1521 got up to 200 degrees. I am presently geared with a 54 tooth spur and a 23 tooth RCM pinion. I was running MT Crime Fighters which are a lot smaller then the Losi LST wheels and tires. I also noticed after the run that there was a rock wedged between the rear tranny output CVD and the chassis top plate. This might have contributed to something but I think that I'm still geared too low. I can't go smaller on the spur so I just ordered three new RCM pinions. 24, 25 and 26 tooth. I hope I can find the correct gearing with those. It was an extremely hot and humid day with no wind and I ran the truck very hard on sand and gravel jumping a 5 foot gravel hill that was dumped in an empty lot yesterday near my house. I ran non stop for the whole lipo cycle, maybe I should give this truck a break from time to time :lol:

40 minutes straight? hmm...

I tend to check temps fairly regulalylllyylyylyy, allowing a 10 minute cooling down break as required- I know some guys prefer to just run & run, but sometimes the truck doesnt :lol: