Freeze's Savage Flux "Frostbyte II" build thread

Part 3: Diff Rebuild and motor sealing



Seeing's how I have not heard back from HPI in regards to a possible replacement diff cup with the broken screw, I decided to just go ahead get get the parts I needed from the LHS and proceed forth. "Frostbyte I" originally had 100k diff oil which resulted in a very hill climbing machine and could power through just about anything. In hindsight, the 100k did decrease my steering and handling a fair amount so I wanted to go less then 100k but I still wanted to keep the wheels from unloading too easy in rough terrain and gain some handling and steering back. Decided just to come to the easiest conclusion and go for 50k in front and rear.



Again, the Team AE green slime is excellent for lubricating the diff seals to help reduce leaks and seal failure.





With the old, stock oil removed and our diff cup replaced, were ready to put in some fresh, bashing diff oil. FYI, only fill up to the top of the first axle shaft to allow for heat expansion and or prevent locking the diffs





Yep, were using the good green stuff on all the seals and lubricating the diff shafts as well so they slide on easy.





And after putting on some fresh bevel seals and screws with a LITTLE bit of blue loctite, our diffs are ready to go!





Brushless motors are incredible pieces of engineering, its amazing how little we have to maintain these things compared to brushed motors. To help extend the life of my new Flux Tork motor as well as reduce maintenance intervals, I'm gonna seal up the front endbells openings with some set screws. I asked Patrick del Castillo, president and principle Engineer of Castle Creations at the RCM forums about doing this last year. He stated that there should be no issues with sealing the endbell of the 2200kv motor up. Never hurts to double check when your dealing with a $200+ motor and asking the president of the company who designed the motor is about as good as you can get! Major Kudo's to Castle Creations for their help and support at RCM in dealing with customers questions and issues on a face to face basis.





These small set screw with a small amount of blue loctite will help keep the motor pretty much sealed and safe from the dust and debris during bash sessions, extending the life of the bearings and reduce cleaning/reoiling. Sounds like a winner to me!

Part 4: DeAnodizing and Steering upgrades


Because I once again have a blue/silver/white color theme for "Frostbyte II" just like the original, I decided it was a must to get rid of the stock, purple Savage anodizing. Luckily, thanks to practicing this on my 5T to get rid of its ugly orange, we can rid ourselves of the boring purple quick and easy!




Enter the easiest and fastest way to removing your ugly anodizing, Greased Lighting! About $8 at my local Lowe's.





A nice half hour dip in this stuff will quickly remove all traces of any anodizing on aluminum. Though this stuff doesn't smell very bad, it is fairly toxic so its best to do this outside and keep your animals from licking it.





After just a few minutes, you can easily see the anodizing being removed. It takes about half an hour and results in a slimy, gray layer on the aluminum that needs to be cleaned off with a sponge or rag. Some aluminum parts will need two baths to get rid of all the anodizing as well as any visual impurities.





After a few hours of soaking, cleaning, resoaking and wiping down, here's our result! Mucho better if you ask me! Some peeps actually polish and buff their aluminum parts like this to a mirror shine. I didn't feel the need or desire as its just gonna get dinged and scratched anyway. At least its not purple anymore.







Next on the agenda is upgrading servo saving spring. I'd heard since my first Flux last year that the stock spring isn't very good at protecting your servo unless you crank it down alot. After removing the stock spring, I can see why, its very easy to compress with the tips of your fingers. Were gonna solve that by putting in HPI's heavy duty spring. This sucker is alot beefier and stiffer! I highly recommend upgrading to it, even if you have the stock steering servo.





Now we need to reassemble the bulkheads and the steering assembly. During which, my next upgrade is to ditch the low end bushings in the steering columns and put in HPI's steering upgrade kit with bearings. I had also heard for awhile that these improve steering quit a bit. Lets find out......





Because im anal about such things, I gave each bearing a nice coating of light bearing oil and wiped off the excess





With the bearings in place, I gave the steering assembly a little try. All I can say is....DAYUUM!!! The difference is night and day compared to the bushings! The steering is so buttery smooth in comparison, its amazing the difference a few bearings can make! $15 well spent!





With the bulkheads reattached to our shiny, non purple aluminum parts, were done here!

Sidenote update: I had a few extra shims from the replacement diff cup I purchased, so I decided to go ahead and put these in the middle tranny shaft to reduce its side to side play. This will help reduce wear and tear on the stock gearing until I decide to replace them with HPI's light weight, machined gears.







Well, were making progress step by step! Now I'm waiting for USPS to bring me some more goodies so we can continue with "Frostbytes II" transformation , stay tuned!