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3.3 rod broke again

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M

mckinney03

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lafayette oregon
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  1. Bashing
Ok so this is my 3rd 3.3 and all 3 have a split rod. 1st motor i ran a little hard well very hard and being new most likely lean too. 2nd motor after about 1/4 gallon had carb problems got that fixed it ran great. Didnt run 2nd motor as hard as first one and ran it rich enough.(i think it allways had good smoke) so now the 3rd motor. I babied this thingnever ran it wide open for more then a second and lots and lots of smoke. But for some reason they all have split rods. So the reason I'm posting this is what am i doing wrong????? I dont want to make the same mistake with my picco motori just got.
 
i have no idea the only time i splite a rod was the first time i rebuilt my 3.3 and put the piston in backward and it ran great and started to make a chattering and then the piston froze on the upstroke and the con rod splite on the wrist pin and went through the top of the piston.
 
check out R. D. mods. they have real good rod, have 1 in a engine, 1 in my tool box, i have 2 jatos only one with R.D. mods. go to a auto parts house and get permatex ultra slick engine assemble lube item#81950. for the engine parts. doesn't take much, just coat the parts. i have a 4 oz bottle have used only 1/4 of it on 3 engines. correction: should be R. B. mods
 
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Your picco will be fine, it's probably 10X the quality of the 3.3. A friend of mine just had his piston break during warm up idling, it had less then a gallon on it and traxxas told him tough luck??? They sure must make a killing with that engine exchange proscam, it's obvious there is a problem but if people are willing to pay anyways, then why not...
 
I too have split 2 rods on different occasions. the first after 1/2 gallon and one at about 1 1/2 gallons. The first I sent to traxxas and they replaced the rod, piston and sleeve (they was metal shavings in the chamber). the second was when I was resealing my engine and noticed the beginning to split, the piston and sleeve were fine. I replace this one at my cost. I've heard and and observed that the 3.3 rods are weak. They are grooved down the center to save weight but at the expense of strength. Also from what i've learned 3.3's have a really tight pinch which puts additional strain on the rod the first few gallons. Davis Diesel products also have a beefier 3.3 rod.

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXVHW4&P=ML
 
^^ That is a great con rod ^^ I put one in my T-Maxx 3.3 a couple years ago. I have since sold the Maxx and got a Savage. But the con rod I put in has been through 3 sets of pistons and sleeves and still going
 

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