Why are the axles so short LST2

[shanet1975]

I am having one heck of a time with my axles. I lost my front wheel drive and am now trying to set the cups so the axle dogbone stays in. BUt even when the cup is as far toward the dogbone as I can make it, the axle still slips out. Is there a reason they are so short? There is plenty of room for it to be about an inch longer....?
Any advice???
Thanks for your time...

 

[shanet1975]

Well looks as though my dog bone and cup are warn. Didn't take long. Still seems the dogbone should go much farther down the cup though...

 

[neobart]

They sit so shallow to let the transmission slip out easily. If they fall out during running something is tweaked or worn.

 

[olds97_lss]

Check your diff collars. When the collars crack, they allow the diff to rotate and the axle falls out. It doesn't take much movement of the diff for this problem.

Check you chassis rails. When the chassis rails crack, it allows the chassis to bend and the axles fall out.

I've run 8+ gallons through my aftershock and only had an axle pop out once... I snapped the chassis rails clean off and pretty much folded the upper deck like a taco.

I'm still running the original center axles/cups and they show minimal wear. 4 of those gallons was with an LRP28, so the axles have seen their fair share of punishment.

I now avoid the chassis rail issue by having a center->front aluminum skid. Now I have to shear the heads off of 4 3mm bolts for it to flex. I've been bashing the snot of it all summer without a single chassis rail problem. I also installed a HCR titanium chassis plate. Got it at a real steal and since I folded mine, I needed a new one anyway.

 

[shanet1975]

Thanks for the replies. Looks as though the cup is worn and the dogbone is worn. Parts should be here today. Also noticed the engine mount under the chassis was cracked off. I ordered another one of those as it was only six bucks, and will order an aftermarket one later as I have read these break often.

 

[alpinehyperlite]

are you talking about the drive shafts, or the axles?

 

[shanet1975]

The center cv axles. I think that's what they are called. The ones that go into the tranny. All seems well after I installed the new parts.

 

[olds97_lss]

will order an aftermarket one later as I have read these break often.

That they do. I bought dynamites. It was a bit more pricey, but I feel that they make pretty good stuff out of fairly good aluminum. Almost anything is stronger than the stock cast one.

I tried drilling mine out and going with 3mm screws (as I converted the rest of my truck to) and there wasn't enough material. I ended up just putting longer bolts in the ones that mount from the top and putting lock nuts on them. They always seemed to rattle loose anyway, but not anymore!

 

[shanet1975]

Thank you. Will try the du=ynamite one when this one breaks again. Well the new cup abd axle didn't do the trick. I noticed that my front diff rotates up and down quite a bit more than the rear. This is causing the axle to bind and come out of the cup. I'll have to take the front end apart later on today and see if I can't see what the issue is. Anyone have a similar issue that they can share with me and tell me what to look for? Is there a piece that holds the diff from rotating?
Thanks again...

 

[olds97_lss]

Yes. There is... I mentioned it earlier:

Check your diff collars. When the collars crack, they allow the diff to rotate and the axle falls out. It doesn't take much movement of the diff for this problem.

These work well and shipping is cheap:
http://www.liquidrc.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=37714

Although, I have yet to break a stock one. My buddy busted 2 or 3 on his LST2. I'm not sure what driving style makes them more prone to break, but my guess is, yours is broke. After my buddy upgraded to the ones above, he didn't break another.

 

[shanet1975]

That's it!!! That little ring piece is snapped. I'll order one of those aluminum ones. I'll do the back one at the same time just in case. Have to order another axle and cup as the ones I just put in are ruined already from coming out.....Any other pieces prone to breaking I should consider looking into??
Thanks for the link.....

 

[olds97_lss]

You have an LST2 right? I'd pick up at least one spare set of arms. Or, if your a basher and you have the money, convert to RPM arms with lunsford upper turnbuckles. Maybe a spare set of spur gears if your new to the hobby and don't have meshing down yet.

 

[shanet1975]

Bought it used and it has aluminum arms. Wouldn't have been how I did it, but they seem ok. I have the stocks for spares. Extra gears sounds like a good idea. That site had everything except the cups. Have to find somewhere that has everything. My lhs has the stock gear box support. Would it be worth trying another stock one out? Or just order the aluminum one? Not sure how it broke, wasn't doing anything crazy with it...

Sorry. Yes, it's an lst2

 

[olds97_lss]

http://www.horizonhobby.com/ has everything... liquid is just cheaper for what they do have.

 

[shanet1975]

They have everything but the aluminum gearbox holder...
I just found a plce that had everything but the cups. They don't seem to be too wron. I'll try and see what happens....

 

[olds97_lss]

Sorry, meant to say they have everything that is stock.

Liquid carries a lot of hot racing aftermarket aluminum as well as quite a bit of stock in OEM parts. I've noticed though, a lot of them are for the LST1 series.

 

[shanet1975]

I really appreciate all of the help. These forums are always a lifesaver as there is always someone with more knowledge out there. Just want to get it back together ASAP