12mm wheel... in-line steering conversion!
Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2016 2:52 pm
finally got to it and converted my t2, but this should work for any truck, hpi blitz hubs, t5m axles (part # asc71013) some generic clamping hexes, 2.5mm home made bearing crush spacers, and aluminum washers i had that fit the 5mm axles, in hindsight, much wider clamping hubs are needed for the rim to clear the rod end.. i made 4 spacers out of some aluminum tube i used to make links for a clodbuster, i drilled it to about 5mm and used a tubing cutter, than filed to fit... you could just get a bunch of 5mm shims that are used to space nitro clutchbells in a pinch and would be faster to set up...one spacer between the bearings, one on the outside of the axle, than i used these convex washers i had to add about another 2mm, so if you want straight hexes, 12 to 14mm wide is the magic number
i went with the pinned axle because i couldnt find a measurement for the all in one axle offset, i figured i could shim the hex until the rim cleared the rod end. theres no pin to hold my hexes as the axle doesnt align, the clamp holds tight, and the crush spacers prevent the bearings from deforming, i can safely crank down the wheel nut TIGHT, with no issue of the axle spinning in the hex...and i have super free spinning front wheels...
lightly trim the c-hubs to fit the arm, drill out for hinge pin, space the hex... done.... the big bonus to the blitz hubs is the axle is inline and when you space the knuckle with the included spacers, to the fully down position, the axle geometry is (by eyeballing) nearly identical to the stock position, unlike the sc10 conversion that just throws off the front end, if your really creative im sure you can offset drill the hingepin hole for different caster numbers...
i used a combination of rod ends and ball ends to clear the camber and steering turnbuckles, and random mismatched tierods that i had .... drives nice, no bumpsteer... only negative is camber link location, lots of camber gain through the travel, but im sure with some tinkering and a lower, shorter link hole on the hub could be a tuning option, but im happy as is... drives nice! and no worry about tire/wheel selection at the track...
i went with the pinned axle because i couldnt find a measurement for the all in one axle offset, i figured i could shim the hex until the rim cleared the rod end. theres no pin to hold my hexes as the axle doesnt align, the clamp holds tight, and the crush spacers prevent the bearings from deforming, i can safely crank down the wheel nut TIGHT, with no issue of the axle spinning in the hex...and i have super free spinning front wheels...
lightly trim the c-hubs to fit the arm, drill out for hinge pin, space the hex... done.... the big bonus to the blitz hubs is the axle is inline and when you space the knuckle with the included spacers, to the fully down position, the axle geometry is (by eyeballing) nearly identical to the stock position, unlike the sc10 conversion that just throws off the front end, if your really creative im sure you can offset drill the hingepin hole for different caster numbers...
i used a combination of rod ends and ball ends to clear the camber and steering turnbuckles, and random mismatched tierods that i had .... drives nice, no bumpsteer... only negative is camber link location, lots of camber gain through the travel, but im sure with some tinkering and a lower, shorter link hole on the hub could be a tuning option, but im happy as is... drives nice! and no worry about tire/wheel selection at the track...