Update October 31, 2005
New Gears and an MIP Ball Diff!
The Losi Mini-T has been updated slowly, lately...
After the sad incident with the ordered servo and gears that never came, we found a new original Losi servo from DSAW Hobbies and we've been happy ever after!
We managed to break the Tx antenna, and while I was trying to fit a new antenna, found in an electronics shop around here, I did some permanent damage to the original Tx! Next step was to replace the Tx with a Futaba 2PH, which I ordered from Tower Hobbies and arrived along with a couple of spare antennas and an Airtronics servo and servo saver, just in case!
I also ordered a Team Losi Speed Motor (as seen in the pics, below), from DSAW Hobbies.
Running the little car with a faster and torquier motor paid its toll on the gears! First the outside spur and pinion started to deteriorate, but you have to consider that almost 1000 batteries have ran through this poor little soul! At one time, after repeatedly trying a 1 meter jump, the front bulkhead broke in two! Fair enough! It was replaced with original Losi parts! I bought a spur/pinion set form Integy.
The MIP ball differential replaced the stock gear diff, since it had started... slipping! Remember, the car has been played around a 1000 times! Let's hope the MIP diff holds another 1000 charges!!!!!
When installing the MIP diff I stumbled upon a small problem: With everything back on the car, the rear suspension would not compress fully on the one side! Guess what? The nut on the end of the bolt holding the thrust balls, with its plastic cup would not allow the GPM dog bone move completely inside the diff half. Solution by Dremel: Flatten the end of the dogbone and everything works as it should!
Finally, the 3-Racing yellow ball cups with titanium rods started to... break! Jason is quite hard on parts, so I deciced to go back to the original tie rods, since they either pop off or just bend! They do not break!!!!! In the meantime we have also installed a GPM aluminum front shock stay. The original one broke off, of course! I have also bought a rear shock, made of graphite, but the original is too hard to die! Yet!
The wheels and tires have long been replaced by Team Losi's own street threads, since the off road tires were getting to slicks in no time! These tires have a rather soft compound, but still after countless (OK, not a 1000!) runs, still hold very well... Only problem is, they won't do wheelies as readily! Oh well...
Speaking of a thousand runs, all four 1100 NiMh batteries are taking at least 1200mah in every charge, and each lasts the best part of 20 minutes! Remember I have two "Team MAgic" 1100mAh packs and two G-Maxx 1100 mAh packs bought from DSAW and rcmart.com respectively. I do charge them at 2.0A with my Robitronic 2000 charger, which is of course suitable for NiMh batteries.
Click on each image to view the larger pic!
Back home!
