210 Rear tower snapping, repeatedly

[mattr]

Right, just spent some time poking round today, having a think and so on.

Apologise in advance for the length of post........

Noticed that there are a lot of people snapping towers and only a two or three solutions kicking around, namely, stronger towers (Cream, Atomic etc), a high wing mod to protect the tower and using spacers between tower and gearbox housing to allow some flex. (or, of course not crashing )

Another one mentioned on another thread was cutting the back of the motor plate away in line with the cover mounting lug. I had a think about this one, and had a good look, and in itself, this won't do anything (as there is clearance between the tower and the motor plate, so nothing for it to catch or jam on as it waggles backwards and forwards).
But, i did notice, on my two drive old rear tower (from Cream), that there is a witness mark where the actual lug has touched and some chipping/crushing of the top layer of CF, despite having a set of 1mm spacers to offset from the g/box housing. Additionally there is what looks like the beginnings of a crack running from the impact point in a 45 degree line towards the top/middle of the car, across that side of the tower. From memory, its *almost* always been the left arm (75% of the time?) that has snapped off (only run it in MM).
Has anyone else noticed any sort of a trend in cracks? i.e. always left hand in MM and always right hand in RM?
FWIW there is no clearance worth speaking of when you have no spacers and/or the stock tower.
Cos i reckon that lug is acting as a point load into the tower and causing it to fail prematurely, instead of flexing.

I've tried a set of 2mm spacers now, and it *looks* as if there will be clearance to the lug, allowing the tower to flex evenly (left and right) with no restriction.

Does anyone think it's worth trying to mod a plate, remove the lug and just taping the spur cover into place at the top?

Actually, i've just answered that question, i've just got a spare plate, i'll wait until i snap the next tower and try it. Unless the 2mm offset works......

[AfroP]

RDRP are going to be releasing a set of alloy front and rear shock towers that look the mutts as well as looking quite tough

Not sure when exactly these will be out but you can see a pic here
http://www.redrc.net/2012/01/rdrp-dex210-option-parts/

there are some pretty swish looking metal towers on the pulse RC website to showcase the shell they do
http://www.pulserc.de/dex210-body-available/

not sure if these are the RDRP ones or something different but i want some

[Darren Boyle]

Originally Posted by AfroP

RDRP are going to be releasing a set of alloy front and rear shock towers that look the mutts as well as looking quite tough

Not sure when exactly these will be out but you can see a pic here
http://www.redrc.net/2012/01/rdrp-dex210-option-parts/

there are some pretty swish looking metal towers on the pulse RC website to showcase the shell they do
http://www.pulserc.de/dex210-body-available/

not sure if these are the RDRP ones or something different but i want some

The towers on the Pulse R/C site are the RDRP ones

[AfroP]

Originally Posted by Darren Boyle

The towers on the Pulse R/C site are the RDRP ones

Any idea when they'll be out?

[mattr]

As always, the only concern with aluminium parts is if the gearbox housing will turn into the weakest link?

Going from stock to CF takes the repair from a regular event, to an occasional tower swap which takes less than 10 minutes and virtually no risk of dropping/losing bits/getting dirt in the gearbox housing.

Going to an (essentially) flex free aluminium tower........... whats that going to do to the gearbox housing? And how long does it take to swap the housing? A while.

(And as with all the RDRP stuff, when are we actually going to see it?)

I daresay i'll end up with one tho

[morpheus2010]

You can't go far wrong investing in Cream Front and rear Towers

see The Cream kit for the DEX210

They will take some hammer without breaking or busting the gearbox. Just don't over tighten the mounting screws as it will create stress points.

I've given my DEX210 some punishment with cartwheels at speed and on occasion hit some trackside kerbing on a roll Busted wishbones and front carriers but the Cream CF mounts took it without a problem.

[Darren Boyle]

If its carbon you are after, you can of course also go for the Exotek Racing or Team SR versions, spoilt for choice.

The RDRP ones are due in the next 4 weeks to compliment the rest of the items that are already out from them.....

[Origineelreclamebord]

I haven't (yet) got DEX210 driving experience under my belt... but I think you'll just have to deal with it: either the stock towers or carbon plate ones.

You may also want to contact Durango about it: The more they hear the rear tower needs reinforcement, the sooner they may feel the need to come with a v2 shock tower.

As for the alu towers... They're heavier than the plastic ones, making the CoG higher, aluminium is soft, so instead of breaking it will scratch and wear on the top ends and it may well bend, and I seriously doubt aluminium towers to be anything stronger than plastic ones (unless you use excessive amounts of material).

And lastly, if the motor plate is indeed hitting the tower when flexing this could interfere the flex (or at least the length of material that can flex under the same load), massively increasig stresses. It is probably worth a shot

[graveltrap]

I modified the motor plate by removing material from the lug, I went from breaking a tower every half hour to a kit one lasting 3 months...

Fitted the Tresrey motor plate and didn't remove any material from the lug as clearance looked enough, but broke the tower 2 weeks later!

I did have a 4.8mm carbon tower on the car for 6 months or more. It it eventually failed in the usual place!!

[jonathan may]

Im thinking of going back to a 210 got rid of it because i kept bracking shock towers. Got a sv2 at the moment but cant get on with it. My old 210 was much better just dont want to be let down by breacking shock towers again . i had a cream tower and a atomic carbon rear shock tower and broke them both .

[Si Coe]

The trick I found that seemed to work best was to change to a rear mounted shock position. You need to reverse the wishbones, and then play around with the inserts etc to get the right toe-in and wheelbase as its slightly different but the results seem good. Oh and you need to cut slots out of the wing for the shocks.
I think that mounting the shocks on the other side works because it changes the way the tower flexes so that it doesn't rub anymore.
Admittedly at the same time I converted I also fitted a Tresrey motor plate (more clearance) and a Cream tower so the lack of breakages could be those instead.....

[jasond43]

that could just be your driving johnny lol

[DangerCow]

I am a champion single-car crasher, and I spaced the tower away from the motor mount with 1mm spacers (as per some recommendation on the Oople site), and have yet to break a tower. Seriously, my 210 tumbles All The Time! I've only broken a front steering knuckle (which I had on hand on a new tree), and that's it. The 210 is tough, I crash the crap outta it - just bought a 410 - we'll see how tough it is!

The 210 rear shock tower problem must be an engineering error, only way to explain, there should be an update to the manual.

[Origineelreclamebord]

Originally Posted by DangerCow

The 210 rear shock tower problem must be an engineering error, only way to explain, there should be an update to the manual.

These things happen - even with so much development, on the final car it is bound to have a few trouble spots here and there (especially as the final DEX210 seems to have quite a different construction to the protos)... Some things just can't be spotted in the CAD model (which are 'easily' filtered out by building a 3D printed or machined pre-production car), and some even take testing of the actual injection moulded parts to find out, like in this case.

By that time it's hard changing anything about it: In this case to solve the problem properly, it would've meant changing one or more parts, and one or more moulds... And that's if they found out anyway with pro drivers testing it (I assume they don't crash as much as the average racer)

That said, with this car on sale for about a year or so now, I think it'll be about time for TD to anounce the solution(s) on their website.

[mattr]

Just a few points.

I've been using Cream towers for about 5 months, i'm on my third. Compared to the 5 or 6 stock towers i used prior to that. In 3 months. My experience tells me that it's not a material issue. Its a clearance one. The change to CF just masks it, or at least, delays the failure.

A rear mounted shock is a hell of a lot of work compared to filling off the lug (which i think i'll try sometime soon) and modifying a spur cover. Also its not generally the big landings that cause the failure so much as the crash landings, roof down, which rear mounted shocks won't fix, as the tower will still be the highest point, and most snaggable. (tho i have had one fail after a rather awkward and large landing, wheels down, well, one wheel down first............)

The 410 has a similar, but less pronounced issue, the front and rear bulkheads give way in the event of a *big* smash (mainly the front). Going to CF towers (from aluminium) should make it less likely as the CF has some spring, but it doesn't happen often enough to make any sort of judgement. Its far less common in my experience. i.e. i only have one set of spares, the 210 i have "more" ;o)

As for engineering error, if the team drivers don't fail it, a design team as small as TD have are unlikely to spot something relating to extremes of deformation due to crash loads. There is only so much resource they have.

Other thing to try is a high wing mod, once RDRP (or others) launch the parts!

[kartstuffer]

if you look at the tolerance between the tower and the engine plate i think you will find that this is where they break.
Dremel a little away from the engine mount around where the the spur cover screws in, to give a little more room for the tower to flex in the event of a big roll or hit etc.
This should do the job.
Ivan

[kartstuffer]

Should have read the earlier posts first lol.

[Si Coe]

The advantage of the rear shock setup is that the shocks themselves don't dig in when you flip. Front mounted the screws catch in the astro and put all of the impact force through the tower as a twisting action.