Gearbox - ripping the top off

JCJC · #1 26-01-2009

First time out yesterday with a secondhand D4, managed to catch something, must have pushed the front shock tower back, ripped the top of the gearbox off, new parts £11ish

Wondering how common this is going to be and if there are any quick and simple solutions to make this a bit stronger. Not a difficult part to change - but an £11ish shock tower would have been easier. Any thoughts ?

What other parts are good to keep in the kitbox.

mark christopher · #2 26-01-2009

front shock tower, gear box tops are prone to break under upside down impacts, after all its not designed to land that way up.

cary front and rear wishbones too and your bout sorted

JCJC · #3 26-01-2009

Cheers Mark, but no mods out there ?

I was liking our old ZX-5 system, shock tower mounted on a four legged stand, mounted onto the gearbox, 2years+ with the ZX-5 and original gearbox unbroken. Did do a few towers ........ I need to get my driver to keep it the right way up

Adam Skelding · #4 26-01-2009

Mods:
1. Turn you shock-screws round, so the button head faces forward. this stops the screw itself digging into the floor and tearing your tower back. With the button facing forward, you have a 'smoother impact face' which doesn;t tend to dig in as much.

Doubling up on towers is a bad idea: Normally means the tower won't break, but the gearbox top certainly will.

There's no real mods here apart from the top one. Make sure you glue the edges of the tower though, it will stop the tower de-laminating.

Scouser · #5 26-01-2009

The only problem I had with the front end of my D4 was the shock towers de-laminating from the countersunk holes. Since the towers now come non-countersunk, the problem was solved. The shock tower mounts did look to be vulnerable at first but i put my car through a ton of crashes and it never skipped a beat. Could just be that you were unlucky on that crash, odds are you wont break another one for years.

JCJC · #6 26-01-2009

Sounds good, thanks Adam & Scouser, I like the sound of turning the shock retaining screw, will slow changing position - but easy to get at, the outer holes on the front tower, are these used alot?

Driver really pleased with the car btw.

Adam Skelding · #7 26-01-2009

Slow at changing position, nope. Actually faster.
You only have to undo the nut, the ball stays intact on the shock

.

Outer holes. Not very often.

Chop off. Keep your spare with all holes on just in-case.

PTRU · #8 26-01-2009

JCJC
next time please come and see me I am sure I could of helped you.

jim76 · #9 26-01-2009

Glad Jordan likes the D4! As previously stated the gearbox tops aren't a common breakage. I broke one all last season and that was a particularly bad landing!

unfortunately the spares prices have gone up a touch recently due to exchange rates, but it's the same across all brands.

If i'm at the same meeting and you need bits in the summer give me a shout, I carry most of the essentials.

JCJC · #10 26-01-2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by PTRU

JCJC
next time please come and see me I am sure I could of helped you.

You know Phill, you are our guru - we know where you are - laters.......mick

Quote:

Originally Posted by jim76

Glad Jordan likes the D4! As previously stated the gearbox tops aren't a common breakage. I broke one all last season and that was a particularly bad landing!

If i'm at the same meeting and you need bits in the summer give me a shout, I carry most of the essentials.

If you ain't breaking them Jimboy then they must be tough,

look forward to seeing you next year - regards to your mate, see he's back

quincey · #11 26-01-2009

so far ive bust 2 front shock shafts and shock bottoms-this happens when you hit track guttering end on,3 front gearbox tops all from rollovers,2 diff gears-when you hit track markers these can break,2 front arms old style get the w/e versions there much stronger,and that's about it,its a strong car other than that.

BadgersOnAcid · #12 26-01-2009

My younger brother races a D4 at don valley and out of the last 4 or 5 meetings he has gone through 4 front wishbones, 1 front upper gearbox casing, 1 front suspension brace, 1 front upright, 1 front hub carrier, 1 front driveshaft, 1 outer suspension shaft and 2 inner suspension shafts.
Admitantly he is a novice driver but almost everytime he clips a corner and flips his car something breaks.
Dont think its all bad luck, just not a very crash friendly car

mark christopher · #13 26-01-2009

come on, he must be having right smacks to do that, i have had some monster crashes and not broke most of them.
maybe he should slow down or put a silver can motor in

Scouser · #14 26-01-2009

I found the D4 to be one of the strongest cars available. I had a massive amount of confidence in it and as a result I found I was faster. The strength of the car was tested on many occasions and as I mentioned before, it never missed a beat.
Bangersonacid, what motor and battery combo is your brother using? If you give a novice driver a fast brushless and Li-Po batteries, you are asking for breakages. Perhaps try fitting a 19t or brushless equivalent to see if the crashes stop.

BadgersOnAcid · #15 26-01-2009

Ok, he's running a lrp sphere, 6.5t vector and Matched EP4600's.
Before you laugh and say thats the problem

he makes fewer mistakes and is getting smoother and faster every time he races. But you can almost guarantee i have to get the spares out when the car flips over

BadgersOnAcid · #16 26-01-2009

Dont get me wrong now, this car has taken some serious side impacts at the end of the straights side on into the boards and bounced right back with no problems, its just when the car flips over that all the breakages occur

mark christopher · #17 26-01-2009

how does he break thses on a roll over?

1 front suspension brace, 1 front upright, 1 front hub carrier, 1 front driveshaft, 1 outer suspension shaft and 2 inner suspension shafts.

BadgersOnAcid · #18 26-01-2009

Cant remember the exact crashes Mark

but the front brace, inner suspension shaft and drive shaft bent when one of the front wishbones snapped after clipping a corner and flipping over. And the front upright, hub carrier and front wishbone broke bending the inner and outer suspension shaft in a very similar crash.

Scouser · #19 26-01-2009

You broke a front brace by clipping a corner? Wow, that is some crazy kerb you have at your track!!

I had the older D4 that had the 'weaker' wishbones and still only managed to break two of them in two seasons! Both breakages were very after heavy crashes and the wishbones were the only damage sustained.
All I would say is, if you swap from a D4 to any other brand, you will find the damage list will increase as IMO the D4 is one of, if not the strongest car available.

BadgersOnAcid · #20 26-01-2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scouser

All I would say is, if you swap from a D4 to any other brand, you will find the damage list will increase as IMO the D4 is one of, if not the strongest car available.

Good job he never bought the Cat Sx LiPo S1 i tried to persuade him to buy then hey