Front hex improvement

[karg]

I and Carnivore got fed up with putting front wheel(s) and bearing(s) back after few jumps.

We engineered today some other way of fixing hexes than those always loosening C clips.

First version is now ready for testing. We'll let you know if that is working and then also the implementation details will be written here if no problems encountered.

[Timmahh]

coolio. always good to see what mods are being done!

[Carnivore]

Originally Posted by karg

We engineered today some other way of fixing hexes than those always loosening C clips.

Engineered??!? My take on that, is that we were just trying something on a rush of anger..

But back to the point.. I was earlier having an opinion that the front e-clip is good to keep as a sort of a fuse. Not anymore..

I have less than 10 tanks in my Baja and the front hexes are already good for nothing. (30$ a set from DDM..) At least they cannot hold the e-clips in place... I wonder if anybody in HPI thought that the clip is harder material than the hex? The clip cuts a chip off the shoulder every time it is violently removed.

The shoulders on my hexes are almost non-existent at the moment. (so are Karg's) So we decided to try something else since the hexes are already worthless for keeping clips in place.

Karg told me that he's going tomorrow to the sandpit we usually bash to test out our "configuration" and have few jumps. Hopefully landing Baja on it's one front wheel as many times as possible.

I forgot to take pics today of our "mod" so that's why the "secrecy". He'll take the pics tomorrow if our mod is any good. I'll be 2 days on the cruiseship with my best girl, so I can't be testing this with my baja too.

[craddock24]

I drilled and taped mine M5 and put in a allen head. Works great have had no issues yet. I beat mine like a red headed step child.

[karg]

Originally Posted by Carnivore

Engineered??!? My take on that, is that we were just trying something on a rush of anger..

We are engineers so we are engineering everything

It's again freezing out there so I have to wait for few hours before going to the sandpit.. no other reason but I just hate standing outside freezing myself.

[TurtleRacing]

I drilled & tapped mine for 3/8 button heads. I am still of the opinion that the clips are a good idea, but wanted to try this too.

[Lab-Ratt]

I'm with turtle. Gonna tap mine and put a button head bolt in aswell. Bit of locktite and the should be all set for some serious bashing....

[karg]

Our modification seemed to work fine. I'll try to put up some pictures of that when I'm over with this hang-over..

I was punishing the Baja hardly and the front wheels just stayed in place. Well, both rear shocks are now wasted, but I got them already replaced.

[SweZ]

my darksoul front extenders have this problem, any small knock and front tyre/rim goes walkabout and i usually lose 1 bearing and clip.

looking forward to this remedy....

[karg]

Uh.. finally some pictures of our modification.

Stuff needed for each side:

M4x35 bolt
4x20mm washer
4x8mm washer
M4 locknut

Tools:
Hacksaw
File
7mm bolt wrenches

Steps:

Remove the e-clip shoulder from the hex. We used hacksaw and file:







While the bolt doesn't fit too well inside the steering knuckle, file the bolt head:





Put the bolt from the rear side of the hex and use the 4x20mm washer to keep the bearing in place and also add some protection to it:



Then secure the bolt with the locknut and use the 4x8mm washer under the locknut to allow some tightening:



That's it. This configuration has now been tested 2 times by me and 1 times by Carnivore. No issues with the front wheels so far.

[Carnivore]

Yep, damage assessment is still in works after our last bashing, but for once I didn't lose a front wheel e-clip or a bearing So this mod seems to be holding up nice.

I lost both my rear tires and foams (they exploded) and my baja doesn't like turn to the right anymore.. But that's somewhat normal after an hour of totally relentless driving in a sand pit.

[karg]

This modification is really durable. No issues at all with front wheels or bearings! Shocks and turn buckles bend/break now and then but the wheels just stay on place

I also broke one lower arm last time but I still like the fact that the front wheels/bearings don't fall off when bashing in some sandpit. I didn't even have to carry the Baja away because I could attach the lower ball back to the arm.

[bosco500]

Great mod, thanks

[Carnivore]

Now tested some 8 tanks. I've broke lots of stuff after I did this mod, but never lost a wheel or bearing since.

Simple, cheap and working.

Best place to try (IMO) this mod is when your front hexes are in such conditon that the e-clip just won't stay in place anymore. Then you have two choices, order new front hexes or try this (or something similar)

Here's posts on this forum where folks have made threads to hex and put a bolt on them. Basically the same thing. That works good too, of what I've heard. We did it this way since we don't have tools to make threads.

[Smokin Ripper]

Did you use a washer between the hex screw and bearing or does the hex head touch direct on to the bearing?

[Carnivore]

Originally Posted by Smokin Ripper

Did you use a washer between the hex screw and bearing or does the hex head touch direct on to the bearing?

All we did can be seen in Karg's pics. Only washer is 4x20mm which touches the hex.

[GeneralG]

Here is another variation to this mod that I did. I left the eclip ring on the hex in case I wanted to use a eclip at a later date.

http://www.hpibajaforum.com/forum/sh...ighlight=eclip

[Carnivore]

Originally Posted by Generalg40

Here is another variation to this mod that I did. I left the eclip ring on the hex in case I wanted to use a eclip at a later date.

http://www.hpibajaforum.com/forum/sh...ighlight=eclip

Yep, that's what I meant. Just as you said, you can go back to e-clips if you want to. I cannot see why anybody would do that though..

Mine and Karg's e-clip rings were worn out to the point that they couldn't hold the clip anymore. That's why we removed them altogether.

[Smokin Ripper]

Thanks guys

[karg]

LOL! This mod of ours seems to be the strongest part of our Bajas at the moment. It has been TOTALLY harmless and not a single issue with the front wheels since that mod. Well.. at some point I had to stimulate one front wheel bearing because it was locked up because of dirt and all but that's it.