Tomorrow I Race Again

[Basher67]

I have to say, the b6 is amazing with the kit setup right out of the box. I'm going to the track tonight for a few hours of practice. I want to make a good showing on sunday for my first race in the stock class. I was instantly running faster laps on tuesday than I do with my truck and the truck has a 5200kv motor. The B6 seems like it's glued to the turf. I couldn't believe how much corner speed I could get. On the turf, fresh tires had a little too much grip, but after a few laps, they break in and calm down a bit.

[Lonestar]

B6 is definetely the best car on the market now

Good luck racing!

[Basher67]

I found the dreaded weak spot of the B6 last night . Yes, that is my transmission case and no, I didn't really "wreck". I came off one of the table tops a little off to one side and one tire landed on one of the pvc pipes that go around the track. Theoretically, this kind of damage shouldn't happen since the car will bottom out before it puts this much stress on the cases. But if you only put the pressure on one tire, like landing hard on either rear wheel, it literally explodes the trans cases. Not breaks----explodes! My cases ended up in the five pieces you see here plus at least two more pieces that are still on the track somewhere. Now, this sucks, but s#!t happens and a set of trans cases are around $9, so no big deal right? Except they are backordered everywhere! A fellow racer, who happens to be the fastest guy out there, took pity on me and stripped down his spare car on the spot and gave me the cases out of it. Estimated time until more cases come in, is wednesday and the race is on sunday. Only 2 cases are on their way and another guy did the same thing as me last night. Associated needs to pick up the pace. A commonly broken part on the current most popular race buggy should not be in constant backorder.

[GoMachV]

Last time I asked AE Don about some parts it sounded like Thunder Tiger decides what, how many, and when they get their stuff. They just sit there waiting to see what they ship them.

[Basher67]

I'm surprised that no one offers aluminum cases for this car. I could only find ones for the B5M.

[GoMachV]

Might check for printed options. I know there were some neat split cases being made for easy diff removal (although probably not as easy as your 7 piece case )

[Basher67]

very funny. Yeah, I did see the one you're talking about, but I thought $40 was too much. Breaking a $9 part is no big deal. Breaking a $40 part would raise my blood pressure. Amain had them in stock, so I ordered 2. I like to give my lhs my business, but they need to keep a little better stock of parts on hand. Especially since all but one driver is running a B6.

[GoMachV]

Oh yeah I didn’t think about the cost. Knowing they are weaker and 5x the cost is a dealbreaker for sure. Glad you got some coming.

[Basher67]

I just need to start building up a spare parts collection so I'm not relying on what the shop has in stock at any given time.

[jwscab]

OK, I have an idea for you to help reinforce that area. Grab some rod ends that can have a screw pass through, 4 of them. You will also need some spacers, maybe half inch long? and some tie rods/turnbuckles, make up some links with the rod ends.

use an unused hole position for the rear shock, and add a long screw, the spacer, and a rod end through. Tie this to the open hole where the sway bar mount is. you will have to juggle the spacer and rod length to make sure it all fits.

if there isn't enough room using an unused shock hole, drill another in the tower somewhere. This will help tie in the shock tower to the chassis.

the design sucks to have the tower mount integral to the gear box without some more reinforcement, the gear case is pretty darn thin. remember you saw this mod here first.

a link to 11mm spacers, you will have to find what works best, but for an idea of what I am talking about:
https://www.amainhobbies.com/synergy-3x5x11.6mm-spacers-2-syn-109-311/p707364

[Basher67]

I like the idea. My only issue would be the added weight. The weight would be high and to the rear----exactly the opposite of what is gained by going to a mid motor car with a laydown trans. I'm sure I have everything I need to try it out. When I get some time later today I'll put something together, and see what the added parts would weigh. Thanks for the tip!

[jwscab]

doesn't have to be brass. a couple of grams vs broken parts and DNF? I think I'd take it.

And hey, if it works, and other guys pick it up....call it the 'Joe mod'

[duckhead]

I found the dreaded weak spot of the B6 last night . Yes, that is my transmission case and no, I didn't really "wreck". I came off one of the table tops a little off to one side and one tire landed on one of the pvc pipes that go around the track. Theoretically, this kind of damage shouldn't happen since the car will bottom out before it puts this much stress on the cases. But if you only put the pressure on one tire, like landing hard on either rear wheel, it literally explodes the trans cases. Not breaks----explodes! My cases ended up in the five pieces you see here plus at least two more pieces that are still on the track somewhere. Now, this sucks, but s#!t happens and a set of trans cases are around $9, so no big deal right? Except they are backordered everywhere! A fellow racer, who happens to be the fastest guy out there, took pity on me and stripped down his spare car on the spot and gave me the cases out of it. Estimated time until more cases come in, is wednesday and the race is on sunday. Only 2 cases are on their way and another guy did the same thing as me last night. Associated needs to pick up the pace. A commonly broken part on the current most popular race buggy should not be in constant backorder.

That stinks

There was an issue with early run transmission cases on the B64D, but honestly this is the first time I've heard of a cracked B6 case. Only thing I can think of is maybe over-tightening of some of the transmission mounting screws put a weird torsional load on it but more than likely it is just a freak thing.

And yes, part sourcing on AE stuff has been a HUGE issue and lead me to stock more parts than I care to, just in case.

If it truly is Thunder Tiger holding back, that is completely silly, they are leaving a lot of money on the table and in a lot of cases making people leave the brand. Not to mention the whole "lost/stolen injection molds" delaying parts last year. Add to that the buzz surrounding updates to the B6 (B6.1 possibly), only to be met with a lackluster RC28 at Christmas, and now the "parts in" DB10 crap.

TLR, Yokomo, and Xray are all tapping into that market share, which is scary and frustrating in its own right...

->Mark

[Basher67]

I would be thinking the same thing about over tightening the case screws and causing unnecessary stress if I hadn't built it myself. I'm confident that wasn't the case. I know exactly why it failed. After fixing it, I looked over the car to see what force caused the damage. Our track has pvc pipe ( I believe 6") around the edges of the track. When I landed coming off one of the big jumps, one rear tire was above that pipe and all the force on one side of the shock tower, broke it off sideways. This is not necessarily common to the B6, but it is common to B6's on the track where I race. Normally under a hard landing, the chassis will bottom out before the shocks do, so this damage would never occur, but A big enough hit on only one rear tire turns the shock tower into a big lever which snaps off the top of the trans case. Even though the cases aren't that thick, they have a decent amount of bracing front to rear, just not enough on the sides to withstand that kind of pressure. The real fix here, is for me to keep it inside the track where it belongs! Crappy driving will test the durability of the strongest of parts.

[Timmahhh]

I'm confident that wasn't the case.

Nice pun! haha

Im hoping durability doesn't become an issue on the B6. Parts availability is only an issue if I need parts. haha... I typically race on a small track and drive fairly conservatively, so I'd guess I broke something once per 10 race days on my B4. If the B6 is equal or better, I can deal with that.