
Reflex Racing
Houston, TX, USA
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How To: Make "Blade-type"
Universals for your Mini-Z AWD
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This short little tutorial comes to us via
Peter Chan, from Toronto, Canada. Peter figured
out a way to bring new life to your worn out differential
outdrives (especially aluminum ones), while at
the same time improving efficiency and durability
in your drivetrain.
"Blades" as they were coined by Schumacher
RC about 10 or so years ago, are flat, half-moon
shaped attachments that snap over the dogbone
end of universals. The advantage of using blades
is that instead of a round pin making contact
with the outdrive (which is what wears it out)
you have a wider, flatter piece that turns the
driveshaft. The larger contact area distributes
the force from the rotation over a larger area
therefore decreasing wear on the outdrive. Blades
also have the effect of being a tightter fit in
the outdrive over the pin, which decreases slop
in the drive train as well.
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To complete this modification you will need
a couple of stock Kyosho Universals. The stock
universals can be broken down into 3 pieces; dogbone,
axle and pivot. We will be using the half-moon
shaped parts of the coupling on both the dog bone
part and the axle part. Take some flush cutters
or an X-ACTO knife and cut these pieces off the
axle and the dogbone. |
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Notice how we took the half-moon shaped part of the
coupling and we clip it into the dog bone end of the
universal. This is what is known as a "blade"
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The next step is to take you differential and carefully
grind or file away your irregular outdrives to make
them flat and wide enough to slide the blade in without
any trouble.
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Check the outdrive often and grind a little bit at
a time. You want the blade to slide in easily without
any effort, otherwise your drivetrain will bind. You
also don't want to grind away so much that it becomes
sloppy and negates the benefits of the blade set-up.
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You are done! Both your universals and diff outdrives
should last much longer now. Your car should also be
quieter and smoother as there won't be a pin or grabbing
the outdrive or slaping constantly against the outdrives
under braking and acceleration.
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Words by Peter Chan and Cristian Tabush
Pictures by Peter Chan
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