My Sledgehammer

[foxdude0486]

Had a mini-t for a while now, figured I'd find something bigger. This is what I came across just yesterday.

It had the original XL-1 in it with an HPI receiver (can't remember what kind, I'm at work. Think it was the RF-1. Came with a cheap remote. Had a Twister 17-turn motor in it with a 17 tooth pinion. Need to check the rear shocks since either some or all are bad (get "stuck" 3/4 of the way compressed)

Quick research told me that it was olllld, and parts hard to come by. Swapped the motor out with a 27 turn (I think it was trinity?) and a 15 tooth pinion. Kind of had to go by the tower hobbies store workers opinions since I'm still pretty new to all this.

 

[joe]

nice find!
:tmb

and welcome to the board.
:rock

 

[william g]

Welcome to RCMT :trk

Sledge looks to be in good shape. Nice find. It's one of the early versions, you can tell by the white chassis and parts.

 

[Rapko]

Hey welcome to RCMT! Nice sledge. They are wheelie machines and with the right motor/battery, they can zip around pretty good. Have fun with it.

 

[foxdude0486]

Thanks for the welcome guys. One thing I noticed when I swapped the 27 turn and 15 tooth in is that the pinion and bur don't seem to line up all the way around. They mesh good and when the pinion is 180* around they mesh loosely. Almost as if the shaft one the motor (it's brand new) or the bur shaft is bent slightly.

Might be related, but when giving heavy gas it seems like the truck bucks lightly (more audible than visual) as if the motor were lightly bogging/cuttingout. Any tips and tricks for a newbie would be welcome as well! I'll try to clean it up and get better pics, but the body itself has a lot of the paint peeling.

 

[joe]

hmm, the pinion and spur dont mesh all the way around?
ive never had that happen.
how does the spur attach to the tranny?
maybe thats bent, are not soinning true.
is there a bearing?

 

[foxdude0486]

I'll try to get pics or even a vid when I get home from work. I haven't opened up the tranny, but there's three gears that sit just outside the tranny box, the biggest of which connects to the pinion. Maybe mesh isn't the right word though... I'm thinking specifically the space in which the teeth have depth wise so that more surface touches when accelerating goes from deep (just before the tips touch bottom) to shallow (tips are the only thing touching). Pics to come later to better explain! lol

 

[Rapko]

so you didn't notice the mesh problem before you changed motors? That could mean the shaft on the motor is slightly bent. If you had the same problem with the other motor than maybe its whatever the spur gear is connected to. Maybe the spur gear itself.

 

[foxdude0486]

Can't say about the old motor. Didn't look at it and battery was dead when the guy gave it to me.

-edit: I'll unscrew and swap the old motor in (not re-soldering the connections though) just to line it up and see how it meshes with the new pinion. That should allow me to figure out which is causing the issue.

 

[foxdude0486]

Decided to get a naked pic for you guys.

The motor I got is a P2K2 Pro stock spec 27 turn motor. Now that I've actually looked it up I'd have probably re-thought it and gone with a modified motor lol... But it does well enough with this and the new 12 tooth pinion I put on it. I don't see any mesh issues with the new pinion after adjusting it.

To the right you can see the battery the guy gave with, red wire is ripped and exposed but works fine. The Venom 3000mah gives the motor a bit more power after testing both packs charged up.

Also found out the servo is a Futaba FP-S148 and is working strong.
All four rear shocks hit a hard spot 3/4 of the way compressed. Think I could get away with just two of the stampede's big bore aluminums? The fronts actually feel a bit soft to me after driving around and hitting some bumps so I adjusted them a bit.

Puts my rollout ratio to .503 with the 44 tooth spur, 12 tooth pinion and 3.75 trans gearing. Sound about right?
-Edit: Just had to say, this combo pulls the front off the ground from a stand still and still gets good speed for me at this point lol.. I'll be rather "crushing" with it then speed racing.

 

[Rapko]

That looks like its in really good shape being the first design of the sledge (I think its the first anyway) When I had mine I hated the body post springs. It made the body bounce all over the place which helps prevent body damage in a crash but it moved too much for my liking. I wrapped some electrical tape tightly around the spring part to stiffen it up a little. I never thought about it at the time but some replacement duratrax posts would work perfectly if it bothers you.

Are those tires hard as a rock? They look like old blackfoot tires. As for the battery wires, make sure you put some electrical tape over any exposed wires. You don't want to accidentally short them out on anything!


I think a pair of big bores would be plenty but you may need to use pede FRONT shocks. If I remember correctly those sledge shocks are a bit short.

 

[foxdude0486]

Your right on a number of those things! I do need to use the front shocks for both front and rear on this thing. It is indeed a 1st gen identified by the white body and gold pieces. I didn't even think of using tape to tighten that up! I may look into the replacement posts. The tires are pretty hard, but not as rock I'd think. I have a friend with a Black Foot so I can ask him about it.

Only reason I was hoping the big bores would not require a full set of 4 is that they are $25 a pair! lol $100 all around the truck if I did all 8.

The worst damage I can find on the thing is the rear between the shock posts it looks like there may be a stress line (where the plastic gets lighter in color) but not an actual split in the plastic. I haven't done to much magnifying glass looks to find any other deformities.

 

[Rapko]

Only reason I was hoping the big bores would not require a full set of 4 is that they are $25 a pair! lol $100 all around the truck if I did all 8.

I think the front plastic shocks would be good enough. If you're worried about popping caps, thet the aluminum caps. That'll save a ton of money right there.

The other thing the just came to me was the half shafts were a huge weak spot and broke all the time. If you look at the angle of the half shaft where it comes out of the gearbox and goes down the suspension arm, its quite an angle. If you could get some shocks that are slightly shorter than those sledge shocks, it would level out the suspension arms and reduce the sharp angle. That will help reduce wear and tear on the shafts. Or you could install a spacer of some sort on the inside of the shock to shorten them. Its worth looking into cause the sledge is a legacy model and getting parts for it are probably gonna be tough to find.

 

[foxdude0486]

Since you mentioned that. Not sure you can see it in that pic I took. One of them was replaced (with black parts from a newer model I think) And that one seems to slide out of the trans casing, but not when under load. Not sure if that's by design, or if there is a pin that is supposed to hold it in there?

 

[Rapko]

I think there is an e-clip that holds it in place from inside the gearbox...they're kind of a paint to change out. Either the e-clip is loose inside the gearbox or there isn't one in there. That might cause some internal damage if it moves around. Gears could strip if not taken care of. I have no idea what size the e clip is. traxxas may carry parts for it. They claim to still carry parts for some of their legacy models...not sure if the sledge will though, its been discontinued for a while now.

http://www.traxxas.com/products/electric/sledgehammer/trx_sledgehammer_partslist.htm



*****EDIT*****

I do see the black shaft you are talking about but thats not going in to the gearbox. The black part is towards the tire. You might be missing the axle pin on that rim. But you ran it so if there wasn't a pin there it wouldn't of ran very good, lol.

 

[sb306]

Looks good man. Damn, I wish I hadnt got rid of mine!! :bang

 

[foxdude0486]

I do see the black shaft you are talking about but thats not going in to the gearbox. The black part is towards the tire. You might be missing the axle pin on that rim. But you ran it so if there wasn't a pin there it wouldn't of ran very good, lol.

Well the issue is that the white part is sliding out of the gearbox and down the black part, and can go to the point that it's completely disconnected (but not completely removed) that the differential just spins freely for that side and thus no moving truck. So I think your first idea could be it. Possible that when the black piece was replaced, the person lost the E clip and just didn't bother with it.

 

[william g]

you could put a spring inside the slider. That would keep it from sliding out of the trans. :wnk A quickie fix.

 

[booggieman2u]

Its funny I have one of the sleghammers in black still in the box lol bought it and it sat there and never used it I'm planning on giving it to my nephew for his bday

 

[RCMonstertruker]

awsome that truck is killer as is! its one on my wish list to fined.