MB Heavy Haul

[kerst]

looks good!

Kerst

[Bo Wallen]

Originally Posted by Hostile

Dayum brother this truck has it all going on. Love the ingenuity with the servos and shift linkages!

Thank You Hostile. Yes it's a fun build with a lot of challenges. And there is a few more functions coming.

Originally Posted by kerst

looks good!

Kerst

Thank You Kerst. The rough build part is over. everything is working as it should. So now when i take it all apart i can finetune the homemade stuff a bit and get the gnarly stuff away. Looking forward to Paint and polish..........not lol

[Paulie]

very nice

this rig is going to be able to pull a house down

[Bo Wallen]

Originally Posted by Paulie

very nice

this rig is going to be able to pull a house down

Yea My house in the middle of the street Yea yea......

Thank you Paulie. For some strange reason i'm into Heavy Haulers wonder why. I've spent most of my adult life as an operator, didn't get enough so i carry on with this now.

[Bo Wallen]

Is there a New Kid in Town ?

[IMG]IMG_1849 by Bo Wallen, on Flickr[/IMG]

[Finster]

Nice build as usual.

So I'm curious to know what you think of the axles you've been using to give your trucks all-wheel drive. Since you've had time to driving around with them, would you mind giving a review? Which axles are they, the Lesu or other make? Do they have the diff lock via servo? Thanks in advance.

[Bo Wallen]

Originally Posted by Finster

Nice build as usual.

So I'm curious to know what you think of the axles you've been using to give your trucks all-wheel drive. Since you've had time to driving around with them, would you mind giving a review? Which axles are they, the Lesu or other make? Do they have the diff lock via servo? Thanks in advance.

Thanks For Asking. Well, I'm not a happy camper with this Lesu axles. The center axle in the picture axle was pretty much trash after 20 hours; the small gears were stripped or cracked in all four axles. Before I used them, I took them apart and tightened screws that had a turn or two until they even reached the bottom. Put a significant amount of grease, could hardly see any lube when I got them apart.

[IMG]IMG_1651 by Bo Wallen, on Flickr[/IMG]

The other model of the axle is a disaster too. After the same preparation, I went to Germany with three trucks Two KH Beam Haulers "The Twins" and one old Globeliner. I run one KH for six hours and the first axle after the gearbox wholly done. I had to rob the other old KH Beam Hauler for the axles so I could run two more days. The same happened again, UGH. Had to run The Globe Liner for most of the time, and I have Tamiya standard axles in that one, The incoming and outgoing axle shafts had worn out the soft bushing and destroyed the bearing. The axle shaft could tilt in the elongated hole.
Yes, there is one bushing inside the housing and one roller bearing outside.
I have 20 of them Lesu Axles. Now I mount them on my future Shelf queens if I get some. They look good on the outside, Inside who cares if you don't run them. The Tamiya standard axles I have used for a long time on My first KH Beamhauler has lasted four years and a lot of hours, Probably 100-200 hours.
I'm going back to standard axles until a better alternative shows up. I don't want to hurt Lesu with a bad review. I gave them all the info. But the response wasn't all that good.

[IMG]IMG_4174 by Bo Wallen, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]IMG_4171 by Bo Wallen, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]IMG_4169 by Bo Wallen, on Flickr[/IMG]

[Finster]

Thanks for the review! Wow, I'm really surprised and disappointed that these axles have preformed so poorly considering their cost. I'm kinda bummed, I was planning on using these in a couple of builds, but maybe the older 4x4 methods might just be better. Oh and sorry man, I can only image how you feel after putting in all the time, effort and cash to utilize them. I'm curious why they don't hold up like they should. I wonder if we could buy just the empty diff housings and buy good hardened gears and shafts someplace else. I vaguely remember someone making helical gears, but maybe that was just for the transmissions.

Just my opinion, but I think you are being way too nice by not giving Lesu a bad review. If it were me I'd be on every forum posting these pictures and calling them not-so-nice names. Maybe that might motivate them to give ya a refund or improve their product, but probably not... Anyway, Thanks again!

[Bo Wallen]

Thank You, Finster.

Well, it takes quite a lot to make me scream , But this one was close. They know about the problem. I'm not the first one with this experience. Time will tell if they will come up with a fix.
I'm not waiting, so I try the easiest fix for now. Got some $10 Bearings to replace the crap that was failing, Se how that works. I just passed 6 hours runtime with no axle shake
Amazing!!! I'm going to continue the test by checking how it does until it goes wrong or not. I have been looking for even better bearings, but they are in particular order.
How in the holy moly can they put a Dollar bearing!!! and two cent Bushing!!! On the same axle !!!! And the Bushing is on the heavy load side, That's scary.

[IMG]IMG_4518 by Bo Wallen, on Flickr[/IMG]

[Wombii]

Thanks for this warning. I'm surprised that axles that cost as much as a Tamiya kit don't come fully equipped with ball bearings.

[Bo Wallen]

Originally Posted by Wombii

Thanks for this warning. I'm surprised that axles that cost as much as a Tamiya kit don't come fully equipped with ball bearings.

You're welcome.

Yeah, missed that detail when I prepped the new axles for duty. Lesson learned, next time I will dismantle everything Lesu as far it goes. I like the style of axles, heavy and right looking on the outside, crap hiding inside is what I can't accept. I'm at 10-hour driving now, Looks like the super small bearings might work out. If they don't I'll make new endcaps with 5x11x4 bearings installed, on the incoming power side, the outgoing shaft has a lot fewer problems. What worries me is the distance between two drive axles might shrink a bit, and drive shaft needs to be shorter, but that could be arranged too.

[Bo Wallen]

The fix I try first is to replace the bushing and Bearing, with the highest quality I could find in a hurry.

[IMG]IMG_4517 by Bo Wallen, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]IMG_4518 by Bo Wallen, on Flickr[/IMG]

So far I got a bit closer to twenty hours of run time. I am still looking for a better fix.

[Bo Wallen]

[IMG]IMG_4609 by Bo Wallen, on Flickr[/IMG]

[egronvold]

Good information, and well documented!

[Bo Wallen]

Originally Posted by egronvold

Good information, and well documented!

Thank You, Emil. Yes, let's hope this band-aid works, Had a spin today, works like a charm. I will do an inspection this weekend.

[Bo Wallen]

Inspection of the bad Axles is over after 30 hours of driving. The result is Good, actually excellent. I would say the bushing was a terrible thing. High-Quality bearings and shims seem to be the final solution. Have a couple meets to attend soon. I'll bring double sets of axles as spares if mayhem shows it face again.

Keep them wheels rolling

[IMG]IMG_2673 by Bo Wallen, on Flickr[/IMG]

I'll Be Back.

[egronvold]

Nice pyramid Glad to hear your mod is working out for you.

[skeeter]

Thanks for the info.

[Bo Wallen]

Had to make a holder for axles.

[IMG]IMG_4641 by Bo Wallen, on Flickr[/IMG]

The third hand is needed when all those small screws and stuff is on the loose.

[Bo Wallen]

Well, I'm afraid I jumped the gun too early!!! The axles are garbage after 50 hours!! The $20 bearings and there are 4 of them in one axle. They can't take the torque load. I have now 23 axles in the junk pile. I guess I put them on my shelf queens. Outside they look good.
One problem tho. I've got no shelf queens, I run all my trucks.

Sorry guys I see no hope for the Lesu Axles. Way to much work and money to Modify them. And Lesu does not care.

I consolidate all my posting in the KH Beam Hauler from now on.