caltek1

iTrader: (38)

Jason,

The 3Racing MO5 ball diff suffers from the same problem as the Tamiya MO5 ball diff. It uses a small 2mm M2 alloy nylock nut. This is easily stripped from either over tightening or by hitting the domes/boards etc. These diffs are designed not to be tightened sufficiently to prevent some diff slippage. The internal thread of the nut does not have sufficient surface area to remedy the fault. I have redone both of my tamiya ball diffs with the 416 spring/nut retainer and both are solid. An alternate is to get the HPI diff nut retainer, add loctite and use it PNo HPI73522. Thanks Rob.

You just have to not over tighten the diff screw and use the red Tamiya loctite gel. I ran my MO5L tonight at Penrith and TQ'd and won the final using this diff in the car. The car was the only one doing 17 laps.

The TAO3 ball diff can be modified to make it tighter by adding an extra cone washer and replacing the thrust bearing with a 1150 bearing. You will still need to loctite the screw in this diff also, other wise you will have to disassemble to re-tighten the diff. The problems I have had with this diff is stripping of the splines on either side of the diff. I had placed an "o"ring in each diff cup and added anti-wear grease to the splines on the diff cup, however these still managed to move from the diff and strip the splines. Possible reason is the "o" rings become worn.

On the MO5 I have found that the TAO3 diff can cause steering problems if the universals bind in the diff cups. to solve this I used a clear silicon "o"ring in each cup.

I have seen some of the Victorians at last years Nationals use the gear diff without any added extra bits, just some grease and there cars were very quick. I have tried extra diff washers and some lexion shims to tighten the diff. This works, however places more wear on the alloy gears parts. I have filled a gear diff with the anti-wear Tamiya grease and ended up with it inside the chassis and it loosens after only a few runs.

If you try a spool, whether it is a modified gear diff or ball diff, then you place more strain on other parts of the drive chain. I broke a universal from using the Square spool adaptor for the gear diff from this venture. On a wide open high speed track a spool is very good. On a tight track like Windsor you get monstered by the cars with a diff, as they have much more corner speed.

I believe the TAO3 ball diff is stronger than the MO5 ball diff, however at this time I am very happy with the later in both my cars. My problems from Friday night was my own fault for thinking the diff wasn't tight enough and cranking it a little tighter which allowed the diff to loosen. Then when I re-tightened I got a little ham fisted and over nipped it up and broke the screw.

Anyway the choice is yours. I have looked at another idea to improve the Tamiya ball diff by using a different thrust bearing with a larger internal diameter which will allow a 2.5mm screw and nut to be used.

Good luck and Happy Racing,

I will read the forum when I can, but as you know I might be busy, as I leave tomorrow. If you need any other assistance PM me.

Regards,

Calvin