Originally Posted by
scribbler
The initial Manta ray diff stripped the splines off the diff, and the cups. I switched to the hardened diff cups, and a TA03 ball diff, and stripped the splines off of the inside of the diff, and partially off the cups. on the second TA03 ball diff I packed the inside of the splines with AW grease (Kit supplied heavy grease) and it lasted a little longer. I never thought of the tubing trick, I'll have to try that.
The surface I was running on was carpet, with the diff tightened down all the way. Used univesals (Tamiya CVD's), and I've never used the dog bones.
Another advantage of the fuel tubing is if cut to the right length, it will reduce the preload on the springs. Something else that really reduces the wear is to use the Swing shaft protectors over the drive pins and to open up the slots on the outdrives. It's a bit of a pain to do, but it can be done with a Dremel and a cut off disc. If done correctly, there will be almost zero slop in your drive pins and the outdrives. Also, you don't have to use a new set of outdrives cause you can play with an old notched set that you were going to throw away .
The first ones I did, used a set of X-ray blades cause they were in the parts box. The "c" is a little long, so they were not a perfect fit, but they worked. Eureka, we had take off. The next set will use the Tamiya ones, part #53890, if you want to try this. BE SURE TO WEAR SOME EYE PROTECTION cause there will be a lot of metal filings in the air.
This is not an original idea of mine cause it's a copy off of Craig Richter's Mini. However, I can recognize a good idea when I see it. He's been running his for about a year with no wear and no stripped splines. It's also been cleared for TCS racing by the TCS race director. At first he said no, then changed his mind and cleared it. But as Veteran TCS racers know, that could all change tomorrow. Even then it's no big deal to switch back and forth.