Congrats!

just bought a new ft kit and putting it together right now.. im installing the diffs right now and not sure if i need to keep the outside shim when doubling up on the shims under the sun gear.. because when i put the diffs together it seems a little tight but not too bad.. but when i put the transmission case on it seems to bind a little... any thoughts?

I am too lazy to look back through the thread, so the following is only from memory and MAY BE INCORRECT.

The original shims inside the diff were 0.2 mm thick.

When people had problems with wobbly outdrives (and maybe coning shims due to too much uptravel) some people swapped out the 0.2 mm for XRay 0.3 mm.

I'm pretty sure AE now recommends (and supplies free of charge) a 0.5 mm shim inside the diff with NO shim on the outdrive (outside of the diff).

Personally I bought a 0.3 mm shim from McMaster (maybe 5x10mm) and use one on each diff half, together with the outdrive shim.

I am giving yu all these numbers just so you can add up your total shimming and see if it exceeds these methods.

One last thing to note, when I bought and assembled my FT truck, the rear trans would bind. It was not due to over-tightening the screws or any of the other suspected problems, it was due (I believe) to a defective trans case. I bought a new trans case and a new diff case (just to be safe) and it went together perfectly, no binding.

Nothing makes me happier than plopping down a chunk of money for a kit only to have to make another trip to the LHS to finish the thing . . . maybe I should have just returned it then . . . no j/k I like my truck.

I believe you will want to remove that outer shim that goes between the cse and the outdrive.

As for binding, slowly loosen each of the screws that bolt the transmission case to the chassis. I found that if you tighten then down too much (which in reality isn't much at all), they start to bind up. However, with my previous SC10 4x4 that is getting replaced, since it has been ran in I can tighten down the cases more, its much more free than the factory team I have that is like new. it had the same issue previously as the factory team one I have does now. Just needs to be ran in.

ok thanks guys for the responses.. i already started taking the diffs apart to take out the shims that are not needed.. still seems solid too with no wobble

0.4mm (2 stock shims) or more, no outside shim. But that may not be the issue. Brand new gears may want 0.2mm or 0.3mm. Seems to be the worn in gears that like the new 0.5mm or 0.4mm from my experience.

When I rebuilt my diff using brand new gears I doubled the stock shims and removed the outers. Works great

Anyone care to share where exactly the brass weights that maifield and bk run go? I know they're on each side of the servo, but where exactly? Also how to attach them?

ASC31296
Drilled and countersunk the chassis. Brass weight just screwed on.

Shoe goo wouldn't work?

Comes with screws and threaded for a reason! Where is not rocket science, just get them in there.

Countersunk through the chassis. Maifeld underChassis

Do not ShoeGoo them, they are meant as a tuning option to be removed within 10 seconds. Not a goopy mess you get to cut out.

I used that kyosho sticky tape for the AE weights and they work great. No drilling.

Anybody running the exotek with saddles or sticks? It seems like it might be better to run with stick packs. When running the sticks you are slightly more balanced left to right than running saddles. I using A 550 motor. The Exo is already so heavy, i pulled off all extra weight. I would not want to have to add anymore to the right side to balance saddles and the motor.
What are you guys running? Any evtra weight added to the exotek?

The Exotek does not solve the huge weight balance problem, but it does help. I put 60grams in the front of the truck, did not balance side to side because I run a Pro 4 (540 can) instead of a 550. So the weight isn't far off, but i'm sure I technically need to balance that out. Other than launching nose high, it is driving as good as the Losi hotshot, I'm even TQ'ing (keeps getting taken away the last lap or two )