Axle Upgrades

Before I even put a mile on my AX10 I knew there were a few performance upgrades I wanted to make to the axles. I've seen guys at comp waste parts so I decided I'd rather upgrade right off the bat and keep stock parts as spares, rather than wait till something breaks.

PARTS & SUPPLIES NEEDED
MIP CVD Axle Shafts
RCP Aluminum inner & outer knuckles
RCP straight axle adapters & shafts
Axial HD ring & pinion set
RCP servo/link plates
HPI diff case
Lithium grease
Thread Lock
Bearing grease




TOOLS
Hex wrench set
Phillips Screwdriver



REAR AXLE
1. The first thing to do is to disassemble the rear axle. Start by removing the stock rear lockouts then the entire knuckle assembly.


2. Remove the upper link mount and 2 lower screws.


3. The housing should now come apart. Remove the stock pinion from the inner half of the housing.


4. Slide in the HD pinion.


5. Moving to the back half of the housing ... Pull out the stock ring and diff assembly.


6. Remove the 4 small screws to get the ring off the diff.


7. Get the bearing off the old ring and put it on the new one with a dab of lithium grease.


8. Attach the ring ot the diff, grease it and install the whole assembly back into the housing.


9. Here is where I needed the HPI parts. With the new gears I found that the diff assembly have side to side movement. I dug out an old WK diff case and swiped the shim washers from it.


10. You'll have to experiment with the shims. You want to make sure there isn't much movement but you don't want the ring & pinion to tight or it will bind. I ended up with one shim on the ring side and 2 on the other. Once you are happy, you can reinstall the diff, upper link mount and 2 lower screws.


11. For the straight axle adapters and shafts find the knuckle assembly you removed earlier. Remove the cross pin and push the stub shaft out.


12. Push the outer bearing out of the old knuckle and press it into the new adapter with some grease.


13. Grease the inner bearing seat area of the new shaft, where it will go into the locker, then slide it in.


14. Apply more lithium grease to the last bearing area, install the adpater with the set screws and put in the cross pin.


15. Repeat steps 11-14 for the other side and you are done with the rear.




FRONT AXLE
16. Remove the steering linkage and knuckle assembly


17. Repeat steps 2-10 above to upgrade the front gears to the HD set.

18. For the MIP CVD front axle shafts you'll need to assemble the shafts before installing them. Here is a shot of the parts


19. Apply a small coat of MIP grease to the collar and slide it into the inner shaft. Try to keep the hole in the shaft lined up with the slit in the inner shaft.


20. Put the inner shaft into the outer and slide the pin in all the way (it's only halfway in the pic).


21. Apply a little thread lock to the grub screw and screw it into the collar, locking the pin in it's place.


22. Grease the CVD with the provided grease, the bearing seat areas with the lithium grease then set them aside.


23. Disassemble to stock knuckle assembly by removing the two screws.


24. Remove the cross pin and push the stub shaft out.


25. Install the inner and outer bearings into the new knuckle.


26. Install the inner knuckle to the housing (before attaching the other knuckle).


27. Slide the new shaft in and install the screw bushings in the outer knuckle (note that I reused the black Axial sleeves by mistake).


28. Attach the outer knuckle, the steering linkage, your servo plate and test out your new and improved turning radius!



Your axles are now tough as nails and ready to get beaten on the rocks!