48.3 Aluminum chassis brace (front)?

[TBuggy]

Just curious if anyone knows of someone making an aluminum front chassis brace? I know M2C made a front/center brace in one (it doesn't seem to be available anymore) but I don't really want that anyways. I have replaced my front brace in both my SCT and my EB48.3 now, because the tiny little hole where the top screw goes in has snapped. The thing is I probably did it well before I even noticed because at first glance nothing looks broken until you try flexing your chassis and then you can see the plate and the brace separate a bit.

If anything I may just try to reinforce it a little with a piece of metal and extra screws.

Has anyone else experienced this and made a solution besides replacing the brace every time?

My last resort will be to head over to a machine shop and see if I can get someone to make one for me, I just know that wont be cheap.

 

[PaulWa11]

Haven't seen an aluminium one out, however, did see on the Tekno FB buy-sell a guy manufacturing parts thus far a steering top plate. Might be worth reaching out as he has a guy in China to manufacture parts

 

[Billl DeLong]

I've had the rear braces snap on me in the past, and honestly I just run without the rear braces anyway which actually improve rear traction at the expense of added chassis flex with occasionally bending the center shaft... but have never damaged a front brace on any my cars... curious if you're stripping the screw from over tightening or actually snapping the plastic from too much flex while in use?

 

[TBuggy]

I am not using rear braces either. Maybe it was from cranking the screws down to tight I don't know? Either way I found some aluminum in my shop and figured "what the heck, let me see what I can whip up!"

You can see the broken part of the brace in the pic.


And here is what I came up with tinkering around in the shop using no real metal shop tools.


We will see what happens now!

 

[PaulWa11]

Wow nice work

 

[TBuggy]

Just put it in and its a perfect fit!

 

[RC_User]

Nice work!
One thing I noticed looking closely at is how the factory front brace sits down in an indent/routed area in the chassis. The key about that is when the brace takes a hit, the impact is pushing the brace against the chassis at the indented area, so it isnt mainly the screws taking the force of the hit. It's a stronger setup vs just screws holding the brace flat like on the rear braces. I've seen those type break screws (not on a Tekno though) the m2c brace doesn't have that bottom part in front either, it sits over the chassis recess. but since it's one piece I'm guessing it's still stronger. I wish it was set down in the recess though for a nicer fit.
I considered cutting the m2c brace in half so it would fit better but ended up returning it. A new batch should be avail soon, Amain told me they just ordered 30.

 

[TBuggy]

I was thinking about the bottom part. I can probably make a small plate that will fit and just screw it to the bottom of the brace and that should accomplish the same thing. Next time I have a moment to play around with the idea I will see what I can come up with.

 

[142Racing]

In my years of racing.....aluminum just seems like hype and is really overrated. It doesn't flex and just causes other things to take more damage. I've never understood the obsession with aluminum parts. I could be wrong and I'm sure there are exceptions.....(servo horns I guess)

 

[TBuggy]

In my years of racing.....aluminum just seems like hype and is really overrated. It doesn't flex and just causes other things to take more damage. I've never understood the obsession with aluminum parts. I could be wrong and I'm sure there are exceptions.....(servo horns I guess)

Well I am a wood worker at heart so I can assure you there is no obsession with aluminum here.

On the topic of aluminum flexing, it does flex...or is chassis flex a myth? Will the part I made flex...I doubt it. In a 10th scale car I wouldn't even think of this but this is an 1/8th scale and a little stiffer front brace isn't going to hurt anything IMO.

The thing I was trying to accomplish was fixing/replacing a part that has broken on both of my vehicles now and keeping it from happening again. I believe what I did will accomplish this goal.

 

[RC_User]

Well I am a wood worker at heart so I can assure you there is no obsession with aluminum here.

On the topic of aluminum flexing, it does flex...or is chassis flex a myth? Will the part I made flex...I doubt it. In a 10th scale car I wouldn't even think of this but this is an 1/8th scale and a little stiffer front brace isn't going to hurt anything IMO.

The thing I was trying to accomplish was fixing/replacing a part that has broken on both of my vehicles now and keeping it from happening again. I believe what I did will accomplish this goal.

you've actually broken two front chassis braces? wow... do you have an aluminum steering plate?

 

[TBuggy]

you've actually broken two front chassis braces? wow... do you have an aluminum steering plate?

No aluminum top plates.

Maybe its just my luck...I don't abuse my rigs and like to think I keep them straight so I replace parts as needed and sometimes beforehand.

Maybe I am going over board with the aluminum...I should have my replacement plastic one in hand in the next couple days. But this aluminum one has worked well so far.

 

[RC_User]

No aluminum top plates.

Maybe its just my luck...I don't abuse my rigs and like to think I keep them straight so I replace parts as needed and sometimes beforehand.

Maybe I am going over board with the aluminum...I should have my replacement plastic one in hand in the next couple days. But this aluminum one has worked well so far.

a lot of the 1/8's have aluminum braces so i wouldn't say you're going overboard, i think it is justified, especially since you've broken them more than once! I kind of wish there was an aftermarket front-only brace. it surprises me that no one makes any alum braces for the Tekno's (except m2c recently), i think they would be huge sellers. overkill is gonna sell a ton of those chinese made plates. i used to have kingheadz chassis braces on my rc8T, they are extremely nice quality, nicer than m2c stuff in my opinion, but they don't make any for Tekno, crazy... your custom brace is great!

 

[AJH387]

In my years of racing.....aluminum just seems like hype and is really overrated. It doesn't flex and just causes other things to take more damage. I've never understood the obsession with aluminum parts. I could be wrong and I'm sure there are exceptions.....(servo horns I guess)

Fair point. Something I have thought of also.

TBuggy, regardless, nice work.

 

[TBuggy]

I wonder why aluminum top plates and are so hot right now then? Those IMO don't add anything other than bling! I have never damaged any of those parts even when my front chassis brace broke.

Maybe I am wrong but isn't the point of a brace, to reduce flex anyways. Also noticed, there is not a setup sheet out there for EB48 that doesn't recommend at least the front brace. So that makes me think this one is pretty important.

Also maybe them breaking was a fluke or just due to age, perhaps? Both my rides are a couple years old. I wont lie either it could have happened from casing some of the big jumps on the track. If I don't get lined up on one of them after the corner in time I wont have enough momentum to make the quad and either have to make a last minute adjustment to hit it as a triple or even two doubles. And timing to hit it as a triple is pretty hard, cause you have to land as high up the down side to make it to the top of the table top afterwards. This has happened and landing on the peak of jump makes me cringe and definitely in my mind could definitely cause this breakage IMO.

I have posted this video before here but I am posting it again just to show the jump I am talking about. You can see the first time in the video how I had enough momentum but missed my line and landed off course.

 

[RC_User]

Fair point. Something I have thought of also.

TBuggy, regardless, nice work.

I agree 100%, you're a racer. For racing I wouldnt put anything alum on, it weighs more and reduces flex which reduces traction.

There really is only one benefit - to keep it from breaking if you hit too hard. i'd say if you're hitting that hard during racing you're doing something wrong!

For us basher folks who like some increased durability (and a little bit o' bling factor) at the cost of weight and $$$ then bring on the aluminum!

racing = Carbon Fiber
bashing = aluminum

 

[TBuggy]

Agree on the hitting things that hard then something is wrong, LOL!

Never did claim to be a pro over here LOL!!

 

[Mongoose]

Awesome vid man! Where is this track? I wish there was one near me...this one looks really nice. Looks like it’s complete with drainage system and everything.

 

[TBuggy]

Awesome vid man! Where is this track? I wish there was one near me...this one looks really nice. Looks like it’s complete with drainage system and everything.

The track is in Seatac, WA. I cant take credit for the actual video just the buggy. The guy who recorded it has a bunch of videos from the track, most are of older layouts though. He does do a great job on the videos IMO. The track is still the same layout as in that video I posted currently. There is a pretty nice asphalt on road track next to it also. Up the block near the community center some guys built a crawler course as well. Haven't gotten into crawlers myself though.

I do like living only 10min from the track, it makes it really easy to just decide on a whim to go race around!!

 

[Mongoose]

Living that close to a track would be great. I love my ET, I like it more and more every time I drive it but I just bash around. Bashing is fun but I don’t get to race it on a track and get to fully appreciate the engineering that went into it. For example the numerous mounting positions for the shocks....sure I could change it but I don’t think I would really see that much of a difference because the terrain isn’t constant but I would see it if I were to run on a track.