2GodBDGlory

It does seem somewhat odd that they would release these tires in non-agricultural sets*, if they weren't planning on putting them in some set in which they actually fit better! *The little one did come in a city tractor.

Wow! That's soon all of a sudden!

Well, I guess it could be summarized this way: Advantages of two-motor setup: 1. High efficiency 2. No need for an extra motor for steering, allowing more motors (potentially) to be thrown at drive 3. Possibility of reversing one side to turn on the spot Advantages of differential-brake setup 1. Better straight-line steering performance, since both tracks are locked at the same speed. 2. Better straight-line off-road performance, because even if only one track has traction, it still has 100% of the available power 3. Cooler So there would be performance advantages to both systems, just different ones.

Nice! That seems like a much more interesting way of steering a tracked vehicle than the standard two-motor setup, though it may lack something in performance.

I believe this question had been well answered for that particular gear rack, but I believe that there are some fairly simple ways to mesh a 1x4 gear rack with a 16t clutch gear.

@RazzPinazzo I couldn't find anything describing such a transmission. I'm quite interested in the concept, though. Do you know of any resources I could learn about such transmissions from? Thanks

In my opinion, a two-speed shifted with an m-motor is likely to be as compact as any auto capable of the stresses involved in the climbing you mentioned, but I don't know what your space looks like in the model. I hope it turns out well!

Huh. I did some work last summer with a semi truck driver, and could not make heads nor tails of the sticker explaining which gears were where on the shifter! I'll have to do some research on this, thanks!

The hub is pretty essential, unfortunately. It could theoretically be replaced, but it would become even more bulky, and much less reliable. Also, have you considered adding a remote controlled 2-speed instead? This would be simpler, more efficient, and more reliable than any automatic I know of, though it would require an extra motor and is admittedly less cool.

Yeah, a number of Ford, GM, and Honda vehicles now use 10-speeds, and I bet other companies do too (Lexus was mentioned above) I just built the gearbox, and I assume that the working principle is as follows: The three-speed works like a normal sequential gearbox, but the four-speed subtracts one of four smaller amounts from each of the three speeds. This would seem to create a twelve speed, but because one setup subtracts the same amount that the other gearbox added, causing the output to remain fixed, and another setup causes more to be subtracting on the one side than is added on the other side, creating a reverse. Does this sound correct? It's a very neat gearbox!

They wouldn't let me download the instructions either! The nerve!

I suppose there's always paint if you really want it black! Is there any stigma against printing 3rd party parts? The only other 3rd party buggy motors I know of are cheap Chinese ones. I bought two at $10 each, and have been very happy with them so far, though I don't have any original ones to compare them to.

My personal favorite design is one I came up with a while back, using the planetary hub part. You can see it in this topic (it is improved towards the bottom of the thread) It is also more of a main gearbox as well, and it's 5.5x difference in speeds is likely a little much, but it is reasonably compact, in my opinion. YouTube seems to have dozens of other designs, too, though I worry about durability with many of them.

Pneumatic hoses could be used in place of LBG flex axles, and would provide a smoother look too!

I wonder if the code will be able to sense they increased current the motor would be drawing when slipping the clutch, and essentially self-synchronize each time it reaches an extreme position.

That's an interesting vehicle you're modeling! I appreciate the focus on functionality, especially with the clutch you have planned.

Good question! Elsewhere, they seemed to be describing the differential lock assembly as a gearbox, but I wouldn't be too surprised if the lock was linked with a 2-speed gearbox, such that the lower speed has differentials locked, while the higher one has them open. Also, does anybody know which differential they are using for the central one? The new 28T one could work, but I feel that the old 16/24T one could be even better--this would also mark the first time that the driving ring indents in the housing have been used in an official set since it came out in 1994 (Unless, perhaps, it was used in a B-model).

Sadly, this is the only Technic wheel arch available in LBG.

I'd swap that red 16T gear in the lifting mechanism for a LBG one on an axle, just to clean up the colors a bit.

I love the model mechanically, but it is going to be very tough to style the body, making it look good while distancing yourself from the original set enough. Can't say I know how to proceed, but I hope you'll figure something out!

What's the stereotypically polite Canadian response to that anyway? Sorry?

Hopefully it's not that solid! I really just meant that the lack of moving parts should keep it reliable, but you probably knew that!

I agree. I'm not paying $20 or so for an old one off Bricklink, so I now have a $10 one coming from China. We'll see how it works, but I doubt they'll mess up a solid piece of plastic too much.

The big question for me is what Lego means by limited-slip differential. Literally, this should be a differential with internal resistance to slipping, or more realistically, a minimum amount of rotation per side, preventing a slip situation. It is certainly possible that this is just inaccurate marketing, and that it will have a standard locking differential. Nonetheless, with only four motors, it would seem that two for drive, one for steering, one for the gearbox, and none for the actual limited-slip differential would be reasonable. Also, as has been noted earlier, a new PU hardware component was confirmed. Will it be a recolored WeDo M-motor in this set, something in the CAT, or something else entirely? The gearbox is also intriguing, though I wouldn't hold out for more than two speeds.

Sometimes when I'm looking for an unusual spacing I'll stack a bunch of old toothed half bushes, which when meshed together are slightly less than a full stud. Perhaps you could get something by messing around with these?