Knott

Only reason to name it Brabus was a cool grille that I glued to my car and a number bigger than 500 ;) XLT 900 is the most powerful version available, a fitting title for a Lego car that in current configuration can easily drive faster than any available motors, it's easy to achieve 30 km/h over dirt or grass and theoretical top speed of 72 km/h on hard, flat surfaces Also if I mess up the gearing a little bit it can get it even faster or have more torque, the bearings inside will handle it. My initial plan was to use ZENE 1/16 reduction motors, that would be slowed down to around 18 kmh but x4 the torque, 2,5 Nm. Doors, hood and some parts of the frame remain like in Lego model, but I have modified it so extensively that below the hood nothing resembles the original. My model has actually 3 ZENE differentials, front one is simply hidden behind covers, as I wanted to have perfect protection from rocks and sand. Two rear portal axles with ridiculous travel and 0,5 stud caster with twin servo, twin ball linkage Ackermann front steering, all wheels powered by two motors allow for excellent, durable and fast all terrain platform. I'm nearly done with instructions and anyone interested in it will be able to buy mod parts and assembly instructions for my design on ZENE. I'm also designing reinforced portal axle, as wheels come out quite too often, I hope we can solve this issue together with ZENE, instructions won't come out for sale before I'm done with reinforced portals. As per mad torque, I got it covered now but two months ago it managed to completly twist alu axle with one hard throttle bash, once I found out what caused it to happen had zero accidents like it again Stay tuned, I have more ideas that I want to develop together with ZENE, once I'm finished with my Brabus I will be making 1/8 BMW E36 drift sedan, as requested by my friends

Don't push the bearing, pull it in! Bearing (red) should be pressed or even hammered onto one end of your 32 stud long AliExpress aluminium axle quite hard, you can grind the axle with a file later for it to float over the bearings but for setting the bearings with heat it's perfect to just hammer one bearing that you will sacrifice (it will get clogged with plastic and it's only use will be making holes for other bearings to sit in) onto axle so it stays firm. Create a sandwich of 5-8 (blue) liftarms with the piece you want to modify on top (yellow), place it at the bottom of your 32L Aliexpress alu axle (AAA?) The more liftarms you use the more centered the bearing will be, but they will get partially damaged. I used a stack of 8 bars 7 stud wide and 3 of them got scorched by the axle, basically they partially turned from hole to cross, cooling parts with water is important Next thing is heating the bearing, have a wet paper towel or some water to absorb excess heat nearby and use propane torch or regular kitchen stove, basically when I feel the heat with my hand when holding it in the middle of the axle I know it's time to set, grab the axle below the sandwich and pull the pieces firmly towards bearing, (green arrow) bearing should be centered by the other bars below, do it in small steps and cool the bars in between sessions. Best result is when you sandwich the bearing between two liftarms, so it gets support from two pieces and not just rapidly melting one liftarm halfway in one take, as it weakens it a lot. R156 bearing is about 3,5 mm thick and Lego bars are 8mm thick, so instead melting one liftarm flat with the bearing, rather melt two partially over multiple tries so bearing sits nicely between them. Remember to clear away any melted plastic with a sharp knife on the outside and drill out the axle hole with a 3/16" 4,8mm or 5 mm drill so it runs smoothly, your axle support modification is now complete. I have decided to not use u joint on the drive shaft, now 23,5 cm alu axle is transferring power from motors to 1st and 2nd axle, so far nothing is bending so I think previously the u joint locked up somehow and bent the shaft, no u-joint, no problem. With my current ESC crawling is impossible, it doesn't start smooth but I was amazed by the speed it achieves. On second video I have limited the throttle to 30% and it still handled tall grass like champ. ZENE was supposed to send me motors with 1/16 reduction at my request, but I feel it's probably 1/4 and speed of up to 60kmh is very much possible, however it will melt all parts that don't have bearings :) I'm very pleased with ZENE motors and differentials, their attachment points and performance. My next big issue is portal axles, wheels keep detaching as plastic lip on wheel hub gets melted, sadly so far noone is making portal axles with bearings, and there is not enough material on them to DIY it like support bars that I explained above, gotta find someone who can print them for me, as dirt is shredding my uncovered portal gears. Since original Mercedes uses solid portal axle I tried building it with Lego parts, sadly the axle travel was not satisfactory for me and I built this monstrosity to clear obstacles easier and always keep wheels to the ground. ZENE differentials as the center piece, each rear axle has 8 springs, four tall to hold the axle to the flatbed and another 4 pushing multi link arms to the ground, always compressed by the weight of the car but allowing wheels to drop lower if necessary to keep contact with the ground.

So, I did my first proper test run today, shredded only one 16 gear after 10 minutes, surprisingly this time the shaft survived and stayed straight

Yes, for wheel hub you need something larger, for axle support and gearbox R156ZZ works perfectly.

R156ZZ is the ideal bearing size, inner diameter 4,76, almost the size of Lego axle, outer diameter 7.938, slightly shorter than liftarm, no wiggly and loose axles

It came with planetary reduction attached and also glued in bolts to stop me from removing it :) Regular motor from ZENE comes with 1/4 planetary reduction and 25a ESC that can support only 2s lipo, I however purchased 35a ESC to run 3s packs and requested 1/16 planetary reduction They don't sell just the reductions, its only sold mounted on a motor, however I negotiated down the price for 3 differentials, 2 motors and 1/16 reduction without esc, so far very satisfied with my purchase, but now I need to order good drive shaft that survives it Motor is 3600 kv, it's size is 3x3x9,2, slightly longer than 9 studs and require 10 studs open space but I have a plan to use 2 2x3 flat top bricks attached to a liftarm at the back of the motor to push / lock them in, although it did not seem necessary yet as it's very hard to pull them out

Whole point was to have wide travel distances, I hope that adding one softer spot and reinforcing others will save me further expenses, it's easier to replace one carbon 2L than whole shaft One u-joint got shredded, another bent so hard it doesn't spin freely

It is, I just asked ZENE for 1/16 reduction for more torque instead of speed, results above... I'm using two surpass hobby 2445, paired with their 35A ESC and Zee 5200 mAh 50C for each motor I was about to buy MTP axle, but they also use alu, I'm now thinking about this one: https://a.aliexpress.com/_EwLfi1A However I would have to file down axles, or drill u-joints to fit the axle, maybe both of those solutions @gyenesvi Here is everything you asked for :) Red bushings represent R156ZZ bearings, grey bars were modified (I sacrificed one bearing, heated it over a gas burner and then pulled with long alu rod into the liftarm, so it fits flush and creates perfect bedding for new bearing, removed any excess material that would collide with nearby bricks) to hold bearings, 6L alu axle is supported by the motor and two bearings. Black 3x3 piece represents motor front plate with attachments

Hey guys, sine my topic got deleted few weeks ago I managed to solve all remote control issues I had and I'm 15% done with assembly schematics. I finally got it moving, then after 15 min of careful driving I smashed full throttle and twisted two chinesium axles, two u-joints and 1 plastic CV joint knuckle, zero additional friction damage. Any worthy replacement ideas?

Very nice construction, did you need to modify the tires to fit the rims? I plan to buy this or some other thread pattern, but according to my calculation 1,9in inner tire size is a bit too small for mercedes G500 wheel, Please Google AliExpress TN1007 tyre, is it the same that you have purchased?