Used Xmaxx Upgrades Part One: Serious Issues and Mystery Clicking Noise!!

Used Xmaxx Upgrades Part One: Serious Issues and Mystery Clicking Noise!!

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"Whats that clicking noise??" - Henry Cho
This is how the Xmaxx made me feel for the first month I owned it... lmao
   • Henry Cho - What's That Clickin' Noise? (V...  

This is part one of my Trashmaxx Saga! The mystery clicking!! I got this Xmaxx used, knowing what kind of abuse it had been through and thinking I knew how much time, money and work would be involved getting it to a running condition that I would be happy with.

I was wrong.... SO... SO.... SOOOO...... WRONG! LMAO!

EVERYTHING on it was so worn out that I am not sure how it managed to stay together at all. But the biggest most frustrating issue of all was the mystery clicking....

It started off sounding like a diff was missing teeth around week three. I did not figure out what it was until week Seven... I had inspected both front and rear diffs inside and out several times during those three weeks and I found NOTHING wrong. Being in such bad shape I suspected two things to be the cause...

First was that the plastic bulkheads and diff covers were so soft that it was causing the ring and pinion gears of either the front or rear diff to become misaligned and skip teeth. I quickly dismissed that theory when I continued to find both diffs in good condition after running the truck. And the clicking kept getting louder!!

My second suspicion was the center diff. To be more specific, the center drive shaft coupler that connects the shaft to the diff. There is a little more than 1/4" of slop along the center drive line causing the coupler to not fully seat into the center diff. I assume Traxxas did this to allow for chassis flex with out bending the shaft.
What I eventually found was that over time and abuse the external splines of the coupler and internal splines of the diff wear out, and they wear out unevenly.

I suspected that the when the coupler was all the way forward and only seated halfway into the diff that was when it would click. But I had no other diff and coupler to compare the fitment to. I also didn't know which one was the worn out part. So I kept sending it until one of them finally broke....

The clicking got louder and then I would occasionally lose some power to the front wheels. Then it started grinding and I would lose front wheel drive completely but only temporarily. Then it turned into a demon scream! When it started to scream I had zero front wheel drive and minimal rear wheel drive because the center diff was sending all the power to the side with the coupler that no longer had splines that actually gripped.

I did not think that it could generate as much heat as it did. The whole back end of the truck began to smoke the day that it finally stripped out for good.

So if you have a mystery click with your Xmaxx that makes no sense I hope I solved your issue! LOL!!

Xmaxx Punished Link...
   • The Last Bashing Session for Winter 2018-2...