Team Associated TC6.1 Build – Step 3 – Axles and Turnbuckles

The Build – Part 3
The drive axles and turnbuckles are the final ‘prep-steps’ before getting into the meat of our build. These are simple steps and shouldn’t take you long to complete.

Build Notes:
Get your black grease and paper towels ready for the drive axles. A liberal amount will help keep the parts nice and lubed.

Pay attention to the length of the turnbuckles. There are three different lengths and you don’t want to mix them up during the build.

Take your drive bone and apply some black grease to the ball end. Slide the CVA coupler into the ball and position the cross pin hole so that it is perpendicular with the actual bone.

Apply some more black grease to the outside of the drive bone ball and insert it into the CVA axle. Align the cross pin hole in the axle with the cross pin hole in the CVA coupler and slide the cross pin into place.

Slide your retaining clip on the CVA axle (from the thread side) and push it up and into the groove in the axle. When doing this, make sure that the ‘break’ in the retaining clip does NOT align with the cross pin. You don’t want this pin falling out while driving!

For added security, you’ll want to screw the setscrew into the CVA coupler to lock the pin into place. A small dab of loctite will help keep the setscrew locked in.

The final step with the drive axles is to install the CVA blade. This can be a bit tricky at first. The hot ticket is to start from one side and push the blade so that it engages the pin in one hole. Now take the blade and force it over the ball and onto the other pin. The picture shows the ‘starting point’. Once you do one, you’ll blow through the other three. Oh, if you haven’t already built the other 3 drive axles, do so now using the steps we just went over.

AE has supplied the TC6.1 with 3 different sizes of blue-anodized turnbuckles. The shortest is the drag link from the servo to the bellcrank, the 4 mid-sized ones are the camber links and the long ones are the steering links. Don’t mix them up!

Build the turnbuckles per the instructions. The only real tip I have to offer is to have a gloves or a paper towel or something to help turn the plastic eyelets. When the assemblies get shorter, the eyelets become harder to screw on. You’ll lose a little finger skin with this step. Welcome to turnbuckles.

Part 4 – Assembling the front suspension.
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