JConcept Rulux wheels, B44 hexes, Tamiya axles

[sim]

I've done the search and read all the answers and I just want to once and for all sort out all the info about mounting JConcept Rulux 4wd front wheels (3307), Team Associated B44 hex (9750), Tamiya axles, and getting them all to work properly together.

I must state that I'm using the regular universal driveshafts (part number 54015 which fit on DB-01, DB-01R, TRF501X, TRF511X and TRF502X) - NOT the wide angle universals (part number 54118) and NOT the original DB01 dogbone axles (9808152).

So far, I've drilled out the hexes to 5.0mm and they fit well onto the axle, but they cannot go far enough on the shaft (before hitting the bearing) for the holes (on the hex and the axle) to align properly. I tried taking out the aluminium spacer tube between the two bearings, and that allows the hex to go deep enough for the holes to align and I can fit a 1/16" roll pin in there (Associated 7369) but without the spacer, the bearings are rubbing on the insides of the knuckle and there's a slight but noticeable increase in friction. Also, the 1/16" roll pins are a loose fit in the 2mm hole on the axle, so there's quite a bit of slop there.

My next steps are going to be to try and make new (very very slightly thinner) spacers to go between the bearings and mill a bigger 2.0mm hole a tiny bit further in on the hex (but there's really very little material left there) and I'll then shorten some pins to fit on them. This may or may not work. The difference in distances are so tiny that I can't measure them with a caliper, so it's all going to be experimental and I'll post up what I did and what I get in the end.

For now, what I want to say is... my experience trying to get the Rulux wheels to work has not been a painless one.

If anyone else has a different experience, let us know how you did it and what axles you used.

[Jamie.T]

I had a much simpler solution to running Rulux wheels on my TRF502. All i did was dremel the back of the wheel so that the hex wasnt as deep just like Losi and tamiya front wheels. Took less than 5 mins and i ran them on my car Sunday and had no issues at all.

[tamartin]

Even more simpler!!
Take a M5 washer as a spacer and bingo.
No work, no costs.

[muratti]

Tamartin you´re a pro

[fastinfastout]

whats wrong with tamiya rims?

if your talking about availability, you can get them shipped from Japan or HK and the worst you will have to wait 2 weeks, and best 4-5 days.

[Jamie.T]

Originally Posted by fastinfastout

whats wrong with tamiya rims?

if your talking about availability, you can get them shipped from Japan or HK and the worst you will have to wait 2 weeks, and best 4-5 days.

If you read the whole thread you will see that Sim wants to fit rulux wheels. As far as im aware, Tamiya don't make rulux wheels, rulux do

[muratti]

some people still fell the need of design in racing buggies and especially wheels and JConcepts are the only brand apart from Losi that also offers NON Dish wheels as far as i know. Losi is not the mot popular company here in Austria for example and that mnakes it hard to get parts. So the Rulux wheels offer a welcome change in design of wheels.

[muratti]

Originally Posted by thomj316

If you read the whole thread you will see that Sim wants to fit rulux wheels. As far as im aware, Tamiya don't make rulux wheels, rulux do

It´s actually not Rulux that does Rulux wheels but JConcepts

[sim]

Nothing wrong with the Tamiya rims. I thought of trying Rulux as I thought (wrongly) they would be a bit wider. Anyway they were available and cheap at the time so I got several sets for me and my friends. Now I'll have to figure out how to make them work.

The M5 washer idea is nice and simple but me being anal about having the best fit, I might go with dremelling/lathing them down in the end. I'll still try to see if I can get the B44 hexes to work. I might turn them around and mount them backwards, but might need to dig them out of the rim everytime I change tires.

[4wdfull]

I've been running Rulux rims on my 511 for about 4 months. Did the dremeling method. Have had no issues.
One advantage is that the track width is about 2mm narrower than with the tamiya or losi wheels. Gives more steering. The washers diiminish this somewhat.

[sim]

Since calipers and micrometers were useless for most of the measurements, I did some measuring with shims and here's what I found...

I could fit about 0.4mm worth of shims behind the pin on the Tamiya hex to take out slop. Then I tried taking out the tube spacer (between the two bearings) and found I could barely fit 0.5mm worth of shims. This means that even if I wanted to make a thinner spacer, it can only be to be thinner by less than 0.1mm. In short, the spacer is as narrow as it can be so we'll leave that alone.

Since the B44 hex has some distance between the inside wall and the pin hole and the Tamiya hex does not (in fact it's a negative distance since the pin hole isn't even a complete circle), we know that we need to reduce the distance between the inside wall and the pin hole until it's the same as the Tamiya. At this point, the B44 hex would break in two. Taking into consideration there's about 0.4mm of play that we can use up, we can leave some material there. But since the Tamiya distance is negative, ... we're really talking less than 0.4mm. Maybe even 0.2mm. That's the same thickness of a medium shim that you can easily bend with your finger tips.

In other words, unless you're going to use the B44 hex backwards, it's no good. And even then, you either need to drill or mill the pin slot wider (from 1/16" to 2.0mm) or use the smaller pin and live with the slop.

What I did manage to use the caliper for was measure the hex sizes. The B44 one is ever so slightly smaller than the Tamiya one. B44 being about 9.5mm while the Tamiya was 9.6mm. The B44 fit was acceptable on the Rulux rims but just downright sloppy on a Tamiya rim. The Tamiya hex was good on the Tamiya rim but even better on the Rulux (except for the offset causing the rubbing).

Since I had the 0.4mm worth of washers behind the Tamiya hex and pin, I mounted up the wheel and it could spin but I decided to do a comparison. I couldn't fit any more shims there, so I put a 0.1mm shim inside the wheel and gave it a whirl and it spun noticeably freer.

I'm giving up on the B44 hexes and will just start with making a 0.5mm washer to put in each wheel and see how I go from there. If I want more steering, I can aways take that out and dremel the wheel later.

Thanks for all the help, guys. I knew I'd get answers I needed on the Oople forum.

[Speedtech RC]

I added a 0.2mm shim between the wheel and hex and there was no binding on my Rulux wheels.

Strangely enough, my Tamiya factory wheels would not fit over the TRF502X hex. It was quite frustrating.

[sim]

That's interesting. You made me look up the online manuals. The 501X hex is part number 9804313. 502X uses 19804313. Maybe they made the new ones a bit bigger. They won't fit the old wheels at all?

[Jamie.T]

Both part numbers are the same, but some drop the 0 at the start and use a # instead. I also had trouble getting my 502x hexes to fit the tamiya wheels, they were really tight, but they fitted losi wheels perfectly.

I think its just a different batch or they've modified the design ever so slightly to get a tighter fit.

[sim]

You're right. I had another look at the manual and all the part numbers have a 1 in front now. I'm guessing the hex is the same but they changed the rim. Muratti mentioned on another thread (about new parts releases) that there's some new rims out. My old rims have bigger hexes than the JConcept Rulux wheels (but I compared a tired old Tamiya wheel with a brand new Rulux), so if you have Tamiya rims that are tighter than the Rulux, I guess they are a new part. Did these come with the 502X kit?

[muratti]

All information that i could get is that in fact the new fluorescent wheels are not yet in stores. I couldn´t find them anywhere on the web.
It can be that they changed the hex on the new wheels, the 502X for sure does come with normal Tamiya white dish wheels that have a first tight fit on the hex.
I never had the case that a Tamiya wheels was NO tight fit on the Tamiya hex. I wonder why you guys seem to have a problem with the Tamiya wheels...

[Fredrik Emilsson]

Black Tamiya dish wheels have tighter fit than white and yellow.
Can be really tricky to get black dish wheels to sit properly. Never had that problem with white or yellow wheels.

Text imprint direction is same on "new" white and "old" black wheels = Same mould.

On the 501X the "old" white wheels had the text imprint like this:


And the yellow wheels:



So my guess is that the "old" white and yellow wheels used same mould.
Black and "new" white wheels use same mould.

Hexes are 9.7mm, so same as 501X/511 hexes.

[muratti]

Fredrik, do you know any difference that the new Yellow wheels will have? Any changes in dimensions or do the only release the DB01 wheels in another yellow because of the release of the DN01 Front wheels in yellow to make them match perfectly?

[sim]

(double post)

[sim]

I'm declaring my problem solved. I just made some aluminium spacers. If anyone wants to make their own, the hole diameter is 4.8mm, the outer diameter is 9.65mm and the thickness is 0.4mm

They fill up a lot of the hex but are still loose enough not to get stuck in the wheel. They are rigid enough not to bend easily.