Tuned Pipe, Melted Roll Cage, Loose Screws

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csp1971

csp1971

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,664
Location
Missouri
Okay, I thought I had my muffler (DDM Pipe) screws tightened enough on my Firehammer MT. Well, they vibrated loose and melted my rollcage. The rollcage was initially about a 1/4 of an inch away from the pipe but after it loosened, it was bumping the roll cage. Is there anything I can do to keep those muffler screws from working their way back out? Will a threadlock work or will the heat from the engine soften it up and I'm back to loose screws?

Thanks!
 
the lock washers work well, when the bolts try to turn against them the washers actually dig in to the head of the bolt and into the manifold and lock the bolts in place.

I put the TGN FG Monster truck pipe on my Smartech. it wasnt too bad to squeeze in there i had to take 2 of the plastic bars off the roll cage but it didnt weaken that much. I also had to clip one of the vent tubes and seal it off and run a single tube out the back of the truck. I had to put a Z bend in my brake linkage and adjust the linkage to compensate for the new bends.
NOW i just have to make the body fit again lol. I already had the body mouted in the very top holes on the body posts but it now lacks about a half inch from mounting on the front and about 1/4 in the rear.

But im not real sure i like the performance of this pipe it seems to be a top end pipe which i do not need at all. This raggedy truck will shake itself to peices going any faster than i does. Its neat to see that tires swell and the truck almost stop moving when it gets on the pipe though.

I have a video of the truck with just a few almost free mods. Gutted can muffler, lightened clutch shoes and a heavy clutch spring(7500rpm).

The video is messed up though, the sound is running about 1.5 seconds ahead of the video maybe more. Makes it hard to watch but it shows what the truck can do with only a few dollars for the clutch spring.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=jlWiIJ-ssFI also i had the digital camera taped to my radio so i could film and drive at the same time kinda. So its really shakey.
 
Video isn't bad for having a camera taped to your radio!

I have the mid/top ddm pipe on mine. I love it. I ran the hell out of it tonight, toward the end of the run, I was having some problems with everything, and I mean everything working loose, except for the engine mounts. I also stripped out one of those allen head screws and I'm not sure what to do now. Any suggestions?

I'm definitely going to get some different clutch springs for mine too.
 
by stripped you mean the inside of the screw head or the threaded end is stripped. Most of the time an allen head screw is tougher than the tool and it will round the corners off the tool instead of rounding the inside of the screw head. I usually have to take a dremel or grinder wheel to my tools to cut them down passed the worn part. you will be able to tell how far to cut by the shine on the end of the tool when it becomes stripped if its a black wrench if its chrome then just cut about 1/8th inch off and it should be fine. If the actual head of the screw is stipped then some have had luck with cutting a notch in the screw head so that you can take them out with a flat blade screw driver. Or you can sharpen a flat blade screw driver or get a chisle and hit the screw head in the direction that the screw loosens usually hit it so the screw spins to the left. if the screw goes through a peice of materal and threads into another peice. if the materal between the screw head and the material that it threads into is wide enough you can grind the head of the screw off and when you get the materal removed you can grip the the remaining bolt with vise grip pliars and twist it out, they usually don't bind in the threads but tighten by smashing the head of the bolt against the material when you remove the head the threaded part should be loose enough that you can pull it out by hand if you can grip it.
 
My dilemma is that it is on the bottom of my Firehammer MT chassis attached to the large engine mount (alloy). The allen head screw itself is completely stripped (the bondhus wrench is perfect). I think I'll probably have to drill the head off the screw then just remove the engine mount and put the remainder of the screw in a vise and hope it comes out of that piece of alloy.:censored:
 
did you use thread locker on that screw? I never ever use thread locker on anything going into aluminum i would rather replace the bolt than the aluminum part or go through the trouble of heating anything to remove it.

your bolt is probably flush type screw where it doesn't have much of a head sticking up to work on. the best thing i think for that is to cut a deep notch in the screw so you can get a flat blade screw driver in there and spray something like a penitrating oil to help soften the thread locker. other wise youll have to lop off the screw head take the part to a vise and either drill and tap or try to heat and remove with plyers.
 
P.S. i haven't seen a vise that will grip a bolt good enough to remove it from a peice of metal. i new set of visegrip plyers or stud extractor plyers are probably the only things that will bite good enough to remove it. channel locks may do it but i doubt it.
 
Yeah, I used threadlock. I now wish I hadn't.....I'll try to notch it tomorrow and see what happens. Thanks for your suggestions. Certainly something has to work!
 
Got it out! Notched it, broke the screwdriver off in the notch. Then took some vise grips, gripped it to the washer and turned. It unscrewed the whole thing.
 
Hi guys,
I have heard that changing the clutch spring is good for low end performance. I have a FHMT with a 26cc CY and a DDM Torque pipe. Would changing the clutch spring be beneficial for me? If yes, what spring would I go for?
Thanks guys, reading these forums have taught me a LOT! My FH is my first ever RC, and I love it.
 
changing the spring does help with some of the bottom end lag, but its no replacement for an adjustable clutch. i bought the lauterbacher 4 shoe off road adjustable clutch, located here http://www.davesmotors.com/store/product2332.html . expensive i know compared to the 13 dollar spring but i find its worth every penny. the Elcon adjustable clutch is also a very good buy if you can find it. Also the lauterbacker 3 shoe adjustable clutch. i used the 8 thousand rpm clutch spring sold buy hpi also available at www.davesmotors.com and the DDM 7500 rpm spring also available at daves. Both did what they were designed to do but these motors don't really come into any power untill well after 8 thousand rpm. However none of the above mentioned items will make the truck do a wheel stand so if your looking to bring the front wheels up a spring wont help with that. The only way to get the front wheels up is to get a larger engine like a 27cc or greater.
 
Thanks txtrcr...I will have a look @ Daves. Mine lifts the front wheels at mid range (but not consistently). The pipe, which was only fitted last weekend made the difference. I thought a different spring might get a more consistent result.
Thanks for your help.
 
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