Ball Diffs
 

I just got three ball diffs for my dnano's. Very impressed, they come with a set of tools for tuning and maintenance. I'll post pics tonight when I get home and provide first impressions after I install.

And if anyone is wondering where I get my stuff, I found a purchasing agent in Tokyo who buys and ships. His cut is 10% of the purchase price. Very reasonable compared to Ebay and that other Dnano shop.

Google: japanese purchasing agent

-J

How much cheaper can you get these things using a purchasing agent? The price as of now is super high and I can't justify the high price tag.

I even offered a guy my race Revo for a used one and it fell through. That's when it dawned on me that if I can't even trade a $800+ nitro truck, I'll just have to wait till they come WAY down.

Still very interested in them though.






silla

Wow, I didn't know somebody actually got in those ball diff's. I'm very interested in finding out about those as I need two for my Dnano's. Right now I've got an issue with the car "stalling" when it hit's the wall. You know how it has that delayed reverse? Well, now even forward wont' work after it hit's the wall. I have to pick it up, move the rear wheel's with my fingers and then it'll run again till the next hit. Need to fix that.
Somebody suggested it was the motor, don't know. I'd like to fix the car as it is now before spending more money on it and having it not work.

I'd suggest switching from washing it in Cheer to Tide:)





Yeah I know it had problems before that but I couldn't resist!

Eh, doesn't help with my stalling problem. :)

Continued from another thread, Simpleskin, I'd love to see photo's of your three Dnano chassis including pics of the ball diff.
I'm still having issues with my Murcielago and Modena stalling when they hit the wall. I'm wondering if it's the motor since I still get steering.
Anyway, how much better does the Dnano perform with the ball diff versus stock diff?

I have not experienced any stalling with my d's, I have the Porsche 962 and 917 as well as the Mazda 787. They are all fully hopped up with the Kyosho parts, except I'm running stock springs and tires. They do run smoother with the ball diffs. Very fast and even power delivery. I find it difficult to go back to Z's even though I'm loving my 962 and 787 2.4 Z's. Like I said I'll try to post some pics tonight if the baby will let me.

Cool, thank's. I'm wondering if anybody can help me with the stalling issues. I'd hate to replace the electronics as it's a cost of a new MR02 chassis! EEEEEK!
I'll try first with replacing the motor's as it seems to be a motor issue.
I find the Dnano's easier to drive on my Mini96 track as they are smaller. But as fast as they are, they could use a larger track just as well.

I just called Aaron at the DnanoShop in the USA and had a great conversation with him. He's a really nice guy and very helpfull and loves these little cars as much as we do. Anyway, he told me that the ball differential upgrade and the new model's should be arriving any day now. I've just made a big sale and will be purchasing that sweet white Porsche 911 GT3 when it's available.
The guy on ebay Jason's Store has blocked me so I no longer wish to do buisness with him, besides, buying it from Florida will save ton's on shipping.

please post the pics of the diffs. I am going to order one is a few weeks

My opinion

The design is pretty innovative, but the spring is way too stiff, an over tightened ball diff is no improvement.

http://lbspd.com/v-web/gallery/album...diff.sized.jpg

http://lbspd.com/v-web/gallery/album...0747.sized.jpg

After much looking I finally found a few softer springs right under my nose.

http://lbspd.com/v-web/gallery/album...0756.sized.jpg

Mini-Z F1Rear Shock Option Spring Set PN: MFW04-1

http://lbspd.com/v-web/gallery/album...0754.sized.jpg

The medium green spring is an improvement, the softer red spring might be even better but I don't feel like taking it off my F1 just to experment with. Will either let someone else try or wait until I can pick up another set.

very interesting. I am sure that in the future different springs will be available to "tune" the diff?

um.. I like my sdano, I drove it on a RCP track last night, completely stock and it handles very well !

I am just starting to get a little dissapointed with something such as the fact that you cannot use the autoscale rims and, now the ball diff "which doesnt seem like an improvement"

.. i duno.. maybe i shouldve gotten another mini-z maybe an AWD.

So that's the upgraded ball differential? What is the purpose of the spring here? I've never seen a spring in a differential before. Is it used to adjust the tightness of the diff?

ALL ball diffs have springs of some kind. In a Mini-Z it is the "spring" compression of a rubber o-ring, in a 1/12 scale pan car they usually have a "spring" steel coned (aka Belleville washer), and in just about everything else like 1/10 scale sedans and offroad vehicles, they have coil springs just like this picture. Not unusual at all.

LBRC, beauty call on the spring set. Not sure we need such a beefy spring on the dNano even though we know they are putting out mad torque, right? :) One thing I have found by going to lighter diff springs over the years is you get a much more infinate adjustment instead of tightening 1/1000 turn and going from full loose, to lock. Can't wait to get my hands on my own ball diff.

So is the ball differential worth it on the Dnano? Can you actually see an improvement?

Stock with the stiff spring the ball diff has almost no differential action, hardly better than a solid axle, causes the rear end to break loose.

Once you loosen the diff with a lighter spring, or some other method, like any good well adjusted ball diff it can help but don’t expect miracles the primary benefit for the dNaNo is consistency. Not necessarily increasing any single lap time but over the length of a race or time trial it can reduce the average lap time considerably.

So, does not sound like it's a worthy investment for just driving at home on my own track. Okay, I'll stay away from the diff then.
I wonder if ANY of the aftermarket companies will touch the Dnano. I'm glad to see AVM made those sexy wheels, but we need more bit's than just fancy wheels.

Review on the dNaNo ball differential set

Hi guys, anyone still racing with their dNano's?

Anyway i've been going through this post and just to clarify some stuff about the ball differential set option part upgrade from the stock sets.

I mentioned upgrade yes? The gear differential set provided with the stock cars is great but here's the up's on getting the ball diff:

-Smoother control on turns and cornering
-In comparison the ball differential is much smoother and stable in action. Less pinion vibration.
-The set comes with 3 spacer plates. these plates can be added or removed to achieve the following results:

1 spacer plate (Diff will slip and not transfer all drive power. Effective on slippery surfaces)

2 spacer plates (Diff functions smoothly without slip)

3 spacer plates (Difficult for the differential to funtion smoothly. Effective on high grip surfaces)


Well, thats the update for the ball differential set. Don't need to buy or use other springs to adjust the tension because it comes fully tunable.

Dont forget to buy the ball differential gear grease for maintenance. Optional though.

b32bc36cbg12:bsm:

i am also running the ball diff, its so smooth, running with 1 shim for slippery surface as i run on my own homemade foam interlocking track, seems to work very well, will be getting rcp soon so i'll probably need to change to 3 shims for high grip,

there is still a slight left and right movement/play with the ball diff, but with the ally hubs there is none, i would have them installed if the shop gave me the correct parts for my car and not the ally hubs for the lancer and ally steering plates for the subaru lol, it was only when i got home and tryed to fit the parts that i noticed,

they were not aware of them all being different sizes for different cars, not even kyosho UK , i had to tell the shop to tell them lol,

How much is the ball diff again?

I think the understeer of my car is from both non-sticky front tires and the non-smooth gear diff.

With the gear mesh set properly, lightly oiled with bearing oil, and well broken in, the gear differential works really well.

It seems like to me that people have this idea that gear diffs are bad, they're not as good as ball diffs obviously, but a well maintained gear diff works great.

I am afraid to take it apart! My diff is like a solid axle right now. when I hold the gear with my thumb and turn one wheel, I can hardly turn it. When I turn the wheels in the opposite direction, there is a great amount of resistance, although I can turn them.

any dnano owner's FIRST upgrade should be a ball diff IMO. next should be ball bearings... other upgrades are just for tweaking but these? MUST HAVE!