Rescued Abrams build

[Handy Lance]

Getting the gear boxes cleaned, shimmed, and relubed, and my Holmes hobbies torque master 380 motors (rated for 11.1v) installed. Shimmed them trannys like I would an airsoft gearbox. They were pretty dirty inside and they use a soul robbing grease that is sparsely applied. I make better. Magnalube. Great stuff

I can’t describe the improvement in quality from ANY Heng Long motor. You can feel it in the motor. Dual Ball bearing and neodymium magnets. 18$ each. These are top off the line RC crawler motors. I use Holmes Hobbies in most my trucks. They also make awesome servos.

here’s my example

the stock Heng Long motor (390) won’t even turn over with a bare shaft on a AA battery

the Holmes Hobby turns the entire transmission on 1 AA with power to spare. Don’t believe me… try some

[Handy Lance]

https://youtube.com/shorts/IKdnGrBRqVU?si=w0wOVJOknEaE624f

here’s a quick little video I shot to show the difference of the two motors

[Rubicon99]

https://youtube.com/shorts/IKdnGrBRq...wOVJOknEaE624f

here’s a quick little video I shot to show the difference of the two motors

Do the TM motors come with the pinion gear attached? Is it something the end user has to pressure fit or attach using a locking screw? If screw does the motor shaft has a flat spot for the screw to mount squarely against?

[Handy Lance]

Do the TM motors come with the pinion gear attached? Is it something the end user has to pressure fit or attach using a locking screw? If screw does the motor shaft has a flat spot for the screw to mount squarely against?

I had to swap. I used a pinion puller then hot and direct heat and a vise as a press. As long as you only press on shaft and pinion and not housing and keep it straight a vise works great. I used the transmission housing as the guide for pinion depth.

The Holmes do have a flat grind on shaft for a grub screw, I didn’t want to source 2 new pinions. The HL pinions are plenty tight on the Holmes shafts.

[Handy Lance]

I was able to remove 4-5 mm of deflection from each wheel once assembled on the swing arms. That’s 8-10mm total from only the wheels. I will shim the arms for even more precision as well.

each wheel needed an m5x8 by . 25mm shim
some needed an additional, .13mm
tensioners needed a .5 mm shim


additionally I found a slightly thicker m3 x 14mm screw to replace the silly 8mm oem screws. The new ones fully fill the axle shaft. This creates a much stronger shaft than the stock. Stock had a 5mm section only supported by the alloy axle shaft now the screw fills the whole shaft.

you can see where I machined off the casting burrs on the axle shafts. This allows proper shimming without drag from the casting rubbing on the shims. Super smooth.

[Handy Lance]

My M4 guide wheel mod.
once again the oem stuff won’t cut it.
I laughed at the m2 screws into plastic outriggers. They were soft garbage. Snipped off the plastic the wheel rides on, drill an M4 sized hole through what’s left of oem outrigger
Now an M4 penetrates the hull, the combination of shims gave me the best combo of free wheeling and precision. These are BEEFY now.
all shims are M4x6 one is .3 one is 2mm
front bolt is M4 x 50mm and rear is m4x30mm
I’d do this one ASAP. I may back up the m4 nylock with a wider washer. But this is the best of 4 ideas I tried.

cheers

[Handy Lance]

Not finished but looks great in her new home. I built the stand out of 1/12 real brick, made my own razor wire. Sandbags from China.

getting all the final mockup done.

20/80 right 😂

[Handy Lance]

No more screws, no more magnets no more teachers dirty looks.
My front clip system is in! It holds tight. Firm audible click as the clips pawls grab the oem screw towers. Adjustable height means I always have a tight fit. It’s easy, super strong and adjustable. Upper hull clips slide under the chassis plate I installed in lower hull directly against screw towers. The upper hull clips grab the oem screw towers for rattle free clip system.

[Handy Lance]

https://youtu.be/8MKdauuaeKQ?si=ivDMmnYDSA7kdYY6

my 7.1 had the wrong sound pack😡

but she lives!

Low Speed control is beautiful. Top speed seems plenty fast. No temp issues, I have 1 fan cooling things.

My dual speaker configuration sounds AWESOME! The stock speaker sounded like is was being given to much power, so I wired 2 in parallel. Cut the housing in half, faced the openings opposite directions, so sound waves would travel different directions. Also lined the upper hull with soft 1 inch by 1/8 inch foam insulation strips all over to dampen the hollow plastic sound.

I had to make my own adapter for permanently installing The Spektrum 11.1 3200 mah G2. I now just connect a lead from the charger to battery lead (yellow flag is a cap on the charge lead) near the on switch. No disassemble!

I DROVE HER🥰🥰🥰🥰.

[tank_me]

Looks good. I didn't reread all the way through the posts, but did you increase the tension on the last road wheel by the drive sprocket or even the last two? She's ridin' a little low in the back... Personally I like to increase the tension on the first and last road wheels on most of my tanks. Helps with track retention. There should be two settings on each road wheel. One is harder and the other softer. On my old Abrams plastic hull I think I drilled an additional hole to increase the tension on the torsion spring to "more harder"...

[Handy Lance]

Looks good. I didn't reread all the way through the posts, but did you increase the tension on the last road wheel by the drive sprocket or even the last two? She's ridin' a little low in the back... Personally I like to increase the tension on the first and last road wheels on most of my tanks. Helps with track retention. There should be two settings on each road wheel. One is harder and the other softer. On my old Abrams plastic hull I think I drilled an additional hole to increase the tension on the torsion spring to "more harder"...

It is a heavy tank, only those with one will realize! They are all on the stiffest setting. I will need to add a “stiffer hole”🤣🤔

I do want it looking heavy though. A good load up of the suspension when heavy braking is applied. Prob last 2 wheels will get stiffened a tiny bit.

[tank_me]

It is a heavy tank, only those with one will realize! They are all on the stiffest setting. I will need to add a “stiffer hole”🤣🤔

I do want it looking heavy though. A good load up of the suspension when heavy braking is applied. Prob last 2 wheels will get stiffened a tiny bit.

Oh, I have one, but mine has the HL metal lower hull with a TUSK 2 kit on it. Believe me, mine is heavy. The HL metal hull has torsion bars so it handles the weight better, but it was an expensive upgrade.

[Handy Lance]

Oh, I have one, but mine has the HL metal lower hull with a TUSK 2 kit on it. Believe me, mine is heavy. The HL metal hull has torsion bars so it handles the weight better, but it was an expensive upgrade.

yeah tank guys know.
I am new to tanks so it’s surprising to me how much these things weigh. I’m pushing what this plastic chassis can handle, all my strength/stiffing mods seem to be working very well, otherwise I’m sure this tank would have just ripped one of the old tensioner wheels right off! 11.1v and this motor/tranny combo there is LOADS of torque. Best guess is buttloads of torque , but, I’ll do a full acceleration test in awhile , you guys can tell me what you think!

[Rubicon99]

yeah tank guys know.
I am new to tanks so it’s surprising to me how much these things weigh. I’m pushing what this plastic chassis can handle, all my strength/stiffing mods seem to be working very well, otherwise I’m sure this tank would have just ripped one of the old tensioner wheels right off! 11.1v and this motor/tranny combo there is LOADS of torque. Best guess is buttloads of torque , but, I’ll do a full acceleration test in awhile , you guys can tell me what you think!

Just in case you are not aware the 7.1 has two power options a "low" and a "high". Low will only allow for 70% of the max battery voltage to be used. 11.1v at peak is ~12.1v of output.

Running on the low power setting you will be equally to an 8.4v battery output and will have much better overall control of the tank with none of the motor overheating that comes with running at 12v.

Now don't get me wrong running 12v through the motors is crazy fun and a world of laughs, trust me I do it for demos at our local tank battle days and it is quite the crowd pleaser especially when I jump tanks and get air underneath them.

[Handy Lance]

Just in case you are not aware the 7.1 has two power options a "low" and a "high". Low will only allow for 70% of the max battery voltage to be used. 11.1v at peak is ~12.1v of output.

Running on the low power setting you will be equally to an 8.4v battery output and will have much better overall control of the tank with none of the motor overheating that comes with running at 12v.

Now don't get me wrong running 12v through the motors is crazy fun and a world of laughs, trust me I do it for demos at our local tank battle days and it is quite the crowd pleaser especially when I jump tanks and get air underneath them.

I’m a 100% available power kinda guy. I will mostly drive it scale. It will do burnouts and drift. I won’t push it until I get everything sorted 100%

expect some fun vids! I have a 1/10 rally track with lap timers. The Abrams will get to set a time! A delicate 15lb time🤣

[Rubicon99]

I’m a 100% available power kinda guy. I will mostly drive it scale. It will do burnouts and drift. I won’t push it until I get everything sorted 100%

expect some fun vids! I have a 1/10 rally track with lap timers. The Abrams will get to set a time! A delicate 15lb time🤣

You are going to laugh so hard watching your tank drift around turns👍👍. It's just not something seen everyday.

[MrChef]

You are going to laugh so hard watching your tank drift around turns👍👍. It's just not something seen everyday.

Well I definitely look forward to those videos.

[Handy Lance]

You are going to laugh so hard watching your tank drift around turns👍👍. It's just not something seen everyday.

Yes. I will and hence fulfill the only point of this endless money pit …..RC

a big fat sheet eating grin. One like few can experience 👍🏻🫡🦧🏴☠️🦧

[RichJohnson]

I had my HL Abrams running on a 12v C cell battery I built for it. I ran an on IBU2 controller and my dx8.
I used the metal track with rubber pads and the stock HL track. The rubber pad track was so grippy eveywhere except soft dirt that I drove off the tracks a lot and the plastic track would break a lot. I had a dual rate set up so I could drive at 60% scale speed at the top most of the time because Ludicrous speed was just uncontrollable for any thing more than just a mad dash across the field and slight steering around some obstacles.
with the plastic track I could drift my tank in a nice concrete driveway or parking lot or on very hard smooth dirt. I jump it often and broke a lot a lot of plastic wheel arms and eventually wore out the chassis with the wheels falling off and had to retire it,

[Handy Lance]

I had my HL Abrams running on a 12v C cell battery I built for it. I ran an on IBU2 controller and my dx8.
I used the metal track with rubber pads and the stock HL track. The rubber pad track was so grippy eveywhere except soft dirt that I drove off the tracks a lot and the plastic track would break a lot. I had a dual rate set up so I could drive at 60% scale speed at the top most of the time because Ludicrous speed was just uncontrollable for any thing more than just a mad dash across the field and slight steering around some obstacles.
with the plastic track I could drift my tank in a nice concrete driveway or parking lot or on very hard smooth dirt. I jump it often and broke a lot a lot of plastic wheel arms and eventually wore out the chassis with the wheels falling off and had to retire it,

95% of my driving will be scale. I will get a lap or two in, but only as a novelty. I can see this tank wearing out fairly rapidly if jumped 😂👍🏻, it is heavy! Scale driving along with my mods I expect a long life.