Re: Devastator's upgrade
Posted: Tue May 04, 2021 1:11 pm
I still have enough front axles machined to swap out the remaining, right side, spindle to a screw in type. I'll just measure it and re-create them again. I put my last dune trip of the season in the books a few weekends ago. Sandrail ran great and my daughter discovered how easily it does wheelies. 
For the past few weeks I've been using the warranty on my KC Flex lights as 3/4 of the LEDs have burned out. To their credit, KC has replaced one of the Flex light sets at no cost to me and sent me a new set of replacement lights for the other Flex light sets that isn't working any longer, again, at their cost. I think I'll replace the Flex lights with the A-pillar lights off of my Yamaha YXZ and put the replacement lights from KC in their place. Comically, I was made the "night run leader" during our last dune trip, so nobody would have to have my YXZ lights burning the short hairs off of the back of their necks. I was cool with this, even though I'd not been in these dunes, (next to Gordon's Well), before. We went on a pretty good night run with my YXZ's lights leading the way. The next night, they unanimously elected me to lead the night run again, (for the same reason as before), so I drove the sandrail this time because it has even MORE and brighter lights than the YXZ. When I first told them this, they laughed. Once we hit the dunes, however, they understood my choice to drive the sandrail and we went on an EPIC night run! Yay lights!
For the past few weeks I've been using the warranty on my KC Flex lights as 3/4 of the LEDs have burned out. To their credit, KC has replaced one of the Flex light sets at no cost to me and sent me a new set of replacement lights for the other Flex light sets that isn't working any longer, again, at their cost. I think I'll replace the Flex lights with the A-pillar lights off of my Yamaha YXZ and put the replacement lights from KC in their place. Comically, I was made the "night run leader" during our last dune trip, so nobody would have to have my YXZ lights burning the short hairs off of the back of their necks. I was cool with this, even though I'd not been in these dunes, (next to Gordon's Well), before. We went on a pretty good night run with my YXZ's lights leading the way. The next night, they unanimously elected me to lead the night run again, (for the same reason as before), so I drove the sandrail this time because it has even MORE and brighter lights than the YXZ. When I first told them this, they laughed. Once we hit the dunes, however, they understood my choice to drive the sandrail and we went on an EPIC night run! Yay lights!
), and I had the other one shear. Also, they bend slightly, I found out, after a few trips and I start to lose wheel bearings. With a threaded axle on the spindle, I can swap it out real easily and have the option to change materials, heat treat, lengthen, shorten, or do whatever else I can imagine to them. I run spindle mount rims, which are designed to bolt on with spacers in strange places. I redesigned my spindles to work with spindle mount rims only and without shims and/or spacers. Now, I've moved on to cracking the front rims 2X a year instead of breaking spindles. 
For the last trip of the season, I replaced ANOTHER cracked rim with a heavier duty, (.19 wall thickness in place of the .12 wall thickness), version on the left side only as I couldn't get the right side apart, due to the bent spindle again. So, this summer I will cut out the right side spindle and replace it with a threaded plate, (light the right side has), and screw in my, newly machined, 1045 steel spindles, (axles). Still no heat treat as I don't think it would lend much strength to the spindles.