Psycho-Tek Carbon Fiber T-Maxx Chassis

Installation

Installing the Art's Hobby Carbon Fiber T-Maxx chassis isn't necessarily a difficult task, but you will want to allow yourself some time to do the swap. This is because a good number of parts will have to be removed to swap the chassis plate. The good thing is, that many of the items can be taken off in groups which makes reinstalling them much easier than if you removed everything individually.

The first thing you want to do, is to remove the motor, exhaust pipe and fuel tank. You can remove this all as one unit by removing the four 2.5 mm hex screws that attach the motor to the chassis. Then remove the four screws that secure the fuel tank to the chassis, followed by the screw that holds the wire exhaust hanger to the chassis. Now the whole assembly should be loose, but you'll still need to pop the throttle linkage off of the carburetor slide and remove the EZ-Start connection from the rear body post.

Once all that is completed, you should be able to remove all three parts from the chassis. It can be a little tricky to get the motor's clutch bell past the linkage arm. If you lift and pull the back of the motor out first it should be much easier. You can also go ahead and remove the linkage arm if you wish, since it will need to be removed anyway. What you're left with is shown below.

Next you'll want to remove the brake rod from the transmission. Using a 1.5 mm hex wrench, loosen the grub screw on the end of the rod and slide the collar, tubing, and washer off of the rod. Then you can slide the rod away from it's mounting location on the transmission. I always reinstall these parts back onto the brake rod so they won't get lost while the truck is apart.

Next flip the truck over and remove the eight Phillips head screws from the transmission and chassis braces as shown below. Be careful when removing the last screw, as the transmission will drop if not supported from below.

Flip the truck back over and remove the transmission.

Now you'll need to remove the electronics. You should be able to remove all the screws that secure them to the chassis, and them remove them all as one unit without having to pull the servos loose from the receiver. The only area that might give you problem is the steering servo. Depending upon the servo saver that you are using, you may have to remove it to pass the servo through the hole in the chassis. All screws can be accessed without having to remove any other parts, some of them may just be a little trickier than others, especially those under the skid plate.

Now you're down to the actual plate itself. At this point, all you need to do is to remove the 8 screws that secure the chassis plate to the frame of the T-Maxx itself. There are four on each end of the plate. You will also need to remove two screws that secure the steering linkage to the chassis plate as well. Once that's done, simply remove the chassis plate.

Now you are ready to install the Art's Hobby chassis plate, and reinstall the removed components. Set the plate on the frame of your T-Maxx and reinstall the eight screws that secure it to the bulkheads at both ends. If you are using aluminum bulkheads, be sure you use thread lock on those screws. Avoid the thread lock if you are using plastic bulkheads. Then you'll also want to replace the two screws that secure the steering linkage to the chassis plate. You'll need to use thread lock on these screws as well.

Next you'll want to reinstall the transmission. I prefer to reinstall this item first because you can access the driveshafts better when nothing else is installed on the chassis plate. While that may not be a big concern if you are using the stock axles, it makes a big difference when working with the boots that cover some brands of CVD driveshafts.

Next it's time to reinstall all of the electronics. It will probably take you a few minutes to sort through the various wires but overall it's not that difficult. I found that in some areas, such as the receiver box, that I needed to dig into my pit box to find a slightly longer screw. The was necessary due to the extra thickness of the replacement chassis plate.

Don't forget that you'll also need to reattach the brake rod to the transmission.

The final step is to reinstall the fuel tank, motor, and exhaust system. Make sure you properly set the clutch bell and spur gear gap, otherwise you may wind up stripping a spur gear.

That's all there is to swapping out the chassis plate. Now you're ready to turn some heads!!!

Part One:	Introduction
Part Two:	Installation
Part Three:	Testing and Final Thoughts