'Maxx tire conversion

A lot of people have asked how I managed to get 'Maxx wheels & tires on the Mad Jedi. With an open mind and a Dremel, anything is possible!

Stock tires & wheels vs. Pro-Line Maxx Bow Ties on Ofna MT3 rims

In this case, the process is delightfully simple. You first need a full set of 17mm buggy hubs with wheel nuts. Parts from the Kyosho Inferno 7.5 or Mugen MBX4 should work fine, but I used OFNA parts to save a few bucks -- two packs of OFNA part #19027 for plain aluminum hubs.

Remove your stock wheels, hex hubs and drive pins, and you'll find that the hubs almost work perfectly, but you can't quite get the pin back through the axle. With a Dremel or bench-mounted drum sander, take off a bit of material from the back side of each hub. First flatten off the center lip that's made to contact the inner bearing hub, and then start rounding off the entire face into somewhat of a button shape. It's important not to just grind it flat, as you only want the hubs to contact the center ring of the outer wheel bearing. Leave it all flat and you'll also rub against the outer ring of the bearing, possibly causing the bearing to spin in it the knuckle, wearing it out.

Take off just a little bit of material at a time, and repeatedly test it on your wheel shaft. You'll want to get it to the point where the 2.6mm axle pin goes all the way through the hub with barely any resistance. Ideally you would want to use a 6mm set screw inserted from the tip of the wheel shaft to hold the axle pin in place. You will need a long set screw, though, as the inside threads of the wheel shaft don't go all the way in. Alternately, you can omit this altogether and just be careful not to let it fall out before you put your wheel on. If you do lose one, you have four spares that came with the hubs!

OFNA 17mm hub installed

Speaking of wheels, I used OFNA MT3 Split wheels made for the Dominator, part #81155 in white. Yellow is also available. These have 17mm hubs and are a direct fit. They have very, very shallow offset, so your truck will hardly lose any width, thereby giving you a stable, light & lowered platform.

Choice of tires is up to you. For racing on a hard-packed or just slightly loose dirt surface, I recommend Pro-Line Bow Ties with firm inserts to minimize sidewall deformation in turns.