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Yeah, they do that alarmingly quickly.... however, the worst worn ones I've seen have always been on Holiday buggy, those & front stub axles.

Another cheap option would be to come up with similar joints to what the Marauder used - a flat disc of something flexible with T-shaped connectors either side, each rotated 90 degrees out of line with the other (They've got a name, I'm thinking
"Oldham coupling" but I'm sure that's something else). I don't know but maybe the Apache had something similar but smaller?

I'm surprised the HB u/js wear out quicker - I'd have thought the gearbox would break first
A mate had a Holiday Buggy and spent all his time replacing gears. We christened it the "Horribly Cruddy"
Fifteen quid isn't too bad and these ones are steel so should last longer. I also won't be pulling wheelies .

I actually have a pair of Marauder u/js we could try. They would need new discs, but I think those are still available from Mardave.

I think HB bits wear so badly for the same reason as Grasshopper ones, the whole "first car, run it into the ground" moped thing.

Yeah I agree, 15 quid isn't worth the messing about trying to do something different!
Wheelies are what toy cars are for, that & dohnuts, jumping, splashing etc, don't let pants UJs put you off, after all, brass was the wrong material for the job, glass-reinforced plastic would've been much better (A'La Tmaxx). Anyway, I suspect loose/slipping grubscrews will halt play long befor steel UJs give up!

Discs for Marauder UJs - this type of joint usually uses spring steel for the disc, rubber, (In the case of the Marauder) is only used in "light" applications, for extra flexibility. I don't know if it would work or how long it would last, but you could try making the discs out of steel beer cans, bean tins etc. Not ally ones cos they'll give up quite quickly I'd suspect. I can lay my hands on 3mm thick EPDM gasket rubber if you fancy trying that. What else... er, polyethylene washing up bowl material, (Or I've also got 3mm thick polypropylene), several thicknesses of pop-bottle plastic etc etc

eddrick wrote:

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Wheelies are what toy cars are for, that & dohnuts, jumping, splashing etc, don't let pants UJs put you off, after all, brass was the wrong material for the job, glass-reinforced plastic would've been much better (A'La Tmaxx). Anyway, I suspect loose/slipping grubscrews will halt play long befor steel UJs give up!

Well, I do have nearly enough bits for TWO SRBs....
I did toy with the idea of making a short wheel base Rough Rider