Kyosho optima mid 87WC worlds spec ball diff issue 

Ball diffs on carpet is always going to be a ticking time bomb. There is a reason why all modern cars run gear diffs on high traction. The idler could be a tad wider or the diff made out of stronger material from the factory but I don't think Kyosho expected these cars to be raced on high traction as many are doing now. These were intended for dirt as they were back in the day. Annoying that it happened but yeah, definitely run gear diffs on astro and carpet.

Again, thank you for sharing the reality of owning a Kyosho buggy and what happens when they're raced and worked. If you can, share the process of converting the Mid to the longer wheelbase. Thanks, great piece of content and insightful.

Amazing to have some great people making awesome products. Unfortunately, they're only on Facebook. I left that place a decade ago and will never be back. Not even for great parts I want.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this buggy. Nice to see it being raced.

Hi RL. I built my Exo-LWB last weekend. You‘ll definitely need larger bearings on the belt tensioner. 4x9x2.5 or even 4x10x2.5. Hope this helps. Great videos btw. Looking forward to the 870c🍻

Good to know, I was planning to take my 87 to a carpet track but not so sure it’s a good idea now. I’d be interested to learn how the aftermarket pulleys hold up by comparison.

It;s good to get some opinions on this one. Thank you.

Hey Richard, that is such a shame pal. These things happen though pal and at least there are options to repair

Thanks for sharing 😊

Only you eh ;) I thought these Kyoshos were like the crème of vintage re releases 😂 my Tamiya’s don’t strip gears like this ! Joking aside I’m sure you’ll get it running again soon just looks like they do need the gear diff for carpet running , be interesting to see what the yokomo is like as that’s all gear diffs out the box . Take care buddy

That’s disappointing seeing this issue on many posts/videos. I’d like to get the gear diffs and hopefully lbrc will make a proper strong gear.

Sucks you stripped it out, especially since it sounds like it was running really well! Hopefully the next outing goes a lot better!

great video and information

“I genuinely meant to take it steady, your honour.” Each and every one of us does this to a b and every bloody time and we never learn it seems. I’m laughing with you not at you here mate. Everyone knows that most blokes are really just older children and we ALWAYS do silly things like this, get carried away and smash stuff when we were really trying not to. :) :) Didn’t fancy the council house bathroom colour youth?? :) :) WTF RC’s opinion as told to me in person and also on his channel, bless ‘im.

Maybe this is an issue on a hard high tracktion surface?

If i ever did come back to racing i think id struggle, the old man sorted the cars all I did was drive them. The car in a million bits makes me nervous 😂

Belt from the Turbo Optima is the shorter one buddy OT227 i believe

just about to build my JJ, i was wondering if the gear diff from a standard Ultima rere would be worth a try? i cant help thinking that metal idler gear is always going to munch diffs. looking forward to seeing the LWB conversion. Thanks for the informative content btw

Nice😊

Seems everyone is having issues with ball diffs in everything lately

A Tamiya Avante would be a better choice, probably more reliable/robust

I’ve done the same and I wasn’t running it on carpet 😂

Well that's unfortunate. Not like Kyosho to release something like that.

The idler in the gearbox is a terrible design. 1. it's not as wide as it could be. 2. it's only attached to one side of the gearbox housing. Awful. After 30+ years, they should know how to make this reliable.

Aw very disappointing 😕 and having to undo all your hard work again rebuilding the car 🤦