I've been assembling my new 6.1 while on vacation (assembling with the included tools... talk about a PITA). I'm looking for some tips to resolve some mostly minor issues.

Slop in the arms: There's a lot of slop in the arms at the inner hinge pin. It seems like the slop comes from both the arm vs. hinge pin as well as the hinge pin vs pivot blocks. I didn't do any reaming at all on the arms. I haven't measured the hinge pins (don't have my caliper with me) but I suspect the pins are probably under-sized, since a few people have mentioned encountering that. How prevalent is that issue with new kits? How prevalent is it with replacement parts? What is the correct diameter for the hinge pins? 3mm? 1/8"?

Slop in the C-Hubs: I've got a lot of slop at the C-Hub, way more than Maybell's 6.1 did when new (his had basically none). It's more like the slop in my Mi4LP after a few weekends of board tapping. It seems like some of the slop might be between the pin and the arm, and some is between the hub and the pin. I haven't glued the inserts, and they are pushed all the way. I'm not sure if the earlier suggestion of leaving them slightly out and then installing them to take up slop will actually work. Is there a trick to removing the inserts once they've been pushed all the way in?

Slop in 2 of the 4 swaybar endlinks where they connect to the wishbone: Two were nice and snug, but two of them have some noticeable slop, probably ~.2mm. I think it's from either the ball or the cap, because I swapped the links around, and one of them was a bit better in a different spot, and the other one stayed sloppy in its new location. What's the correct diameter for the balls (so I can check mine)? If I want to get rid of the slop, what's the best approach? Sand the arm? Sand the cap? Heat the cap and bend it a bit? Try new balls?

Tight / chunky feeling in the gear diff: I didn't assemble the gear diff with any lube (didn't want to do anything messy until I get my car home), but it feels pretty tight and chunky, especially in one part of the rotation. The instructions in the kit didn't say to do any sanding of gears or anything, so I didn't. Should I run it in first before doing anything to free it up? Is there a specific orientation of the gear halves that needs to be observed? The instructions didn't mention anything, and I didn't notice any distinctive markings on the case halves.

Gap between pulley and side fence on gear diff: It looks a little bit like the pics that have been posted of the mould defect, but not quite so pronounced. There's just slight deflection of the fence around each of the 4 screws. I didn't think I screwed it down too tight, but I suppose it's possible I did. At no point while tightening was the gap between the fence and pulley smaller.

Bearing stuck on spool: I misread the instructions for the spool, and put 2 of the shims on each side of the spool. When I did the diff and had no shims left, I realized my mistake. But one of the bearings fits extremely tight on the spool, and I can't get seem to get it off, so I've got both spacers on the same side on the front. :/

Slight slop in the steering support shaft: There's a small amount (.1-.2mm) vertical play in the steering assembly on the shaft. Is it there for a reason, or should I shim it out?

Pivot block insert depth: On the non-offset blocks, the pivot block insert goes all the way through and is flush on the inside. With the offset blocks, the insert falls maybe .2mm short of the inner face of the block, where it sits against the bulkhead. Is this by design? Maybe it's designed as crush space to get the blocks super tight?

Pivoting Body Supports: They don't seem to work super well with the kit body clips. The clip doesn't slide in fully and seat on the post (although it seems to seat well enough), and it also inhibits the free rotation of the body support. Is there a different size / shape of body clip that works better?

-Mike

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