grinding sound from tranny, is it normal?

[e32lover]

Hi

I just got a trail honcho RTR, and it is making a course high pitched grinding sound from the tranny. The tranny is extremely noisy. I probably wouldnt have thought anything of it, but I also have a wheely king, and the tranny in that is silent. The noise from the tranny of the honcho is much louder than the motor or any other noise that the car makes.

Any ideas? or are the trannys normally very noisy?

Also the bag of stuff that came with the honcho are these just spares?

and with the antenna, do most people run the extended antenna? If so do you just solder a bit of wire to the short standard antenna?

Thanks

[taco08jk]

My honcho came with a tranny cover unlike my dingo, and it was not noisy at all. Is the sound your talking about louder than the motor? If so then I would pull the cover off and inspect it before running it again. And yes the bags are spare parts, scale accessories and stuff like that. I personally have never soldered on an antenna so I don't know if would affect it or not. I'm sure someone else will chime in on that one.

[btoungette]

Originally Posted by e32lover

Hi

I just got a trail honcho RTR, and it is making a course high pitched grinding sound from the tranny. The tranny is extremely noisy. I probably wouldnt have thought anything of it, but I also have a wheely king, and the tranny in that is silent. The noise from the tranny of the honcho is much louder than the motor or any other noise that the car makes.

Any ideas? or are the trannys normally very noisy?

Also the bag of stuff that came with the honcho are these just spares?

and with the antenna, do most people run the extended antenna? If so do you just solder a bit of wire to the short standard antenna?

Thanks

Noise Issue:

Did you get the Trail Honcho new or used? Did this noise just begin, or has it made that noise since you've had it? If it just happened, what were the circumstances (i.e., hard pull, tires bound-up, hill climb, roll-over, etc.)? If you hold a front or rear tire, does it pop like it slips a gear? Is the slipper tight? Could be gear mesh between the motor pinion and spur, or could be problems with internal gears in transmission. Have you ever had the transmission apart? From your description, I'd guess the plastic gears in the transmission are the cause.

I know I asked many questions, but try to answer them so you can narrow down the problem.

Bag-o-stuff: answered already by taco08jk

Antenna:

I would guess most people don't run it at full mast. It looks "not scale", especially in the stock location. I opened my RX case (Spektrum) and curled the wire and closed it in the case. The 2.4 radios are fine that way.

[Perkolator]

i would open up the tranny and check out the internals, then service it with a cleaning and fresh grease. i'd also reset pinion/spur mesh with a piece of plastic in between to eliminate that. then i'd lube up my driveshafts and steering shafts. those basic things will re-lube everything and hopefully eliminate the squeal. if it doesn't help then there's more of an issue that'll need more investigation.

spare parts bag is just that, spare parts. also includes stuff needed for installing different bodies on your rig (like extended body posts). for the most part, most of this stuff will never see your rig.

for the rx antenna, i run mine inside my body because the mast is horrid looking and in a bad location. i actually filled in the hole on the body too. mine's just tied up on the front shock hoop since my electronics are sealed in project boxes.

[e32lover]

Thanks for the advice. I bought it brand new and it was straight away making this noise. If I hold one wheel the others dont turn at all and it just makes a struggling sound (sounds pretty normal).

I pulled the cover off the pinion and spur and the mesh looks nice with no signs of problems or no wear. Upon further inspection it sounds like the sound is coming from the transfer case but im yet to open it.

Another noteworthy point is that the vehicle is very hard to push it is like pushing a 5kg weight, where as my wheely king you could easily push along with your little finger.

Also what sort of grease to use in the tranny?

Cheers

[theloudone]

disconnect the motor or pinion and see if it stilll makes the sound when you push it.

[e32lover]

Ive ripped apart and re-assembled the tranny and im pretty sure the sound was coming from the spur gear shaft rubbing on the motor mounting plate. Its all good now, but just had a quick question, How tight should the mesh be between the pinion and spur gears? From the factory there was a bit of play there. Should the pinion be flush with the spur, or should there be a bee's dick of clearence?

Thanks

[SwampDawg]

should be a touch of play between the pinion/spur

[taco08jk]

If your not comfortable setting the mesh by hand/feel, then do the paper trick. Look on you tube if you don't know the paper trick.

[Perkolator]

paper or some thin plastic, like 1-2 mil thick or so, between the two is about where you want it

[e32lover]

Thanks for the advice, The tranny seems a bit quieter now. I noticed another problem though. When i have the car upside down and run it, the front axle sporadically bounces up and down quite a bit as if it doesnt have a smooth mesh. Also the whole driveline of the car is totally out of balance. Not sure how its supposed to be, but if it was a real car and things looked like this I'd be like