1st time build Christmas present now in use - Q's

[GodSpeed999]

So I built a G6 Recon kit meticulously for my 4yr old, months in advance of Christmas. From the get-go I upgraded the chubs and knuckles to Axial aluminum, Axial CVD's, Axial aluminum lockers and Vanquish shock hoops. It's got a Hitec 5646WP servo (seems to have enough torque for us, for now), Castle Sidewinder3 ESC, HH TorqueMaster Expert 35T motor, FS GT3C Tx/Rx, Castle 10A BEC, HH Rx Bypass and running 6000mAh 65-130C Nano-Tech 2S LiPo.

A few days before Christmas I got the bright idea to upgrade the wheels to Axial 8-hole 1.9 beadlocks, Axial wheel weight rings + full load of additional weights in the fronts and Axial HD beveled OD/UD gears.

I used Gorilla Glue brand CA glue to glue the tires on originally, searched here and googled extensively methods to remove the tires from rims and ended up trying the baking method. DIDN'T DO SH!T. Nothing. I'd hang my life over a cliff on the tire bead seal. So I tried some acetone and still NOTHING, other than a completely "flat" tire -- totally destroyed the foam inside somehow yet did zero to removing the tire from the rim. Need. Tires. Fast.

Luckily a LHS was kind enough to open a new kit to get me a replacement set of the Maxxis Trepadors. I know I could have switched to a myriad of aftermarket options, but I wanted OEM tires at least to get started with.

Thanks for reading....this is getting long. Questions still to come....

As for the OD/UD gears, the OD's are backordered so I just installed the UD's in the rear. I'm meticulous in my assembly. I couldn't rebuild it "better" in any way so I'm confident that's not the issue, but I'm frustrated with myself for not examining the gears more closely before going in. A result of the stress of getting it rebuilt on Christmas Eve I guess.

So, the problem is I have a rough spot in the rear axle. Super smooth for most of the rotation and then what I'd call a "really" rough spot for a few teeth. Has to be in the ring gear due to its frequency...not the pinion. Any tips? I hate disassembling and reassembling the axles more than necessary due to the metal into plastic stretching/wear....but I guess I'll have to. That's question #1.

#2. under full shock compression and turning right, sometimes the front left tire will bind up on the sharp corner of the front bumper. Anyone else have this problem?

#3. with the weighted rings in the wheels I was again meticulous in trying to get the foams in neatly and equally around them, but the tires look super wobbly when rolling. The rims are on the hexes straight and tight. It's not the wheels; it's the tires/foams. Does this really matter? Should I fix it or just it just look weird?

#4. It has developed a squeak when going in reverse. I think it's either in the front or rear differential. Both have adequate amounts of marine grease in them so I'm surprised this happened. Any ideas and suggestions?

[sdmf]

Which LHS helped you out? That's super nice of them. As far as glued tires, I still freeze the crap out of them, and crack the glue off.
1&4- Are your bearings happy? OD gears are sort of unneeded, and I have heard of many people not getting a good mesh on them. Did you have to shim the pinion to get the mesh? I seem to remember a post recently about the UD gears, that may be more help.
2- I have the power wagon ram, and it rubs every part of the body under articulation, you can trim it if it bothers you, unless it is causing damage, meh I would leave it. I couldn't in my wraith with TSL XLs, as it would bind up on the body.
3- Are the beads set properly? Foams wet yet? Are they the factory glue on wheels? I personally would skip the weights until you know that you need them. Depending on your battery placement, they may not be necessary. With my wraith, I had the IFD trail crap wheels, they were crap. I got a set of axials with aluminium rings, same tires, same foams, no wobbling. My mini revo wheels/tires/foams are messed up and they don't track straight anymore, as I have had them super wet many times, and now the foams hate life.

[svt923]

The squeaking could be the CVD joints if they aren't well greased. I didn't grease my CVDs to prevent them from gathering dirt and they squeak all the time.

[GodSpeed999]

Thanks for the replies so far guys.

I called a million shops from Hamilton to Streetsville/Mississauga looking for these tires in a scramble. Nobody carries Axial OEM tires in stock. Lots of aftermarket options. The LHS that ended up helping me and totally bailing me out was Chris's House on Concession St., right at the top of the Jolly Cut. Never been there prior but I'd go back. Small shop with tons of inventory and helpful, friendly service. I think HRH still has the best prices though.

Regarding the wheels, they're the Axial 8-hole beadlocks with factory foams. Beads are set properly. I don't think the wobble is causing any problems, just looks like a rickety old wagon rolling down a dirt trail LOL

Foams have never been wet

Bearings throughout and CVD's have ample amount of marine grease

Didn't shim the pinion gears in the axles. Do I have to? They are both set in properly though. I really should have done more testing prior to full reassembly though. I was in a rush to get it rebuilt before Christmas morning. Santa is never late, you know! haha

[sdmf]

HRH will order axial stuff for you. I would take out the weights, out of the rear, and run it down the street. See if that's causing the wobble. Sometimes you have to shim the pinion, to get the mesh good. I just replaced my rear set in my wraith, did not need any shims, mesh was as close to perfect as I care.

I was going to go to chris' house once, but HRH had what I needed, so still have yet to visit. Although "Chris" will claim he has the most crawler/trail truck inventory in Ontario. That made me wary when I looked on google maps, and saw it was a house.

[GodSpeed999]

So shimming a pinion, what do I use? Just perfectly sized washers?

Where? Between the gear and the bearing or between the bearing and the axle housing?

[sdmf]

Originally Posted by GodSpeed999

So shimming a pinion, what do I use? Just perfectly sized washers?

Where? Between the gear and the bearing or between the bearing and the axle housing?

Sorry for the delay. I can't remember the part# but there is a team associated shim kit which will work

[GodSpeed999]

During disassembly I found the problem. It's not the gears; they're perfect.

As soon as I removed the Axial aluminum lockers the pinion could be spun smooth as butter. Removing the lockers allowed the shafts to spin as they wanted to, which is BENT.

The rear axle shafts are bent so when secured in place by the bearings in the aluminum lockers, they were causing resistance/binding. They're not bent equally left and right and the bends weren't in sync with each other left/right so when they were at their greatest opposition, the most severe binding was felt.

Is this common? Bent rear axles? This rig has only a few hours on it and it's geared really slow. No jumps or drops or anything even remotely close to abusive use.

So how do I fix this? I can get them out of the center locker but they're secured with Loctite per the instructions so I know they're in there pretty securely. Getting them out when upgrading to the UD gears took some work.

[TakeOffYouHoser]

Hey cool, a local.

About the body/bumper rubbing, easiest fix is to space the front bumper out by one position on the bumper mounts, and/or you could always lift the body also. Strange that they touch only turning in one direction, but ... it sounds like what you describe your #2 and #3 are related. If you have a wobbly wheel and a problem with the tire rubbing ... bingo.

The axles should be a warranty item. Don't know that it's common with little/light use or not.

Use a torch to heat up the LocTite. Butane lighter should help make things easier. I've had luck with that before.

[Jrgunn5150]

My Deadbolt squeaks like crazy, I tore down the axles twice and replaced bearings trying to find it.

Now I just run it... The way I see it is, this thing is so slow... What could it hurt for ten more packs lol

[GodSpeed999]

Originally Posted by TakeOffYouHoser

Hey cool, a local.

Yep.

Originally Posted by TakeOffYouHoser

About the body/bumper rubbing, easiest fix is to space the front bumper out by one position on the bumper mounts

Uh, oh ya. Duh. Thanks. One hole out should do.

Originally Posted by TakeOffYouHoser

The axles should be a warranty item. Don't know that it's common with little/light use or not.

It couldn't be from use. It's been used at a slow crawl for maybe 4hrs. No falls, no crashes. But you're right about warranty and I'm blown away at how easy it was. Sat on hold for maybe 5 minutes but then it was a 1 minute conversation and they're air mailing me a pair. Awesome service. Unbelievable almost.

Thanks.

[nharkey85]

i know you seem to have found the binding issue but, even with good shafts mine had a tight spot if the 4 main bolts holding the housing together were too tight.

[Eric0424]

On question #1. I had to trim about .005"-.006" off the pinion gears in both axles on my recent Dingo build to get rid of the binding. Like yours, it was just one spot on the ring gear. The bearings were seated, I tweaked the ring gear screws and even repositioned the ring gears a few times trying to get the gear to even out, but nothing worked. So I took the pinion gears off the shafts a shaved a little off the back where they contact the bearings (red shaded areas seen below).

They're bind free now, but you can still tell there's a high spot on the ring gears. It's something that happens when molding/casting some parts. It may clear up after a while, if so I can always add some 5mm shims to remove excess backlash.

[GodSpeed999]

Thanks for the continued replies.

[Randy Williams]

I also bought my son the G6 jeep for Christmas. I got it toghrpether and had the exact same "rough spot" in the rear diff. When I loosen the bolts holding the housing about a turn or two the binding stops. I checked the bearings and all are seated. Glad I read this thread.

Great looking rig.