Front axle binding issue

[borlo]

I have a 1:10 truck that I bought used that has Element axles. Has anybody had a problem with the axle binding from tightening down the front wheels? A buddy's Element Trailwalker does not suffer from this problem.

It came with Pitbull Raceline style wheels that have the center hub held on to the hex with the nut, then the wheels attach to the center hub with (6) 1.5mm screws. I recently took things apart to clean and grease, and replaced the wheels with some SSD beadlock units. When snugging down the center nut, it causes the axle to bind and wheels not to turn.

I have played with different offset hexes to make sure the wheels are not bottoming out on the steering knuckles (they are not).

As part of the rebuild of the axle I installed SSD Brass steering knuckles, and the binding occurs with both the brass knuckles and stock plastic knuckles.

I also installed some Vanquish Incision universal driveshafts, and that makes no difference.

I can use the Pitbull wheels and get things to move freely as long as I don't tighten down the center hubs too much, and this will work, but I'd like to use wheels that don't require so much work to get on and off.

Any ideas?

Thanks.

[Dirt Runner]

Are there shims between the axle pin and bearing? This may cause that. Are the bearings in good shape? Make sure the inner race of thre bearings aren't moving around.



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[borlo]

Originally Posted by Dirt Runner

Are there shims between the axle pin and bearing? This may cause that. Are the bearings in good shape? Make sure the inner race of thre bearings aren't moving around.



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No shims were present between the pin and bearing on the truck, and the enduro instruction manual doesn't show any. Are there supposed to be any shims in the assembly?

[Dirt Runner]

There aren't supposed to be any. Sometimes people put them to remove play.

Also, have you tried the wheels on your friends trailwalker to see if you get the binding. And try his wheels on yours?

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[borlo]

Originally Posted by Dirt Runner

There aren't supposed to be any. Sometimes people put them to remove play.

Also, have you tried the wheels on your friends trailwalker to see if you get the binding. And try his wheels on yours?

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I haven't, but I will next time we crawl!

[borlo]

OK, so the truck is back together and here is where we are at:

Axle off the truck, everything spins smoothly with no binding.

Wheels off the ground, slow speed, the front wheels have a herky jerky motion especially in reverse and when turned to full lock.

The front wheels also have about 3/4" (Left) and 1" (Right) of lash.

At this point, I can say that the wheels binding from tightening them against the hexes was part of the issue, not the whole problem. My gut tells me that it is something with the diff and front axles.

[OSRC]

On some wheels, the 12mm hex recess is a bit deeper than others, so when you crank the wheel down, it slides over the 12mm hex on the axle and snugs up against the knuckle surface. Depending on how long it was rubbing, you might see some wear just behind the hex on the knuckle.

Try a 5mm shim or two between the wheel and the outside of the hex hub and see if that helps. If it does, some slightly thicker hexes might be in order.

[HumboldtEF]

Yeah the interference may not be something you can see but it is in the wheel combo.

You could try putting a washer(s) between the wheel and hex just to see if they're too close. If the washers free it up you likely just need a thicker wheel hex.

[Phyro]

Okay this will sound out of left field. You might check the bearings at the pinion and possibly the diff. My Trailrunner does something similar when those bearings start to fail on the front end.


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[borlo]

Thanks for the replies. Here is what I have found:

The initial problem was the wheels, as OSRC and Humboldt said. With the stock hexes it bound completely, so I put on larger hexes. Next what I think happened is that in the new hexes the slot for the pin was longer, and the pin was binding on the outer bearing because it wasn't perfectly centered. This was not a total bind, and I ran the truck not knowing. After sorting that out, the herky jerky motion I mentioned above was there and further assessment revealed a clunky feeling in the front diff. I took it apart hoping to find a broken tooth on the ring gear but no such luck. Cleaned out the grease and put it back together again (also putting the stock plastic steering knuckles back on) and it seems better(ish).

The ring gear and pinion in the front diff have no visible damage, maybe there is a rough spot on the ring gear but without another to compare it to I can't tell. The outer bearings from the SSD brass steering knuckles are not smooth feeling by any standard, so that could be part of it too. The worst part of this whole deal is that the previous owner had stripped out the pins holding the GPM metal driveshafts on both the transmission and front differential side, so removing/replacing the pinion or pinion bearing is going to require very precision drilling and grinding or replacing the axle and transmission...but I have a plan.

The plan is to relegate this chassis to "extra" status and replace it with an Enduro Sendero builder's kit, replace the outer bearings in the SSD steering knuckles, and start from scratch. I'll try to fix this one down the road...

Lesson learned: I am not buying used again!

[djr01974]

You said that the jerky feeling is in full lock, do you have your steering expo set too far? This will cause the front drive shaft u-joints to do this because they are binding

[borlo]

Originally Posted by djr01974

You said that the jerky feeling is in full lock, do you have your steering expo set too far? This will cause the front drive shaft u-joints to do this because they are binding

Thanks for the reply. After taking it apart and putting it back together it was doing it at full lock on the workstand. Yesterday I decided to give it a little driving test and after a minute or so of running it was doing it regardless of where the wheels are. It's on the shelf until I can get the driveshaft off the pinion so I can replace the diff gears. I won't get around to that until I build up the new chassis. I'm done with this one...it is going to become the "extra rig made of spare parts to get a buddy hooked" eventually.