1/18 jeep makeing a clicking noise in front axle

[chadw_3]

I just bought the 1/18 jeep and I was climing a pretty steep incline and my front end is now not catching. I opened it up and everything looks like it should but it just wont catch. I have a 1/6 scale jeep and I have beet the s#^% out of it, and not a thing has went wrong with it. I feel a little upset the the smaller one is doing this to me when I figured that the big one would first. If anyone has any input, pics, or any help I would really appreciate it. Thanks guys

[BOWTIE]

if everything looks fine it's prolly a misalignment with the gears. there's some posts about shimming it up. i haven't had to do this with mine so i can't tell ypu exactly what to do but it's something to look into.

[chadw_3]

Originally Posted by BOWTIE

if everything looks fine it's prolly a misalignment with the gears. there's some posts about shimming it up. i haven't had to do this with mine so i can't tell ypu exactly what to do but it's something to look into.

Cool rig man. I still have it apart but I am starting to think that I just might take it back to wally world, I only have a total of 2 batterys through it. All I have done to it is cut the tires and remove the springs, those stock springs are way to heavy. Well If you have anymore mod ideas and pics keep them coming. Thanks for your help

[cincinnati]

i had that exact problem while i was out crawling a creek bed this weekend. my front at first didnt want to catch while going in reverse - then after a while forward didnt want to catch either, so here i was stuck in a creek bed with only 2 wheel drive.

so my first thought was its the gear coming off the motor, because when i picked it up the front tires pulled, just not when there was any load on them. so i stuck it in high and managed to hobble back to camp and get it loaded onto the trailer.

well, i get home and procede to run the rest of the battery out in high up and down my driveway, and notice the front seems to be pulling fine now...... so i flip it over and hold one of the tires and hit the throttle - and it pulls fine now with a load, so......my next assumption is that its the high/low shifter gear by the switch. so i rip it apart and inspect that gear case and discover it is still good, the motor gear is good, and no teeth are stripped or missing, so i put i back together and think theres no reason for it to be stripping/missing and not catching. but its only doing it in low - not high.

so now i think its because the gears are getting out of alignment and not catching on each other like they should. so i try to tighten it all up with some spacers and shims to no avail....... its still slipping.

so i rip it apart for like the 4th time, this time i test the throttle with the cover off and see that its actually the motor itself that is slipping...... so out comes the motor..

so i tear it apart and discover that the motor has a series of gear reduction cases off of the main motor, after like the first 2 cases (its kind of like a dual/triple case setup) there is a drive gear for your high range, then like 2 more reduction cases and the final gear for your low range, well, between the last 2 cases after the high range, there is a gear that is supposed to catch and engage for the low range, its a metal piece that has 3 tabs that are bent at a 45degree angle to cath the plastic gear it is up against, well, after a load is applied that gear has eventually stripped the plastic enough to not allow it to hold.

so how to fix this i bent the metal tabs from like 45degrees to close to 90 so that its not so easy for them to slip out, plus i set a few very small dabs if silicone to each tab to secure it even more.... and after i thought about i realized i could have just put a pretty descent sized drop of silicone right in the center of the gear so it would secure it nicely against the reduction unit. i got it all back together and it works great now . . . on a side not this sporatic slipping happens in the rear axle too but usually when it gets bound up - which is what probably the cause of the reduction case's plastic gear getting stripped. so i am going to perform this tab bend/glue procedure on the rear axle motor to prevent it from doing the same in the future.........

[cincinnati]

sorry for the long winded reply, but its a cheap fix that just takes a little disassembling........ and makes for a stronger than stock case.

i was also thinking, if you ever taken the motor apart and know what i am talking about - dotn you think you could stack the gear redcution cases as many as you could fit in there for a lower crawl ratio..... while i had it apart i noticed that they just had them stacked in there, so if you had a spare motor with the reduction gears off of it and you could squeeze one or 2 more in there you would be crawling slower than everyone else.....

i might have to go out and get another one just for parts......

[45punkbus]

i had a similar problem with my rear diff, all i did was take the whole thing apart and put it back together making sure every time i add a piece that its working, and mine works perfectly since...

cheers

Dean

[chadw_3]

Originally Posted by cincinnati

i had that exact problem while i was out crawling a creek bed this weekend. my front at first didnt want to catch while going in reverse - then after a while forward didnt want to catch either, so here i was stuck in a creek bed with only 2 wheel drive.

so my first thought was its the gear coming off the motor, because when i picked it up the front tires pulled, just not when there was any load on them. so i stuck it in high and managed to hobble back to camp and get it loaded onto the trailer.

well, i get home and procede to run the rest of the battery out in high up and down my driveway, and notice the front seems to be pulling fine now...... so i flip it over and hold one of the tires and hit the throttle - and it pulls fine now with a load, so......my next assumption is that its the high/low shifter gear by the switch. so i rip it apart and inspect that gear case and discover it is still good, the motor gear is good, and no teeth are stripped or missing, so i put i back together and think theres no reason for it to be stripping/missing and not catching. but its only doing it in low - not high.

so now i think its because the gears are getting out of alignment and not catching on each other like they should. so i try to tighten it all up with some spacers and shims to no avail....... its still slipping.

so i rip it apart for like the 4th time, this time i test the throttle with the cover off and see that its actually the motor itself that is slipping...... so out comes the motor..

so i tear it apart and discover that the motor has a series of gear reduction cases off of the main motor, after like the first 2 cases (its kind of like a dual/triple case setup) there is a drive gear for your high range, then like 2 more reduction cases and the final gear for your low range, well, between the last 2 cases after the high range, there is a gear that is supposed to catch and engage for the low range, its a metal piece that has 3 tabs that are bent at a 45degree angle to cath the plastic gear it is up against, well, after a load is applied that gear has eventually stripped the plastic enough to not allow it to hold.

so how to fix this i bent the metal tabs from like 45degrees to close to 90 so that its not so easy for them to slip out, plus i set a few very small dabs if silicone to each tab to secure it even more.... and after i thought about i realized i could have just put a pretty descent sized drop of silicone right in the center of the gear so it would secure it nicely against the reduction unit. i got it all back together and it works great now . . . on a side not this sporatic slipping happens in the rear axle too but usually when it gets bound up - which is what probably the cause of the reduction case's plastic gear getting stripped. so i am going to perform this tab bend/glue procedure on the rear axle motor to prevent it from doing the same in the future.........

Well sounds like alot of work but I am sure I can do it. I will have to try to fix it today. I also looked at your 1/18 jeep. I have to say its pretty sweet but what size tires and wheels are those and how did you get them on there. Thanks alot

[cincinnati]

im not sure what size they are, they are a little bit smaller than 2.2s. i got them off an old radio shack truck i had. i couldnt find a good way to mount the wheels onto it so i took the wheel off, and glued my nylint wheels to them. they are a little more stiff than i would like, but i grooved the heck out of them and they seem to work pretty good for me. i also made a cover for them so dirt and water cant get into the tire and slosh around all the time, i just took a piece of paperboard and cut it into a circle to look like a wheel. then i just stick it on the outside lipe of the tire and it looks like a wheel with a trailready beadlock.... i have some pictures so look for them in the future when i get around to getting them up. i also have stretched it 1" since thos pics....
thanks for the complement