WK Tranny Fix
 

You guys are probably aware of the problematic clicking syndrome of the stock WK tranny.

Building a crawler for a guy and he wants to use as much of the WK as possible...

So I came up with a fix:

Disassemble the tranny and take apart the 22 tooth counter gear assembly.

Remove the "slipper" assembly and head for the garage.

Drill four 3/32" holes through both the gear and the slipper plate. Drill these holes from the gear side and center them in the gear.

Once you have drilled the four 3/32" holes, set the slipper plate aside and switch to a 1/8" bit.

Drill through the holes in the gear with the 1/8" bit.

Use four 3x6mm button head screws to re-assemble the gear and slipper plate. Since the holes in the gear should be 1/8", the 3mm screws will pass through the gear and thread into the 3/32" holes.

Re-assemble the tranny and use the compact lil' booger in your next build."thumbsup"

Smaller screws would work better, the screw heads on these 3mm screws deformed the shape of the gear just a hair and the tranny is notchy. A little trimming will fix that. ;)

See pics:

nice tip "thumbsup" I havent had the tranny apart yet, but mine just started "popping" yesterday for the first time. Will put this on my to do list.

Here's a better option.

Install the screws from the slipper plate side. This way you don't have to worry as much about the size of the screw heads.

That means 1/8" holes in the plate and 3/32" in the gear.

3x6mm button heads work perfect here, but like I said earlier, if you have smaller screws they'll fit better...like a 2-56. I just used what was on hand.

I should mention that when you bolt the slipper plate to the gear you no longer need the slipper spring in the tranny. "thumbsup"

That means no headaches on re-assembly. :mrgreen:

How long will those gears last without the slipper assembly there protecting things?

C'mon man! You know they'll last till they break!

BTW, where in Mid TN are ya? there are some rc crawlers starting to pop up in cookeville

Cool tip JIA"thumbsup" , i started hearing that clicking noise from the slipper almost since new, and when i built it into a tuber with 14" wb and all t's it was to much for the slipper, it would click at almost any small bind, so i'am of to dissasemble the tranny.8)

I'm just north of nashvegas, in the thriving metropolis of Ashland City.

Great mod JIA! It is a shame to put the little tranny to the side becuase of that little spring.

Nice tip ill be sure to pull mine apart today!

Thanks JIA"thumbsup" I have dealing with this annoying clicking since the WK's inception. I saw this thread and made the mod.. Works flawlessly. Now lets see what breaks without this safety feature..

For me it was the 15 tooth gear in the tranny (the smallest one). I stripped all the teeth off of it. Smooth just like taking a dremel to it. But I had just JB welded the slipper clutch. It was very hard to put the spring back in though. I Don't recommend using JB on this thing. Nice mod Jason!!!!"thumbsup"

i also had the pleasure of stripping all the teeth off the top shaft gear. lol a while back i did this same mod to the clicker gear.. that was about 2 and a half months ago and i have yet to have a problem with it...

Is it posible to shim the stock spring or use a servo saver spring to to raise the point of "slip" in it instead of locking it?

The stock one is pretty stout for it size. I don't think you will have much luck. I would just get rid of it, throttle control is your friend.

i tried to use a different spring when i first got the wheelie king and it just didnt work very well.. the stock one is already pretty darn stiff.. dude trust locking it is a million times better i have yet to have any tranny problems with this setup and couldnt be anymore satisfied with it...

Yes. Great mod Jason. WK tranny gears are pretty cheap too. :)

I simply removed the spring and replaced it with a shock spacer after I dremeled off the little "notch" part. Fit in there perfectly. I've been running it that way for about 4 months now with no problems....and no clicking!

Another thing I did before I got the CKRC gears was took the slipper apart and ran a bead of hot glue around and into the spring. Stopped the clicking, but would still give a (very) little in case of a bind.

Ditto!

nice! ill have to tell a buddy about this fix. he has had problems with his wk tranny doing this "thumbsup"

I tryed to fix my tranny with the screws, but lost part of it in the process;-). This worked to my advantage though. I just took out some JB Weld and packed the thing with it:ror: But still made sure not to get it on any of the gears. The jb Weld is still doing great up to now, and I highly recommend it, if you don't want to put in the screws
http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/f...1016081841.jpg

sorry for the big picture

Direct Drive
 

Has anyone tried modifying the running gear to not use a transmission at all? I know it sounds crazy but they did it on the Kyosho Rock Force. The spur gear is in the middle of the two drive shafts - It has some side benefits too, lower CG - you can put the motor way down low and stronger drag braking.

The rockforce uses worm gears. Thats where all the reduction is, is in the worm gear. Say that the RF has a 24 tooth ring gear. With the worm gear, it will have a 24 to 1 reduction, just in the axle.

Ring and pinion axles need a trans for further reduction. Otherwise you would be geared for some extreme speed by eliminating the trans in a WK.

I've been considering the geartrain out of my Esky Heli: brushless motor, HUGE spur gear, and a 5mm shaft.
The main problem is you need the huge spur to get proper gear ratio, and it will eat any clearance or CG advantages...

what I'm planning is a shortended Wk chassis, to fit tamiya's WW2 body.
The driveshafts are my hurdle: I need to shorten each end by 1.3". Since each driveshaft has only a 1" slider section...

x2!!!

I just pulled it apart, it fits like a glove, like it was made for it, insane!

I will post if this fails, but looks much easier than any other method i have seen, PLUS use up some spacers i wouldnt otherwise use.

My shock spacer tranny fix is still going strong after 10 months and probably 10,000 "scale" miles LOL.

I havent had any clicking put I just put my crawler conversion and a novak brushless 13.5 in it. I took it outside set it down and the spur and pinion are spinning like hell and the truck is not moving. Its something in the tranny. I have 5 other RC's but none are set up like this. Is it that little gear with the spring on it? Will this fix work for it? Thanks.

Yep-time for exploratory surgery! You have something stripped in there!

There are no stripped out gears but I do not understand how this little spring doodad works. Are you supposed to be able to freely spin one side while holding the other side still? Is it time for me to buy some jbweld?

There aren't any broken teeth on any of the gears? I dont understand how this little spring thingy works though. Should I drill holes in the slipper and screw it to the other disc or put some JBweld inbetween the two little gears with the spring in the middle or both?

Look closely at the parts-something isn't right. Post a pic of the parts if you can, maybe there's something you don't "see" there...

Not Likely
 

Its not likely but make sure you didnt spin your outputs on your driveshafts. About forgot to put some set screws in one day and could only imagine having to buy new driveshafts for something that simple

I took apart the little 20 gear slipper deal with the spring and the inside of the gear and the slipper piece were ground down perfectly smooth. I put gorilla glue on them and then put 2 screws through them. Seems to be working fine.

Gorilla Glue. check.
WeeDeeForty. Check.
Baling Wire. Check.
Duct Tape. Check.
Vise Grips. Check.
Wife took the damned charge card. Check.

Great items to have about. The LAST one, surprisingly, can be the best variable:Cash stifles creativity (seen Ice Age2? -I want my two hours BACK.), and nothing is more permanent than a temporary repair.

Most would order the metal gear goodies, and be done with this. My hat's off to you for yanking it apart, analyzing the bits, understanding them, and making a reliable fix yourself.
ANYTHING can be fixed forever, given a will, and a way.

I would LOVE to spend a week in Cuba, just looking at jerry-rigged vehicles. They haven't had money OR part spares since I was fighting my brother for Cap'n Crunch toys. So much could be learned, from an engineering standpoint.

My old boss went to Freeking YALE, and MIT. Had the engineering degree, but poor Ritchie Rich, he NEVER, EVER, had to fix a broken car in his whole life. Simple machines stymied him for hours.

Me, however, grew up in Dogpatch, Washington. My SISTER can rebuild a smallblock Chevy, fer chrissakes, and she runs a Mini-Storage.

Oh yeah, some point to this.
Never be afraid to ask the online community for help, we ALL had a first time.
And don't be afraid to dissect things when they die.

It's how I've attained my own MIT degree: Mistakes I've Tried.

Weird, you know how many times I have said Id like to visit cuba because guys machine all their own parts for old 50s american cars and bikes over there.

...and stoves, and...

That's most of the fun of RC to me- the problem solving.
I remember my first Losi as ultimately boring- nothing would break!

First off, as another poster said props for taking the joker apart and coming up with a fix for the slipper. Now, you can fix it from slipping but it's still plastic/nylon and it's going to strip eventually. Especially once you're locked, geared very low, 7+ cells, sticky tires, nasty terrain, and start playing hard. Yes, there will be SOME that go forever on non-metal gears but it's just that...SOME. I'd rather spend a few extra bucks and be crawling longer rather than constantly fixing the same thing. I understand making your own frames, links, scale parts, and what not and too enjoy finding solutions to different problems but the fun ends when it's the same problem over and over and the most rational solution is stronger material. When I bought my CKRC aluminum gears last year they were ~$19 when the OEMs were ~$14 and they've lasted ~5 times longer. Do the math... Anyway, that's my good ole boy $0.02.

Testimonial to WK tranny:
http://www.air-sharp.com/SofaKing_pl..._trans0024.JPG
18v cordless drill drive.

So I got some newbee Q's...just got mt first real crawler, its a F350 axled, Wheely King trannyed, Axial linked, Rooster/55T combo motored Bug...it has the metal gears in it, and a locked slipper. what should I use for a spur gear, one with a slipper like the Axial, or just a stock metal gear??? any help would be great, I am in Iraq and it takes 2 weeks to get parts, wish I had known this when I got this thing....Thank you

My hat is off to your bravery, I've seen the Iraqi spiders...

Skip the slipper, go to the largest spur that will fit in the frame you have. Slippers in RC are best for racers on loose surfaces, crawlers need TOTAL axle control from the electric motor, with as little slop as possible.

Speaking of SLOP, I wonder if nitrile glove fingers over my dogbones will last in that capacity?

My truck has ridiculously LOW, 782:1 gearing. The slop stands out like CRAZY at low speeds!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12qzPYG4qz8
Video of the cordless (hapless?) drill/WK tranny prototype.

http://www.air-sharp.com/SofaKing_pl..._trans0083.JPG

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ot7pGKZzdFk
Video of it in the green John Deere chassis, doing some yard work.

Keep your pinion mesh in proper adjustment, and you won't be able to hurt much inside with STOCK gears!.

I won't bother with metal one$ for that reason. The internal slipper takes some force to overcome. If it slips, you're over-taxing a LOT of other parts you don't see. That's about where I back off and realize it's not a real bulldozer.