SCX10 II axle bind

[TFitzPat87]

Hi All,

First time poster! This forum has a wealth of good info, so I decided to join.

I'm working on my first RC. It's the SCX10 II Jeep Cherokee. Never had any plans on getting into RC, but I came across the above kit and couldn't pass it up. Love tinkering with things and I'm a die hard Cherokee (XJ) fan so it seemed right.

Anyway... on to my question here. I'm currently in the building process. I pretty much have the axles completely built with the exception of the steering linkage. Everything went together nice without much issue except one thing... the front axle has a small bind in it. About every 2.5 to 3 rotations of the output shaft from the axle (pinion shaft to drive shaft) it has a small bind. I can spin threw it fairly easy (sometime it catches/binds pretty good and a little more effort is required), but I can definitely feel that it's "catching". I didn't see any issues on any of the gears during install so not quite sure the problem. Since I'm new to this I initially thought it might be normal, until I spun the rear axle and that one is smooth as silk.

What should I be looking for? I have yet to open the axle back up and don't want to if I don't need to. That being said, I'm more than happy to break it down to make sure it's operating properly.

Thanks in advance!

Fitz

[QuesoDelDiablo]

Sounds like there could be a small flaw on your ring gear..

[SCREAMER]

Correct. The ring gear is not sitting flat on the spool. One of the sides is raised causing that binding during rotation. Pull the ring gear off of the spool and make sure you can get it to sit flat on the spool then reinstall the hardware. Rotate the ring gear to a different orientation on the spool to see if you can get it to seat better.

[sabo308]

It may be that your pinion gear needs to be shimmed.
You can test it by turning the pinion gear by hand while either pulling on it slightly or pushing it in towards the ring gear.
If it spins freely while doing either of these things, that will tell you which side of the pinion you need to place a few shims to space it appropriately in order for it to spin freely and not bind.

[LSXGMC]

I would follow SCREAMER's advice and ensure that the ring gear is sitting flat on the spool. You should have a consistent feel/mesh, as in it is either always tight or always smooth. If you shim it to correct the rough/tight spot, then the rest of the rotation is improperly meshed and will cause premature gear wear, sloppiness in the drivetrain, and/or stripped gears. Axial is usually really good with product warranty (especially on a new kit), so if you can't get it to spin freely, give them a shout. You will likely get some replacements parts in the mail free of charge.

[TFitzPat87]

Thanks guys! I'll give that a try. I have it sitting in front of me as we speak. I'll be sure to report back.

[TFitzPat87]

Thanks for the help gents! Everything seems to be good now. I took it all out, noted ring gear orientation, took it all apart, cleaned everything up, installed the ring gear one bolt around from original and it's pretty dang smooth now. I don't know what to expect exactly, but it's as smooth as I figure it can get. Maybe not perfect, but feels good.

Thanks again!

[GoatFarmRC]

Hey guys doing my first axial build on the scx10 ii also.

I have the same problem I think. I noticed step 2 putting on the red diff cover if I spin the pinion gear shaft one direction it's very smooth but in reverse direction it "catches" / binds and you can feel it grinding if that makes sense.

However, if I pull outwards on the Pinion gear shaft it's smooth in both directions. Should I try shimming it and if so any idea what size to use?

Oh and I should have noted this is happening to both front and rear axles. Still does it after I got through both of the axles. Now when I spin the axle shafts i get the same thing on both