Who else thinks their outers are gone?

[SR5Dave]

I've got a TON of play on my tires; I can turn the tires about 10 degrees or so before it starts to turn the inner axle or gears :?

I still haven't managed to break an axle though!!!!!! Or gears; which im surprised at.

[4x4x4fan]

That sounds like the standard Tamiya slop to me, it comes free with virtually every RC model they've ever made. My clod has a fair bit of movement in the wheels before the gears start engaging, and it's had about 8 packs through it so far from new (previous owner didn't finish building it, so it's never been run until a few weeks ago).

10 degrees doesn't seem that excessive to me. That equates to about 14mm of travel at the circumference of the wheel, which is less than the travel you get per revolution of the motor with stock gearing.

Now, if it was 30 degrees you might get me worried...

[SR5Dave]

Originally Posted by 4x4x4fan

That sounds like the standard Tamiya slop to me, it comes free with virtually every RC model they've ever made. My clod has a fair bit of movement in the wheels before the gears start engaging, and it's had about 8 packs through it so far from new (previous owner didn't finish building it, so it's never been run until a few weeks ago).

10 degrees doesn't seem that excessive to me. That equates to about 14mm of travel at the circumference of the wheel, which is less than the travel you get per revolution of the motor with stock gearing.

Now, if it was 30 degrees you might get me worried...

Alright, I guess im still ok then! Although a little more precision in their making woulda been nicer. oh well!

[4x4x4fan]

Yeah, it'll be ok. It seems to me that Tamiya have never been too concerned about play and backlash, apart from on flagship products like the TFR414M (which had no play anywhere on it, it was a real joy to play with).

I checked mine last night and there's heaps of play, about half of a tread pattern, so with 20 ribs around the tyre that's 1/40th of the circumference in slop, which gives about 360/40 degrees of slop - your estimate of 10 degrees was almost spot on!

And compared to some that Tamiya have produced that's good. The F201 (4wd F1 chassis) has so much play that you can move bits of it from one time zone to the next. Not particularly good for a F1 car!

[SR5Dave]

Originally Posted by 4x4x4fan

Yeah, it'll be ok. It seems to me that Tamiya have never been too concerned about play and backlash, apart from on flagship products like the TFR414M (which had no play anywhere on it, it was a real joy to play with).

I checked mine last night and there's heaps of play, about half of a tread pattern, so with 20 ribs around the tyre that's 1/40th of the circumference in slop, which gives about 360/40 degrees of slop - your estimate of 10 degrees was almost spot on!

And compared to some that Tamiya have produced that's good. The F201 (4wd F1 chassis) has so much play that you can move bits of it from one time zone to the next. Not particularly good for a F1 car!

Im an engineer in training, guessing is my forte

Yeah, it makes stopping on a high speed run tough too!! When I hit reverse even a little the gearbox locks up, the tires hit a stopped gearbox and it flips upside down