Axle Re-Assembly Issues
 

I have a pair of axle I bought off eBay. They seemed fine, and everything was nice and smooth. But I thought they sounded a little "gritty", so I disassembled the rear housing, and gave everything a wash and inspection. Everything looked pretty good, no metal or a lot of sand or anything.

But when I went to reassemble the axle, the fit seemed very tight, and the axles did not rotate freely within the housings. I took everything out and gave it all a once over again - everything looked ok. But every time I drop the axles and such in the housings, they fit very tight, and turn very hard. It isn't a gear mesh issue, and all the bushings spin smooth in the axles. I've tried different greasees, but nothing seems to help. Any ideas on what I should be looking for? Remember - the axle was fine before I cleaned it out. Am I putting something back togehter wrong? I looked in the manual, and referenced the assembly of the front axle. I don't know what the heck happened.

post up some pics. were there any shims in the axle or very thin washers? ive never had any problems with an axle going back together. if you have a manual make sure your getting everything back how its supposed to be. if you dont have one you can look at tamiyausa.com under max climber, they should have the directions in pdf.
aww heck, here ya go
http://www.tamiyausa.com/pdf/manuals/47202ml.pdf

check your knuckles, you can see a marking there labeled C1 and C2. if your facing the assembled axle with the pinion (the one where you connect the driveshaft or dogbone) pointing away from you, the knuckle at your left should be C2 and C1 should be at your right.

my friend encountered the same problem as yours when he first assembled his TLT and when i checked the problem, thats what i found.

Thanks, but I finally got it sorted out last night.

The rear axle was locked with Loc-Tite. I tried to pop the diff case apart, but it wouldn't budge, so I left it. Turns out, I managed to pry one side apart just enough that when it went back in the axle housing, it made the half-shafts go in crooked. It was nearly imperceptible, but enough to stop it from rolling freely. I tossed the diff in the toaster over, and managed to open it up without much trouble at all. Cleaned it out, and re-assembled everything "thumbsup"

i woulda taken em' off your hands ;)

Who said I was getting rid of 'em? :-P