Official venom factory support thread

[BUCKSHOTRC]

Ok,
first chance to crawl the new creeper today,neither diff will stay locked,other trhan that it was good .my friends were there one with an axiel ax10,the other with a tamiya cr-01 with 4ws (really impressed) i think i need to lock my diff's for sure.really hate not being able to switch back and fro.
A question for venom can i lock them other than dissembling both axles ? (the switches wont stay in place)

i sway something about gluing switches

[BUCKSHOTRC]

Can i order safari ladder rails & body post ?

[BUCKSHOTRC]

Venom.....i need help,
i called last monday about a part i need and the rep.told me he would get it right out to me.
Today i called back and they say due to blaa blaa..it hasn't shipped yet and "may" ship on monday. As i mentioned earlier i bought a creeper because of their reputation for customer support....as i sit waiting on a return phone call. My creeper has gone a total of about 5 feet on level gound since completed,not being rude but the customer on the phone or in front of you is the most important.
Please help me get my part.
The last person i spoke with was i believe james ?,i just finished leaving another message

[BUCKSHOTRC]

Really disappointed in the lack of a return call from venom today
i'll update on monday

[BUCKSHOTRC]

Anyone else having issues with their creeper bevel gear and pinion,
i have gone thru a couple already it seems to be the pinion breaking the same teeth 2 on one side and one almast directly accross from them,venom did send me some . But a permanant fix would be way better . (i did slightly shim the pinion on the frt this time


i have only had this truck on the rocks 2 times so far

[crwlnCreeper]

I installed FLM lockers in mine from day one. For $12 a pop, ya can't go wrong. I think I found them on RC Bros.

[gottorque]

Originally Posted by crwlnCreeper

I installed FLM lockers in mine from day one. For $12 a pop, ya can't go wrong. I think I found them on RC Bros.

buckshot is talking about the mesh between the ring gear and the pinion gear and how they arent meshing and are breaking teeth, not about having problems with his lockers. Have a read through this thread to get an idea of what his problem is
Ring and pinion problems

x2 on the flm's though

[SFT2]

Well this sucks. A couple of weeks ago I bought a Creeper to help with my full scale Jeep withdrawl due to a back injury that makes it impossible to climb into the thing. It went together with few problems, just a couple of typos in the manual that were easily figured out and I got it running and dialed in with no problems other than what I thought was a bit of gear noise, which I figured would go away after things broke in a bit. Well, halfway through the 3rd pack in my back yard I could hear the clicking noise over the sound of my air conditioner, so I figured it was time to tear things down and see what was going on. What I found was a nearly totally seized right rear inner steering knuckle bearing (VEN-3802). Apparently it froze at some point, galled the stub axle shaft, and spun in the knuckle, pretty much destroying all the parts involved. The axle shaft itself is ok except that I don't think I'll be able to get the set screw holding the pin into the joint out. I've heard horror stories about that set screw coming loose and tearing up stuff, so I put it in with red Loctite and about a billion foot pounds of torque. So I emailed Venom with all that a little while ago and we'll see how long it takes to get a reply. I suspect it'll be a while before I see any parts from them, so now I'm wondering what options there are for replacing the parts since there aren't any Venom dealers around here. I know that bearing is common, Axial and Traxxas both use them on various trucks, so that part is easy, but are there any axle shafts and steering knuckles from other stuff that'll fit?

My pool pump blew up over the weekend, I can't drink beer thanks to pain pills, I can't easily climb into the Jeep and even if I could any 1:1 crawling is out since bumps would cause blinding pain (plus that whole pain pill thing), and now the Creeper is down. In other words: HHHEEELLLPPP!!!

[WICKED MQ]

Originally Posted by SFT2

Well this sucks. A couple of weeks ago I bought a Creeper to help with my full scale Jeep withdrawl due to a back injury that makes it impossible to climb into the thing. It went together with few problems, just a couple of typos in the manual that were easily figured out and I got it running and dialed in with no problems other than what I thought was a bit of gear noise, which I figured would go away after things broke in a bit. Well, halfway through the 3rd pack in my back yard I could hear the clicking noise over the sound of my air conditioner, so I figured it was time to tear things down and see what was going on. What I found was a nearly totally seized right rear inner steering knuckle bearing (VEN-3802). Apparently it froze at some point, galled the stub axle shaft, and spun in the knuckle, pretty much destroying all the parts involved. The axle shaft itself is ok except that I don't think I'll be able to get the set screw holding the pin into the joint out. I've heard horror stories about that set screw coming loose and tearing up stuff, so I put it in with red Loctite and about a billion foot pounds of torque. So I emailed Venom with all that a little while ago and we'll see how long it takes to get a reply. I suspect it'll be a while before I see any parts from them, so now I'm wondering what options there are for replacing the parts since there aren't any Venom dealers around here. I know that bearing is common, Axial and Traxxas both use them on various trucks, so that part is easy, but are there any axle shafts and steering knuckles from other stuff that'll fit?

My pool pump blew up over the weekend, I can't drink beer thanks to pain pills, I can't easily climb into the Jeep and even if I could any 1:1 crawling is out since bumps would cause blinding pain (plus that whole pain pill thing), and now the Creeper is down. In other words: HHHEEELLLPPP!!!

Liqiurd RC, CKRC (Don't use if you want the part's in a reasonabel time frame), Hot Racing (?)

There is complete after market axle/cvd combos out there, C- Knuckle and Steering Knuckle's and as you said bearing's common.

[SFT2]

Originally Posted by WICKED MQ

Liqiurd RC, CKRC (Don't use if you want the part's in a reasonabel time frame), Hot Racing (?)

There is complete after market axle/cvd combos out there, C- Knuckle and Steering Knuckle's and as you said bearing's common.

Got a pair of bearings at the LHS today, and ordered all the screws for the rear steering from Fastenal a little while ago. $1.58 for the screws from them, about $30 from Venom. Now I just need the little vertical bits from the servo mount (another glass mount is on the way from Xtreme Racing), the tie rod and ends, and a Hitec digital servo and the programmer so I can reverse it. I may cheap out and reverse a servo the old fashioned way, but I do need the programmer. Dunno what I'll wind up doing.

But back to the problem. I shimmed the knuckle with a strip of paper and cleaned up the axle stub with some emory paper and it seems to be working fine. However, I did change the tires to Flat Irons with 4.5 oz in each front wheel and 1.5 in each rear, so I'm betting I'll be breaking something else in the near future with so much more traction.

For anyone considering new tires, the Flat Irons fit perfectly. If I didn't know any better I'd swear they were made for the Venom wheels. The beadlocks fit perfectly into the bead.

[BillV]

Please help me to stop body roll. I've added wight to the front and more on the back to stop it. I also added the stage 2 kit and I still get twist when in reverse Going forward is ok ( no body roll ) but backing up on a hill WOW the rear axel will lift up and bring one wheel of the ground. This makes it realy hard to control when crawling. Any help you can give wound be great. ( the motor is a venom 50t ) and the gears have not been changes. the shocks have 50w oil and no change. So far nothing i,ve done has made any change
BillV

[rmdesignworks]

Bill,,are your front upper links still together up front at the axle? how about posting a build thread with pics of your rig all around so we can help you better.

[SFT2]

Here's an update to my problem. Venom is sending out parts to fix the original issue, but since then I've had two more inner wheel bearings die. One I caught before it spun and took out the knuckle and axle, the other was barely getting rough and some oil may be enough to save it. I'm going to replace all of them, though. None of the outer bearings are having any issues. Here's the fun part. While messing with it and trying to see what could be causing it I tightened down a wheel nut a bit too far and locked that wheel up tight. Ok, that's not right. The problem is that there are no spacers between the ball bearings in each knuckle, so any side loads at the wheel are sent directly into the bearings, and ball bearings can't take that kind of load.

I think the solution would be to use the same bearings on both sides of the knuckle with a spacer between them and step the stub axle down either outside the outer bearing or inside the inner bearing. I think the easiest way... ok, the least complicated way since nothing is going to be easy, would be to make a new knuckle with the bigger bearing on the outside and a bushing to adapt the new bearing to the existing axle. However, since I've traded my calipers for handcuffs, I'm not going to be the one doing it.

The best solution is taper roller bearings, but I've never seen any that small. I'm still curious why it's only the inner bearings dying, though.

[BillV]

the front uper control arms are together on the top of the axel

[rmdesignworks]

Originally Posted by BillV

the front uper control arms are together on the top of the axel

Bill do you have your front upper links mounted according to the manual inside the chassis plates by the motor?

If you do then add a 5-6mm spacer between the rod end and the chassis plate and then put two 7.5mm spacers or one 15mm spacer between the link mount tabs on the axle and mount the uppers to the outside of the stock mounts on the axle...you should be able to see what im saying in my build thread. DO NOT raise the front upper links though. Front link geometry is pretty much reversed from the rear with some exceptions.

[SFT2]

[QUOTE=SFT2;2587808]Here's an update to my problem. Venom is sending out parts to fix the original issue, but since then I've had two more inner wheel bearings die.[QUOTE]

Another update. Parts got here from Venom just in time for another bearing to go out. That's a total of 5 inner wheel bearings and I've only put half a dozen packs through it. I'm being insanely careful about how I tighten the wheel nuts and there's nothing strange about how everything goes together. I'm not even particularly rough on the poor thing. I'm just about to give up here.

I did have a solution to the problem, but things didn't work out that way. I have a set of Axial axles that I could have swapped onto the Creeper, but I decided to put them under a TCS Edge frame instead. I think my solution at this point may well be to sell the Creeper for what I can get out of it.

[rmdesignworks]

hey bro,,if you can afford te postage you can ship it to me and ill take a look at it for ya before ya give up on it.

[Maxx_Savage]

Originally Posted by SFT2

Here's an update to my problem. Venom is sending out parts to fix the original issue, but since then I've had two more inner wheel bearings die. One I caught before it spun and took out the knuckle and axle, the other was barely getting rough and some oil may be enough to save it. I'm going to replace all of them, though. None of the outer bearings are having any issues. Here's the fun part. While messing with it and trying to see what could be causing it I tightened down a wheel nut a bit too far and locked that wheel up tight. Ok, that's not right. The problem is that there are no spacers between the ball bearings in each knuckle, so any side loads at the wheel are sent directly into the bearings, and ball bearings can't take that kind of load.

I think the solution would be to use the same bearings on both sides of the knuckle with a spacer between them and step the stub axle down either outside the outer bearing or inside the inner bearing. I think the easiest way... ok, the least complicated way since nothing is going to be easy, would be to make a new knuckle with the bigger bearing on the outside and a bushing to adapt the new bearing to the existing axle. However, since I've traded my calipers for handcuffs, I'm not going to be the one doing it.

The best solution is taper roller bearings, but I've never seen any that small. I'm still curious why it's only the inner bearings dying, though.

Something just isn't right with your setup. The wheel nut pushes up against the pin going through the axle, so it doesn't matter how tight you have the nut it should never bind the bearing up.

[Abavuso]

Originally Posted by BUCKSHOTRC

Anyone else having issues with their creeper bevel gear and pinion,
i have gone thru a couple already it seems to be the pinion breaking the same teeth 2 on one side and one almast directly accross from them,venom did send me some . But a permanant fix would be way better . (i did slightly shim the pinion on the frt this time


i have only had this truck on the rocks 2 times so far

Make sure your bearing is well seated and you might have to shim the pinion to make it mesh properly.

James has been a huge help in the customer support area. I dod notice they respond via e mail quicker than phone. Just a thought.

[catzuk]

I hope its not a new trend with them as everytime I have called they have gotten back to me within a few hours. I have always had great customer service from venom. Never really had any issues like some of you are, but mine was for spare parts I ordered being on back-order, but everytime they let me know the dates and were always really close to their mentioned dates.

And X2 on the bearing issue, there has to be something not set-up right for that to do that. I have cranked my wheel nuts down tight and never had an issue, like mentioned, the pin inside the hex should hold things from going in too far. Send it to RMDW for inspection, thats awsome of him to offer his services to look at it.