Anyone else with rounded wheel hex hubs?

[Maxx_Savage]

I'm not too impressed at the minute.

Both hex hubs in the rear wheels are rounding out, and the pins through the axles have worn out the slot in the alloy hex nut pretty badly as well, all resulting in slop. The way the parts fit together only allows about half of the width of the hex nut to actually fit into the hub, so where the nut is about 10mm deep, only 5mm does the work of transferring all the torque.

My Creeper is still fairly new and not abused in any way. This just seems like a bad design (hex nut/hub fit) and poor quality materials (hex nut alloy). I'll be getting on to Venom about this.

Did I get a lemon or has anyone else experienced the same thing? I've done quite a bit of research before I bought and haven't come across this anywhere.

[Badmuthatrucker]

No. That's to be expected. Plastic wheels do not belong on crawlers, no matter if it's Axial, Venom what ever. It will happen to them all eventually.

[jojo303d]

if worse comes to worse just super glue the hex nut to the wheel hub

[rmdesignworks]

Originally Posted by Maxx_Savage

I'm not too impressed at the minute.

Both hex hubs in the rear wheels are rounding out, and the pins through the axles have worn out the slot in the alloy hex nut pretty badly as well, all resulting in slop. The way the parts fit together only allows about half of the width of the hex nut to actually fit into the hub, so where the nut is about 10mm deep, only 5mm does the work of transferring all the torque.

My Creeper is still fairly new and not abused in any way. This just seems like a bad design (hex nut/hub fit) and poor quality materials (hex nut alloy). I'll be getting on to Venom about this.

Did I get a lemon or has anyone else experienced the same thing? I've done quite a bit of research before I bought and haven't come across this anywhere.

By the damage you describe it sounds like the wheel nuts got loose and caused the hex to wobble thus damaging the hex, the pin and the wheel. Not too mention the amount of torque these rigs place on such small parts. The ehxes are as thick as they are for a reason,,,material stress.

[Maxx_Savage]

The wheel nuts were always tight and proper threadlock was used on the set screw in the nut itself. I know the single biggest cause of rounded hex hubs is loose wheel locknuts, but I assure you this is not the case here.

[Abavuso]

I've had the same isue with spinnin out the plastics wheel on 3 diferent wheels. It's not a design issue, just the nature of plastic. I just put aluminum wheels on it. Problem solves. As far as the slop... Are you sure you put it all together properly and the lockers havn't rounded out the holes in the dif housing? I've got virtual no slop in mine. A little is to be expected on a shafty so I hope you're not compairing to a worm or moa. That's two diferent ball games.

[Maxx_Savage]

Well, I contacted Venom and got this response:

"I suspect it is the wheels hubs and not the hex nuts that are actually wearing. As you continue to use the Creeper, parts will start to wear. I have gone through a couple sets of wheels on my creeper and things like hex drives and pins wear even more because you have metal to metal contact. I have not had any complaints about this issue."

[Abavuso]

What happens is that when you're crawling and if you get a tire wedged in a rock and don't notice it, when you grab the throtle the hex nut will force it's self to spin in the plastic wheel... hespecialy if you are running brushless or a high tourque brushed motor. I've spune one stock rim, one Pro-line shooter rim(which covers the whole hex nut) and one rim that I don't know the brand of. for some reason all were the right front aswell. You just have to be more careful with running with plastic rims of use a lower tourque motor so you don't break stuff. With that said you should be happy that you've got a nice powerful system.

[Maxx_Savage]

Ok, I took of the front wheels as well and had a good look at the parts in issue.



From the photo you can see how the shape and size of the slots vary. (Bear in mind the pins are 2mm diameter.) The dimensions of the slots are as follow:

From left to right:
Nut 1: lhs 2.77mm ; rhs 2.25mm
Nut 2: lhs 3.15mm ; rhs 2.62mm
Nut 3: lhs 2.84mm ; rhs 2.79mm
Nut 4: lhs 2.40mm ; rhs 2.37mm

This is not deformation of the nut as I've initially thought, but poor machining.

[robbio4422]

Originally Posted by Maxx_Savage

Ok, I took of the front wheels as well and had a good look at the parts in issue.



From the photo you can see how the shape and size of the slots vary. (Bear in mind the pins are 2mm diameter.) The dimensions of the slots are as follow:

From left to right:
Nut 1: lhs 2.77mm ; rhs 2.25mm
Nut 2: lhs 3.15mm ; rhs 2.62mm
Nut 3: lhs 2.84mm ; rhs 2.79mm
Nut 4: lhs 2.40mm ; rhs 2.37mm

This is not deformation of the nut as I've initially thought, but poor machining.

flip them over and take another pic for us... i would like to see the side of the hex that faces/ touches the wheel. is there a lip on the hex or is the hex flat where it makes contact with the wheel?

lets also see a pic of the damage it is causing to the wheels them selfs where the hex makes contact with the wheel.

[Abavuso]

Looks like you got a set of bad hex nuts... mine fit very snug on all four ends...

[icemancrawler]

ditto

[rmdesignworks]

Originally Posted by Maxx_Savage

Ok, I took of the front wheels as well and had a good look at the parts in issue.



From the photo you can see how the shape and size of the slots vary. (Bear in mind the pins are 2mm diameter.) The dimensions of the slots are as follow:

From left to right:
Nut 1: lhs 2.77mm ; rhs 2.25mm
Nut 2: lhs 3.15mm ; rhs 2.62mm
Nut 3: lhs 2.84mm ; rhs 2.79mm
Nut 4: lhs 2.40mm ; rhs 2.37mm

This is not deformation of the nut as I've initially thought, but poor machining.

I stand corrected bro,,so send this pic to Venom and show them the problem,,and tell them as well that it is a machining quality issue.

I would like to say this,,for clarification only,,,those are referred to as Hexes,,,the nuts are the wheel nuts that bolt the wheel onto the axle and then the hex pin is the pin in the axle that the HEX is supported by.

I just looked at the hexes I have from Creepers and they are all good. Looks like the milling machine was off on its tool path or tool offset or the milling table was out of whack.

[Maxx_Savage]

James at Venom is going to send me out a new set.

[hexonox]

i've been looking for a thread on this topic for two weeks. i too am having a similar issue with my rear wheels only. i talked with the local hobby shop and they said to add loc-tite to the wheel nut to stop them from backing off; also replace the nuts with new ones but it didn't help. i'm kinda glad someone else is having this problem too. thanks for all the info!!