Brand New RC4WD Trail Finder 2 w/BROKEN TRANSMISSION GEAR

[Bluzboy66]

Purchased my TF2 kit from Tower Hobbies on Sept 18, along with a Tekin 35t and FX-R ESC.

Right out of the box the front differential was missing the inner pinion shaft bearing. Contacted RC4WD and they sent me replacement. All was good. And then....

I got the kit assembled and everything dialed in perfectly, and took it outside for its maiden run this past Saturday. Within 5 minutes of sidewalk cruising and fine tuning, shifted to 2nd gear, hit the throttle, and the truck slowed to a crawl, eventually coming to a full stop. Motor revved, but truck sat still.

Took it back inside and disassembled it. Found that the 2nd gear in the transmission had literally SNAPPED where it's pressed into the drum. !! This happened on the truck's very first run! Didn't even make it to the TRAIL.

Anyone but me ever experience this? I contacted RC4WD customer service and received a reply from "Tanecia" saying that they'd look into it, and get back to me. That was a week ago. Nothing. I should have a replacement gear by now.

Frustrated, and disappointed in this truck so far. I sold a perfectly good running Tamiya Ford F-350 High Lift to finance this build.

Mike F.

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[nharkey85]

Rc4wd has had a similar issue with some ring gears failing by slipping on the locker.

Never seen any gear failures in the trans but that crack could point to weak batch of output gears, or the tolerances on that press joint were out of spec and that caused it to crack.

 

[new2rocks]

I haven't had this issue with my relatively new TF2. I've had a few warranty type issues with RC4WD on other things (e.g., missing mirror and cracked sunroof in my Gelande, missing screw in a set of wheels, etc), and they've always done the right thing. There were one or two cases where I had to send a follow-up email to remind them after not hearing back for a few days, but they have always stepped up.


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[Bluzboy66]

Hmmmmm....very interesting about the ring gear failures. Similar situation.

I've sent a total of three emails since last weekend. Two to customer service, and one to 'Rock', as suggested by a buddy of mine. So far, nothing....

Mike

 

[nharkey85]

I romp on mine pretty rough. Ive had zero issues.

The ring gear failure i saw was on here. I want to say it was a brand new helical cut set that didnt last 10 minutes

 

[Jus]

Their customer service can be slow sometimes, but they will make it right. I've dealt with them twice adn they were very helpful and even warrantied a part of my front suspension that I bought more than a year ago, when it broke during a fall.

 

[tokdl]

Wow, first time seeing something like that from RC4WD. I've had a few small issues along with everyone else and they've always stepped up to the plate with replacing things. This may be more wide spread and they are gathering info. on how many issues and what to do to fix the problem. I'm sure they will certainly take care of your problem though. I can imagine that would be a PITA though.

 

[Bluzboy66]

Wow, first time seeing something like that from RC4WD. I've had a few small issues along with everyone else and they've always stepped up to the plate with replacing things. This may be more wide spread and they are gathering info. on how many issues and what to do to fix the problem. I'm sure they will certainly take care of your problem though. I can imagine that would be a PITA though.

I've always heard GREAT things about RC4WD and their customer service. Literally EVERYONE I've ever known to have an issue, said that they're the best.

So, I finally heard back from them tonight....I suspect that it's Rock, or someone intimately involved in the company, not just a customer service rep....looks like they're sending me a complete gear assembly for the R3 transmission. NOW I'm feeling better about this. And yes, it has been a PITA. A $400 kit, and to have to go through this sort of crap just to get the truck off of the bench! I would have never believed it. Needless to say, I'm anxious to bring this to a close, and get my TF2 out on the trail once and for all.

Mike

 

[tokdl]

That's great to hear! I'll admit I'd have felt the same way if that were my first TF2 kit. Glad they resolved your issues! "thumbsup"

 

[Bluzboy66]

If this is a manufacturing issue, I'm sure that they'll nail down the source of the problem. I worked for General Motors for 11 years, and I've been involved in problem shooting sessions. I know how frustrating this can be for a manufacturer. Many, many others may have bad tranny gears as well, and time will tell, but I'm feeling like the odd man out right now.

Mike F.

 

[CTRC]

I just finished emailing them.

My rear locker/ring gear is smoked. I got the kit on the 14th and I was driving it around in my driveway while waiting for body paint to dry.
After a few mins I got that horrible clicking/grinding and the truck locked up. After pulling the diff cover I noticed that there is a lot of left to right movement in the axles. This is allowed because of the races are to wide on each side of the ring gear outputs(Or something else, who knows). The ring gear moves off the pinion on left turns causing the mesh to slip.

I will let you know what they say....

 

[new2rocks]

I just finished emailing them.



My rear locker/ring gear is smoked. I got the kit on the 14th and I was driving it around in my driveway while waiting for body paint to dry.

After a few mins I got that horrible clicking/grinding and the truck locked up. After pulling the diff cover I noticed that there is a lot of left to right movement in the axles. This is allowed because of the races are to wide on each side of the ring gear outputs(Or something else, who knows). The ring gear moves off the pinion on left turns causing the mesh to slip.

I noticed the side-to-side play in the ring gear in my front axle also, so I added a few shims on either side to tighten it up (but not too much). Since replacing the ring and pinion (and adjusting the shims on the pinion at the same time), it seems to be fine now. This seems to be a pattern on the Yota axles. The Yota 2s in my Gelande were fine out of the box with no shims. Once you get your replacements and it's running again, I'd suggest spending some time shimming the ring and pinions on both axles so the problem doesn't repeat.


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[Bluzboy66]

I just finished emailing them.

My rear locker/ring gear is smoked. I got the kit on the 14th and I was driving it around in my driveway while waiting for body paint to dry.
After a few mins I got that horrible clicking/grinding and the truck locked up. After pulling the diff cover I noticed that there is a lot of left to right movement in the axles. This is allowed because of the races are to wide on each side of the ring gear outputs(Or something else, who knows). The ring gear moves off the pinion on left turns causing the mesh to slip.

I will let you know what they say....

Wow. Well hopefully they'll respond quickly and get your replacement gears out to you pronto. Meanwhile, I'm going to double check my ring and pinion mesh before buttoning this thing up. As you may have read in my post, MY Trail Finder 2 kit was missing an entire BEARING on the pinion shaft on the front diff. !! They sent me two entire packages of bearings to make up for it, which I thought was very cool of them, but still.....what the heck is going on at RC4WD?? These kits aren't cheap....they're considered top shelf. At least that's what I THOUGHT prior to purchasing mine.

Mike F.

 

[stevem50]

Manufacturing is a tricky game of "get it done and on the shelf cheap vs. don't kill the brand with faulty products", I think your kit was a fluke. I have had minimal teething issues with mine and you know I'm not one to baby the toys. I'd also hold towers feet to the fire on this since they took your money for it.. Heck, tell them you want the parts or you're going to return it

 

[Bluzboy66]

Manufacturing is a tricky game of "get it done and on the shelf cheap vs. don't kill the brand with faulty products", I think your kit was a fluke. I have had minimal teething issues with mine and you know I'm not one to baby the toys. I'd also hold towers feet to the fire on this since they took your money for it.. Heck, tell them you want the parts or you're going to return it

I think you're right, Steve. I got the dud of the batch. Anyway, they've mailed my gear(s), and I should have them by the end of the week.....they sent tracking yesterday. I guess what frustrates me the most is (other than the fact that this is the SECOND very significant issue I've had with the kit....the first issue being the missing front diff pinion bearing), is that an entire week went by before they responded to my inquiries, and when they DID respond, they had no idea what I was emailing about.....it seems they didn't even take the time to read my detailed emails, complete with photos of the busted gear. A real head scratcher.

Ready to move on, and get my truck out on the trail.

Mike

 

[stevem50]

I'm usually the first to rip someone a new one, but I know a bunch of guys with tf's, they all have issues with random crap, but it's usually as simple as reshimming gears or greasing stuff. You're the 1st I know with missing parts.. But I guess shit happens. Sorry it hit your fan.. Haha , you can borrow the trans outta mine if need be

 

[Bluzboy66]

Yup, my dumb luck, Steve. I've been all over the 'net, and I have YET to find an instance of a TF2 missing a bearing. And there are only a few instances of gear issues, ALL of which were diff related, not tranny like mine. Go figure.

Mike

 

[stevem50]

Yup.. I usually get mad as hell at these things on day one,by day two and three I'm usually calm and rethought the situation and figured out how to fix it usually you can laugh it off at that point. Now you can look back on it and know you found the weak point and already fixed it

 

[CTRC]

I noticed the side-to-side play in the ring gear in my front axle also, so I added a few shims on either side to tighten it up (but not too much). Since replacing the ring and pinion (and adjusting the shims on the pinion at the same time), it seems to be fine now. This seems to be a pattern on the Yota axles. The Yota 2s in my Gelande were fine out of the box with no shims. Once you get your replacements and it's running again, I'd suggest spending some time shimming the ring and pinions on both axles so the problem doesn't repeat.


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Good advice, thank you.

What did you use? I was thinking of a small washer or maybe even fab a sleeve to fit a little tighter between the inner berrings and the c-clips.

P.S. Sorry to hijack the thread here.

 

[CTRC]

Wow. Well hopefully they'll respond quickly and get your replacement gears out to you pronto. Meanwhile, I'm going to double check my ring and pinion mesh before buttoning this thing up. As you may have read in my post, MY Trail Finder 2 kit was missing an entire BEARING on the pinion shaft on the front diff. !! They sent me two entire packages of bearings to make up for it, which I thought was very cool of them, but still.....what the heck is going on at RC4WD?? These kits aren't cheap....they're considered top shelf. At least that's what I THOUGHT prior to purchasing mine.

Mike F.

I would give it a look. Mine had moved so much that the ring teeth removed the paint from the forward most edge of the cover clearence channel.

I will post pics of my fix if I come up with a good one.

Keep me posted on what you find.