TOPIC:

hi all

new to this forum but a regular on this brilliant website. just wondered if you could give me some feedback on a project i have been restoring. Purchased an old Hotshot a few months back pretty much complete with its original box and build manual. i have spent many many nights restoring it back to its glory as it was heavily used and needed a lot of new parts and i am almost finished however i have come upon a major problem with it that has me rubbing my head. i checked the gearboxes when rebuilding them and found all the gears looked very very good. however now i have it all back together the diffs just dont seem to be engaging and im having horrible grating noises from both of them? i have had them out several times now and could rebuild them in my sleep but cannot find any worn parts yet they still do it every time? the gearbox casing are new the buggy has been steel ballraced and all the gears look great? only possible problem i can see is c clips that fit around drive shafts in the casings to hold them in place look a little thin and are allowing excessive travel thus allowing the gears to miss align? i was wondering if this is a known weak area and any possible fixes? reaching the end of my rope with this one now so you may see it on ebay soon

NOTE UPDATE: changed the c clips out for some e clips i had lying around as i noticed they are using these in the boomerang re-release as they share the same gearboxes and the problem has gone away? hopefully found the cure for this one tonight. anyone else had this problem before?

Hi Tamiya nut

You know what? I'm restoring "THE FROG" at the moment & I too have this problem. It runs ok but in tight turns it makes this grating sound. I did what you've done & pull everything apart but fail to see any problem.

If any freinds out there have any suggestion to help us out it'd much appreciated.

Regards
Alan

definitely is the c clips holding in the drive shafts on mine they look worn thin and since i replaced them with new e clips the problems dissapeared. not sure on the frog as its a chassis i have yet to work on? may be a similar problem?

ok, thanks for your suggestion. I'll pull it apart & have alook.

Alan

With the Frog this is a very common problem. There's loads of threads about it on TamiyaClub.
Basically a lot of shimming or getting a better diff seems to be the only options.

Hi Supers

When you say get a better diff, are there other diffs available for it? If so, which one do I look for?