mad cap gear problem

[MadBiker]

my tamia madcap is having a few hickups, namely when you take off it gives
off a grinding sound, I t hink its the main gear in it, how ever it seems to
be meshed properly..

I am running 1700 battery how ever...

could I use grease as gear oil, I think im using a bit of Vaseline now, too
see if it made a difference.

cheers
Nathan

[Jonny Hodgson]

remove wrote:
> my tamia madcap is having a few hickups, namely when you take off it
> gives off a grinding sound, I t hink its the main gear in it, how
> ever it seems to be meshed properly..

Check that all the bearings are in place and not worn, and that all the
housings which support the shafts are screwed together properly and are
not cracked. Check the condition of all the gears as they don't last
long when they start to skip, so that should tell you which ones are
making the noise.

A dull 'graunching' noise could be the ball diff slipping - you could
try tightening that up too.

> I am running 1700 battery how ever...

Shouldn't make any difference. You don't say what motor you're running,
so I assume it's the kit 540 - the Madcap should be more than capable of
handling far more power than that.

> could I use grease as gear oil, I think im using a bit of Vaseline
> now, too see if it made a difference.

You could, although my experience with Tamiya cars (mostly the Top
Force) and my Predator suggests that 10W40 (or whatever you've got)
engine oil works pretty well. If you've got access to some 75W90 gear
oil, that might be even better...

Get a small modelling-type paintbrush (I think a size 3 works well) and,
after first stripping down and cleaning the drivetrain (use motor
cleaner and toilet tissue), brush a thin layer of oil onto all the
teeth.

HTH,
Jonny