BIGMIG

Hope to get a Idea of possible problem before I open up this new panther.My son and I was doing some tank battling with my two newest S&S Tanks,The panther and the Bulldog.After about 15 minutes running time,the Panther started sounding like the gears were trying to slip,a lot of poping and clicking sounds when moving straight forward.We had been running them over about a two foot high ramp,up one side and down the other.The bulldog and Tiger was ran up and down this ramp many,many times and did not seem to affect them at all.I had seen mentioned on here about a clutch mechinism on one of the gears in the gear box.Do these metal gear box's have one,and would they make a poping or stripping sound.??If anyone has any Ideas for me on what to look for,it would really help. Thanks BIGMIG

Well i opened up this panther,and all the crunching is from the right gear assembly.First off they were bone dry,no lube of any kind.If you grasp the outside of the sprocket,you can easily flex it up and down more than a 1/4 of an inch.Most of the bearing incerts are out of the hole for them,and need to have spacers at the very least added.I think this whole assembly is actually junk and should be replaced by Mato as far as I'm concerned.Don't know what they will have to say about that though.Has anyone had to have them send you a new gear assembly.???A lot of loose screws in this tank.I paid more for this one than I did any of the other's and it looks like it is close to being a lemon.Are all these metal gear boxes sloppy feeling,or is this an exception to the rule.Comments are welcome----------BIGMIG

Richard L.

My Feedback: (24)

Maybe a track has slipped off the front drive sprocket or a loose screw dropped into one of the motors or gearboxes.

ArmChairGeneral

..to add to Richards idea, perhaps removing the hull from the chassis and run the tank to observe the gearboxes and tracks in motion?

uhu

@Bigmig
Metal gearboxes have no clutches of any type, only plastic ones do have. As Rich and Armchair suggest, the best way to go is to disassemble the upper hull and take a look inside.
Good luck
Jose

BIGMIG

OK thanks guys,no clutch.I'll tear into it tonight and see whats up. BIGMIG

Wozwasnt

I've read that the RH motor can sometimes move so that the cog doesn't mesh properly.



If you place some packing between the two motors it'll stop the motor from moving.

BIGMIG

PLease see up-date on start of thread. BIGMIG

Wozwasnt

My gear box seems pretty well screwed together and everythings still tight after 6 months. Though I didn't get mine off Mato, I got it cheap off ebay.

Send Mato a pic of the gearbox.

hdbeast

Bigmig, the gear boxes that came with my bulldog made lots of noise and drove very slow, I basically had to take them apart drill out the holes at some of the bushings take out the washers they used for spacers, do some breakin on the gears and it make 100% difference. If I had left them the way they came and continued to drive it I would have smoked the main board. Now it's good.

darkith

I think the gearboxes are hit-n-miss, as they're not exactly precision items. On my PzIII, one gearbox was good, just needed to be broken in. The other gearbox had a loose final drive bushing that needed to be glued to stop it rotating and grinding, and one gear that was being squeezed by the bushings and need a washer on the gearbox standoffs to space the width a bit more.

Guess spares are always a good idea...

D.

swathdiver

The sprockets usually aren't tightened enough from the factory, nearly everyone has experienced this and posted about it. Sometimes for whatever reason the right gearbox housing gets bent and the pinion won't mesh with the gears properly, bending it back is a simple fix. Of course there have been plenty of posts over the last 6 weeks about breaking in the gearboxes. If you're not willing to break them in maybe the old plastic gears are for you.

ArmChairGeneral

I have found it SOP to open the HL's before trying to use them and give the inside a visual inspection, while its opened then you can break-in the motors, tighten loose screws, solder broken or near broken wires and bend things back to normal. This is part of the joy of owning a HL

BIGMIG

Guess the general consensis is a total redo on the internal workings of this beast.A lot of the bushing's are all rotating around with the shafts,and spacers are needed in various places.Just did not expect this on a new tank,but I will gain some practice trying to get it to work right. Thanks BIGMIG

50Kaliber

Yeh, unfortunately these tanks are cheap for a reason, when I got mine the right hand track wouldn't turn, I was gutted! I figured out how to open it found a bit of plastic swarf lodged in one of the gears, cleaned it off and its worked fine ever since :-) The bonus was that I learned the art of stripping down Hl tanks on day one, felt kind of pleased with myself and to be honest have enjoyed the tank more for all the extra effort it has required :-)

hdbeast

BIGMIG, when to start your gear work do one at a time to make reassembly easier. at least untill you have the gear order figured out. my gear tip for the day

BIGMIG

Hey good advice there,this will be a first for me.Decided since I have to pull them out I'll use them on my 1/12 tank project and just order a set for the Panther.Mato was out of stock anyway,and the Panther can set for a while.You could'nt break these gears in,in thier current condition.Most of the gears don't even line up right.Hope the next one's are tight,we will see---
BIGMIG

swathdiver

Yes, most of the brass bushing move but really so what? It's not they're turn high rpms. I've never heard of anyone mention a HL metal gearbox wearing out. So my bushings/bearings move around too, no failures after two years and hundreds of hours. In fact I once went to CA the bearings in place, one of them would've jammed the gearbox had I CA'd it in place. So I let it spin.