Outcast Feel defeated, need help. No steering, gears grinding

[Yazman]

All I wanted to do was install some sealed bearings in the wheels, clean the truck, and add an aluminum servo bracket. After 6.5hrs, all I've accomplished is breaking my truck. It worked fine before.

Now the front wheels barely turn at all. I see the servo arm moving but the wheels barely turn. To get at the bearings, I took off the wheel and then took off the top and bottom red plug where the ball end of the upper and lower a arm sits. When I put them back in I cross threaded half of them like an idiot. I bought a China aluminum servo bracket mount and the install seemed to go fine, but now I don't have steering.

Also, I took off the motor, ESC, receiver and all the other stuff so I could clean the truck. When I removed the motor I noticed that the small gear on the shaft was loose and would slide up and down the shaft. I suspect that's maybe why now the truck makes a horrible grinding noise when going forward or backward. I tried to tighten the gear, but the little set screw is all mushed so I can't get a allen wrench in there.

Lastly, I couldn't figure out for the life of me how the wires from the servo and ESC are routed underneath that little platform where the ESC is. I took pictures before I started, but they didn't help.

It's almost 3:00 in the morning and I feel like a complete moron. Instead of spending a nice evening with my wife and kids, I spent six and a half hours breaking my truck. Being a shade tree auto mechanic for 18 years I thought this would be a piece of cake. I was wrong.

I have to wake up in a few hours, so I give up for now. Any suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated. I'm really bummed out.

 

[SrC]

Its all good dude. You made a few mistakes you will learn from and hopefully won't repeat itself.

Allen (L wrenches) are bad. NEVER use them. They will strip out all the the hardware. Get a set of proper Hex hand drivers. Should use them for all wrenching. Have the set. Also need a bottle of Thread locker "Blue". Not RED!!
Clean out the pinion gear grub/set screw s , then Use a heat gun or small torch and heat up the pinion gear using the hex hand driver. The factory Thread locker should soften and screw should come out. Good to have spare pinion Grub screws on hand. They are consumable items. Clean the motor shaft and pinion well and place a small drop ofBlue TL on it tighten up. Let cure for 24 hours before you run the rig. If you cannot get the old Grub screw out. Drill it out and you may need a new pinion and grub screw at this point.
The Pivot balls were probably set too tight. And Crossthreading the 4 red PB Nuts caused this no doubt. The threads are very fine on the plastic St hub. Try to thread them in correctly. You cannot muscle these on, or its a fail. Worse case here is you need 2 new Steering hubs. Make sure the PB Nut red O-rings are in good shape and in place also. PB nuts should not be tight or the steering will keep binding up on you. Especially at full lock-to-lock of the Steering throw it binds easily. Servo Endpoints at the Radio should be double checked. Since you removed the servo for the alloy mount swap. Hopefully you setup Steering Endpoints when new out the box. Follow the Radio's manual.

When you clean the rig and remove your motor it is always advisable to open it up and clean out, Using any automotive electrical contact spray. Inspect and place a drop of motor oil on both motor BB's. Part of maintenance when you remove the motor. You are cleaning the chassis, so also clean the motor while it is out. Skipping this and you will ruin the motor over time. Take advantage while having the motor out. Be mindful of the washers/shims and their placement when you take out the armature.
With the wiring, place under the ESC tray attached underneath with 2 hooks. Keep the wires away from the Front driveshaft as it runs to the RX box. Wires should be taught and on the chassis under the shaft. So it won't touch the spinning Dr. shaft. That is the key here. You can alway stuff the extra ESC and Servo wires folded neatly inside the RX box.

Normally to replace the wheel hub inner and outer BB's, I screw out the Pivot balls equally and never have to remove nuts themselves. A 2.5mm Hex hand driver through the PB nut and into the Pivot Balls themselves removes the PB's from the upper and lower arms. Just Unscrew them equally both at a time. Works for me. A time saver and you wont have to reset the PB preload again.

Hope this helps.

 

[norcalsc]

trust me brotha. we have all been there, try not to get frustrated attack one thing at a time and if you aren't sure just ask SRC has all the answers

 

[JPWSRC]

All I wanted to do was install some sealed bearings in the wheels, clean the truck, and add an aluminum servo bracket. After 6.5hrs, all I've accomplished is breaking my truck. It worked fine before.

Now the front wheels barely turn at all. I see the servo arm moving but the wheels barely turn. To get at the bearings, I took off the wheel and then took off the top and bottom red plug where the ball end of the upper and lower a arm sits. When I put them back in I cross threaded half of them like an idiot. I bought a China aluminum servo bracket mount and the install seemed to go fine, but now I don't have steering.

Also, I took off the motor, ESC, receiver and all the other stuff so I could clean the truck. When I removed the motor I noticed that the small gear on the shaft was loose and would slide up and down the shaft. I suspect that's maybe why now the truck makes a horrible grinding noise when going forward or backward. I tried to tighten the gear, but the little set screw is all mushed so I can't get a allen wrench in there.

Lastly, I couldn't figure out for the life of me how the wires from the servo and ESC are routed underneath that little platform where the ESC is. I took pictures before I started, but they didn't help.

It's almost 3:00 in the morning and I feel like a complete moron. Instead of spending a nice evening with my wife and kids, I spent six and a half hours breaking my truck. Being a shade tree auto mechanic for 18 years I thought this would be a piece of cake. I was wrong.

I have to wake up in a few hours, so I give up for now. Any suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated. I'm really bummed out.

Don't make this assumption: "This only happens to me!"
I'm fairly new to this as well and well versed in shade tree mechanics all things, and this stuff is a whole different world. #1 thing to to do is to take a step away from it, let your mind reset and go back at it again when your head is clear. For me taking a long #2 on the pot usually freshens my mind.
In time my bet is you'll be doing this with no effort at all ( or at least it'll look that way to someone who doesn't know better). Don't beat yourself up, most of this stuff is cheap enough to fix if you make a mistake, it's only time and money. You got a great resource here in this forum, ask for pics if you need, most are willing to help freely.

Spend some time with your family, and tackle this when you've decompressed. It will all work out.

 

[The_Otherside]

I spent 2 days just trying to get one differential back together......

You can even read about it on the forum. Lol.

It'll only get easier!

 

[SrC]

+1
The only stupid question is the ONE you Don't ask.

 

[Yazman]

Thanks for the support guys, you all rock!

SrC, I really appreciate the super detailed response. I've gotten back on the horse and ordered new hubs from my LHS. I'm gonna give this another shot.

You all are great! I'm glad to have such a cool community of people that are knowledgeable and friendly to noobs such as myself. I'll report back in the next couple of days how it goes. Thanks again all.

 

[The_Otherside]

My advice when disassembling, is do what I do...

Every item I take off, I photograph it with my long driver pointing at the item I'm removing, then I set the first item and the screws that go with it on the left most part of my table.

I go from there!

Film is free, take a picture or everything you disassemble in order then line the parts and screws together as you go along!

 

[Senton_Prime]

Yo bro.. u got that sheet on lock down.. send us some pics and we can get you squared away, I still have much to learn myself!! I wouldn't worry about it, we have all done this.. there is only one way to learn and best believe u will know how to do it right one way or another!! We got you

 

[hobo]

its worse when you spend hours and hours maintaining and cleaning your rc then go out and break it in the first two minutes

 

[Yazman]

Thanks again guys for all your support!

I worked on the truck a little today, and the PB nuts were definitely WAY too tight. I loosened them and now the steering works.

However my drivetrain still makes a slightly grinding/metallic/clanky noise. See videos:

Drivetrain noise 1

Drivetrain noise 2 (this was in the driveway at night, so it's more so you can hear the noise)

I had taken out the mushed grub screw and reset the pinion on the shaft with the old pinion and a new grub screw. I also reset the mesh (used a piece of paper). It's better then it was yesterday, but it definitely still sounds sick.

Lemme know what you guys think! I'm excited I'm getting closer to it being fixed.

Thanks all!

- Aaron

 

[Senton_Prime]

Let's see the mesh!!

 

[Yazman]

Let's see the mesh!!

I'll try to take some pics after I put the kids to bed. Can too tight or too loose make noise like that?

 

[The_Otherside]

I'm assuming the mesh is way too tight. After you punch the throttle everything should spin freely to a stop.

No need to turn the truck on or run it to check mesh.

Use one finger to hold the pinion gear... use the other finger to wiggle the center differential.

Should be slightly clicky. If there's no clicking, loosen the motor mount slide screws on top and slide the motor away from the center about .5mm and tighten ONE of the mount screws, the do the two finger check and repeat until the there's the slightest play between the teeth.

Sorry if you know this already. I don't mean to insult your intelligence!

 

[JPWSRC]

I'm assuming the mesh is way too tight. After you punch the throttle everything should spin freely to a stop.

No need to turn the truck on or run it to check mesh.

Use one finger to hold the pinion gear... use the other finger to wiggle the center differential.

Should be slightly clicky. If there's no clicking, loosen the motor mount slide screws on top and slide the motor away from the center about .5mm and tighten ONE of the mount screws, the do the two finger check and repeat until the there's the slightest play between the teeth.

Sorry if you know this already. I don't mean to insult your intelligence!

+1.

 

[Yazman]

Thank you The_Underside and JPWarrior_KRX! My mesh was super tight (see pics) and I loosened it up until I heard a sight click.

It still is a little noisy, but maybe normal noisy? It's hard for me to tell as a noob. Here's a video after I loosened the mesh:

Noise after loosening mesh

Broken or not, I bashed in the dark for about 20 minutes. It was AWESOME! I freakin love this truck. This is the best midlife crisis I've ever had. Neighbors didn't seem too happy lol (live in the city; very densely populated).

 

[Malice]

+1
The only stupid question is the ONE you Don't ask.

Will you give me eleven million dollars?

 

[The_Otherside]

Sounds like it's supposed to my man!

 

[Yazman]

Sounds like it's supposed to my man!

You guys are amazing! Thank you so, so much. I literally couldn't have done this without you all. I appreciate the encouragement and advice!

 

[JPWSRC]

Will you give me eleven million dollars?

No, but I'll give you the time of day thought. It's 5 O' clock.

Thank you The_Underside and JPWarrior_KRX! My mesh was super tight (see pics) and I loosened it up until I heard a sight click.

It still is a little noisy, but maybe normal noisy? It's hard for me to tell as a noob. Here's a video after I loosened the mesh:

Noise after loosening mesh

Broken or not, I bashed in the dark for about 20 minutes. It was AWESOME! I freakin love this truck. This is the best midlife crisis I've ever had. Neighbors didn't seem too happy lol (live in the city; very densely populated).

View attachment 192372

View attachment 192373

You pinion has some decent life left, but you can see wear from a bad mesh. Sound great now. Rock on!