Bent Driveshaft

[Jimster]

I don’t know how, when or why but I’ve bent my driver’s side driveshaft on my Taigen V2 steel gears/ball bearings 4:1 ratio gearbox with the 390motor. I recently noticed a wobble in the sprocket and when I removed the sprocket and ran the gearbox I definitely saw the bent shaft in action. I can’t imagine I hit something hard enough to bend it without realizing it. It still runs just fine but that wobble drives me nuts.
Shouldn’t I be able to remove the bent shaft, lay it on top of a vice and hammer it straight? I’m just not sure how advisable it is to attempt removing the shaft with the ball bearings. Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.

[jarndice]

I am pretty sure replacement shafts are available. Check out the dealer web-sites.
I would not be too bothered about "Ball Bearings" as in my experience the "Bearings" that are in our gearboxes are actually "Bushes".

[Jimster]

As a matter of fact I did drive it in some nasty creek gravel a few days ago and it did throw a track on that side from a major rock jam. Forgot about that.


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[Jimster]

Good advice, Jarndice. I’ve just sent an email to Erick at IMEX which is where I bought them.

[jarndice]

When you come to replacing the shaft I suggest you place the gearbox on a Hotplate on its lowest setting for about a half hour so that the metal in the gearbox expands while the previous evening you place the replacement shaft in the icebox, then in the morning after you have warmed the gearbox the frozen shaft should slide into place quite easily.
A quick spray of silicone lube at the same time would do no harm.

[43rdRecceReg]

While these gearboxes give the appearance of sturdiness, the metals used in them are clearly not of premium quality. I dropped a Taigen Premium box on the living room carpet (it slipped from my hand), for example, and the side of the frame (thickest part of the unit containing the 'bearings') actually bent quite badly. Quite how your tank motor could supply enough torque to bend your output shaft, I can't imagine. Nor an encounter with some rough terrain. Those things just shouldn't bend.

[Jimster]

Thanks! I never would’ve thought of that.
I guess I drive my Tiger too hard. Perhaps I need to practice a little more finesse in my driving technique instead of balls to the wall charging ahead and powering through obstacles. I never thought I would bend a driveshaft.

[General Jumbo01]

I guess you get what you pay for. Even the premium tank components are a fraction of the price of club racing 1/10 saloon car parts (titanium/carbon fibre/aircraft grade aluminium) but then the relatively low costs do allow us to collect tanks in numbers!

It does frustrate me though when cheap, inferior materials and designs are used inappropriately. I'll trying to sort such an example now. If someone produced a pair of motorised gearboxes using top quality components and charged a reasonable £200 (and that would be reasonable), how many of us would buy them?

Cheap, soft metal shafts do bend!

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[Jimster]

Definitely a lesson learned.

[jarndice]

Jimster I meant to ask you before,
Do you have "Gearbox Output Shaft Bearings" fitted ?
They may or may not have stopped your recent problem BUT it would ensure the output shafts run true as they are supported throughout thereby removing any out of balance effect.
They are an easy fit and not mind numbingly expensive.
Every Tank I have built I always fit these items as a matter of course.
The "Tips & Tricks" Section of the Forum offers help when/if you decide to fit them.