RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

I need to make a metal frame to reinforce this Challenger 2 hull, so I am not too concerned about the tension of the metal tracks at this stage, but I did notice when I lifted the tank off of the ground that the metal tracks hung off of the central drive wheels by about 5mm .

When the metal hull reinforcement frame is made, I will adjust the track tension knowing that I will not be just bending the plastic hull as I tighten them.

It is a bit of a relief that the tracks look a little loose - rather than a little tight - as the tank was not supplied with any spare links (!) so I would have a problem if I needed to lengthen them!

I wanted to remove the plastic bearings that came in the tank - and like everything else on my particular Challenger 2, they had been glued in!

These plastic bearings had already suffered some surface damage when I had to lever the metal drive sprockets off of the axles (also super-glued on!) so I wasn't too worried about chewing them up any further as I tried to remove them.

A bar was inserted into each bearing as I worked my way around gently levering the bearing (from the outside) to see if I could detect any movement - and I thought I could see and feel some "slight movement" to suggest that the bearing had not been glued in with as much superglue as some of the other parts that I had trouble removing - but they were also too well fixed to be removed using this method as the sides of the chassis were bending and moving more than either of the axle bearings!

Given the above "semi-encouragement" of thinking that I may have detected some movement, I decided to use a larger bar placed against the inside of the plastic bearing and punch it out. I supported the hull on the outside so that only the bearing would be free to move and gave the bar a quick sharp tap - and the first bearing came out with no more trouble!

The second plastic bearing extraction soon followed with no damage to the hull, and the freshly exposed sockets looked clean enough to press in a pair of ball bearings without any "cleaning-up" being needed. I reasoned that the less than perfect super-glue stained surface of the socket would give a nice "texture" to help retain the ball bearings better then they would if I cleaned them up to give a nice smooth shiny surface!

Those following this will know that I bought this tank ARTR so it is still set-up as it was delivered, but I am interested in the suspension setting and would like to hear from anyone that already runs a Challenger successfully to make a comparison.

Working from the front of the tank, the first three pairs of road wheels feel like they have quite a soft spring setting, but the next two pairs of road wheels feel a lot firmer, and the last pair of road wheels (at the rear of the tank) feel as soft as the front three pairs.

I seem to remember some previous comments about having different spring rates on different axles on a Challenger 11 (probably also applies to the Heng Long Abrams and Leopard 2A6 as well?) but I cant find the reference anywhere so I thought I would ask here as I think the setting on my Challenger could be about right?

Suspension, ideally should be set up, I will number the wheel stations 1 to 6, from the front, quite stiff, on some stations. You can get stiffer springs but these are not required. Mine has number 1 wheel station set to hard, wheel stations 2-4 are soft, 5 is medium hard, and 6 is set to hard. If you take off the suspension arm. You will find two holes for the spring. You need to drill a third hole in number 1, and number 6 this will give you the required very hard on these two wheel station. Wheel station, number 5 will require the spring putting into the second hole. All the rest should be in the first hole. This will give a progressive suspension at the rear, and further assists in track tension, particularly at the rear, which helps stops the track riding off the drive sprockets.

Mr Rats description of drilling new holes for the springs we know as "clocking "the springs.
Once done it does take a bit of dexterity to reinstate the swing arm but the result is well worth it.

The plunge has been taken and a set of metal drive wheels to fit this Challenger has been ordered from Andrew at HAYA.

My reasoning is that this Challenger has a set of metal tracks and drive sprockets, but the hard plastic wheels have no tyres on them so I prefer to fit a set of metal wheels with rubber tyres to run against the metal tracks...and they are ball-raced, so they should run smoother too.

This particular set of metal wheels is made for HAYA to their own design input and is not Heng Long brand. There are some additional alloy parts included that can (optional) replace the moulded-on parts that are detailed on the hull. I need to take a good look at this when they arrive and decide if I want to fit these options parts or not - apparently most buyers don't bother to fit them as the original shapes need to be filed off of the hull if the option parts are to be used.

HERMAN BIX wrote: ↑Sat Jan 11, 2025 9:30 pm Mr Rats description of drilling new holes for the springs we know as "clocking "the springs.
Once done it does take a bit of dexterity to reinstate the swing arm but the result is well worth it.

I will take Meter rats advice (as usual) and drill some extra holes to allow the first and last pairs of road wheels to run with harder spring as I need this Challenger to run as well as his does.

The arrival of the metal road wheels will trigger this and other modifications that I have in mind for the chassis tub as it would be best to get all of the hull work completed at the same time.

These modifications may well include, fitting the metal road wheels, clocking and adjusting the suspension springs, gluing and sealing the battery box door to make it inoperable, changing the internal layout of the hull to accommodate the battery, converting the screw fixing to magnets to secure the top deck and give faster access for battery changing and maintenance etc.....and reinforcing the hull to stop/reduce any possible "flexing" of the hull that could cause the metal tracks to be thrown when running hard on rough ground.

I never did like the idea of having the battery box underneath the hull, or the idea of holding the weight of the battery on this lid that is only secured by a single self tapping screw. I converted my Heng Long Leopard 2A6 to house the battery in the turret with access via magnets replacing the turret screws, but this gives other problems with the gun mounting and elevation unit so depending on how well my intended modification goes with the Challenger, I may revisit this tank and convert it to also have the battery mounted inside the hull.

An alternative method of reinforcing the hull may also be considered instead of the "tried and tested" angle alloy frame - even though I have already bought the angle alloy for this very purpose!

I have the same set...
Everything fits perfectly inside the bathtub, the body does not bend, you have no reason to be afraid - this is unnecessary

Pavel wrote: ↑Sun Jan 12, 2025 5:01 pm I have the same set...
Everything fits perfectly inside the bathtub, the body does not bend, you have no reason to be afraid - this is unnecessary

Using the empty battery compartment as a speaker box is a good idea Pavel - very neat and tidy.

The HAYA metal wheels look good too!

I think the screws that hold the top deck onto the lower hull help to add some rigidity that will be lost when I change the fixing to magnets (to give easy access for battery changing etc) - but I will run the tank without my proposed reinforcement first to see how it works.

I also have 4 magnets in the places where the screws were, I just didn’t take a photo, like everyone does this, it’s corny...
I repeat, the body does not bend, the tracks do not fly off if they clearly land on the teeth of the wheel!!!!