Fitting Brass Bushings in HL King Tiger Wheels Part 2

[Marc780]

The 7 wheels I bushed came out with the glue strong but a little rough turning on the axle, even when greased. I think all my cutting may have made the bushings slightly out of round inside. So I wrapped some 1500 grit emery cloth around a stick shoved it in each sticky bushing and polished them for a minute or two.

One problem is that some of the glue migrated to the top of the hole, inside which, where the head of the axle spins. I think the prevention for that is avoid putting glue on the first 1/8" of the bushing) That made it spin harder too as the glue made the surface bumpy. Since you can't get the glue off once dry.

I tried another method for gluing the tubing and it works well. To do it you need a Dremel and cut off wheel. Start with a piece of tubing at least 2 inches long, (3 inches would be better). Now square one end of this smaller length of brass tubing, then sand the outside with any kind of sandpaper in order to roughen the surface (helps the glue to stick). Test fit your axle in the tubing, if it doesn't spin freely just make another 3 inch length of tubing because that piece might be flattened or something.

Now having pre drilled your wheel to fit the bushing already, coat the brass tubing with glue (but leave the first 1/8 inch of the tubing with no glue! That way no glue can work its way inside the tubing as you insert it into the wheel). Shove the tubing into the hole in the wheel (go in the side of the wheel hole that is NOT recessed otherwise you won't be able to cut the tubing later).

Look in the recessed end of the hole, align the tubing so that it stops flush with the end of the wheel hole, or slightly below it. Now set it aside to dry.

Unless you made the hole in the wheel very precise there's achance your bushings can wind up angled instead of exact 90 degrees so it might be best to gently clamp the bushing in a vice so wheel and bushing dry a perfect 90 degrees angle. I shoved wooden dowels in the bushing before clamping so as not to flatten them.

If you use fast drying glue, keep an eye the tubing doesn't shift at all til the glue sets, then set aside to dry, preferably overnight. If you use slow acting glue, like JB Weld (not sure if they have that in the UK but I'm sure they have something similar) you cannot stand the wheel up and forget about it because the tubing will shift out of place or worse, off center so rig some holder stand so that doesn't happen.

When fully dry, use your dremel and cut off wheel to cut off the end of the tubing. If some is still sticking out where you don't want it, use the sander wheel to sand it down. Now run an under size drill through the hole, or use a round file to clean off the ragged metal from the cutting. Test it with an axle to see how it spins. You may need to polish the inside tubing or the axle to make it spin freely. Before installing you may want to add a plastic washer inboard on the axle. Also work a little drop of grease onto the axle then screw into the suspension arm

I had not touched the inner road wheels yet even though 2 of them are sticky. I tried prying off the long cap from the bottom but they wouldn't budge. Then I realized that's because the factory glued them on! One wheel was just too tight to ignore so, regretfully I dremelled off the cap about 1/4 inch from the wheel. The axle bolt unscrewed easily after that and bushed that one too...now I'm not sure how I'll fix the end of the axle to make it look like the others, probably will glue it back on and cross my fingers! Dremel in off the very end (with the scale bolts) and gluing on some tubing (then the axle end to that) is another option...anybody know a good oil that's friendly to plastic?

Any ideas on those inner wheels would be appreciated because they're glued on, like I said.

[saber77]

you could use dry powder lub like graphite I know this is an old post an the up side sand and dirt will not stick to it and grind the brass just a thought