RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

strange one here, one of my mato gearboxes appears to have seized.

All fine then noticed one track bit slower put tank on a brick to run the tracks whilst I looked to see what was wrong then gearbox slowed down and wouldn't start turning again. Can hear motor trying to turn but not strong enough. Can turn gears by hand but hard work.

Any suggestions?

Hi
It could be the motor. Try removing the motor from the gearbox and turn the cogs by hand.
If not, then it is probably the bushings that support the axles, they may have seized. Alternatively there may be something stuck in the gearbox that it jamming it up.
Hope this helps
Phil

I agree with Phil, check you have good lubrication in your gearbox bearings as they can seize up if not kept well lubricated, if that is ok look for something causing binding, it could be something trapped down the side of one of the gears.

When it started running slow I lubed it all.

Cant see anything wrong or trapped. Suppose next step is to remove from tank and strip down and clean and see if that turns up anything.

Just puzzled to why a new (3 weeks) relatively little used gearbox would go from fine to only possible to turn by hand so quickly.

I vote for loose set screw.

I had to fully disassemble my Mato 2.0's for my Panther due to the same problem (in fact both motors fried on me). Problem was that the cases were all warped and the shafts were binding in the bushings. It took some work, but ended up getting them back straight and moving good.

Ok found the problem but still no idea how it's happened.

Sorry no pictures, but for those who have seen the Mato gearbox you know there is the motor then shaft and gear then shaft twin gear then shaft twin gear then finally axle.

Well the first twin gear shaft had seized. All other gears these are free on the shafts but this one both sets of gears very hard to turn on the shaft and to make it worse the two gears rotate at different speeds.

Gave some lube and manual turning, washed then lubed and was better but not totally free like the others. Reassembled the gear box and ran the motor in both directions for 10 minutes.

Not tried it in the tank yet though.

So hopefully problem resolved.

New problem now.

The other gearbox/motor isn’t playing ball now. For some reason it works fine on level ground but as soon as I hit the grass or hill with resistance it appears that gearbox/motor struggles some times to the point of totally stopping.

I ran that gearbox/motor direct off a battery for over an hour last night and gave moving bits lots of oil, thinking it might be the gearbox but still hasn’t resolved the problem.

Any suggestions?

I’m thinking maybe the motor but wasn’t certain as it appears fine on less resistance surfaces, surely a knackered motor would be same across the full range?

Or maybe the speed controller? Short of putting other gearboxes in how can I test that?

I don't know how much play you have in the gearbox frames..but on my metal ones i can push the top of the frames in with my fingers making the 1st ,2 cogs nip. If thats taking place in yours that may be the reason.

Motor are a funny thing, kinda work or not work unless you can load test. Having said that, the bearings may not be working as they sould, (the the past, in a heli the magnets deteriorated and little bits of them where running around in the motor).
As the the esc can you not borrow an rx18 out of another tank just for a test run.

It may not be any of these, hope you find the prob soon.

caddyshack wrote:I don't know how much play you have in the gearbox frames..but on my metal ones i can push the top of the frames in with my fingers making the 1st ,2 cogs nip. If thats taking place in yours that may be the reason.

Motor are a funny thing, kinda work or not work unless you can load test. Having said that, the bearings may not be working as they sould, (the the past, in a heli the magnets deteriorated and little bits of them where running around in the motor).
As the the esc can you not borrow an rx18 out of another tank just for a test run.

It may not be any of these, hope you find the prob soon.

The Mato box has thick metal walls so solid. Like I said think motor or controller. Realised not long after asking about the ESC could simply try another one or swap motor leads over and try it to see problem swapped motors.

Anyway no time tonight to try.