lt250dave

well i have lost three "E-clips" now running my baja in the gravel pits around my house. from the best i can figure, small pieces of gravel are getting into the backside of the steering knuckle where the E clip holds the front axle and since the e clip makes a revolution for every wheel revolution i guess the gravel is just gettin trapped in there and making the clip pop off.

Tomorrow i am gonna stop by the hardware store and pick up some external snap rings, the ones that have two small holes on the edge and require a special pair of pliers to put on and take off. hopefully that will solve my problem.

Has anyone else had this happen?

USABaja5B

It happened to me once when I hit a boulder. Snapped the E-clip in half, but saved the rest of the front end from damage. I would rather replace an e-clip than a $15.00 a-arm. Maybe the extrenal ring will be strong enough to stay on in your case, but weak enough to snap off if hit by something??

Timmahh

let us know how you come out. hit a good sized tree on tank 2, eclip popped. fire fles 6 ft up and 15 ft behind. new eclip all was good again.
Timmahh

lt250dave

well i got the pliers and about ten regular e-clips and ten of the external retainer rings as they call them in the hardware store. the ones i bought are 5/16" and they look like they will work just fine. Unfortunately its raining like a cow peeing on a flat rock right now so i dont wanna run it just yet but i will keep you posted.

lt250dave

well after i put one of the retainer rings on the axle i noticed that the ring will come no where near hitting the bearing race so basically it will just fall back off.

The only other thing i can think to try would be to tap the hole going through the stub axle with a M-4 or M-5 tap then put a small cap screw and a washer in it to hold the wheel on possibly with a drop of blue Loc-tite. does anyone see that to be a fix for this?

brice_arnold

My Feedback: (6)

I am doing the same thing with my axels except that I machined off the e-clip groove and I'm tapping the shaft for an M6 or M7 (depending on ubtton head size.

I know another Baja owner who tapped the hole for a 10-32 (M% is aproximately same size) and used a screw, washer, and e-clip stack. This seemed to work for him.

Also HPI seems to have released newer version of the e-clips where there is more material engaged iin the groove. I know that they have 2 or 3 sizes. I would check tower to see if they have a size to replace the original stock e-clip o nthe front axel

lt250dave

i think i will just tap the axle and go with it like that, that e clip isnt the best method of keeping a 7 inch tall wheel in place anyway.

teamchrome

My Feedback: (4)

I used a trick on my nitros and elec. cars and truck, a dab of Shoe Goo on top of the clip helps keep them on better.
Hope this works for you.

jpachill1

Shoo Goo, it's the magical mystery goo!

Paul

garygit

I lost a wheel also. At full throttle I hit a hardened bag of concrete. The wheel and bearings went up about thirty feet in the air. I lost the inside bearing and E-clip. Tower had both in stock. I had the repair done in a few days.. Good thing that the E-CLIP failed. I would much rather replace that then the rest of the front end..