crxsidan85

hello all, i was working on my king tiger and needed to see if i could modify the idler system before having to buy an expensive aftermarket one. so i dissasembled the idler parts and removed the 2 springs in each drum. then i went to walmart and purchased a 5 minute epoxy stick. you tear a piece off and roll it and knead the epoxy until the color is uniform. then you pack it in to the inner area of the idler drum and take the idler arm and press it in the piece. pull out the arm and make sure the grooves are formed in the puddy then remove the excess puddy from the idler arm hole and make sure puddy is flush with face of the drum. let set up and clean the arm and your fingers. after curing, reassemble the idler system and now it holds like a rock even with the stock sheet metal drum clamps. all parts are perfectly removable and so far seems to work well. the puddy was not even 5 dollars and is a heck of a lot cheaper then an aftermarket set. regards, dan

darkith

Hrm. This removes the springs entirely, right? So, if you get a stick or rock in the tracks, won't you end up breaking a track, or do the roadwheels have enough spring in them?

I have an older KT still in the box that I'm thinking of building, so interested to see where this goes.

D.

crxsidan85

the idler is now solid, ive going to run impact tracks so i wont worry about breaking the fragile stockers.

Alan123

This is a really good idea. I have been thinking along the same lines however thought I would squirt the putty into the drum once it was all mounted however your idea is better as the thing can still be taken apart and serviced if needed.

There was never a need for the springs in the track tensioner and I am amazed that Tamiya still makes them this way. Their later designs for the Tiger and Panther are much better.

I will give this a go today.

Thanks for the inspiration.

Alan.

Alan123

I gave it a go and made some pictures along the way.

I have test run it and it works really well and saves on having to buy one of those improved models.


Before

After

Cheers

Alan.

sevoblast

While you are rummaging around with the idler system, try this. The cross brace does wonders for eliminating hull flex. put one at front and one at back. The idler system simply hooks in to the rear brace, uses a couple turn buckles from RC cars, couple long socket head screws, and a pair of jam nuts. Also, rough up the outside of the idler drum, and inside of the idler retaining band, and replace the phillips screws with socket head screws as shown. Helps the idler drum stay where you put it.

crxsidan85

glad it worked out for you i was estatic when i found it worked, glad i could share it, and sevoblast always good to hear your tips they are great.

heavyaslead

A pretensioned fixed idler is a good solution for most RC tanks. I use this method for most of my tanks. It just makes more difficult removing and installing tracks!