RCU Forums - View Single Post - T55 in maintenance shop
View Single Post
Old 01-11-2014, 02:42 PM
  #2  
thecommander
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: hillsdale, NJ
Posts: 3,143
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like on 1 Post
Default

You are not the only one to be stung by those gearboxes. Even well lubed and oiled they fail.



I feel your pain Eric. How have you been pal?


The biggest issue with Hooben is the low quality of the RC components and durability. Their models are very detailed and are a good value. They are just not good runners out of the box. You really have to know what you are doing to overcome their numerous short comings. One of which are their TUs. They cut the grooves into the shafts so far for the "C clips" that the weaken the shafts structural integrity by at least 30%. I have fixed 3 of these TUs now for customers. only one was a T-55. Luckily for James when his Elefant did it at Danville the TU broke clean and the track spun freely rendering the tank unusable. It almost destroyed that gear but we were able to save it. I have no spares either Eric and made many parts by hand. As you can see from the fist pix oil & lube was NOT an issue. I was so unhappy with Hooben that I decided not to even build my Elefant kit. They are a good battle tank for occasional use. I just can't handle being a hard battler without major upgrades. I made covers with clear windows so we can check the TU shaft, gear and lube condition at any time.

Good Luck Eric I hope to see you at Danville this spring...March again?



For those of you building TU covers design and install the covers before you oil & lube the boxes or else then may not seal or adhere well. Oil the shafts/bearings first and work it in by hand while tilting the tank around. Then add the gear grease. I use white lithium since you can see it grow dark with wear and gauge its effectiveness. Seal the output shafts too with foam.
Attached Thumbnails Click image for larger version

Name:	IMG_0001.JPG
Views:	193
Size:	2.19 MB
ID:	1956547   Click image for larger version

Name:	IMG_0002.JPG
Views:	158
Size:	2.19 MB
ID:	1956548   Click image for larger version

Name:	IMG_0003.JPG
Views:	145
Size:	2.00 MB
ID:	1956549   Click image for larger version

Name:	IMG_0004.JPG
Views:	108
Size:	1.73 MB
ID:	1956550   Click image for larger version

Name:	IMG_0005.JPG
Views:	131
Size:	2.15 MB
ID:	1956551   Click image for larger version

Name:	NEAD ELEFANT 4-23-12 018.JPG
Views:	148
Size:	644.4 KB
ID:	1956553   Click image for larger version

Name:	NEAD ELEFANT 4-23-12 019.JPG
Views:	177
Size:	660.1 KB
ID:	1956554   Click image for larger version

Name:	NEAD ELEFANT 4-23-12 020.JPG
Views:	143
Size:	654.6 KB
ID:	1956555  

Click image for larger version

Name:	NEAD ELEFANT 4-23-12 021.JPG
Views:	129
Size:	599.7 KB
ID:	1956556   Click image for larger version

Name:	NEAD ELEFANT 4-23-12 022.JPG
Views:	136
Size:	624.8 KB
ID:	1956557  

Last edited by thecommander; 01-11-2014 at 03:06 PM.