I installed bearings in the idler wheels and front axles. Both are much more solid. The first picture are the bearings and bolts used for the idlers. I drilled the inner idler half from the inside leaving just a very thin lip. I then pressed in two bearings in each wheel. I cut one of the original bushings in half to use as a spacer along with one washer. I re-drilled and tapped the steel plate to 5mm. These bolts have the correct length shoulder. For the front bearings, I used standard skateboard wheel bearings and short sections of plastic pipe with the correct size inside diameter. I had to lightly sand the front axle with fine wet/dry sand paper to make the bearings slide on easily. I sanded the hole in the transmission cover to fit the pipe inside. I glued the pipe to the tub and the transmission cover. The bearings are just press fit in the pipe. The motor/gearboxes are still easily removed.

Now to put them in where it's important ... the road wheels.


- Jeff

Already in.
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1223234
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_9691349/tm.htm

milsurp53 ,you're tank wheels look solid, one straight line in post 18 on rcgroup. Do you have a couple of pic's from the 'idler wheel in the making' I got to do something about mine on the asiatam hull. One side keeps throwing the track, and that's got to be fixed now that I got the rest of the drivetrain up and runing.

What dia. axles are used for the asiatam hull. Do you have a photo of the axle/bushing? I use a 5mm bolt, but the metal idler wheel came with a 5mm shoulder bolt with 3mm? threads for plastic mountiing. To install the bearings in the idler, I removed the existing bushing, I then drilled a 5/16" hole (I don"t have any metric bits) in the inside wheel half, from the inside, almost all the way through. I also enlarged the hole left slightly so the spacer used later wouldn't rub. I left a thin lip on the inside to keep the bearing from pushing all the way through. I then pressed two bearings into the wheel from the inside. I cut one of the original bushings in half to use as a spacer between the idler and arm/tub. I'll try to get photos later if this isn't clear. This made my idlers very solid but free spinning. It's also easy to adjust in/out as needed.

Not sure, but it appears Asiatam uses non threaded 3mm axles for the idlers? If so, I'd see if you could thread the tensioner for a 3mm bolt and use 3x6x2.5mm bearings instead of the size I used. Get a Socket head bolt long enough for the non threaded shoulder to go thru the bearings and cut the threads to length.
http://www.xheli.com/exi-br030625.html

4mm axels for the idler. Should be possible to work something out here.

Look for bearing part # MR74ZZ or EK1-B0004. Thats if you would be able to thread the tensioner for 4mm bolts. 4x7x2.5mm bearing.

To put bearing in these is very hard, you need a cnc precision. I have tried it befroe with drills to bore out, but it were exact 100% center, as at the end, the wheels wobble..funny **** ehhh. Its wiser just buy Matro idller wheels that comes with bearings.

Actually, it was very easy and there is no wobble. The idlers are very solid and run very true. I just used a drill press. Maybe your tank runs much faster than mine. I tried to find "Matro Idler wheels with bearings" online and can't find them. Link?

sorry, my error,,[] no Matro, I am refering to Asiatam panzer 3 upgrade grade(they had 2 ball bearings on each idler wheel); where as MAtro HAS NOT-a bit like your system.

With my two panzer3/stug tanks. Basically, I use the same principle of asiantam applied to tamiya tiger tank idler wheels.


In my experiece, longer you run your tank with out bearing, the holes on the idler wheel will get bigger.....and it will start track throwing......

That's a smart, cheap fix. I'm going to try this on my HL Tiger.