JH81187

Also, does cold weather affect these parts of the tank? I was wondering if this issue can be related to the recent cold snap that we have been having in the San Jose/Campbell area?

YHR

LOL cold snap in San Jose. I have taken tanks from 70 and run them outside at 25 below zero. and they function. You just need to let them cool down to the ambient temperature before running them. The amount of metal is small and the tolerances great, so I doubt the temperature is causing you any grief around the recoil.

thecommander

I still make mistakes...every damned day.

I'm hope this issue has been resolved. Here is a hint. I don't know if that troublesome recoil motor was tested and found to be ok??...but if the motor is running and not recoiling it should be a gear reduction issue. I had a JP I built a few years ago that had a intermittent recoil issue. I've built 5 of them and only one had this odd recoil problem. It only worked 25% of the time. I soon discovered it work 100% of the time when the upper hull was upside down. I have not built a IS/JS kit yet. On the JP the recoil unit is mounted upside down unlike most other Tamiya tanks. Is it that way on your JS tank? What I discovered was when the recoil unit was upside down (in it's position of normal function) the gears did not mesh properly. I fabricated and installed a thin clear plastic shim that I made under the large recoil gear to raise the large main disc to fully engage the gear reductions. I used a small rubber "O" ring to shim up the brass center screw a mm or two. When I build a kit I secure all my recoil center screws with Loctite. Or they will come loose over time and drop the retaining nut into the tank (that's why you should cover your gearboxes men). A drop of CA or tape can also be used to keep that nut in place.

I hope this helps. Please let us know how you make out, Bob.

JH81187

Apparently the little nut on the top and the big yellow nut has fallen out. TO make matters worse I noticed a green wire has been cut off by the recoil device. It seems that Tamiya knows about this issue, as seen in other threads, and refuses to fix it and builds the same crappy mechanism. Very shameful that anyone has to even make mods to the recoil mechanism in the first place. Hopefully Tamiya is reading these threads and understands that the amount that you pay for their products does not excuse such bad attitudes toward customers.

thecommander

The Tamiya recoil is a good design and is very reliable. It just need some "TLC". Most of the issues I have encountered were due to the fact that each time I drive to the AAF Tank Museum in Danville VA it is a 1,100 mile trip there & back. I do that at least 5 times a year. Sometimes it may be a week for before I have time to unpack. That adds more miles and drives me nuts too.

All that shaking and bouncing of my tanks tends to find weak points and problem areas quite quickly in any RC Tank. That is the very reason I tend to overbuild and reinforce things more than many other builders.. Among the problems I have had that few other have encountered were my stock Tamiya elevation arms cracking or stripping out. I also had issues with the main gun barrel screw that mounts to the recoil coming loose. This was all as a result of gun bare;s being unsupported during transport. A few EXTRA drops of Loctite on the gun barrel screw. a Daryl Turner elevation arm, and drop of Loctite on that recoil main gear nut as mentioned. All of these issues were easily resolved with a little PM and stabilizing the gun barrel during transport with a foam block bubble wrap. I use 22 in husky tool boxes for 95% of my tanks and many turrets are removed for transport. That was a result of my I also have repaired countless tanks and I have only seen one recoil that was truly defective.