Hi everyone, I have three HL tanks. A Panther/Tiger, a Panzer III, and a Pershing which I bought from MatoToys with the metal track upgrade. The Pershing was running great untill I finally installed the metal tracks last night. Now it won't go forward. It will go in circles when I try to run it forward. It runs fine in reverse. The turret and the gun work fine (just ask the cat.) Does anyone have any idea on what might be wrong?

Thanks - Steve

One track won't go forward, or one motor won't go forward?

Take the tracks off, see if the drive sprockets spin when you apply power. If they do, theres something jamming or causing resistance. If they dont, something has happened to the board -- did you have it apart??

It did take a fall while I was working on installing the tracks [&o].

It runs fine in reverse???. Wackywheels gave some good advice. With it running in reverse I would suspect the board, but you never know. You might have a mechanical problem jamming the one track going forward. By removing the tracks and just running the sprockets, you will find this out. Check out the gear tower as well. Perhaps the fall jarred something loose.

When installing the metal tracks I strongly urge everyone to flip the ESC and add cooling fins to the heat sink. With Plastic tracks the ESC seem fine, but most people start having touble when they go to metal.

When it fell, did it, by any chance, impact on the side that ends up being the inside of the circle you get when trying to go forward??

If so, you busted the idler or jammed up the gear box on that side. If the driver board was the problem, it wouldn't work right in reverse.

Good luck,
Splat

I turned the tank over on it's back and started it up. I observed that the left track only went forward (the right track did not respond at all.) Both tracks were able to go in reverse. Does that mean the tank has a board problem?

Most probably the board. I had this happen to my Pershing. Somebody like Darkith would no for sure, but I believe there is a power transister for each track in both directions, making four on the board. The forward right track one is probably fried. You may want to just touch a hot soldering Iron to each power transister connection on the board. Perhaps the drop broke a connection, that reheating will cure. I'd give that a try.

Probably blew the right forward transistor. Pulls the tracks off and test again. Then open the tank up and check all the connections, especially the 4 wires attached to the board from the motors. If nothing is amiss, fire up the soldering iron and drop in your spare board. You do have a spare board, don't you?

Wacky's Tips #427:
Do NOT drop your tank while installing new tracks

Someone has to ask: how did you manage that? From what height?[X(]

hi weebeasty welcome to the forum
have a look at this post might help you out http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_6769792/tm.htm

also thought of something. without running the tank, pick it up and move each road wheel and track return wheel both directions. see if one is catching and maybe holding on to the track.

Oh, I sometimes have a special talent for these acts of "inteligence" . It only fell about a foot or so onto a carpeted floor... if that fall caused this damage I'd be really dissapointed at how fragile they are.

I'll be honest with you. If my heavy Tiger dropped a foot, I would be surprized if nothing was broke!!!!!

Hello weebeasty
If it was me if you haven't at this point,I would for sure open it up and have a look inside.Just from what you have said so far and the one's who have said it's a problem with the board is where I would place my bet.If you can run both tracks backwards that tells me all the motor wires are connected,and it would be strange if an obstruction would let the track run in reverse but not forward without being able to hear something going on.It is possible a wire is loose in the transmitter on the part of the joy stick that controls the forward movement of the tank.It only takes a few minutes to pull 4 screws on the back of the transmitter and open it up and have a look.Move the stick and make sure the little contactor is touching where it is suppose to.The transmitter and receiver is what controls the direction,that is where the problem would be---Thats my guess for what it's worth. BIGMIG

Thanks YHR... I have extra transmitters I'll switch the crystals and check it.

Exactly. They're plastic tanks -- not meant to be jumped or dropped from any height - all-metal might survive dropping, but no HL/WSN/Torro/Matorro/Tamiya/Bandai/Imai is made to be dropped, I would definitely expect damage had I of done it.

How did it land?

Hi Swathdiver,

I have spare boards but I could use some instructions on changing one.

Thanks,
Weebeasty

I couldn't see too well through all the flame and smoke . Probably on it's side.

check this out weebeasty credit to wackywheels

http://members.iinet.net.au/~wackywh...rade/pershing/

Check out Wacky's tutorial. While I didn't read it, some of them show running a wire from the on/off switch to the receiver board. This wire is used to discharge static electricity on factory equipped smoke and sound tanks. However, when upgrading them this wire usually blows the board. We leave them off now with no ill effects.

The tutorial looks very instructive but I must admit to being a little frustrated and wishing I had done a some research before investing all this cash into these things. The hulls are off 2 of my 3 the tanks and I am left staring at small circuit boards with a bunch of soldered wires leading from everywhere wondering if I am expected to resolder them all back on the new boards. At this point I am considering hiring someone to do the repairs. Even though I would like to learn how to do this I just don't have the time or patience for it. If there is anyone close to the North Carolina area that would like to give this repair a whirl send me an email. I am very grateful for the information I have received from all the members who have tried to help but I'm ready for FireDog. A well placed M-80 might be fun right now.

I never do it (switch to receiver), so rest assured your board will live if you follow my guide

Receiver gets its power through the 3 pin cable from the main board.

Weebeasty PM Me or check your PM

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