501x Layshaft and gear mesh.

[jhammond]

Just a few quick things.

A) The slipper pad on the layshaft is rubbing slightly on the plastic piece that holds the layshaft bearings down... (It's built true) I'm worried that if I shim it further away, it will add friction to the drivetrain on the other side. Any advice?

B) When building the layshaft, it sometimes takes a few rebuilds to get the spur to run true. Any advice?

C) I've set the gear mesh with the classic paper trick. But it just sounds, well... Nasty. Has anyone else found this?

D) And the drivetrain just seems so noisy; It's had about four five-minute stints so far, and I was hoping it may free up. It's the spur and pinion making the noise. Is this likely to be the gear mesh? Even though in my opinion it's set perfectly.


Thank you in advance.

[Dyna]

Not quite sure what you mean on your first point, as the slipper pad is covered by the pressure plate and that itself is well over a mill away from the bearing holders. If the pressure plates are touching them then something is seriously wrong with the layshaft build... Thats your first port of call. Rebuild exactly to the manual first. And remember the bearing holders are handed, try them on the other side they are on atm, you might have them on wrong.

As for points B,C & D a friend had that on his 501x. He tried everything - re-shimming, adjusting, new pullies etc etc. Even thought the layshaft was out of true. What it was in the end was the original Tamiya 96t Gear was out of true. Changed to a new Associated 87t gear and all was solved. Perfect gear mesh and no major noise anymore. Cheap to try too ;)

Its also a bit particular on pinions, a medium-long pinion work best. Tamiyas own are perfect so try that if the new spur dosent work.

[DaveG28]

Yep, I have a 501 and a 511 (very similar if not identical), one sounds rough as, one is silent!! The silent one only fixed when I replaced the tamiya spur with an associated as Dyna suggested, the other just seems not be noisy no matter what!! Runs ok though!

I've also found the tamiya spurs very egg shaped and difficult to mesh right, again the associated spur helped!

[mole2k]

I had a similar problem with the car sounding like a tractor. When I looked closely at the spur it wasnt totally round. A new spur and the car was silent again, the old spurs teeth were absolutely fine which was what confused me at first.

[jhammond]

Thank you for all your help...

I'll order a new spur, rebuild the layshaft and swap the bearings over to the opposite sides.

Have to say, very pleased with the Tamiya build quality though, as a whole, it really is solid.

I too am surprised the teeth on the spur don't strip, especially if it isn't perfectly round!

Cheers.