Cougar Quality Problems...
 

I am experiencing a couple of problems with my Cougar, and it's really not impressing me.

I have (so far) had two drive shafts (both on the left side coincidentally) fall completely apart. neither of them have lasted more than five laps. I have checked the diff for binding, and it's free as could be. i have also checked the droop on the back to make sure it's not excessive and that's fine too.

What else should I be looking for to try and stop this happening?

Also, I have noticed that the anodizing inside the shocks is coming off, making the shocks a tiny bit "notchy" where the anodizing has got between the piston and the shock body (i presume) scratching the inside of the shock body. Is there anything I can do to stop the anodizing from coming off?

Finally, the gearbox moulding doesn't seal properly on my car, nor on the other cars I have seen at the club - so grit and dust (and moisture no doubt) can find it's way in - I can actually see the gears in the 'box from the outside!

I am a little disappointed thus far with the car - I haven't even managed to race it yet, as both drive shafts have failed during practice, well if you can call under 10 laps in two weeks practice. :thumbdown:

what do you mean when you say the driveshafts fall apart? does the universal joint come apart or does the dogbone side come out of the drive yokes? I'm a little confused about the anodizing because it's not thick enough to peel off, its more likely to wear off.

Have you spoken to Schumacher themselves?

The universal joint comes apart, the pin just comes loose in a couple of shafts.

Seems to be "hit and mis", some cars dont have this issue at all. But some.....

when the drive shafts fall apart, the gold bit in the middle and the pins fall completely out, the out drive has been slightly damaged as well, as the drive shafts exits the car.

I have spoken to Schumacher and the response was "yes that's happened to some during testing". They did replace the first driveshaft FOC without any quibble though, I should say.

Well that's a contrast to my post regarding the quality of the kit! :D

Looking at mine, there's no way I can see into the gear box through the join line, bit odd?

Hopefully just a degree of bad luck and teething problems Chris?:confused:

Chris i can sympthise my cougar cant be run due to a mismoulded pair of gearbox housings the layshaft is reallt stiff when turned.

I phoned schuy an spoke to chris on friday an a new pair are on there way :thumbsup:

My moulded gear box halves are not the best either, had to do a bit of work to get them to marry up and also had to run in the layshaft and idler gears using a dremel connected to the layshaft until it eventually bedded in and ran smooth. On a positive note the rest of the kit is fine and I got a third place finish today in my first outing with the cougar. The handling is super!

Could be because they're the first batch? My gearboz housing is the same, i can see the gears, also i had odd length rear turnbuckles, schumacher are sending out a replacement though... I also found out today my kit didnt come with the 4 purple washers that can be used to screw the top plate down to make it stiffer, need to email them again and see what they say

The tranny housings on mine leave a small gap at the back aswell, thought I'd misassembled at one stage as its got a tight spot(think its gone now after running it for 2 mins up the drive).

You can see the gap in this picture.
http://www.oople.com/rc/photos/2010n.../DSC_1910.html

If you look at the pictures on the schumacher site of the gearbox, above the motor is a small purple washer spacing the front of the 2 halfs apart. This washer is not shown in the instructions and funnily enough I had two left over but didn't know what they were for. I haven't taken it all apart to put these in but could it make a difference??

Having said all of this, I love this car, it has real character, which is why I bought it. Wish I could afford another and have one as a shelf queen, its just beautiful.:thumbsup:

sv
 

Question,what shocks are you running on this?
Cheers

Similar gearbox issues here, mismatched case halves and a noticable tight spot. One seems to have gone after running a pack through the car and a bit of electrical tape sorted the other.

Along with the cheese turnbuckles, slightly disappointing for an otherwise excellent build of a premium car.

My build was perfect, no gaps at all and the smoothiest transmission.

Just waiting for the missing pieces to arrive. :woot:

I had simular problems with mine. I had to dremmel a bit out of the transmission housing (around the idler) to get the transmission smooth. And i must admit it still isn't perfect.

Purplenut, thats not a picture of my SV, thats Jimmys photo of the other version thats not out yet. Sorry I made it sound like the photo was of mine, its not, it just has the same gap as this one.:)

Was thinking the same as you P.B. and will just put a small bit of tape over it.:)

i also have a small gap, but my transmission turn not so good.
if i turn the spur gear, there is one place it turns a little bit stiff.
now i'm a bit worried to drive with it.
i have heard that dremel it a bit would help, but what must i dremel away?

thanx
grtz jeffrey

Build not finished, but gap in gearbox housing and stiff points on idler here too.

I can't say anything about the universals coming apart...I've never seen that. There is a glue thats called cold weld that supposedly is as strong as welding, maybe a touch of this on the pin will help keep it in place.

If the universals are falling out of your drive yokes its usually due to the setup. If your running the rear shock setup check the suspension geometry... the same thing happend to my Cat until I lower the rear arm toe in by one degree and added the aluminium rear hubs with the 1 degree built in, it hasen't happened since. I like the shaft to be 2 mm into the drive yokes at minimum.

the driveshafts are only falling out of the yokes because the universal joint keep falling apart....:thumbdown:

I am "glad" to see it's not just my Cougar with the gearbox problem I have also mentioned. But it's not what you expect on a near £250 kit.

Give Schumacher a call and I'm sure they'll sort you out.

I have seen a number at our track with no probs at all.