Vaterra Ascender nagging issues

[goldcrow]

So I have a fairly new Ascender K5 RTR, been running it for a few weeks. Can pretty much climb anything with ease and hasn't broken anything yet but have a few issues with it.

Tires noticeably wobbly when spinning, not sure if the foams inside are causing the uneven tire spin but I'm hesitant to pry open the glued on tires.

Also have the annoying clicking sounds when steering forward left or right, but reverse doesn't exhibit the same sounds. Opened up the axle and saw the spool and pinion are intact and that the pinion is the HD version with the webbing around the teeth so that's good. Haven't tinkered with the CVDs yet though. Have some grease lying around but it's the heavy duty multi-purpose ones, might be a bit thick in consistency. Hope you guys have some ideas.

 

[BrotherAndySLB]

The clicking is not due to the gears. At least it's usually not. The problem is the axles are out of phase.

Take a look at my post in the Ascender thread. Just Click Here

Make sure to grease those CV joints too!

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[Yeti.stealth]

The little pins in the cv's can wear and will start to click. My RTR had little to no lube on the cv's and my first few runs were in sand, I wore those pins down in the drive shaft cv's very early. I cut down the shank of drill bits of the same diameter and made new ones. The drill bit steel is very hard and wear resistant.

 

[Yeti.stealth]

I also had 1 wobbly tire, mostly fixed it by squeezing and stretching the tire and massaging the foam every which way from the outside, really giving it a hard time. Submerge it in water and squeeze some water in and out of it too. My tires and foams were quite firm when new, but have softened a lot now maybe due to running in a fair bit of water and a few dozen batteries!

The 1 wobbly tire seems to run pretty true now most of the time.

 

[goldcrow]

Greased the CV joints with the all-purpose I have, still no different. I did read through that other thread and seems like mine are out of phase. Here's some pics at full left and right lock. From what you guys mentioned, the slot the cvd at full left has to appear and be level with the slot when at full right? It's nowhere near aligned if that's the case.

 

[BrotherAndySLB]

Looks like they may be off 90 deg. Basically, all you need to do is turn the wheel until the threaded hole is showing (above or below that slot you have slowing in the cv axle) and then see if you can also see the threaded hole on the other side. If you can't, then take steering link of of drivers side, take the two c cup screws off (the screws that are in the axle one on front one on the back) pull the axle out and rotate it till it's lined up with the other side.

Also, clicking could be a bad bearing.

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[Itali83]

Not to be a dink, but they're off 90 degrees, not 180. The axles are square splines on the inside end and are either in time, or out 90degrees. Clicking can be a bad bearing. I just lost a bearing for the input shaft of the transmission. Try to pinpoint where the noise is coming from. Will it do it wheels off the ground and just pulling the trigger slowly? Should be able to hear about where it's coming from. Pull the driveshafts one at a time so see if the noise goes away that'll tell you front or rear. And so on.
Ben

 

[goldcrow]

Will it help if I align both axles instead of being off 90degrees? The clicking sounds only exhibit when wheels are on the ground which is why I'm having such a hard time pinpointing the cause. Also only during forward motion.

Just to add, there's severe tire wobbling at full steer both directions.

 

[BrotherAndySLB]

The wobbling, should be the axles out of phase.

The clicking may be a bearing

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[goldcrow]

Aligned the axle shafts and greatly reduced tire wobble even at full steering lock. The clicking sound persists, I'll have to tear down the driveshafts see if I can see anything there.

 

[Yeti.stealth]

On Facebook is a " vaterra ascender (worldwide) " page. If you go to it and scroll down to a post from yesterday you will see some pics of his worn down cv joint pins. That's what mine were like and it was causing a clicking sound on my rig.
Worth a look if you cannot find the clicking noise elsewhere.

 

[BrotherAndySLB]

With the drive shafts disconnected from the transmission, get the motor up to a slight speed. If you still hear the clicking i'd bet its the input shaft bearing.

 

[goldcrow]

I'll try the CV joints next since the driveshafts are a pain to disassemble without a proper workbench.

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[Natedog]

Not to be a dink, but they're off 90 degrees, not 180. The axles are square splines on the inside end and are either in time, or out 90degrees. Clicking can be a bad bearing. I just lost a bearing for the input shaft of the transmission. Try to pinpoint where the noise is coming from. Will it do it wheels off the ground and just pulling the trigger slowly? Should be able to hear about where it's coming from. Pull the driveshafts one at a time so see if the noise goes away that'll tell you front or rear. And so on.
Ben

X2

Wobbly tire, remove tires/wheels and reinstall making sure they are properly seated on wheel hexes. Watch to see if the wheel (at the edge next to tire) is wobbling or the tiire is wobbling. If it's the tire, work it around with your hands and drive it more, it will get better. It it's the wheel, call Horizon customer service.

The clicking is prolly the front driveshaft cvd at the axle especially at full suspension droop. One drop of lube at each cvd and some drive time will cure this, work the oil into the joint and wipe off excess. I lube my driveshafts and cvds this way occasionally. For worn or broken pins I would contact userid Gunnar about a set of his Gunnar Pins, they are inexpensive and very high quality. Drill bits work, but are too hard and snap under high load situations, music/piano wire is what Gunnar uses, much more durable for this application.

 

[goldcrow]

On Facebook is a " vaterra ascender (worldwide) " page. If you go to it and scroll down to a post from yesterday you will see some pics of his worn down cv joint pins. That's what mine were like and it was causing a clicking sound on my rig.
Worth a look if you cannot find the clicking noise elsewhere.

Hey man been browsing through that facebook group and couldn't find it. Mind if you post the link on here?

 

[Natedog]

Hey man been browsing through that facebook group and couldn't find it. Mind if you post the link on here?

How about just post the pics and info here for everybody instead of fb where non-members can't see **** and they spy on you like the NSA? :lmao:"thumbsup" Why should we have to go to fb to see?

 

[Yeti.stealth]

Sorry, i dont have facebook myself, i sometimes use my wifes fb to look at stuff. I just assumed i was one of the very few people in the world who isnt on fb! Glad to see im not alone.
If i can work out how to post a link to the fb page i will.

 

[goldcrow]

I pushed the wheels down on a slippery surface to hear the cause of the clicking and it's not coming from the front axle. The cv joints aren't worn down as well so I'm suspecting the transmission or driveshaft.

 

[goldcrow]

With the drive shafts disconnected from the transmission, get the motor up to a slight speed. If you still hear the clicking i'd bet its the input shaft bearing.

I did disconnect one driveshaft from the trans and pushed it forward and back, clicking can be heard within the transmission.

Just a bit wary of disassembling the innards, any clue on how I can get to that input shaft bearing? Should it just be lubed up or a replacement is necessary?

 

[Itali83]

The bearings are all on the inside so you need to take the transmission apart. Take the whole transmission out of the frame, take the 4 bolts that hold the two case halves together, and take the case apart. You'll have to take the slipper clutch and spur gear off the input shaft so you can slide the Input shaft out of the case exposing the Input bearing. There are 6 bearings in the single speed transmission, two per shaft. Check them all, they should spin smoothly, if you feel any resistance or roughness, that's your problem. Make sure that the inner race is being held while turning, or you'll get a false feeling that the bearing is good. I take a tapered punch or sometimes a flat head screw driver, fit it tight on the inner race then soon outer race and that way you are working the bearing and checking it properly. Good luck!
Ben