Hotshot 1 Front Arm Rubs on Wheel

[Bad_Boy_666]

I have got  a Hotshot 1 and Boomerang which I have painfully bought back to life.

 I have 1 problem which is similar on both models.

When I have put together the front assembly . The Front Wishbones touch the inside of the wheel at the bottom and so cause friction. I have got a new set of wheels but I am reluctant to fit them because they will damage.

Obviously running the cars with this friction is going to wear out the arms and at £30 + to replace I am reluctant to let this happen. Does any one know how to eliminate this problem??

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

[civilguy]

I used to have the same problem even when running back in the 80s.  The inside of the wheel would wear a groove until it would actually go through and snap in two.  Also the heads of the small bolts holding the pivot balls in place would wear right off.  The a-arms wore a bit, but not as badly as the wheels.

I was younger back then and I guess money grew on trees-- I just kept buying wheels and parts.  When I got my Hotshot running again I was in my 30s with kids and a mortgage and $30 pairs of rims were out of the question.

It seemed to me that the suspension 'sag' was causing the rubbing, so I thought I could tighten up the lower a-arm by getting the pivot ball further in the upright (and thus picking the lower a-arm up higher).  I carefully cut some of the inside of the upright away (with a small dremel tool grinder) in the recess for the pivot ball- maybe 1-1.5mm.  This seems to solve the rubbing problem when running the plastic uprights.  (With my alloy uprights they must have known about the problem back in the 80s-- the whole setup with upright and 2 pivot balls is approx 2mm shorter than a stock plastic assembly-- strange.)

Good luck, Jeff

[HunterZero]

Making sure the ball joints are screwed fully into the uprights is a good start.

For the Hot Shot, I know that there were a couple of different revisions on the uprights and ball pivots, and when you combine the parts from the different versions you can get some problems with the arms binding on the wheels. Take a look through the forum archives and see what you can find, there was definitely a thread on this.

Another reason is the damper unit being too long. Try softening the spring.

The Boomerang shouldn't have this problem, unless you're using the wrong pivot balls, or the front suspension damper(s) are too long.

The 'Shot series of cars never had a very good turning circle, as the steering setup doesn't have much deflection before it binds. Make sure that you are using the correct servo steering horn for each car.

- James