what to do with rounded turnbuckles

[Uranium 41]

that probably sounded like a strange title at first, but the hexes on my turnbuckles are rounded off. this pretty much throws any time efficient changes out the window because i'd have to disassemble either the front knuckles or steering assembly in order to deattach the turnbuckles. here's what they look like:

it might be hard to tell, but its there. my turnbuckle wrench can't "hook" onto any face of the hexes, so it just goes round off the turnbuckle. i'm wondering if any of you have ever had turnbuckles like these, and is there any way to kind of fix it without buying new turnbuckles completely? thank you for any response.

[TurnipJF 9192]

I would move them onto a position that seldom if ever needs adjustment once you have it set the way you like it, and get new ones for the positions where you are likely to require frequent adjustment.

Once a turnbuckle is rounded, I don't know of any solution to fix it other than perhaps filing some flats onto it and using a smaller spanner.

[Superluminal 3750]

Does anyone ever find them that useful for adjustment anyway? I hate the poxy things. In my experience the plastic cups grip the screw threads so tightly that one of three things always happens;

1 - the spanner rounds off (the tamiya kit supplied one is made of cheese)

2 - the turn buckle rounds off (as Uranium above)

3 - so much force is required due to the tight threads that the cup pops off of the ball.

The end result of all three outcomes is the same. You end up manually adjusting them with pliers and reinstaling them.

The only time they have actually been enjoyable to build / adjust for me was on the Avante because its a properly machined thread in a metal rod end not plastic forced onto a screw.

[Mad Ax 9325]

I have to agree with @Superluminal.  Tamiya turnbuckles in particular are bad for this but recently I discovered my MST RMX 2.0S turnbuckles are just as bad.  The kit-supplied MST spanner isn't great and the balls always pop off before the screw turns, especially annoying on the rear left upper arm as the inner ball is behind the transmission and hard to get it back on again.

The ones on my Sakura D4 were better - they had a hole in the middle for adjusting with a small hex wrench.  Downside there is you can't always get at the hole, depending on the angle of its adjustment.

The kit-supplied Tamiya wrench isn't good and the hop-up Tamiya one is even worse, it's made of soft aluminium and rounds off as soon as it's looked at.  The D4 came with a nice steel spanner for some parts but I don't remember if it fits Tamiya turnbuckles.

I wonder if cutting a thread into the cup with a tap would make it easier to adjust the turnbuckles?

[TurnipJF 9192]

Odd, I have only ever experienced Tamiya turnbuckle problems with the very long turnbuckle that runs between the steering rack and the servo in my M-05. All of the others have worked fine. It might be because I put a touch of grease on the threads before putting them into the plastic cups, but I thought that was pretty common practice?

[nbTMM 433]

I only ever rounded Tamiya turnbuckles when using steel wrenches. Changed to an aluminium wrench and no more problems. You want a wrench that is wide to distribute the force so if you don't get it on there perfect you don't end up with only 10% engagement between wrench and turnbuckle like what often happens with the thin stamped steel tamiya wrench. Poor engagement = rounding the part with the softer material, or both parts.

You can continue using your rounded turnbuckles by filing flats onto opposite sides and using needle nose pliers to turn them, or file them down to exactly 3mm and use a 3mm wrench. Given that turnbuckles only cost a few dollars, I'd just replace them, then take the time to line up the wrench properly every time or invest in a better wrench to prevent rounding them..

[Nicadraus 6201]

Get new ones and they are very cheap. 

But take nbTMM's advice if you wish to continue using those.

[qatmix 794]

Yep as above, just buy new ones, they are cheap. Use a proper wrench like the tamiya aluminium one. I thread the ball connectors before mounting the turnbuckles.

I’ve got lots of Tamiya cars with alloy turnbuckles that are well used and the turnbuckles are still prefect other than a few scratches.

 

 

[Grotty Otty 868]

7 hours ago, qatmix said:

I thread the ball connectors before mounting the turnbuckles

Absolutely this, a 3mm cutting tool to thread the ball cup first then lightly grease the turnbuckle before you screwit in. Easy adjustment and no more rounded turnbuckles.