This really annoys me

[Gazzalene 171]

I have a Beetle blitzer, XV-01, TT-01 and 14th Scania and grand hauler.

All the above and a chassis doubles suffer from loose bearing fit in the wheels! I can not be the only one?

When I get one bearing that's a nice tight push fit ,it a major event. Normally they can fall out. Surely a bearing should not be loose enough so the whole bearing can spin?

But they are not loose enough that a single wrap of some tape will work!

Just changing bearings over so this bug bare of mine as surfaced again.

[Wetman 417]

22 minutes ago, Gazzalene said:

I have a Beetle blitzer, XV-01, TT-01 and 14th Scania and grand hauler.

All the above and a chassis doubles suffer from loose bearing fit in the wheels! I can not be the only one?

When I get one bearing that's a nice tight push fit ,it a major event. Normally they can fall out. Surely a bearing should not be loose enough so the whole bearing can spin?

But they are not loose enough that a single wrap of some tape will work!

Just changing bearings over so this bug bare of mine as surfaced again.

Wouldnt have thought they were meant to be loose. The whole idea I thought was to have the outer fixed against the wheel or the shaft housing and the inner tight on the shaft so the movement came from the ballraces themselves. Any other is inviting wear surely?

And theres a massive difference between bearing manufacturers as well. Depending on where you get the bearings from, some fit nicely some are as sloppy as anything

[Lee76 638]

Yes, they should be a light press fit, I think most of mine luckily have been this way, though I’ve not had to do any re-builds, I imagine there would be a little play after some use. There are loads of bearing fit compounds but it’s finding one that doesn’t react with the plastics. I guess depending on the clearance there might be an option to use some tape on it, or even a coating of hard wax?

[Gazzalene 171]

Always buy from RCBearings ,so good quality. This is loose fit from the box by the way NOT after use. The big rig wheels are the worst, 2 kits every bearing loose fit. The car wheel bearing fit, I would say over 50%  loose fit.

[Champ85 609]

Yeah, most Tamiya kits suffer from this problem. The molds are ~0.1mm too large in diameter so the bearings do not press-fit snugly.  It annoys me too, but I must remind myself that Tamiya designs their parts fitment very loosely as a rule.  It's just how they are.  It's not just the re-releases or only the plastic parts either.  I remember encountering this while building the original Super Champ in 1984.  The outer rear wheel bearings were very loose in the swing arms back then too.  Bottom gearcase bearings were loose as well, if I remember correctly.  I think I used thin paper shims back then to eliminate the rattle.

[DeadMeat666 1675]

I haven't witnessed this at all. I've almost finished my re-re Super Hotshot and all its bearings were a tight press-fit. The only loose bearing was on one aftermarket knuckle, a Jazz rider piece, so that's expected. I've built at least 10 other kits in past year and 99% (if not 100%) press fit nicely.

[Gruntfuggly 562]

I've never come across this. Please forgive a stupid question, but are you sure the bearings are the correct size - considering the mass production of something like Blitzer Beetle I would be amazed if the wheels themselves were too large?

If anything I find the opposite - I often need a screwdriver to get bearings out of wheels. 

[Saito2 6686]

I've experienced this from time to time. All my original models had a decent press fit. The newer models and sometimes re-releases is where I run into it the most. In my experience its usually not in the gearbox casings as much as the hubs and wheels. There have been instances of late where it appears the old molds are beginning to wear out (Terra Scorcher gears, which started with the '08 Fire Dragon re-re, some Clod Buster issues. etc.). Also I imagine there is some shrinkage to deal with when an ABS/PC parts comes out of the mold that must be factored in. Perhaps the plastic formulations have changed slightly. 

[Superluminal 3750]

Its terrible on the front wheels I recently ordered for F104 (foam types) Even when shimmed on the axle stub and the nut tightened there is a very noticble amount of play in the wheels as the bores are a terrible fit to the bearing. If I swap to the rubber tyre wheels using the same bearings which are a tight push fit in the wheel and all the excess slop dissapears.

I definitely think some of thier moulds/tooling is on its way out for some parts.

[mud4fun 1696]

Never had that problem on any of my vintage buggies or my 'new' vintage parts. However my daughter's re-re Terra scorcher had a couple of loose bearings in the gearbox.

The quality of bearings supplied by Tamiya is poor compared to those I got in my Schumacher which may be one factor but I also think the moulds are not as dimensionally accurate as they were in the past?

I did also have loose bearings on some Yeah racing alloy hubs when using some brand new bearings (can't remember the brand) but after switching to the blue rubber sealed vintage Tamiya bearings the fit was tighter so I suspect the new bearings I got were bad. Some of the brand new bearings we got in Terra Scorcher and others we bought from online suppliers have been so rough we just binned them or had to oil them. Seems hit and miss.

 

 

 

 

[markbt73 5316]

The loose bearings don't bother me nearly as much as the hex hubs that stay in the wheel, instead of on the axle, and let the little pin fall out...

[Superluminal 3750]

So true - aluminum clamping ones improve life no end

[mud4fun 1696]

6 minutes ago, markbt73 said:

The loose bearings don't bother me nearly as much as the hex hubs that stay in the wheel, instead of on the axle, and let the little pin fall out...

Yeah, drives me mad too. I love the design of hexes on my new Cougar, pins go through hex and are retained by o ring in a groove. Impossible to pull hex off when removing wheel and o ring stops pin falling out when wheel is removed. Shame they won't fit Tamiya axles or I'd fit them to all our buggies.

[GTodd 1349]

3 hours ago, Champ85 said:

Yeah, most Tamiya kits suffer from this problem. The molds are ~0.1mm too large in diameter so the bearings do not press-fit snugly.  It annoys me too, but I must remind myself that Tamiya designs their parts fitment very loosely as a rule.  It's just how they are.  It's not just the re-releases or only the plastic parts either.  I remember encountering this while building the original Super Champ in 1984.  The outer rear wheel bearings were very loose in the swing arms back then too.  Bottom gearcase bearings were loose as well, if I remember correctly.  I think I used thin paper shims back then to eliminate the rattle.

I respectfully disagree. Where are you all getting your bearings from? It's the norm that I have to tap out bearing with a big phillips head .  Tamiya tolerances are usually tight 

[Jonathon Gillham 4606]

I've never had this problem on a kit, the exception is some F104 front wheels where the bearings aren't tight and will come out. Thats across 15 kits (I think), a mix of rere and modern. I use either kit bearings or Yeah Racing now but also used to buy some no brand bearings which were always fine.

Totally agree about the wheel hexes! A few dollars a set from rcmart for alloy clamping type, always keep some spares now

[Juggular 4964]

I have some 36 cars, most were tight press-fit.  

On average, I'd say each car uses 16 bearings. That would make the total number 576.  Out of half a thousand bearings, I can remember only one or two loose fit. When it happened, I thought, "oh no, should I shrink wrap outside of the bearing?"  I actually tried it. That did not work. The shrink tube designed for wires was way too thick.  Then I simply tried using different bearings, one of them fit fine. That was a "Duh," moment. I should have tried fitting different bearings first. Up until that point, I did not experience any bearing-fit problem.  I simply didn't occur to me the same 5x11x4 mm bearings would have noticeable size difference.  Since then, I never had to swap bearings to make it fit either.  

So I'm incline to think it might be the bearing issue?  I ordered dozens of times--simply what's cheapest at the time from China. It's not one brand.  

(PS: interesting to hear about F104. Tamiya is not infallible after all)  

[Gazzalene 171]

As the original poster,i can say that the bearings in question are 11 x 5 x 4`a  AKA 1150. I am talking about fit in wheels only. All the kits I have would be new or rere kits. Not had many wheels where the fit is tight.

Been buying all my bearings from RCBearings in the UK , not the cheapest by far, Are some of you saying the bearings are not the spec size and should change supplier????????? I would say its more likely the plastic Tamiya part that is suspect? Not really important JUST annoying

[Superluminal 3750]

Its not the bearings - mine are all from RCbearings. If i try them in a different wheel they are the slightly tight push fit they should be.

Its the moulding of the part

[Gazzalene 171]

On ‎1‎/‎4‎/‎2021 at 7:49 PM, Superluminal said:

Its not the bearings - mine are all from RCbearings. If i try them in a different wheel they are the slightly tight push fit they should be.

Its the moulding of the part

Spot on!!!!!! How anyone would blame the bearings over moulded parts is funny

[TriumphChris 22]

Pity I didn't find this thread otherwise I wouldn't have started a new one concerning the loose bearings when building my Unimog CC-01 chassis.

Genuine Tamiya ones arriving tomorrow, Friday, so will see how they fit.

[RichieRich 685]

I have also experienced this but I'm having a hard time remembering which car was giving me problems. I kinda want to say it's my FF01/TA02 cars?? Like, you're changing a wheel and in the process, the hex falls off and in trying to catch it, you drop the pin and to top it all off, a bearing slides out and rolls across the floor under a shelf. 

[alvinlwh 5895]

Definitely the plastic parts. For AM alum parts, say hubs for example, I need to get the bearings perfectly straight to get them in. I got so fed up of jammed bearings that I got a bearing tool to get them in. 

[Killajb 1546]

Nearly all of my cars have no issues with bearing fitment or slop, the exception was my DF-02 chassis.  I purchased aftermarket aluminum parts and the bearings had a bit of play when installed.  My solution to that was to cut some aluminum foil tape and wrap around the bearing until the fit was snug and never had an issue with it again.  

[InsaneJim69 1584]

Used to use some thin sellotape back in the late 90's for my TA03 when racing, and the bearing used to eventually start falling out of the hubs when changing wheels etc. Just a small bit all round the outer bearing shell then refit. If it's still not tight enough another bit. It's nice and simple and works perfectly fine . 👍

James.