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Mrowka

Admission of Failure (Novafox transmission won't stop clicking)

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I own only one Tamiya, a Fox. I like the car, but I hate having to constantly fool with the gearbox/transaxle/whatever you want to call it).

Recently, I bought a complete Novafox kit, just so that I could finally have a reliable transmission that didn't need attention all the time. Built the transmission with Kyosho 15K diff grease (not fluid), all seemed to go together smoothly, all new parts from the kit. I followed the manual, although Lord knows I have rebuilt Fox transmissions often enough.

Well, this transmission also clicks on hard acceleration. I tried everything I could think of, tightened and loosened wheel nuts, tried a smaller pinion gear, adjusted the play between pinion and spur gears, tried the stock silvercan motor, tried everything short of tearing down the brand new transaxle.

Some things mitigate the noise, but it is still there. Motor is a Traxxas Titan brushed, esc a HW 1060, so nothing crazy here. Pinion gear is usually 18T. With that setup, the car is a wheelieing fool. 

Can anyone tell me what I might be doing wrong here?!?! I've built other Tamiya and lots of Kyosho trannies and I don't have this problem. Just on the Fox.

   

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4 hours ago, Mrowka said:

Traxxas Titan brushed

Isn't it a 550 sized motor?  What turn is it?  

 

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About a 21 turn. 

I tried the stock silvercan. It was better but the problem was still there.

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Is it anything to do with the drive shafts clicking in the drive joint slots ? , are the rear arms hanging too low ? This used to be a problem on the old Fox with the original shafts . Tamiya sent out a note that the rear arms should be raised . The original Wild One rear arms were also modified by Tamiya to give more lift to the arm stops

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1 hour ago, KEV THE REV said:

Is it anything to do with the drive shafts clicking in the drive joint slots ? , are the rear arms hanging too low ? This used to be a problem on the old Fox with the original shafts . Tamiya sent out a note that the rear arms should be raised . The original Wild One rear arms were also modified by Tamiya to give more lift to the arm stops

Does the fact that there is no clicking when I rotate the wheels by hand mean anything here?

Not trying to sound snarky.

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High speed ( power to motor ) could amplify the problem where turning by hand may not show it up  . Try placing the buggy on a stand and power the rear wheels as though driving it . If the noise is there  ,, try lifting the rear arms slightly to see if that stops it - worth a try if you've tried most other things . If it works you will need a small spacer inside the rear dampers to reduce the damper length eye to eye or a shorter lower damper end

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For those keeping score at home (meaning - nobody) the problem is fixed, with a fresh set of side gears, along with some shims.

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Glad you got it sorted out and thanks for reporting back... could be helpful for someone else in the future. 

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On 4/2/2021 at 2:28 PM, KEV THE REV said:

Is it anything to do with the drive shafts clicking in the drive joint slots ? , are the rear arms hanging too low ? This used to be a problem on the old Fox with the original shafts . Tamiya sent out a note that the rear arms should be raised . The original Wild One rear arms were also modified by Tamiya to give more lift to the arm stops

+1  I think it's the drive axles / diff cup / joints too.   This reminds me of my Frog days near 40 yrs ago.  

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2 hours ago, DPR250R said:

Glad you got it sorted out and thanks for reporting back... could be helpful for someone else in the future. 

That's why I did it.

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43 minutes ago, Willy iine said:

+1  I think it's the drive axles / diff cup / joints too.   This reminds me of my Frog days near 40 yrs ago.  

Thought of that but the angle of the drive axles didn't seem to make a difference.

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