[joegri]

hey tuners i,ve been playin with afx pan cars recently and noticed that the clustergear area seems to be a weak spot in the drivetrain. if you look at some you have it seems the cluster combo on most kinda floats and moves around on the shaft/rivette. i did see some of the old racer pans have replaced that shaft with a nut n bolt maybe a thin spacer too. i don,t for sure. has anybody tried this mod ? what size hardware is used and does it work good or just hunt for n.o.s. plate? check the pic and you,ll see this build will have a hotrod yellowjacket arm and beefy mags. witch translates to alot of power going to the rear wheels. i,m just trying to head off any gear slip and getting the power to the rears. anybody know bout this trik? thanx joe g

 

[ruralradio]

Hi Joe. the size is 0-80, same as most threaded axles. I prefered brass hex head, some used slotted pan head, had to make sure O.D. of washer dropped into the gear. Rivets in all my cars right now.

 

[joegri]

that was quick!!

thanx so much rural for the reply. i did see that terry(riggenracer) flynn has some pics on the riggen site of this mod and it really got my interest.spect i,ll email him and see if he,ll sell me a couple of the tiny nut/bolts that do this. in the mean time i have some new plates comming from jag hobbies. as soon as i get my order for jag i,ll start assembling this pan. i kinda dont like to do anything till i get all of the parts on hand. the only thing i hav,nt decieded onn is a body! guess i,ll go with a lexan but i want to experiment with a tyco longnose porsche. i think i have 1 somewhere in a box..... hummmm where did i put that box? these pans sure are alot of fun to build!!

 

[Boosted-Z71]

I am not a big fan of something spinning against screw threads, as a shaft. I see wear issues on the gear or screw down the road, and unless your drilling out the gear to fit the screw not sure where the gain is in the mod, cant imagine it being any better gear to gear. I do agree the rivet they use is pretty cheesy.

What arm are you putting in there? Looks like a custom wind.

Good looking pan as well!

Boosted

 

[smalltime]

If you look at the screw that is provided, you will see it is a flat head machine screw. The bearing surface of this type of arrangement would be the 82 degree bottom side of the screw head. Not the threaded portion. Actually, I drill out the original hole to around .078, just to make sure there is no interference.

If you go to the local hardware store and purchase a hand powered screw counter-sink, you can apply this to the top side of your cluster gear. (It now looks like a shallow counter bore)

There are two advantages to this:

#1 you have the ability to CHANGE the cluster gear easily. Simply unscrew and replace.

#2 depending on how tight you screw the thing down, you can adjust the mesh, WHILE it's running. (big advantage)

 

[copperhead71]

My fastest afx cars period (that were built by a ex pan racer/builder)...all have the screw in the back,it improves the car for sure!do it.....do it NOW!!!! i think he said he got these screws from model trains or hobby stores?

 

[copperhead71]

opps

i'll ask him tomorrow!

 

[Boosted-Z71]

Now that I like, not what I thought at all from the description, Thanks Copperhead71

Boosted

 

[joegri]

good stuff !!

thanx so much smalltime n copper. thanx for posting pics of the slothead cluster. that looks much easier than what i saw on the riggen site. and boosted the arm pictured is a yellowjacket arm that is if i remember it,s 5 ohm and balanced n trued ! now i get all messed up with gear selection... meaning should i use a plastic idler or brass? i guess some testing will tell me.

 

[cwbam]

Great Stuff
Nice Armature!! tjetsgrig !!
Great photos Copperhead!
anymore photos? possibly of an open chassis?

 

[Grandcheapskate]

I'm missing something here. What holds the screw in place?

Thanks...Joe

 

[wheelszk]

Ya, how about a picture of the underside of the chassis.

 

[copperhead71]

In regards to the screws,he said they just screw in!The screws that work perfectly are from walthers ho trains.

 

[JVerb]

I use a 2-56 panhead and thread the hole with a tap. Then open up the cluster gear with a drill so that it spins on the screw. Adjust the screw until the gears feel right and you are good to go.

Peace
Verb

 

[brownie374]

Verb,bring a couple of those screws tonight to do a demonstration .

 

[JVerb]

The reason for the 2-56 screw was because I didn't have any 0-80 screws handy. It's the same screw size that alot of our group have been using for the body post.

Peace,
Verb

 

[smalltime]

I'm missing something here. What holds the screw in place?

Thanks...Joe

With the proper sized screw, (I believe 1-72) there's no need to actually tap the hole. The screw roll forms the threads, and in the process creates a detent for the screw. Kind of like an Aircraft locking nut, in reverse.

The one thing I did fail to mention before is the fact that you need to be very careful when it comes to the bottom of the plate. The screw can protrude out the bottom, and it will hit the axle if it does.This can be very hard to diagnose.

I simply screw it down as far as I can, and file the screw flush with the bottom. If you use a brass machine screw, this is very easy

 

[slotking]

good info
thanks

 

[joegri]

alot of info to consume!

wow you guyz thanx for all who chimed in. now i,m really in a tizzy cuz i dont have any of the said screws . these screws that you,re talkin bout i spect that you cant get them at your basic hardware store? so i guess i gotta get a micro mark book and look,em up.better still will any of you guys sell me a few? or maybe i can trade some stuff? i hav,nt touched the chassis since i posted seems work is getting in the way. i,m thinkin sunday i can play again.

 

[joegri]

jw,s have them !!

got up this mornin thinkin bout those screws and found them on the jw,s site!! i need to place an order anyway. i just dig bumpin around that site!!