my new Thunderbolt 2 is falling apart!!

[Evolution45]

Fellas,

I'm a new guy to the 1/5th sacle world and want to keep it that way....
Unfortunately nutech has left a bad taste in my mouth.

Here we go....

I recently purchased a nutech thunderbolt 2 1/5th scale RC car.
It has only been about 1 day since I've owned the car and I'm still In the break in stage, *I haven't gone through a full tank of gas yet.

I was driving the car and noticed I lost the brakes, the lever above the brake discs seems to be faulty, when I engage the brake lever manually to see if they still lock the wheels it makes a click and the brakes seem to be stuck..

I've tried many ways to adjust and have had no sucess....

During that same time I noticed the left wheel was angled far more than the right, with that said I took a look at the under chassis and noticed that the screw that holds the lower ball joint in connection with the front "A" arm was missing and the wheel knuckle had popped out of it's natural position.

I'm a little upset that a 900.00 RC car was unable to make it through it's first tank of gas without falling apart.

What's the warranty on this item??

[bentley marshall]

for your brakes theres 2 screws that hold the pads in are not ajusted right.

hub screws do come out you must have a older one with out the upgraded front hubs and screws

i allso have a early one wht this type I changed the screws for stainless musroom head cap screrws and thred locked with red full strenth locktight and they have never fallen out yet

its allways recomended to check a car over well befor taking it out

hope that helps

[Clubin]

Where are you located, and who did you buy from?

[mradlin]

Do you have any pictures?
Sometimes the pics will help us to help you better.

[Evolution45]

Before my First drive I did look the car over.... And everything was up to par.. I've owned 9 nitro 1/8 scale cars it's first nature to inspect.

I don't believe it's an older model, I purchased it from a local hobby shop in c.t. The vehicle was ordered direct 5 days ago because this type of vehicle they don't stock.

The issue with the brakes seemed to happen overnight! It was working perfect ran half a tank and woke up the fallowing morning to give it some more break in and noticed there was nobody home. I don't believe it's just a simple adjustment because when pressure is applied to the brake lever it makes a "click" and they are stuck in that position untill you manually "un clicked"...

I'll post pics of the phantom screw

what is the warranty?

Thanks for all advice and insight!

[Pipeous]

I also have made a change to my steering screws. mine fell out first day as well. I changed exhausts to the jet pro so had a couple long header bolts left over that I cut shorter and tapped the threads down further to use instead. on the bottom. top I had to use a different spacer. I did a bunch of little vids in my thread to show the problem and my fix, though others here have tackled the problem in a few ways. worth having a look.

can't say about the brake issue. don't worry, we'll get you sorted out. a couple minor bugs to work out. it's really inexpensive when compared to it's closest competitor, the mcd. you could have 3 nutech's for the same price as one mcd just about. and the mcd has dif problems, which is harder to fix and much much more costly, or could be an fg and layshaft gears, redcat and lots of things to fix, firehammer and dif cases etc etc... they all have their little foibles.

Believe me, I am vocal when I want to complain. I am sure Chris (the owner) sees my name in a post and thinks, omg what is he going to bitch about now, before he reads ;)

[Evolution45]

This was the infamous screw that flew!!
New one replaced with lock-tight.... The brake problem was fixed by the hobby shop.... And a half a tank later they're gone again... The shaft isn't clicking and sticking i believe it's just an adjustment.... I hope...

To top it off the throttle servo crapped out already.... About 2 and a half tanks into it since new...

http://i517.photobucket.com/albums/u336/colt2045/IMG_0546.jpg

Revo with the TB2
http://i517.photobucket.com/albums/u336/colt2045/IMG_0535.jpg

[mooman007uk]

does your screw there screw into a sleeve or directly into the hub? hard to see in the pic

[Evolution45]

Sleeved bushing then to the hub

Whoops, screw to sleeve... Not direct to hub

[Evolution45]

Latest and greatest....
I've reached my 5th tank of gas...and have flipped it 3 times...

A screw backed out far enough behind the gear cover far enough to press against the drive gear and the friction was enough to snap the clutch housing drive shaft!!

I thought I had seen it all...

http://i517.photobucket.com/albums/u336/colt2045/IMG_0567.jpg

http://i517.photobucket.com/albums/u336/colt2045/IMG_0568.jpg

I should have bought a pro and assembled it my self...

[mooman007uk]

that's why i strip every rc i get down to the last nut and bolt and rebuild it with better fasteners and blur loctite where it's needed...saves a few tears...
i've always prefered kits..rtr is twice the work of a kit too cos you have to take it apart before you build it

[mradlin]

That's some bad luck Evolution45. I had 2 clutch bells break on mine, I now run a FG clutch bell.

[mooman007uk]

I wondered if the fg bell fit...now i know

[mradlin]

I wondered if the fg bell fit...now i know

Ya, I broke 2 Nutech bells(snapped the shaft right off) The FG bell is holding up fine.

[mynameismud76]

Was it the alloy clutch bell you've broke?

[mradlin]

the original style bell. It was steel.

[mynameismud76]

DANG! How many tanks did each last? Are you running a modded engine?

[banners]

that's some going to break 2. :punk:

[mradlin]

DANG! How many tanks did each last? Are you running a modded engine?
Nope, the stock 26 in it. It was right after I installed the aluminum engine mounts from Nutech. I broke them after about 2 mins of run time each. Then I did more digging on my machine and noticed that the gears on the driveline weren't lined up that straight. I ended up adding washers under the engine mount on the pullstart side and now the gears line up better and no more broken bells.
that's some going to break 2. :punk:

ya, parts do break it doesn't matter what type of machine you have. but as long as we all help eachother out here on the forum it makes it easier for us to all do the repairs and mods needed to make our machines run better. ;)

[Evolution45]

Has anyone posted up a thread with all of the usual RTR faults?

If not this may be the best time to do so, seeing I adopted their poster child for abortion!! Lol!!

[eddyeddy]

I have only half tank of break in but I'm lovin' it!

But I face the same issue with the lever/linkage. After 10-15 min of bashing on local track, my front brake lever got stuck and didn't allow the throttle servo to return to neutral.

I noticed that if you push the linkage down with the finger it returns to normal position. But soon after I take out my finger, the lever gets stuck.

[mynameismud76]

I had the same issue straight out the box, but if you put a kink in the bar that connects the brake linkage to the servo (like a s bend) and then remount that s-bar on the servo, then the collets at the end of that bar should have more clearance to the centre diff plate.

Hope that helps =)

[Freeprawn]

You will have Muddified brakes then too :)

Nige

[mynameismud76]

That's right buddy!! There are pending copy rights .. :boxing:

[mradlin]

I had the same issue straight out the box, but if you put a kink in the bar that connects the brake linkage to the servo (like a s bend) and then remount that s-bar on the servo, then the collets at the end of that bar should have more clearance to the centre diff plate.

Hope that helps =)

Do you have a pic of what you did?

[Evolution45]

I think I'm going to sell mine...

[banners]

Do you have a pic of what you did?

I'm not 100% sure this is as Mud's done but mine looks like this

http://i491.photobucket.com/albums/rr280/banners-ng8/ftx%20punisher/mods/brakelink.jpg

The threaded link mod that Isle of Wight Basher did makes it nice n easy to tweak the brake settings.

[mynameismud76]

I'm not 100% sure this is as Mud's done but mine looks like this

http://i491.photobucket.com/albums/rr280/banners-ng8/ftx%20punisher/mods/brakelink.jpg

The threaded link mod that Isle of Wight Basher did makes it nice n easy to tweak the brake settings.



Thanks buddy, the S-bend I've mentioned looks just like that..coz I've copied it LOL.. Thanks banners, was a bit late in putting up pic..nice one buddy. =) :punk:

The S-bend benefits is two fold:

a - clears the collets from the underside of the centre diff plate.
b - clears the rubber servo arm connector from the underside of the servo arm..between the servo arm and servo top plate, there's just isn't enough space.

[mradlin]

That's a great idea guys!!

Keep them coming!!

[eddyeddy]

I took apart the center diff. The linkage doesn't seem to get stuck. But the piece that rub against the brake pad seems to have some difficult to return to idle position like it got some glue.

Looking at the pieces, they seem fine without anything smeared on them.

gonna give another try. If doesn't get any improvement, I may try the s-bend mod.

[Pipeous]

is the wire coming out rubbing? you run the line through the loop to lever the brake cantilever and a setscrew holds that in. the part that sticks out the back, is that maybe too long?

[mooman007uk]

I put a collet on both sides of the brake lever eye so it physically pushes it back the cam when you apply the throttle