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Adjusting Carrera axle clamps

Squeezing out those last few tenths
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wixwacing
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Posts: 1871
Joined: Thu Jul 10, 2008 9:22 am

Adjusting Carrera axle clamps

Post by wixwacing »

Those who own some of Carrera's latest offerings will know they have a plate held in by two screws across the rear axle. This plate bears down on the two plastic axles bushes to keep them in place I presume. The plate has its plusses but it also has a fairly big minus when it comes to the model's performance.

The axle bushes clip into a couple of recesses in the chassis and looking at them I would say they aren't as positive a 'clip' as a lot of other models. To expect these bearings to stay in place, especially after a racing incident, is asking a lot, hence the plate. The trouble with the plate is that the unwary layman will screw the two screws home and nip them up. This is where the problem can start.

All items involved with this process are plastic, except the screws! When the plate is tightened down, it bows slightly. The ends of the plate sit on two flat surfaces on the axle bearings and when the plate bows, both bearings are subjected to a tilting action. In doing so it can cause the bearings to bind on the axle with obvious consequences!

The solution is a bit fiddly but nonetheless worth doing. I have a 12.0 volt power supply on my hobby bench and the supply leads have a small crocodile clip on the end of each. In the positive lead there is a 100 ohm wire wound pot with which I can fine tune the power. I connect the leads to the motor in correct polarity and set the pot so the motor in the chassis, driving the installed axle, is running at a fast idle. I then back off the retaining plate screws a quarter of a turn at a time. On most of my Carreras the motor / axle speeds up noticably!! I then turn them in again til the motor slows, then once more I back them off. The plate is now just touching the bushes and doing its job but I have removed the tilting moment from the axle bushes and reduced/removed the drag that was there previously!

Another alternative would be to discard the plate and glue the bushes in place but I use this method to simplify any maintenance I may need to do down the road.


So, if like me you love your Carreras and want to make sure you are getting the max from them, give this one a go!
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