My first 1/5 build... Jeremy's Vekta

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thats great that you're getting sorted mate (y),
it explains everything if the pitch was offas well,

as for the bit from the other post about breaking in the gears with a drill,
you could do if it was very minor, but shouldnt need to do that tbh, theres a reason for the notchiness or tightness and sounds like you got the answwer with the gear pitch,
breaking the gears in like that would only hammer everything , bearings/gears/cases etc,
always best to look for an answer to solve the issue before going full animal with a drill on it (y):D
 
Well, back to the drawing board. I got the new gears in the mail and have the same exact issue with binding. All I can think to do now is take the diffs completely apart and start over.

EDIT: After starting over, and trying everything I can think of, I am sending the diff and housing to Kraken. They are sending me a label to ship it to them so they can take a look at it.
 
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Ferrebee88 said:
Well, back to the drawing board. I got the new gears in the mail and have the same exact issue with binding. All I can think to do now is take the diffs completely apart and start over.

EDIT: After starting over, and trying everything I can think of, I am sending the diff and housing to Kraken. They are sending me a label to ship it to them so they can take a look at it.
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there has to be a burr or burrs somewhere kicking the crown off line or something then mate,
report back please when kraken have had a look and see what they find wrong (y),
it will be good info for anyone else building there own kit,
 
spents said:
there has to be a burr or burrs somewhere kicking the crown off line or something then mate,
report back please when kraken have had a look and see what they find wrong (y),
it will be good info for anyone else building there own kit,
Click to expand...
The only thing I noticed is on one of the attempts... The outer bearing on the housing fell out as I was tightening the 4 screws on the housing. I went to slide it back on the pinion shaft and could not (the pinion shaft was crooked after tightening the screws). I had to loosen them to get the bearing back on. I took some very fine grit sandpaper and polished every single tooth on the pinion and ring gear and could find no burs. Kraken is mailing me a shipping label Monday morning, so it may be a couple weeks before I know anything. Even if it is something i'm doing wrong, it would be awesome to know!
 
I have some relevant info again. So I went and installed TLR aluminum diff cups in the front ,center,rear of my 5ive-t . So like I said I had an issue with the rear binding a tad and I rectified that, well come to find out I have a slight bind in the center at one spot. Long story short I'm going to say your diff cup itself is whats causing the bind.

Do you know what lapping is? If not it's the art of sanding but in a uniform way to flatten a surface out across the entire face but the part has to be within reasonable size to move with your hand in a figure 8 pattern.

I only say this as you don't want to lose the lash thats been set with the pinion and ring gear but this method should show you where the high spot is, you'll see a dull finish along the area that's making contact and a brighter shiny surface on the low spots that are not making contact, keep going until its uniform across the face.

Here's a video of lapping, yea it drawn out but it gives you an idea of what to do. In your case with out a lapping block take a piece of 600 grit sand paper and tape it down on a piece of flat glass or something you know is flat and then lightly lap it in the figure 8, it won't take enough off to change gear lash but it will let you know if it's a true flat mating surface.

This is what kit building is about, your going to have to take stuff back apart. Just do it and get it over with so you can keep moving forward (y)

 
Best of luck to you, and if I had a crystal ball that saw into the future I have a feeling their fix isn't going to be something your gunna want to hear. They may even tell you that your going to have to stick with a plastic diff housing. Seeing how we eliminate kraken stock parts for aftermarket brands don't you think there's a reason for it? So no I don't have faith in them correcting your issue, you should want to find the answer to keep it away from them rather than send it.
 
I am giving Kraken a chance on the diffs since I'm not in a hurry. They sent me a shipping label and I mailed them so they can take a look. Figures I can work on some other parts while I am waiting. These wheels/tires seem pretty sturdy.
20230211_114303.jpg20230211_143100.jpg
 
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Ferrebee88 said:
Hello all,
It's been a long time coming, and I have finally started building my Vekta! Just have bag A mostly finished. This will be a slow build.

Question: I purchased the aluminum diff housing and there is some binding on about an inch of the ring gear/pinion gear mesh. Will this work its way out while driving?

View attachment 85335View attachment 85336
Edit: I took the diff out and put the other one in, and it spins perfectly with no binding. I guess I'll figure out the ring gear binding when I get to the rear axle.
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Hello.
I purchased my Vekta several months ago. This build was going to be slow, and I knew I would take my time. But I have been stumped with the ring gear and pinion build for the front suspension, like in your concern.
Once I install the built diff/ring gear setup into the front diff housing, and hand tighten the bolts, the ring gear will bind against the pinion gear, in a certain area and be exceedingly difficult to turn. You can get past this bind and then it eases up.

Just to cut to the chase, after 2 new plastic diff housings, 2 new ring gears, 1 new aluminum housing that holds the spider gears, and a new Taylor CNC machined front housing, I still have the binding as I spin the pinion gear thru its turns. I have spent countless hours testing, measuring, and rebuilding the front only to get the same result. The moment the bolts on the housing are hand tightened fully, ring gear binds as it spins. If you look closely, you can see the ring gear having lateral runout, and there are no adjustments that can be made. Remember, these are new ring gears as well.

The moment I loosen these bolts, the bind diminishes considerably. Using power tools, I am able to spin the pinion gear forcing the bind on the ring gear, hoping it would wear itself out, like a break in period. But that runout I mentioned earlier, it actually causes the front suspension to wobble as I use the power tools to simulate real world driving.

I bought this car from DDM, and they have been helpful, but also stumped. I have delayed continuing the build until I figure out this problem.

Any thoughts?

Ren
 
rencal68 said:
Hello.
I purchased my Vekta several months ago. This build was going to be slow, and I knew I would take my time. But I have been stumped with the ring gear and pinion build for the front suspension, like in your concern.
Once I install the built diff/ring gear setup into the front diff housing, and hand tighten the bolts, the ring gear will bind against the pinion gear, in a certain area and be exceedingly difficult to turn. You can get past this bind and then it eases up.

Just to cut to the chase, after 2 new plastic diff housings, 2 new ring gears, 1 new aluminum housing that holds the spider gears, and a new Taylor CNC machined front housing, I still have the binding as I spin the pinion gear thru its turns. I have spent countless hours testing, measuring, and rebuilding the front only to get the same result. The moment the bolts on the housing are hand tightened fully, ring gear binds as it spins. If you look closely, you can see the ring gear having lateral runout, and there are no adjustments that can be made. Remember, these are new ring gears as well.

The moment I loosen these bolts, the bind diminishes considerably. Using power tools, I am able to spin the pinion gear forcing the bind on the ring gear, hoping it would wear itself out, like a break in period. But that runout I mentioned earlier, it actually causes the front suspension to wobble as I use the power tools to simulate real world driving.

I bought this car from DDM, and they have been helpful, but also stumped. I have delayed continuing the build until I figure out this problem.

Any thoughts?

Ren
Click to expand...
I actually contacted Kraken and sent my diff/gears and aluminum housing to them. They said the cut on the ring gears was not deep enough. They also said they are getting a fresh batch this week and will send me the new ones. It was a big batch of wrongly machined gears.
 
I am working ahead a bit while waiting on new ring gears. How do the plastic parts on the stock steering rack hold up? I am used to having bearings on the Ackerman/drag link. Turtle Racing makes one with bearings, but does it make a noticeable difference?
20230218_140456.jpg
 
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