How to mount the Proline 23mm wheel hubs correctly?

[qorron]

as there was no manual encluded I can only guess, that the 2x4 washers included with each set of 2 belong between the bearing and the hub so tightening the nut will press the hub against the bearing instead of pressing it against the pin.

but this will put a rather high axial force against the bearings so they will break very soon (normal ball bearings arn't designed to support this kind of force).

leaving them out will press the hub against the pin, result in some deformation in the hub.

so.. how do you do it?

and how is this done with the 17mm ones that traxxas sells?

[69Malibu]

the traxxas hubs dont use any pin. they use these:
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXUTF4&P=7

[Revo¹]

He is talking about Pro-Line 23mm hex-adapters, not Traxxas 17mm hex-adapters.

Here's what I did:
I used very thin shims that I had in my parts box, and shimmed them so that when the hexes are tightened, they aren't putting much pressure against the bearing race, but also not putting all of the pressure on the axle pin either. I believe I have split the pressure to 50% on each one.

[qorron]

hmm.. thats a very tight margin of error you have here. and I suppose your pins already dug into the hubs about 0.1-0.2mm

how are your bearings holding up? (don't forget to mention if they are stock or rpm or whatever)

have you used some threadlock on either of the nuts?
mine are coming loose every now and then. :-/

[Revo¹]

I am using Acer ceramic bearings, and there is no evidence of the pins digging into my hex-adapters...I have 2 or 3 different thicknesses of shims, so I can get them shimmed perfectly.

I don't run thread-lock on either the stub-nuts or the hex-nuts, but I do grind slots into the back of the hex-nuts to grab the wheel so that they don't back out. I use my Dremel to grind 12 slots at an angle, so that they don't grab when installing the nuts, but do grab so they can't back out. They aren't deep or sharp enough to cause any major damage to the wheels, but I am sure after 100 removals it will have weakened the hex-face of the wheel somewhat, but by then you need new wheels/tires anyway, heh!

Edit: There is a better solution, though...run Dace Mfg. 23mm hex-adapters. They don't fit on the pin like the Pro-Lines, they actually fit over the stock plastic 14mm hex, which is a much better design IMO. I would be using them on my Revo, but I only have black ones right now, and I am waiting on my blue ones to get here.

The colors are off in these pics...the blue is the same color as the Pro-Lines, and the black is a true black.


The nuts have the larger flange to better clamp the wheel, which stops them from backing out, the holes in the flange helps as well, and also makes them lighter. The best part about these is that they are made of the superior 7075 aluminum, so they won't dent or mar or anything like the softer 6061 hex-adapters.