Brian's 2017 NO. 10 LATE TIGER 1 BUILD

[Brian Ostlind]

[Brian Ostlind]

I have a question, if I reduce the width of this outer flange will it help to align my idler? Right now the idler is slightly closer to the outer rear roadwheel so I actually have moved that roadwheel out to allow the tracks to ride from the idler to the roadwheel.

[Brian Ostlind]

Looking forward to installing more pieces!

[RCSparks]

I love how organized you are. Your table is perfect, and all of the containers to hold the screws, and parts are brilliant. Ill be going back through all these pages to drool over your creation!

[Adrian Harris]

That design of idler mount has been around since day 1 for Armortek Tigers.

If the wheels don't line up, I can guarantee it's not down to the idler mount.

Could it be that the inner bearings in the idler are not sitting at the very bottom of their pockets, hence forcing the idler wheel outwards ?

Adrian.

[Brian Ostlind]

It is possible. Also the paint was done separately so that may be a factor.

That design of idler mount has been around since day 1 for Armortek Tigers.

If the wheels don't line up, I can guarantee it's not down to the idler mount.

Could it be that the inner bearings in the idler are not sitting at the very bottom of their pockets, hence forcing the idler wheel outwards ?

Adrian.

[Tom OBrien]

Brian,

Referring to your question about the idler mount, I understand Adrian's response, however, the only solution I've found is to mill off 2mm of metal from the outer axle (Part CEO309 shown in Figure 17 of the build instructions); the aspect where the idler wheel actually rides. This will move the idler wheel 2mm inward and to a more centered position with the last road wheel without having to add spacers (washers) to the road wheels. Notably, there remains ample clearance between the inside of the track and Part CEO264 (brass "re-tracker").

Milling requires machine work and it cost me $115 to have a machinist do both left and right axles (they have to make a jig for it, hence the cost).

I would NOT alter the inner race CEO369 or any other aspect of the idler axle or axle mount, as it would throw off the alignment/positioning of the track tension adjustment assembly (CEO312, etc).

cheers... Tom

[Tom OBrien]

I just got back from town and re-read my response to your question about the idler mount.

I think I meant to refer to Part CEO 0357 (I think you refer to this part as the out flange) when I said DO NOT touch this part. You can cause the idler wheel to move inward toward the hull by doing this, however, by removing some of the inner diameter of Part CE0357, the very inside aspect of Part CE0309 will not align properly with CE0312, and CE0312 won't align with the hull. And, Part M6*60 All Thread Cap HD won't align properly with CPO176.

Instead, remove 2mm of the outer axle aspect of Part CE0309 (up to the "shelf" of the axle as seen in the drawing), so that the idler wheel sits closer inward toward the hull.

By doing this, my idlers sit more perfectly centered in relation to the road wheels and the tracks do not ride up onto the road wheels when in operation.


Tom

[Tom OBrien]

It is possible. Also the paint was done separately so that may be a factor.

I thought of the paint having an effect too, so I removed the paint, which only accounted for a fraction of a mm anyway. It didn't make any difference.

That design of idler mount has been around since day 1 for Armortek Tigers.

If the wheels don't line up, I can guarantee it's not down to the idler mount.

Could it be that the inner bearings in the idler are not sitting at the very bottom of their pockets, hence forcing the idler wheel outwards ?

Adrian.

[Brian Ostlind]

Thanks for the clarification Tom. I think my alignment is very close so I should not have to alter anything.

[Brian Ostlind]

I put the beast back on the stand after flawless test running.

[Brian Ostlind]

Getting better at working on the wheels every day!

[Brian Ostlind]

I got the idler seated nicely now. I squished the o ring and it’s all lined up now.

[Phil Woollard]

Hi Brian,I have just watched your video and your tiger runs sweet, in fact almost perfect! The natural wear on those tracks looks the business and running the tank is the only way to achieve this. When you have an all up weight Tiger this will increase as what you have a present is maybe 30% to 40% unsprung weight. Looking forward to the rest of the build, regards Phil.

[Tom OBrien]

Brian,

I'm happy to see you've worked out your running gear.

I'm not sure why mine didn't line up after checking and re-installing the swing arms and idler mount (I squished the o-ring too just to be sure it wasn't the cause of the idler misalignment). My modification to the idler axle definately helped to center the idler wheel with the last road wheel. The tracks no longer run up and onto the road wheels.

In the previous photo, it looks like your tracks are adjusted to their fullest tension. Is this the way you're running the tank? Just curious because all the advice I could glean was to adjust the tracks so that at rest, they fall onto about the 3rd road wheel.

Original pictures of tigers show a wide range of track tension. However, the full scale articles are much heavier, so scale weight probably needs to be accounted for.

It's all been very interesting and fun. The best feature of Armortek products is they're all metal, so you can work on them and also, run them outdoors without having to worry about cracking plastics all the time.

Cheers.... Tom