[f1rem0uth]

Hi, got new Racer Sideways Riley today, my first ever, I don't own any slot.it cars yet, just slot.it parts, the car is making a purring noise or like a playing card stuck in a bicycle wheel noise. Checked the car out fully, it sounds like its definitely coming from the gears, but the gears look ok - not tight, motor shaft not too long or rubbing, crown and motor shaft have a tiny bit of play which is how it should be, gears are greased. The car has the offset crown with inline pod and orange motor. The tyres are not rubbing, the bodyshell has good track clearance. What the heck is that noise then?, should it be making this noise?, my other recent new MRSLOTCAR Mazda did not make this noise at all. I'm certain after having a good check it is the gears, but why?

Please anyone who has owned one of these cars from new must be able to tell me if your car made this strange sound, or can anyone tell me what the cause is?.

Any advice truly appreciated, thankyou.

 

[Dickie]

Have you tried running the car without the body? And if so, is the noise still there?

Also, this will sound weird but, have you lubed the front axle? In fact, have you set the front axle yet? There are setscrews to adjust the height of the axle. Sometimes the front axle will "rattle" because it's loose and allowed to move around (Scalextric cars are known for this)

 

[Ember]

Mark. It is Mark, isn't it?

I haven't owned one of these Rileys, but it sounds suspiciously like gear graunch to me. The mesh could be too hard even if there is some play in it. Or there may be a bit of flashing, damage or a flat spot on one of the teeth.

Roll the rear wheels forward gently by hand and see if there is any spots in the process is more difficult. This would indicate that there is an issue where the crown meets the pinion in this particular position. If so, take the crown out and look at the teeth under magnification. It only takes a little burr to make a big noise.

Embs

 

[f1rem0uth]

QUOTE (Ember @ 22 Nov 2011, 02:01) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Mark. It is Mark, isn't it?

I haven't owned one of these Rileys, but it sounds suspiciously like gear graunch to me. The mesh could be too hard even if there is some play in it. Or there may be a bit of flashing, damage or a flat spot on one of the teeth.

Roll the rear wheels forward gently by hand and see if there is any spots in the process is more difficult. This would indicate that there is an issue where the crown meets the pinion in this particular position. If so, take the crown out and look at the teeth under magnification. It only takes a little burr to make a big noise.

EmbsHi its me!, I just thought I could try another crown but this is a white one(offset) and I don't have another, I have plenty of the coloured crowns - not sure if I could try them. Ok, I'll check the crown close up. Its definitely the crown making the noise or vibration. Thanks, its proper bugging me now.

 

[f1rem0uth]

QUOTE (Dickie @ 22 Nov 2011, 01:54) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Have you tried running the car without the body? And if so, is the noise still there?

Also, this will sound weird but, have you lubed the front axle? In fact, have you set the front axle yet? There are setscrews to adjust the height of the axle. Sometimes the front axle will "rattle" because it's loose and allowed to move around (Scalextric cars are known for this)
Hi, yeh I even swapped the plastic front wheels for some Aluminium and replaced the original inserts, I've set the grub screws and levelled the axle. I'm certain it is the crown causing the noise or vibration. Without the body it still makes the noise but not as loud, the noise is louder with the body on because the sound echo's in side the bodyshell or is vibrating it more. Its hard to explain a sound

 

[Ember]

There is a difference between the offset crown and regular ones. I would assume the difference would be in the shape of the teeth required to complete a correct mesh at the varied angle created by the offset, but no doubt there is an engineer around here somewhere that would tell you for certain.

Anyway, if close inspection of the crown doesn't turn up any problems, you could also check the pinion for a burr or flash. Flash shouldn't be the case with the brass pinion though, but a scratch can be enough to cause noise if its in the wrong spot.

If you're still not having any luck locating the issue, I'd use a little toothpaste/Jiff/polishing compound, to bed in the mesh a little. Place a small amount on the gears. Turn the rear wheels by hand (in reverse tends to be the preference) until any stiffness is gone. Clean paste off. Lube and run as normal. If graunch is still annoying, repeat process.

Embs

 

[RikoRocket]

If you look carefully at the crown you will see that the teeth are not square to the axis, so you cannot substitute a standard crown. The effect of the off axis is that there is a sliding motion between the crown teeth and the pinion, and a vertical load on the axle. All these things tend to cause more losses and more noise. But if there is a small imperfection in a tooth on the crown then the effect is more pronounced than in a standard in line set up. To be honest I doubt that dressing will cure this, toothpaste may make it a little better but I would budget for a new crown.

 

[Screwneck]

If the gears have been checked over and they are fine then it must be your motor. It's probably nothing more than a bit of junk in there. SlotIt use blue wax on their internal wiring for some odd reason. It's often applied randomly and in messy lumps. Maybe a bit of that is clicking on something and amplifying through the gearmesh?

The main thing is that you car runs fine. Don't get bugged by a bit of clicking that will probably pass with a few more laps.

 

[f1rem0uth]

Hi all, sorry I was late getting back about this, it turned out the noise was coming from the crown, but was because it was catching/rubbing on the interior above it.
Having a closer look at the interior it seems that the plastic cockpit may be mounted a little too low, it looks as if it could be raised up a about 2-3mm max as their is a gap between it and the bodyshell.
The part I mean is part of the cockpit bit directly above the crown, and the black plastic its made of is held in by 2 little plastic tabs/pins that are melted with a hot gun/soldering iron and although it is fitted solid with no movement it seems it may have been fitted slightly too low, so is causing the rubbing on the crown, I didn't fancy like trying to fix as I would have most likely broken it!.
So I simply placed a plastic 1mm spacer/washer on the rear bodypost to raise the bodyshell up to give more clearance between the interior and the the top of the crown, the washer I used was the type with a sticky side, so I just stuck it in place.
The noise went after this , the car was then running fine.

I did read somewhere since about this putting a spacer on the rear bodypost in a thread/forum about this car, can't remember why they did it now, but possibly to get more body clearance on the track because the rear of the bodywork can sometimes be too low on this car and scrape on the track, I know now it was because of the banking on the corners of their track.

It a great car, but I found it needs a lot of tweeking and setting up out of the box to get running at its best to suit the track your running on. But I guess this is how these cars come, being made for racing the manufactures leave it up to the buyers to fine tune everything the way we want them to get them to a race ready standard. Which I guess cuts down on production costs and so we get the cars cheaper - right?, we do don't we, do we?

Thankyou for all the great comments and people trying to help. ( I don't know why I didn't realise what was causing the noise sooner - I was convinced it was the actual gear mesh!)

 

[f1rem0uth]

HAHA guess what, lol, I pushed down on the interior that I thought had dropped down by 2mm and it moved back, so it was sitting too low!.
I was scared to push it too hard before in case I broke it!.

Now it doesn't rub on the crown and make a funny purrring noise.