Metal sprocket

[Dutchy93]

Hello fellow tankers,

Just the other day my metal drive sprockets for my M41 from Toucan Hobby arrived. As you can imagine I was quite excited to mount them on my tank, only there is one small problem.
The sprockets don't fit on the axle of my tank.
Taking off the old plastic sprockets was as easy as loosing a screw and pulling the old one off. It has a quite loose fit so you can just drop them on/off at will.
Only the metal variant is a whole different story all together. Instead of a loose 'drop fit' as I call it, I really have to push the sprocket down on the drive shaft and even then I only get it in for a few millimeters. As it is I would either have to press it on the drive shaft or use a hammer (which is a horrible idea).

Does anyone else have the same problem with this product?

[Rubicon99]

Hello fellow tankers,

Just the other day my metal drive sprockets for my M41 from Toucan Hobby arrived. As you can imagine I was quite excited to mount them on my tank, only there is one small problem.
The sprockets don't fit on the axle of my tank.
Taking off the old plastic sprockets was as easy as loosing a screw and pulling the old one off. It has a quite loose fit so you can just drop them on/off at will.
Only the metal variant is a whole different story all together. Instead of a loose 'drop fit' as I call it, I really have to push the sprocket down on the drive shaft and even then I only get it in for a few millimeters. As it is I would either have to press it on the drive shaft or use a hammer (which is a horrible idea).

Does anyone else have the same problem with this product?

They can be a tight fit. So here is what a lot of us have had to do over the years.

Elevate the tank with both tracks off. Then with a piece of sand paper or sanding stick placed on the drive axle run the tank and lightly sand down the axle at the point which it goes into the sprocket. Stop ever so often to check the fit and when happy with the fit you are done. Completing both sides should take no more then 20 minutes start to finish.

You will see it is just that easy and does take much to get the fit right.

[UltraVargen]

The difference at .04 mm seems really marginal. Isn't there metal flash getting in the way on the inside of the sprocket?
Maybe use a small metal file to widen it ever so slightly. Or add some grease.

[Dutchy93]

Well 0.05mm is enough to make things really hard to push in. So instead of a slide fit it becomes a press fit.
Honestly I was a little surprised by the bad initial fit. I'd expected it would slide right on, especially for that price.
Ah well, I scraped some metal off the hole on the sprocket to make it fit. After all the part doesn't fit. The axle isn't the issue.
BTW I wouldn't recommend sanding down the axle. If HL gave it a surface finish you just sanded it off.

Aside from the technical stuff, the metal sprocket with its retaining rings in the middle really made a difference. I let my tank run through the snow and not once did the track run off!