Driveshaft bearing for HL T-34

[Jaws]

Hi, looking for advice on what specific parts I should be looking for to install driveshaft support bearings on my T-34 professional edition. I have a pair of the red 390 motors on the way, and figure it would make sense to do the bearings at the same time. I'm pretty handy with fabricating and modifying, lots of years in the RC crawler world. I'm new to tanks though, lots to learn here. Thanks!

[Rubicon99]

Hi, looking for advice on what specific parts I should be looking for to install driveshaft support bearings on my T-34 professional edition. I have a pair of the red 390 motors on the way, and figure it would make sense to do the bearings at the same time. I'm pretty handy with fabricating and modifying, lots of years in the RC crawler world. I'm new to tanks though, lots to learn here. Thanks!

The T34 is one of the few tanks that does not need or benefit from drive shaft support bearings.

390 motors in a T34 is a bit overkill and will actually take away from performance vs enhancing it. Two reasons, one the track have minimal grip and the added "power" will not be transferred to the ground effectively. Two it is a relatively short narrow tank with stiff suspension. This will cause bouncing and "squarely" driving characteristics when you "open up" the throttle.

Not saying it will not be fun to rip around at warp speed. You will have a bunch of laughs doing it.

[Jaws]

The T34 is one of the few tanks that does not need or benefit from drive shaft support bearings.

390 motors in a T34 is a bit overkill and will actually take away from performance vs enhancing it. Two reasons, one the track have minimal grip and the added "power" will not be transferred to the ground effectively. Two it is a relatively short narrow tank with stiff suspension. This will cause bouncing and "squarely" driving characteristics when you "open up" the throttle.

Not saying it will not be fun to rip around at warp speed. You will have a bunch of laughs doing it.

Appreciate the response! Nice to know that the bearings arent needed. While I don't plan to take the T-34 to the skate park or mountain bike trails to go bashing, I figured more power = more better, to an extent. It'll be fun, but what I'm after is more torque and smoother control. I tend to run furitek brushless systems in my mini crawlers and holmes hobbies brushed motors in my 1/10. I'm not expecting the same thing with a tank, but im also spoiled with how smooth they are.

Probably could have done more research, but the red motors were inexpensive enough. The choices in 380 or 390 size seem to be rather limited compared to 540, 550, or any of the micro stuff.

Any advice on perhaps a different set of motors, gearbox with more reduction, or leave well enough alone?

[Rubicon99]

Appreciate the response! Nice to know that the bearings arent needed. While I don't plan to take the T-34 to the skate park or mountain bike trails to go bashing, I figured more power = more better, to an extent. It'll be fun, but what I'm after is more torque and smoother control. I tend to run furitek brushless systems in my mini crawlers and holmes hobbies brushed motors in my 1/10. I'm not expecting the same thing with a tank, but im also spoiled with how smooth they are.

Probably could have done more research, but the red motors were inexpensive enough. The choices in 380 or 390 size seem to be rather limited compared to 540, 550, or any of the micro stuff.

Any advice on perhaps a different set of motors, gearbox with more reduction, or leave well enough alone?

Look at a "dual current drive" gearbox/transmission. Your 7.0 control system can run one with no problem. I run them in my M60s, super smooth and quiet. Only downside is cost they are not cheap.

The one shown below is by TongDe but there are others by DKLMRC and Henglong.

[Jaws]

Look at a "dual current drive" gearbox/transmission. Your 7.0 control system can run one with no problem. I run them in my M60s, super smooth and quiet. Only downside is cost they are not cheap.

The one shown below is by TongDe but there are others by DKLMRC and Henglong.

I'll check them out, thanks for the info

[keilau]

The T-34/85 is a medium battle tank. The 1/16 scale Heng Long is kind of light weight and the inside of the chassis is very crowded. There is no need and no room for a motor shaft bearing. You can see how close is the gearbox to the chassis side wall. It is always good to get a high quality gearbox where the motor shaft is sturdy. Metal track and metal road wheel are necessary to have the optimal total chassis weight.

[Jaws]

The T-34/85 is a medium battle tank. The 1/16 scale Heng Long is kind of light weight and the inside of the chassis is very crowded. There is no need and no room for a motor shaft bearing. You can see how close is the gearbox to the chassis side wall. It is always good to get a high quality gearbox where the motor shaft is sturdy. Metal track and metal road wheel are necessary to have the optimal total chassis weight.

What gearboxes are those? My T-34 has the metal tracks, idlers, drive sprockets, suspension arms, and steel gearboxes. I have added some weight to the front of the chassis using adhesive wheel balancing weights, still seems too light for how firm the suspension is.

Also, about track tension. I have idler arms clocked so they are pointing at the first set of road wheels, track return isn't laying on the top of the road wheels but is fairly slack. with the idler that far back, it kind of looks odd from the side. Should I add the two included track links per side and move the idler arms forward?

[tank_me]

T34 tracks run well with some slack, but moving the idler forward away from the road wheels is where is should be. The idler should be slightly higher than the roadwheels. The Heng Long version of the T34 tends to sit a little high and some have put shims in the suspension arms to lower the tank.



The Torro/Taigen T34 tends to sit a little lower.

[keilau]

What gearboxes are those? My T-34 has the metal tracks, idlers, drive sprockets, suspension arms, and steel gearboxes. I have added some weight to the front of the chassis using adhesive wheel balancing weights, still seems too light for how firm the suspension is.

Also, about track tension. I have idler arms clocked so they are pointing at the first set of road wheels, track return isn't laying on the top of the road wheels but is fairly slack. with the idler that far back, it kind of looks odd from the side. Should I add the two included track links per side and move the idler arms forward?

I usually avoid Heng Long metal upgrade parts and gearbox due to the poor quality. I use Heng Xin and Torro ball bearings gearbox on my tanks. I was always super careful about the alignment of the gearbox at a perfect 90 degrees between the tank axle and the drive axle. If the user sees a visible wobbling of the drive axle, the gearbox is severely mis-installed.

While Heng Xin gearbox is my preferred gearbox for most HL tanks. But installing a Heng Xin on the T34 is a real challenge and requires modification to the T34 chassis. You may consider the Torro series 2 ball bearing gearbox. The pictures below are from my HL Pershing installation.

The Heng Xin gearbox uses a thick mounting plate and a 2-D mounting process making it more secure and allows for fine tuning of alignment. But that process makes it more difficult to use on smaller HL tank chassis such as the Pershing or the T34.

https://www.toucanhobby.com/products/hx-dgb-s-ml59-redmotor-bearing-dzn1?variant=44623837987066&country=US&currency=USD&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic&srsltid=AfmBOopBAJrVXJyaAgnJr3Sy--xjunSCrIRuqBs5xWRTmI6dXPkiSp0QAD8

[Jaws]

The T34 is one of the few tanks that does not need or benefit from drive shaft support bearings.

390 motors in a T34 is a bit overkill and will actually take away from performance vs enhancing it. Two reasons, one the track have minimal grip and the added "power" will not be transferred to the ground effectively. Two it is a relatively short narrow tank with stiff suspension. This will cause bouncing and "squarely" driving characteristics when you "open up" the throttle.

Not saying it will not be fun to rip around at warp speed. You will have a bunch of laughs doing it.

Red motors were delivered today, just got back inside from the first run with them. You weren't kidding, this thing is kind of a hot rod now! Probably going to default to 70% mode for the most part. When I had the tank apart to install the motors I also switched the battery connector from the tamiya plug to an xt60 so I could use a 5200mah 80c 2s lipo. Also added a low voltage alarm.

[Jaws]

T34 tracks run well with some slack, but moving the idler forward away from the road wheels is where is should be. The idler should be slightly higher than the roadwheels. The Heng Long version of the T34 tends to sit a little high and some have put shims in the suspension arms to lower the tank.



The Torro/Taigen T34 tends to sit a little lower.

Thanks for the advice, I added the extra track links and adjusted the idler. Looks better, drives great.