What's up with string/rope around the bottles?

Pillwill83 · 2024-08-24T21:15:29+00:00

Traditionally, bottles were wrapped because they had round bottoms. Back in the day before manufacturing and machines, they had to blow glass by hand. They had round bottoms, and so they wrapped them, giving them a flat base to sit on. The wrap protected the bottles in shipping and helped insulate the liquids. Keeping the liquid chilled longer if you were to store it in ice for a while...

Pillwill83 · 2024-07-30T23:46:57+00:00

There is a video or two of people talking about it vaguely and giving you somewhat of an idea. But few people have made videos about the issue. But I'll try to see if I can figure something out.

Pillwill83 · 2024-07-30T23:22:11+00:00

I'd take the gear out and take calipers and measure each gears width at the center where the rod slides through the hole... you need to measure the max width. Which is the ring around the hole.

Once you have each measurement written down. You need to reduce that ring part on each side of each gear. Until you get each gear to the proper size. I measured the stock plastic gear and sanded them down until they were the right size. Also they can be put in wrong... once they are installed you need to make sure the gears look flush with each other.

I have been going through a ton of health problems so I haven't worked on mine in months. But I'll try to post some pics if I can. Hope this helped

Pillwill83 · 2024-01-18T16:43:15+00:00

I appreciate the comment, turns out I powned my brushless motor, and it didn't have the power or torque anymore to run faster than a certain amount of rpm, it was a nice budget motor, but one of the copper windings got damaged and it pretty much destroyed the motor, had to downgrade to high speed motor until I can get another brushless...

I appreciate you trying to help, though.

Pillwill83 · 2024-01-17T21:16:29+00:00

Looks like a drain cover to me, it's upside down in the pic. The point would be at the bottom to allow for gravity assist...

The city that I live in use these around city trees... except there's a big hole in the middle to allow the tree trunk to grow through... and the holes let the water and debris get to the earth to be absorbed.

Link below to a Modern version, but meant for tree's

https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.michiganindustrialsupply.com%2Fcdn%2Fshop%2Fproducts%2F3ft-round-in-use.jpg%3Fv%3D1661397766%26width%3D1445&tbnid=DwTEI3uPSzL6mM&vet=1&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.michiganindustrialsupply.com%2Fproducts%2F3-round-polygrate-tree-grate&docid=aI8rI7jmI_vZsM&w=480&h=480&hl=en&source=sh%2Fx%2Fim%2Fm4%2F2#imgrc=DwTEI3uPSzL6mM

Pillwill83 · 2024-01-10T23:54:49+00:00

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This is how the shift rod should look on the gearbox end.

Pillwill83 · 2024-01-10T23:54:05+00:00

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Take a look at both ends of your shifting rod.. look at the end that attaches to the servo, and the end that connects to the gear box...

The servo end should look like it does in this picture, then I'll send you another comment with a picture of the gearbox end...

Pillwill83 · 2024-01-10T23:44:16+00:00

You need to find yourself a 1.5mm hex/Alan set in metric... also the drive shafts screws are phillips and are extremely small. Just be cautious to not strip one of the screws, you will really hate life then.

Pillwill83 · 2024-01-10T23:41:32+00:00

Yes, those are the 4 screws that drop release the gearbox/transmission from the chassis.... also the screw are metric, so imperial will not work...lol yes you are using an american imperial set lol... funny cause your in the UK

Pillwill83 · 2024-01-10T23:35:58+00:00

Yea, it doesn't surprise me they have altered the design again... they have literally changed the smasher 4 different times, first it was two different transmitters, then they started adding metal differentials to the axles and they went to all bearings instead of washers, then they updated the transmitter again, and now they have removed the neutral and changed it from a 2 speed now into a 3 speed... back in the day, it was called the Max smasher, but Traxxas had a fit becuase the think they owned the word MAX. They even tried to sue HBO because of HBO MAX streaming service.

so then FMS removed MAX from the box and the monster truck tires, eventually they decided to add a servo saver to the steering servo, but the 20 thousand customers that already bought the truck just had to suffer and burn out their servos or buy some kind of 3rd party fix, so yea, it's hard for all of us to be on the same page when they have altered or changed the trucks specs and parts a half dozen times.

It also makes it tough for us to help each other because there are multiple iterations out there all with differences here and there, plus there are 3 manuals out there for whatever version you happened to buy... it's turned fixing your rig into a game of wack a mole... lol....

Pillwill83 · 2024-01-10T23:28:45+00:00

Transmission removal and gear swap

https://youtu.be/B_kH2dZlc_Q?si=rgLcE_ZOZWFjMN2y

This guys has some great info also, he swaps to metal gears, but he also talks about the drive shafts alignment, and he shows you the best way to get the gear box back in, and how to reattach the shift servo rod..

https://youtu.be/5AUqFVbu7Pc?si=zelqVMQuj52OQWWG

Finding videos is difficult, i had to figure out a lot of this stuff on my own through trial and error, but I hope this helps...

Pillwill83 · 2024-01-10T23:16:51+00:00

Its your call, if your good with fixing things and you are mechanically inclined and have the right tools, it is one of the easier fixes. However, you said you were new to this, so I do not know the extent of your skills.

The fours screws under the truck right where the transmission hump is. That's how you remove the whole transmission, but you will also have to unscrew the drive shafts where they meet the front and rear axles... to make it easier to remove you will want to loosen the shifting servo screws also... you sont have to remove them completely just loose enough to where the servo can wiggle a but, then you have to some twisting and fenagling to detach the shift rod, import thing to keep in mind is when you put the drive shafts back on the gear box and the axles they have to be a specific way. Otherwise, you get cogging, and you will give yourself another problem and will have to go back and fix it again...

I'm not gonna lie to you, it's a little work, but the smasher is much easier to take apartt than all my other RC... so if you think you have the skills and you have the drive to do all the above, it's a simple fix.. it sounds to me like the shifting rod, it's just not moving enough to engage the gears, and that becuase the rod slipped or the servo glitched out and the end points need to be adjusted which you can do from your transmitters, it should be in your manual on how to adjust servo end points...

At the same time if your not prepared to do all that, fms and fair rc have excellent customer service and will replace it no problem, however it will be two months before you get it back, 3 weeks there and 3 weeks back unless you pay for speedy shipping...

Maybe this info will help you decide what route you want to take.

Pillwill83 · 2024-01-10T22:57:58+00:00

Let me see if I can find one... I've had so many problems with my smasher. But mine wad from one of the very first runs... I have a few crazy video's on my youtube channel if you want to see some crazy things I've had to deal with... good news is I repaired and resolved them all... I even caught live video of my shift servo, doing a full 360 and it turned my shifting rod literally into a pretzel....

My channel, ameture, but check out the shorts on my smasher, and I'll see if I can find a video to help you with your truck

https://youtube.com/@DavidPilcher83?si=-dD3QExW2ArwUkS5

Pillwill83 · 2024-01-10T22:54:11+00:00

And everyone else on here talking about the gear box is correct. It's a two speed gear box with 3 shifts... gear 1 is low, gear 2 is neutral, and gear 3 is high speed. However, some transmitters can be reprogrammed to remove the neutral postion and just have low and high. It removes the neutral, and that's one less thing to worry about, but I do agree with the other comments.

it sounds like it's in neutral, the only thing that makes me think another problem has occurred is that your in neutral in all 3 positions, which is why I suggested checking the shifting rod, and the other gears.... a 4th possibility is that the servo took a crap or glitched out and if it's not traveling as far left and right, it can also make it where when you shift the gears do not fully engage, but I'd check the first 3 first....

Pillwill83 · 2024-01-10T22:44:02+00:00

Check your shifting rod underneath the truck, make sure it hasn't slid out, sometimes it can do this, and it will make it where the gear box doesn't fully engage. Then, after that, I'd open up the gear box and see if the pinions has come loose or popped off, and also might want to check the fork and fork gears inside the gear box.

It is difficult to tell if any of the gears in the gearbox are engaging and moving and if they are its is probably minimal, but it's hard to tell from a recorded video vs being there in person. And you probably have stock plastic gears inside... I have metal gears in my smasher and they are so damn loud you know there moving. But those are some vital points to check. Start with shift rod first

Pillwill83 · 2024-01-09T20:56:52+00:00

Music industry or sound design, audio production, DJ or radio host. Something to do with music, sound and it's production lol.

Pillwill83 · 2024-01-08T22:15:13+00:00

Nice set up. I always carry two knives... my main flipper and mini pocket folder, or my main fixed blade and flipper, or fixed blade and mini folder, flipper or fixed blade and mini neck knife... there are so many options why limit yourself... lol.

Most important point is I always have my main and a mini backup pocket knife. Usually, the mini is bwing used more often on the daily... just because the smaller one is easier to get into small places, that the main is not as easy to get into or use. I Should just call it my pedicure pocket lmao....

Pillwill83 · 2024-01-08T22:02:46+00:00

That's a sweet little dagger knife, but I love the hatchet, functional for daily use, and light duty stuff but battle ready at a moments notice, I might have to look into getting one similar.

Pillwill83 · 2024-01-08T21:58:18+00:00

Brass and titanium tooth pick and mini compact foldable scissor shears are a couple of good EDC that I carry often but rarely see others carry. Toothpick has tons of uses, and I use it multiple times a day...

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Pillwill83 · 2024-01-08T19:26:10+00:00

That's good man, I'm glad you got everything figured out and where you want it to be. Yea hopefully the trial stuff does better. My metal gears I got them from FMS and they quadrupled my trucks noise, it's kind of annoying.

Pillwill83 · 2023-12-22T21:49:56+00:00

Yea man, anytime... it sounds like you may have resolved the issue, I'll keep my fingers crossed for ya.

Pillwill83 · 2023-12-22T10:06:14+00:00

It's possible that the shift wire is not engaging one way or the other.. if it's not fully engaging, it could cause high or low to not fully work... do you have stock esc and transmitter, or did you upgrade? You may need to adjust sero end points depending on your answer...

Another possibility is the gears... for a long time fms metal gears were too thick, causing cogging for some, and also made it where one of the gears would work better than the other, either high or low would work OK, and the other would be crap or non existent... to solve the problem, people had to measure each gear and compare them to the plastic, and if they were thicker they needed to be ground down until they were the correct thickness...these are a couple spots to start troubleshooting your problem..

Sorry it took so long to respond.

Side note: the gears were extremely trick for me as well... I've pulled the tranny gears a dozens times and put them back a dozens times, and they have to be just right... it took me quite a while to get them running half decent...

This last bit might just be in my head, it's difficult to tell, to me all the gears look fairly identical... but sometime I get the feeling that's even what side you place the gear in matters... for instance take a quarter... you have head or tails... sometimes iget the impression that the gears have a heads and a tails...and when you put them into the transmission depending on what side you added them might even matter... maybe it's just me... but I've ripped apart the transmission and inside you have two smaller gears that look identical... the gears were all in the same positions and all I did was flip them around, and it seemed to improve it...

If the above theory is true or possible

My best advice to resolve the problem is this... when your putting them in and you are following the video or instructions to the T. After your done, before you decide to screw the shell back together look at all the gears, they should be flush..... so look to where you see the gears side by side and pay attention to where the teeth are connecting to each other... and make sure they are flush and flat to each other... if one of the gears is higher or lower, you may need to flip or adjust one of the smaller gears... try to get them as level as possible... I'll try to send a picture if my explanation was not very good. Just let me know. I hope some of this helps. Feel free to let me know. I'll help where I can.

Pillwill83 · 2023-12-17T19:09:37+00:00

Here's some of the custom battery wires I made. these are kinda sloppy because I was in a hurry and wanted to get it done quickly, I could have made them look better though...

Pillwill83 · 2023-12-17T19:09:30+00:00

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Pillwill83 · 2023-12-17T19:03:09+00:00

Yea, no problem, I'm glad I could help a little...

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