I have the tires installed on the rims of my TRC-01 Off Road Wheels and I am trying to figure out the proper orientation of the tire/rim to the HUB-05 hub.
The rim is flat on one side and concave on the other. The hub has two keys on the threated end. The keyways in the rim appear to be on the concave side which would mean attaching the hub to rim on the concave side to mate with the rim keyways. If I try to do it this way, there is no way to get to the set screw on the hub as the edge of the rim protrudes over the set screw end of the hub blocking access to the set screw.
If I try and mount the hub to the rim on the flat side of the rim, there are no key ways to mate with the keys on the hub, just a countersunk hole.
All of the pictures of the 4WD1 show the wheels mounted to the motor shafts with the concave side of the wheel facing outwards.
Did Pro-Line change the flat side of the rims and elimate the keyways for the keys on the threaded end of the hub or is the hub supposed to be mounted on the concave side of the wheel where the keyways are located? I guess that the hub could be mounted and tightened to the motor shaft in the correct position first and then the concave side of the wheel mounted to the hub with the hub keys mating with the concave side keyway. The only problem here is that this way is not the way the assembly instructions are written.
You have to mount the hub to the motor shaft first. Then it should be easy to get the rim onto the hub.
I have the TRC-02 tires and wheels with the HUB-05 and they mount the same way. Hub to motor shaft first, and then wheel to hub. I’m going to get a different set of tires though - The Bow Tie T’s.
You have confirmed what I think is the right way to mount the wheel and hubs. It seems that the 4WD1 assembly instructions need to be updated to reflect the change in the wheel configuration.
Sorry for the trouble with the assembly. The instructions were accurate before Proline discontinued the rims we were using. So for now the hubs do need to be attached to the motor first. I am completely revamping the hubs and rims for the 4WD rovers. So they are getting updated…
One other question about the assembly instructions.
The assembly instruction say to drill two 3/16" holes into either side of the rim to allow for air flow into and out of the tire. Most of the rims that I have seen seem to have equalization holes that are around 1/8" or smaller.
I know that the assembly instructions have been in use for quite a while, but are you sure that the equalization hole should be 3/16" in diameter and not something smaller?
When you went to glue the tires to the rim on your TRC-02 wheels, were you able to get the tire bead to seat evenly all the way around the rim?
Even before I glued the tires to the rims on the TRC-01s, I noticed that I really had to work at getting the tire bead to seat evenly all the way around the rim. It was almost like the tire inner bead diameter being slightly larger than the rim outer diameter.
The RPM R/C site suggests putting the holes in the tire rather than the rim, so I don’t know who is right. The RPM logic for their procedure does make sense though. You might want to check this out before drilling any holes and see what looks best for your setup.
I have not glued the tires to the rims yet, because I am getting a different set of tires to use for W.A.L.T.E.R. that has a tread I think is more appropriate for indoor use on all floor textures, including carpets.
I’m going to get somebody to either help me with the gluing or to glue them for me when it comes time to glue tires to rims. I don’t want to have this messed up and want to make sure the rims/tires are as true as they can be.
Consider that the manufacturers expect their tires and rims to be run at high speeds, and experience sudden compression and release over a fraction of a second, as the R/C cars and trucks tackle rough terrain at speed. Our robots run at considerably slower speeds, so I imagine that the diameter and placement of the vent holes would be far less critical for things that are just poking along, as opposed to the actual design specs. Unless you’re working on ultra-high-speed road tracking, it’s probably safe to say that if the vent holes are present, and allow the wheels to adjust to the terrain as needed, then their placement and size is sufficient for our purposes.
I’m going to get a different set of tires though - The Bow Tie T’s.