Parts,.....this is the challenge facing the hobby....whether it be parts in short supply, or companies closing up, parts and repair solutions will be the next frontier in this century.......here’s one fairly easy DIY project for the repair of broken, or cracked articulated steam ( mostly found on scale models) .....I have this MTH Y3 test mule that sees a lot of duty testing motors. The nylon slip yolk double jointed shafts have been hanging on with hopes and dreams,...busted u joint ends, cracks and splits everywhere,.....both mfr.’s utilize the same design,.....the OE repair would consist of purchasing the affected entire worm shaft, which is fine, providing you can still get your paws on them, now or in the future.....I’ve seen quite a few of these models with at least one crack somewhere in the nylon shaft system,....glue isn’t an option,....trying to get glue to stick to self lubricating plastics is shouting at the rain, and beating a dead horse,....enter a solution first brought to my attention by Lou ( Lou1985) when discussing motors and platform options one evening, I had mentioned this test mule’s driveshafts were just waiting to explode...Lou sent me a link asking if I thought these RC car world telescoping driveshafts would be good replacements or not,....these are straight from China, so I was a little skeptical on the quality, and the fit, but the price point made it easy to order a few for application testing,.....I was impressed when I opened the box....these are turned solid steel shafts. Very well made, u joints are solid, snug, but articulate very smoothly. The telescoping section is very smooth, with a good snug slip fit. A tiny dab of grease on the telescoping section makes it even better,....these can be purchased in a variety of lengths and end bore configurations, I opted for the longest 60-80 mm length, and 4mm end bores. .....that’s what most scale steam worm shafts are,....the longest shaft gives the ultimate flexibility to trim back to the correct length needed for a specific application,....in the case of the Y3, I had to trim back about a 1/16” off both ends,.......the results, absolutely phenomenal. Very precise operation, dead silent with no noise, no vibrations even at speed,....the telescoping section is square drive, so us OCD mechanical engineers can “ phase” the joints as we’ve been taught to properly do,.....phasing universals brings the ultimate smoothness to any driveline,....this is a very doable DIY project with minimal tools. Cut off the old busted plastic shafts, remove any trapping pins, measure & trim the new shaft for the best articulation, and install the new shafts with the provided set screws and provided Allen wrench,......this Y3 chassis is now back in R&D duty with no fear of an exploding drive line,....I’m not going to post any links on here for parts, but anybody can contact me and I’ll be happy to provide the links....Pat..
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