HAS ANYONE HAD THIS HAPPEN? - Picco 28 P3 failure

[Lunar Wolf]

This is a first for me, helped a local install a brand new Picco in his 1/8 touring car - not a heavy vehicle at 7.5lbs and after 4 tanks still running at factory settings, transmitter limited to 30% throttle (and broken in using the heat cycle method) this:

The shaft was not scored, marked or damaged in anyway. The bolt was done up with threadlock but not tightened with gorrilla like force. Clutch was not slipping and bearing in good condition and the gear mesh was spot on using the paper method.

I'm not really looking for speculation on how I may or may not have damaged the crank shaft during install but rather if anyones seen anything like it before.

 

[Fx]

That's really rare I would imagine. I would also imagine it has to be covered under warranty.

 

[savagepsycho]

That's really rare I would imagine. I would also imagine it has to be covered under warranty.

they'll look at that and say 'nope' to any replacement.
chances are you had a rock try to readjust your mesh.

 

[Lunar Wolf]

Engine was in a road car, no 'rocks' anywhere near it and running around on rich factory settings at 30% throttle MAX (and less most of the time). Clutch bell and spurgears are still in fine - perfect condition so no stones or rocks present, if the mesh was off the plastic gears would be toast.

@ FX, Hope so, see what the LHS has to say when he brings it in. Only thing I can think of is the thread cutting caused a weakness in the steel and allowed a fracture to develope.

He's only just called me to say he applied a little heat to the broken off tip to help get the bolt out and the broken off tip broke into 3 smaller fragments... at least he got his bolt back...

 

[Grumpy1822]

No, not just a fail like that. Only engine I remember doing somethingsimilar was the 4.1s.

 

[DOOBEEWHA]

Sup, LW...
Good to see your back.
I concur with Savagepsycho... But, if the spur does'nt show any indication of a pebble or something then I'd say a defective temper or fisher in the shaft.

On the other hand, notice that the break occures right at the end of the of the clutchbell bolt...
I don't know where overtightening would lead to but the bolt end looks suspiciously close to the break point.

 

[Purenitro]

That's a new one for me also, never seen that before.

Just in case they don't want to help you.
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXABA2&P=7

 

[Lunar Wolf]

Thanks for the Pure, the special clutch nut looks just the ticket, I've spoken to the fella and he's over the moon that if the LHS won't help there's cheap easy fix waiting.

Again thank you!

 

[Bankrupter]

Drummerguy101 did.

 

[Shaun]

i've never seen that before but I'm no engine expert............

 

[BIGDAN89]

yea shaun aka drummerguy101 had his crank do that i think they replaced it if not just pick up a new crank on the bay or on nitrohouse or amain

 

[Tominator06]

I have a Picco .26 Monster which is a p3 engine. I got it in a trade and attempted to install a 2spd clutchbell and the shaft was too short. About 3/16 broke off the end. I ran a tap into the hole to clean up the threads and used it in my mutilator with single pinion clutchbell. Not sure if this is related but thought I would mention.

 

[Lunar Wolf]

Ya the car was an Inferno GT2, which uses a 2 speed bell and a shaft extension. Since its longer it may have caused some levering force that the shaft just couldn't take, more force then a regular CB would cause anyway.

 

[Pope]

I hope that you get the part replaced and you don't have to pay a ton for it.

 

[DOOBEEWHA]

Ya the car was an Inferno GT2, which uses a 2 speed bell and a shaft extension. Since its longer it may have caused some levering force that the shaft just couldn't take, more force then a regular CB would cause anyway.

Now were getting some where.

 

[Lunar Wolf]

That said It still should not be enough to kill a crank shaft like that, not when the cheap stock mill and every other engine out there including the Picco has been fitted with 2 speed bells without issue.

Had a mate who's big into metal work take a look at it, he thinks its very possible the crank was over hardened, basically instead of being tempered to be both hard and strong it was overcooked and became hard and brittle, hence the tip shattering into 4 pieces.

Anyway the engines owner made contact with the LHS and they want to reffer it to the manufactuer/distibuter for their verdict so we wait and see what excuse they cook up...

 

[DOOBEEWHA]

Yeah, I at first thought it was a temper issue also.(barring all other possibillities)

Just thinking that that's a high RPM mill
with an exstension may be a contributing factor IMO.
Good luck on the replacement process.

 

[Purenitro]

I run the IGT 1 with the IGT 2 bell and it does put a lot of extra load on the shaft. I have also run a modded .28 picco as well as the modded P9R EVO3 .21 with no issues. At break-in settings and throttle limited to 30% I find it hard to believe that the crank just snapped..... not out of the question by any means but at 100% throttle and modified it really has me stumped. I guess we will have to see if others have this issue across the board, maybe that's why picco stopped production for most of the summer???

As you can see, I'm not worried to put the engine through some punishment 😉
http://s99.photobucket.com/albums/l291/purenitro/?action=view&current=Picco28onroad.flv

 

[soulja]

i haven't had any trouble with mine.....that bedazzles me on how it broke clean!

 

[Lunar Wolf]

lol you need to find yourself a bigger carpark for that thing Pure, whoever thought up 1/8 touring cars was a genius.

Looks like you were having fun shredding the tyres on it though. I got my DM1 prospec a month back and am half way through running it in, well atleast I hope I'm half way by now these LRP's take forever... But even at 30-40% throttle (in my case) they can pick up some speed.

Anyway since we're sharing some pics of mine, the Audi is the other guys IGT2:

 

[Lunar Wolf]

Well some bad news, just spoken to the guy who owns the engine. He got a call from the LHS today, the UK distributer has looked at his engine and concluded that the tip of the shaft was damaged by a flywheel puller and will not warranty the engine.

I'm disappointed for him but not suprised, seems to be the growing trend that often its simply easier to blame the customer then step up and do the right thing. I had to laugh since although we do use flywheel pullers we hadn't had to use one on this engine yet so just goes to show that since they can't explain what may have caused it just decided to cook up a load of BS.

The LHS did offer to change the crank shaft at cost price to them so instead of it being nearly £60 they will be changing it for £30 - as its not my engine I didn't get a word in before its owner agreed to the charges - I would have gone the route PureNitro suggested and used an ofna shaft nut for a fraction of the cost but there you go.

Still I would stress that the UK distributer is not Picco, I have no idea who they are and we are purely going on what the LHS (Modelsport UK) have to say, that is if they are infact not feeding us a load of carp as well, for all we know the distributer fixed the engine under warranty and the LHS is claiming otherwise and profiteering from the event - will we ever know... not likely.

 

[Purenitro]

That just sucks, it's the same over here too, buy a product and "if" it fails contact the manufacturer, most of the time the hobby shop won't do anything about it! At least they helped you even though you still had to pay. Did you try ofna? maybe they can shed light on how things work, maybe give a little insight on your hobby shop 😉

 

[Lunar Wolf]

yeah unfortuantly (or fortunatly) its not my engine. Although I did help install it for the guy and help break it in the warranty side of things is out of my hands. If someone were to forward photo's or a link to this thread to Picco or Ofna that would be cool but I'm washing my hands of it now, just makes me angry when I think about it and its not even my engine... lol

 

[Bankrupter]

I don't think they(OFNA) warrantied Shawns when it happened too