# Just my 2 cents on the new AW Thunderjets...



## win43 (Aug 28, 2006)

I got three of the release 2 Thunderjets and 2 out of the three need to be fixed. The gears don't mesh right. Hell, they hardly mesh at all!!!  I know they can be fixed but add that cost to the high cost of the Autoworld cars and I might as well buy NOS Aurora chassis. I think the quality control on these sucks!!! 
I don't blame the person I got these from 'cause he has always been upstanding in the dealings we have had. But I probably won't buy any more AW cars. I read the posts about the dealers complaining about Tom's (owner of Autoworld) selling policy to them. Add that to the inferior product that is now being produced and it will be hard for dealers to move the product at all. I do like the variety of bodies, but the bad chassis will make it hard for me to buy complete cars. I might buy some bodies, but probaly NOT!!! With all the other bodies available I might be done with Autoworld.

Good luck to all you dealers. I don't envy you having to deal with the problems you will encounter with your customers.


----------



## T-Jet Racer (Nov 16, 2006)

I am planning on waiting till long after the next release is out, get bodies from Bud's h.o. or slots and stuff, or any dealer I find breaking the chassis off of them. Some of the bodies are nice but no camparison to a dash car and some model motoring bodies. in my opinion. now I by used aurora chassis and strip the aw for rebuild parts and will try to dump em on ebay...


----------



## dlw (Aug 17, 1999)

*Fixed the Slip*

I opened a white Chappy, and ran it around, and sure enough the gears would slip a bit. The car ran ok until it hit an obstacle, and thats when it would slip gears. As I fiddled with the gearplate, I noticed a lot of up-and-down play on the cluster gear. But as Win43 says.......It's an easy fix.

1 - I took the gear plate and pressed the lower cluster gear (the little 14-tooth gear that directly meshes with the crown gear on the rear axle) to get rid of most of the slop.....You want to have a little for free movement. It doesn't take that much pressing, so be careful not to make it too tight.

After doing that I ran the car and the peformance improved, but still got a little gear slippage. I again went into the chassis and noticed that the middle gear's post was too tall. It protruded through the gear, allowing it to ride up, causing gear slip. So I :

2 - Gently sanded the post little-by-little until it was as tall as the gear. Again, be careful not to take off too much. That post protects the gear from the clamp, allowing free movement.

I reassembled the car, ran it and viola, no more slip. It runs nicely, decent speed.


----------



## sethndaddy (Dec 4, 2004)

In the good ole days I remember if the car didn't run good (the spiderman meets the fly set comes to mind) the set got thrown away. and the cars got the insides ripped out and the car went in my hotwheels case...............eeee gads. I should have done time in the slot car jail for that.


----------



## SwamperGene (Dec 1, 2003)

dlw, one other cause for the idler riding up the post is an arm gear that ain't quite pressed on straight. It's an easy fix with a wheel press, drill press, even a hammer, punch, and a nice flat surface. I true the geartrain on all my JL/AW racers right out of the box, I also believe that's also where most of the dreaded "wiggly fits down the straights" come from.


----------



## dlw (Aug 17, 1999)

Yes, Gene. Another place to check is the crown gear on the rear axle. Sometimes the smooth surface (opposite the teeth) that faces the wheel/tire is uneven and rubs the chassis. If you have a car with this, you'll get a 'chugga-chugga-chugga' sound when you run the chassis with the wheels off the track.

To fix this, just place some fine-grit sandpaper against the smooth surface of the crown gear and run the chassis. This will grind off the 'excess spacer' and cure the chugga-chugga sound, and make for smoother, faster performance.


----------



## noddaz (Aug 6, 1999)

*Wow... So how are the Xtractions?*

Anyone tried the new AW Xtractions yet?

How are those out of the box?

Scott


----------



## twolff (May 11, 2007)

noddaz said:


> Anyone tried the new AW Xtractions yet?
> 
> How are those out of the box?
> 
> Scott


I bought a Ford GT and the front axle fit is so sloppy that the front whees rub the body. O-ring fronts take care of that for the most part, but it still isn't anywhere near smooth. Rear tires are not round either. The geartrain looks fine so far and I like the wide pick-ups. Compared to a NOS Magnatraction or T-Jet, this release is just another shipment of junk from China. I shouldn't have to replace the tires and bush the front axle to get a new car to run. The body and pickups will go on an AFX chassis. The rest of it is headed for the parts bin.


----------



## dlw (Aug 17, 1999)

Aside from the front axle holes being too big, they run fine. I opened the tungsten GT40.


----------



## TK Solver (Mar 18, 2004)

The front axle holes are a problem on some XT cars and I've had to swap in bigger JLTO axles in those, after boring out the front wheels. I sure hope they address that issue before the next release. I'm down to about a dozen spare JLTO axles. I like the front wheels and tires better than the JLs. The power trains have been good for me. I'd say the quality in that area has been much more consistent than with the JL cars. I time in all my new cars before and after tweaking and the AWXTs are all above average relative to my entire XT collection. On the other hand, my fastest XTs are JLs with the slim pick-ups. Then again, so are my slowest.


----------



## noddaz (Aug 6, 1999)

*ironic... And interesting.*



TK Solver said:


> *snip*
> I time in all my new cars before and after tweaking and the AWXTs are all above average relative to my entire XT collection. On the other hand, *my fastest XTs are JLs with the slim pick-ups. Then again, so are my slowest*.


Interesting. Have you been able to find out what makes those "fastest" chassis be the fastest?

Scott


----------



## micyou03 (Apr 8, 2003)

MY JLXT Fast and Furious chassis are my smoothest, fastest and best handling AFX M/T type chassis, including AFX M/Ts.


----------



## TK Solver (Mar 18, 2004)

The AWXT chassis seems just a bit heavier (I don't have a scale to check that so if anyone can I'd be interested in knowing) and louder than the JLXT. I know they are stiffer. My fastest XT chassis accelerate quickly, coast freely, and don't jump or bind in the corners. The AWXT chassis tend to have a "tighter" power train and don't usually accelerate quite as quickly or coast as freely. That's the major difference. Also, the AW front wheels and tires seem to be more consistent.

Let me put all this in perspective with some numbers. I time in all my cars on a freshly cleaned track and log the times. The 82 ft road course has six straights of between 6' and 10' along with seven areas of curves. My fastest XTs with stock parts and no body time in between 8 to 8.25 secs. Unfortunately, I also occasionally get a JLXT with a time of over 10 secs. Those tend to be all bound up in the power train and cornering is not the issue. The AWXTs are consistently in the low to mid 9's. Swapping the front axle shaves up to half a second. Low profile silicones can take up to another half second off, although the AW stock tires are pretty good. In some cases, a fast chassis that accelerates very quickly but is twitchy in and out of the turns can be improved by switching to slim pick-ups. The wide pick-ups seem to produce more power but some cars can't handle it. I think it's a function of both the surface contacting the rails and the spring rate adding some bounce. I haven't tried modifying the pick-up springs. A couple of my faster JLXTs have the front wheel/axle replaced with pullback wheels/axle. They sit lower and corner better and for some reason, the added slop in the axle hole doesn't seem to cause the same wobble as with the AWXT front. The fact that the wheels aren't turning independently don't seem to cause significant skidding/binding. Any ideas why that might be?

Having a blast experimenting...


----------



## roadrner (Jul 21, 1999)

noddaz said:


> Interesting. Have you been able to find out what makes those "fastest" chassis be the fastest?
> 
> Scott


Luck of the draw Scott! 

Dave


----------

