I had the opportunity to help a few scouts this year. The blocks were record bad. In three kits, I did not find one nail that was straight. Did our pack get bad crap or did others see this also?
this years kits? #!@
- Thread starter IAE Racing
- Start date
The Block we received looked really good. It was actually 7" and the axles slots were square. I did not look closely at the axles. I would run the BSA Replica Axles as they are way better than the stock ones and darn near impossible to tell the difference without a micrometer. We further opened up our Council Rules this year to allow aftermarket Blocks, Axles, and Wheels so that is what we are running this year. No sense fighting/struggling with the BSA stuff.
I picked up four kits for my boys plus two scouts that build at our house. The blocks looked ok, several axles had the heads offset or were bent and unusable. The wheels ran the gamut. We had four wheels that looked really good, eight were so-so and we had to replace them, but the last four were junk. They had a surface finish like 80 grit sandpaper rough in the tread. Had to replace those too. I had bought 20 sets of wheels over the summer and got something like twelve really nice sets out of them. I bought 20 more sets when I picked up the car kits and they were much worse. Maybe six really nice sets at best?
I have seen some Bad blocks, and super bad axles.
I have stopped using warm water and dawn on some axles because the zinc starts to pit.
Now- I am in a trouble causing mood- If this were ANY other product- we would take it right back and demand a refund. And if we found the same kit still in the shop we would really get mad. If you only pay $4 for a fast food lunch that was as screwed up as a lot of kits, you would STILL take it back and demand a refund or a good meal. Take all these trash parts back to where they were bought and demand your money back- or just dump it on the floor in protest. If enough of us did this- the quality issues would at least get counted- as it is now, they can say- sold 2 million, only one return from that crank in Texas. Join me and get there attention. Our hard earned money pays for all this and we have no say in the quality?
If you buy any toy for $4 that was not functional- and a bent axle or a trash wheel is not functional- you would demand your money back. I feel like the guy who went to the movies and then went to the cashier and said- I was unhappy- give me every bodies money back! It stays junk because we let it stay junk.
I have stopped using warm water and dawn on some axles because the zinc starts to pit.
Now- I am in a trouble causing mood- If this were ANY other product- we would take it right back and demand a refund. And if we found the same kit still in the shop we would really get mad. If you only pay $4 for a fast food lunch that was as screwed up as a lot of kits, you would STILL take it back and demand a refund or a good meal. Take all these trash parts back to where they were bought and demand your money back- or just dump it on the floor in protest. If enough of us did this- the quality issues would at least get counted- as it is now, they can say- sold 2 million, only one return from that crank in Texas. Join me and get there attention. Our hard earned money pays for all this and we have no say in the quality?
If you buy any toy for $4 that was not functional- and a bent axle or a trash wheel is not functional- you would demand your money back. I feel like the guy who went to the movies and then went to the cashier and said- I was unhappy- give me every bodies money back! It stays junk because we let it stay junk.
One of my blocks had three splits perpendicular to the grain, and the block itself was not cut with flat sides. Never saw anything like it! The two blocks I had were dramatically different weights/ moisture content, and the kerfs were not square. The wheels averaged 9 thousandths runout. Worst kits I've ever seen. Definitely a big concern, as our pack rules state that we must use what's in the box.
- Nov 24, 2011
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I might have an DW axle straightener, if anyone wants it (seriously). I only use it for a stand to keep cars from rolling.
The axles in the kit are very BAD. Last night at a race the last place car was really struggling. After the race I looked it over and the crimp marks on the axle head were so sharp it was cutting the outer hub!! Like I have never seen, I guess the new axles act as a wheel cutting tool now also!!
Quicktimederby said:
I was just cleaning up the box stock axles and I must agree! I have not messed with them in a long time and now they sure make me grateful for vender axles! They are scary!
The super bad effect of deteriorating quality is that 90% of the cars in most packs are just running with raw axles and raw wheels. ( Based on the times I collect on my track) and for those families that have no tools, average time is getting worse while those few that know to work like crazy to fix a stupid problem will still be fast- so the fast get faster and everyone else gets slower and has a pretty miserable night. I actually pulled out a few cars and ran them in a separate group . I knew they would be smoked with the other cars and ran them with ringers I brought that looked cool but ran real slow so these poor cars could win a race.
I am trying to get one more rule added- You will be held up for public ridicule if you use the parts in the box without tools.
I am trying to get one more rule added- You will be held up for public ridicule if you use the parts in the box without tools.
I tried to do that this year since I knew we would have some bye runs. I picked the four wobbliest wheels I had and four unmodded nails and stuck them in an uncut block. I wrote "PACK PACE CAR" on the block with a Sharpie. No graphite at all and it still beat many cars there. Sad.
Funny thing was, the boys started cheering for it. They kept chanting "BYE CAR, BYE CAR, BYE CAR!!!" every time it ran. After a few heats I bent one of the wheels crooked and ran it backwards to make it drag a wheel. It came in last most of the time then.
Funny thing was, the boys started cheering for it. They kept chanting "BYE CAR, BYE CAR, BYE CAR!!!" every time it ran. After a few heats I bent one of the wheels crooked and ran it backwards to make it drag a wheel. It came in last most of the time then.
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