Am14u3 Upgrade kit explained

[Sperkowsky]

So our team lost about 5 hours of work putting this together because we had to do a lot of trial and error so I figured I would save you all some time.

To start there make sure you have a few tools.

1. You need a #4 hex key/bit. We used a mixture of hand keys, and bits. However, with a bit and a nice drill you will finish a lot quicker.

2. You need an air compressor with a bicycle wheel attachment. We had one laying around for some odd reason in our pneumatics cart. You could do it by hand but, it will take longer.

3. A tire gauge

4. A hammer plus a small block of wood. We cut a few 2" pieces of 1x2 and called it a day.

5. A saw of any type. We used a chop saw but, a band saw, miter saw,and hacksaw would also work just fine.

6. Some caffeine.

First do not look at this manual. In fact this manual is completely wrong for this occasion... We learned this the hard way.

Start by taking the outer wheel and slide the inner tube into it. Make sure the inner tube is completely in there as if it is not the next step will be harder.

Then slide in the plastic inner pieces am-0971 making sure the little hole is around the fill port.

Inner and Outer Wheels Do this x4

After that take your belt pulleys (the ones included in the KOP kit since 2013) and place them centered on the wheel assembly making sure the holes line up.

Then take your plastic spacer am-0207a (Included in the upgrade kit) and place it inside of the pulleys again making sure everything lines up.

Once your done with that hold the assembly tight and slide in the shorter black screws am-1397. After that use the included 10-32 nuts to tighten them on. Make sure the nuts are on the wheel side not the pulley side. We found tightening these bolts was best done when you pushed the nuts into the bolt holes using the tip of your finger to keep them in. Then taking a drill and driving the bolt in. Basically it allows you do tighten them without using a wrench. You will do this 6 times for all 4 wheels.

Then slide in bearings am-0209 on both sides of the wheel. One will fit into the pulley the other will fit into the wheel. These are not supposed to go fully in in fact they are only designed to go 50% in but, it is not a bad idea to use your hammer and block of wood to make sure it is in there snug.

You can now fill the wheels up to their recommended pressure of 35PSI. We filled them up to 30 because we wanted a little more bounce but that is up to you. Do not leave this step until the chassis is finished as it will make life harder.

Center Wheels Do this x2

First take out your normal KOP pulleys but, put then place the 42 Tooth Pulley Extension (am-2813) in between.

Then take your 500EX Hex Hub (am-2568) and put it on top making sure the circular part is not protruding and is actually inside of the wheel assembly.

Once your done with that hold the assembly tight and slide in the longer black screws am-1398 and use the included 10-32 nuts to tighten them on. Make sure the nuts are on the wheel side not the pulley side. We found tightening these bolts was best done when you pushed the nuts into the bolt holes using the tip of your finger to keep them in. Then taking a drill and driving the bolt in. Basically it allows you do tighten them without using a wrench. You will do this 6 times for all 4 wheels.

Then take your Am-1305 hex spacer and place it on the wheel side of the assembly.

Congrats your wheels are done

Now to the chassis itself.

The gearbox assembly is almost the same as in the normal Am14U3 Manual except you have to replace the output shaft with the longer one included in the upgrade it. One thing I will say is the pictures relating to which orientation the side plates are in, is a little misleading. Make sure the tabs are on the inside allowing you to in the end bridge the two pieces together with the 2x6 bracket am-3299

Also which spacers your supposed to use is also a little odd so here are some pictures

Picture without outer plate https://gyazo.com/1ec6a370d1834c958e3e04531edc3a36

Wheel identification
https://gyazo.com/50d3596526cc1174d50fb913692aae36

To start here is the wheel using the outer end of the middle pulley
https://gyazo.com/8fe1816ed5f81a748f670bdf5fadabeb
you are supposed to use a single AM-1307 pacer on the inside and outside.

On the wheel using the close end of the middle pulley
https://gyazo.com/e3d9729ca7377ebe02ed2d55f068c165
you are supposed to use a single AM-1306 spacer on the inside. On the outside you are supposed to put a AM-0441 and an Am-1307.

The middle wheels confuse me. In the CAD file they are using 4 AM-1151 spacers but, those spacers are not included in either of the kits. There is a .58" distance between those so, it looks like you will have to build your own spacer. You can do this by cutting spacers you already have or with small ID/OD PVC pipe although none of them will have the hex pattern.

After that connect the size plates, inner churrros, and brackets on. Then... your done.

Although I personally recommend that you crimp on Anderson Power pole connectors to the CIM's. If you do not already use those buy them. http://www.powerwerx.com/ is our favorite place to buy them.

Anyway that is basically it. Hopefully this little guide helped. It was created out of desperation and I wanted to help out anyone else who is going to or already did receive this kit. We are not finished (Still have to finish putting the two modules together) so I will update this guide if I have to but, this looks good based of the CAD model. If there any grammatical errors PM me and write your experiences down below and I will add them. I will also be alerting Andymark of some of our issues so they can make sure no one else has them!

[mastachyra]

We built our kit last night and used the grey spacers included in the Igus package in the KoP for the outer spacer on the middle wheels. We needed 6 of them on each side to get to 0.58 inch. Luckily, we had tons of these around from previous years kits.

Worked pretty well though and they have a pretty good fit for the 1/2" hex shaft.

Hope this helps

[apm4242]

The middle wheels confuse me. In the CAD file they are using 4 AM-1151 spacers but, those spacers are not included in either of the kits. There is a .58" distance between those so, it looks like you will have to build your own spacer. You can do this by cutting spacers you already have or with small ID/OD PVC pipe although none of them will have the hex pattern.

FYI - the am-1305 hex spacer included in the AM KoP Chassis is 0.57". We just used 2 from a previous year.

One of the issues we ran into is that our kit came with only a single am-0441 gray spacer (0.985") but the layout plans call for a am-0440 gray spacer (0.370") for the 2 wheels using the inside end of the middle pulley. Not sure what that's about. We'll probably just end up making our own spacers...

More importantly, does anyone know if the Long Hex Output shaft that extends beyond the outer plate by about 0.5" is a "minor protrusion"? Or do we need to cut it? see the top of this image

[serenagh]

More importantly, does anyone know if the Long Hex Output shaft that extends beyond the outer plate by about 0.5" is a "minor protrusion"? Or do we need to cut it? see the top of this image

I'd cut it- minor protrusions are defined as <1/4", so it's probably worth doing.