Hi,

I recently picked up the Sandcrawler and I have ran into a difficulty with the rear wheels. They will not turn when I spin the wheel. The mechanism seems to be working perfectly up until I attach the wheels, then it is hard to even spin the wheel, and the back wheels barely move at all. I have taken the thing apart a couple of times and tried everything I can think of...I am dumbfounded! Does anyone have any advice or any idea to what is wrong (or how I messed up?).

Hello mantooth,

I don't recall any notorious pitfalls while building this set. Without having your copy of the Sandcrawler in front of any one of us to diagnose, it's certainly difficult to determine the exact problem. But on occasion I have run into similar issues, especially when building large sets with complex instructions. The Sandcrawler is no exception, and I'm guessing you missed a step in the instructions, or placed something one stud off, etc... It doesn't take much to overlook a small detail in an instruction booklet(s) filled with black, dark brown and dark gray elements, or complicated technic mechanisms. Finding a mistake that you made 14 steps back is no easy task, but sometimes it just has to be done.

Perhaps a couple photos of the problem area might reveal something obvious to a fresh pair of eyes.

I had a problem like that building the 10030 Star Destroyer. Not with wheels obviously but it was like I messed up on the frame and got stuck trying to figure out where in the steps I was off. Seems to happen to me when I try to rush through the larger sets, ha! I haven't built the Sandcrawler yet but yeah, you might have to go back a bit more to double check everything is lined up.

That part of the build was straight forward with little room for mistakes. Are you speaking of steering issues or the tracks moving freely? The only issue that I encountered was the tracks jumping off the wheels...

From memory, the mounting system for the wheels is slightly different between the front and back wheels, to allow the rear ones to turn. Again from memory (I'm at work) the rear wheels were mounted 1 or two plates further away from the main body to allow this. Have a look at the mountings on the bottom of the Sandcrawler - try removing the four identical wheel holding blocks from the body and compare front and back mountings on the base of the Sandcrawler - they should be different.

Edited January 13, 201510 yr by drlmiles

First off thanks for all the quick responses. I am an experienced builder which is why this problem fascinates me more than anything. I tried building it all once again and unbelievably I am still not able to get the rear wheels to move. Before I put the rear wheels on everything is working inside (moving right to left smoothly). Once I attach the black plate to the wheel and insert the narrow grey piece through the hole in the bottom of the crawler (grey circular piece) I notice the steering is not as smooth (as I turn the wheel) and the rear wheels do not move at all (they barely shake).....

I will keep messing around with it I am sure it is a minuscule detail I have missed...but man I am dumbfounded.........

Brickset did a decent review of this set and included a handful of pictures showing the area you are working on. maybe take a look and see if there is something a bit different. I remember I had a binding issue on mine, but I can't remember what the cause or fix was. link: http://brickset.com/article/11256/review-75059-sandcrawler-part-2

Thanks I will take a look I believe the issue is the circular blue piece and the rod that connects to it it just seems as though it won't swivel properly...........

I think I might know your problem. Look at the first picture of the building on brickset, does it look exactly the same?

You might have messed up with this part: http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=30000 , this can be easily overlooked.

Yes, what TWP sais must be it. In front you get one such part and put it in the middle (where the axe of the tracks comes through) and at the rear, there's two such parts leaving the hole in the middle. Did the same mistake since the build is symetrical all until that part and then you cover it with plates making it look the same again. Try if you are able to turn around the front wheels, which you shouldn't be. Now repairinig that takes a lot of time, since the technic bricks are so wll connected at the bottom.

TWP and MstrOfPppts,

You nailed it!! Thank you so much, it is easy to overlook but it totally makes sense. I was focusing on the wheels and gears (which I kept assembling over and over again). Anyways I took everything apart and I am starting over (which isn't a big deal...love the set).

Anyways thank you so much for taking the time to help me out...greatly appreciated!

TWP and MstrOfPppts,

You nailed it!! Thank you so much, it is easy to overlook but it totally makes sense. I was focusing on the wheels and gears (which I kept assembling over and over again). Anyways I took everything apart and I am starting over (which isn't a big deal...love the set).

Anyways thank you so much for taking the time to help me out...greatly appreciated!

No problem, I'm always glad to help

Interesting fact, I do not even own the set! Well I guess when I build it I'll take extra attention to that part of the build ;)