I bought the 8043 trackhoe on eBay recently. The guy shipped it all put together. Took it out the box, looked it over and began to operate the functions. Instantly noticed a problem, one track turns and the other doesn’t. The first thing I thought was he put it together wrong. So I took the whole thing apart and rebuilt it, which I planned to do anyway. Same thing, the track still doesn’t turn. I took my time and really followed the instructions. Now I’m stuck, I did some research and there was some threads on other problems but not this. Anyone have any idea? Please help!!,

Is the motor working?  If the motor works, does the alternate function of that motor when the lever is flipped work properly?  That would help to isolate where the problem is.

Its quite easy to put one of the grey clutch gears the wrong way round, this was a common error when the set released.

6 hours ago, krtwood said:

Is the motor working?  If the motor works, does the alternate function of that motor when the lever is flipped work properly?  That would help to isolate where the problem is.

Yes the motor is working. That one particular motor only turns that one track (I think). 

4 hours ago, Aerolight said:

Its quite easy to put one of the grey clutch gears the wrong way round, this was a common error when the set released.

How am I suppose to know which one it is? Did they release a updated manual or something? I have no idea which one it could be. Man I really don’t feel like tearing that thing down AGAIN. 

Easiest way is to see if thicker part (that has a ring like opening) of clutch gear is facing transmission driving ring...

On image below right gear is showing that ring like opening and this side should face transmission driving ring... and left gear is showing side that should not face transmission driving ring

You might actually want to substitute the clutch gears for the newer red versions, as these work either way round.

15 hours ago, RowdyRob said:

I bought the 8043 trackhoe on eBay recently. The guy shipped it all put together. Took it out the box, looked it over and began to operate the functions. Instantly noticed a problem, one track turns and the other doesn’t. The first thing I thought was he put it together wrong. So I took the whole thing apart and rebuilt it, which I planned to do anyway. Same thing, the track still doesn’t turn. I took my time and really followed the instructions. Now I’m stuck, I did some research and there was some threads on other problems but not this. Anyone have any idea? Please help!!,

If you go to Lego.shop and ask one of the experts for a replacement of the gear or order one of the ones @Maaboo35 suggested, they should get it to you within 2 weeks.

5 hours ago, Maaboo35 said:

You might actually want to substitute the clutch gears for the newer red versions, as these work either way round.

As far as I know, the new (red) 16t clutch gears do not integrate 100% well with the old (red) 2L driving ring. They are designed to be used with the newer (dark gray) 3L driving ring. The difference is that the new gear has the clutch on both sides, which means the clutch is less than 0.5 stud deep. The old driving ring is designed to move 0.5 studs, which it cannot do with the new gears.

Although I don't have the parts at hand right now, so maybe I'm wrong.

In any case, the set works fine with the old (gray) gears, if mounted with the hollow side facing the red driving ring. Make sure that all red driving rings can move 0.5 stud both ways, relative to its center position). So there should be no need to order other parts.

7 hours ago, Maaboo35 said:

You might actually want to substitute the clutch gears for the newer red versions, as these work either way round.

1 hour ago, Erik Leppen said:

As far as I know, the new (red) 16t clutch gears do not integrate 100% well with the old (red) 2L driving ring. They are designed to be used with the newer (dark gray) 3L driving ring. The difference is that the new gear has the clutch on both sides, which means the clutch is less than 0.5 stud deep. The old driving ring is designed to move 0.5 studs, which it cannot do with the new gears.

Although I don't have the parts at hand right now, so maybe I'm wrong.

In any case, the set works fine with the old (gray) gears, if mounted with the hollow side facing the red driving ring. Make sure that all red driving rings can move 0.5 stud both ways, relative to its center position). So there should be no need to order other parts.

Red (new) clutch gears DO NOT work with old driving rings. The central part of red gears is too thick. 

 

Thanks for all the replies fellas. I rebuilt the whole thing today, not sure what I missed but its working now. Super slow, but it seems normal compared to all the YouTube videos I've seen. I pulled all my models out and took a couple pics to share.

Im trying to upload some other pics but it keeps saying the file is to big. There already small. 

Use bricksafe or Flickr as hosting service and paste images (with h max resolution 1024) here in your post.