Saturday , 9 August 2025

How Do I Free Up My Ball … Cups?

The RC Doctor - Return

How Do I Free Up My Ball ... Cups?

Question:
Hey Doc,
I was wondering…when building a kit it seems like the ball cups are super tight when I put them on the turnbuckles. Then when I go to adjust them while they are attached to the vehicle, they pop off because they are so tight. What is a good way to free these up?

Eric

Answer:
Hey Eric.
Usually this is caused by either the turnbuckles being slightly oversized or the hole in the ballcup being undersized. Either way there is a pretty simple fix. Take you turnbuckle and, before threading it into the plastic ballcup, rub the threads LIGHTLY over a bar of soap. The soap will act like a lubricant, making it easier to thread (and adjust) the ballcups while on the car.

If the turnbuckles are hard to thread into the ballcups to begin with, you can take a similar sized screw (typically a 5-40 screw) and pre-thread the plastic ballcup. You can use the soap trick here to help out also. Once you’ve pre-threaded the ballcup, the turnbuckle should thread it quite a bit easier.

Hope this helps.
The Doc

About Tony Phalen

Tony Phalen - As an avid RC enthusiast, Tony has been building, bashing and racing RC Cars for over 30 years. He has participated in every kind of surface racing events - 1/18 scale trucks, 1/10 scale TC, Rock Racers, Rally - if it had wheels, he's raced it! He's also worked on both sides of the industry fence; collaborating with many major manufacturers (as well as being a sponsored driver) to working for a high-profile industry magazine. During this time he has learned many tricks, tips and techniques and is sharing that knowledge on CompetitionX - the most informative RC website on the internet!

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