Repair kit for Technic Excavator 8043 now shipping

 

  • Repair kit for Technic Excavator 8043 now shipping

    Posted by Grahame, 05 Oct 2010 23:54. Filed under shop.LEGO.com (General).

    8043: Motorized Excavator
    Technic, 2010
    More details...
    ©2010 LEGO Group

    The repair kit for the Technic Excavator 8043 is now being shipped. It consists of 4 new actuators and 3 additional parts. There is a corrections page for the steps 33 and 36 in the instructions. The fix beyond the new actuators is to provide support for one of the gears. In order to do the repairs, you need to totally tear down the Excavator to allow the support and the actuators to be installed. (Thanks to legowerba for this news)

    Update (by Huw): I received mine last week and fitted the actuators without too much stripping down. The improvement in performance is not immediately obvious, since I didn't have a lot of problems with mine in the first place, but I'll rest assured that they won't 'turn to dust' in the coming years now. I didn't fit the gear support because again, it wasn't immediately obvious what the problem was that it was fixing, and also it would require a major rebuild to fit it, which, if you've already built the model, you'll know would not be much fun!

    Another update: TechnicBricks has an article about the differences between the linear actuators: it suggests that in the new ones, the internal gears are thinner and it's full of grease, to reduce friction.


    9 comments, latest one posted 31 months ago. (Commenting has ended on this article)
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Comments

Posted by Wiseman_2 in United Kingdom, 06 Oct 2010 13:03

I would recommend doing the gear support because it can lead to some pretty poor performance from the right track otherwise. The gear in question is held on only by a frictionless axle pin, vertically, so it slides off. If you turn the excavator upside down you will be able to see it; mine had almost completely slid off and was only being prevented from falling off my the beam underneath, and I would imagine that continuous strain on the axle pin could cause it to snap.

Not yet had the time to rebuild the entire thing, but we'll see this weekend if the new actuators are any better. I think they will be, I've tested them on a couple of other models and they seem to do better.

Posted by mrdoofa in United Kingdom, 06 Oct 2010 17:48

I bought mine from the legoshop in Bluewater whilst I was in London a few months ago. However, I live 200 miles from London so just wondered how I go about getting this parts pack. I have put off actually building it until the new parts were available. If anyone knows I'd be most greatful! Thank u.

Posted by bluemoose in United Kingdom, 06 Oct 2010 18:52

Talk to Lego's customer service folk; their UK contact details are here -
http://service.lego.com/en-GB/default.aspx
They may ask for proof of purchase.

Posted by mrdoofa in United Kingdom, 06 Oct 2010 21:35

Cheers bluemoose, I'll try ringing Lego. I do still have the receipt so hopefully they'll be able to send the parts out. Thanks again for your help. I cannot wait to finally build it!

Posted by trfislegomad in United Kingdom, 07 Oct 2010 03:17

I have spoken to LEGO customer services and they advised me that you only need to provide proof of purchase if you want to return the model for a full refund and you did not buy the original model from LEGO directly.
My Service Pack has not turned up yet so I will wait and see if this is the case!

Posted by Sand Raider in United States, 07 Oct 2010 12:52

So what happened that made them have to do this?

Posted by bluemoose in United Kingdom, 07 Oct 2010 13:10

It was covered extensively at the time, back in August -

"The mysterious case of the missing Technic set"
http://www.brickset.com/news/article/?ID=846

"8043 Excavator / LEGO's excellent customer service"
http://www.brickset.com/news/article/?ID=854

Posted by Sand Raider in United States, 07 Oct 2010 15:34

So something was wrong with it? That's not good.

Posted by meccanotwitch in United Kingdom, 08 Oct 2010 03:19

After reading all the comments and studying the LAs, it seem to me that Lego haven't fully tested the 8043, even after having modified the LAs. With any type of screw drive, like the LAs or worm gear, a large amount of end thrust is generated resulting in loss of power or extra strain on other components. What Lego should have done is fitted some kind of thrust bearing at the base of the LA. which would have greatly improved the part.

Commenting has ended on this article.