Royal Rangers – Pro-Body Tool Axle Drilling Guide

The Pro-Body tool is a precision machined, aluminum device that will improve the speed of your pinewood derby car through accurate axle mounting. The Pro-Body Tool serves as a guide for re-drilling accurate axle holes with a hand drill or Pin Vise into dowel rod axle supports.

To use the Pro-Body Tool, follow the instructions below. Click on any of the small pictures to view a larger picture.

Brian Johnson - April 28, 2004 - At our Pack Derby my son’s car won 1st Place out of 45 entries! Our Pack uses the S&W car kit, so we used your Pro-Body Tool for S&W kits to drill accurate axle holes (since the originals were neither centered nor straight), and we used your Pro-Wheel shaver to true up the wheels (the wheels were badly out of round). Then we polished the axle screws and wheels until we could see ourselves and used NyOil II as the lubricant. In the final two heats we beat the unbeaten car from the winners bracket twice, by over a foot each time. To prove it was no fluke, I helped my two daughters build cars for the Open Competition using the same techniques and they came in second and third out of 22 cars, even beating out the cars built by adults. Thanks for making this year’s Derby a real family affair!

Plug Existing Holes

1. Use toothpicks (round type is best) and a small amount of white glue to plug the existing holes. If you plan to have one of the front wheels raised, locate an existing hole which is most off-center. Do not plug or re-drill that hole.

Trim and Sand

1. After the glue dries, cut off the excess toothpick.
2. Sand the toothpick so that it is even with the surface of the dowel rod.

Insert Dowel and Drill

1. Insert one end of a dowel rod into the large hole in the tool. The dowel rod should fit snuggly. If it is too tight (typical), use sandpaper to slightly reduce the diameter of the dowel rod. If it is too loose, wrap a piece of tape around the end of the dowel rod.
2. Place the dowel rod on a firm surface and hold the tool securely in one hand. With the other hand, insert the 3/32 inch drill bit into the small hole in the tool.
3. Drill a 3/4 inch deep hole into the dowel rod.
4. Repeat for the other dowel rod ends.

Raised Wheel

1. For a raised front axle, mount the dowel rod with the raised hole (see step 1 above) into the front axle position and rotate the axle so that the raised hole is offset upwards.

Storage

1. Store the tool in a dry location. If the tool must be stored where it will be subjected to humidity, coat the tool with a thin layer of protective oil, and seal it in a plastic bag.