Problem with Parts Cracking

[therealjustin]

I was dusting off my 8070 Supercar set today and noticed that every 32184 included in the set had cracked, and all in the same place. These parts have never been under stress as the car just sits on my shelf. The parts do not feel brittle nor are they discolored.

I have contacted Lego for replacements but I'm far more concerned about why this happened in the first place. The temperatures here in New York are not that extreme, albeit a little dry in the winter, and I have never experienced this before.

[Tommy Styrvoky]

This may have happened after assembling it, I have had a lot of connectors like that have cracked, it's usually caused by bending the axle when the axle is halfway in the connector. It should still work fine, but it won't have as much friction.

Or it could have been caused by sitting for some time. This the tension from the axle cracked the connector at the weakest point.

Edited January 26, 2015 by Tommy Styrvoky

[dougstar]

Thats strange! I would be checking other mock and sets

[efferman]

this is really a disease on the grey connectors. I have many of them which are cracked.

[KopMaister]

it also happens to the blue 3xpins and other connectors

[dougstar]

holly cow!! have quite of these a few i must have a look!

[andythenorth]

I have a lot of these that are cracked exactly as in your photo.

Happens on sets that sit in a dark cupboard at room temperature, so not UV or excessive use or whatever.

[Omikron]

I can confirm. This is mostly GREY parts problem. I never broke a lego part like gear, beam or axle, however I have lots of grey bushings, connectors, cardan joints that just decayed to this state. Every time I order smth from bricklink I add a bunch of those, because they WILL break eventually.

[dougstar]

boooo hoooo that sucks!

[nicjasno]

This happens all the time. Nothing unusuall.

[DrJB]

Nothing unusual does not make it 'ok', as we all expect 'infinite' life from our toys.

I've had other parts crack, just sitting/assembled, such as the 4L thin liftarms on the Technic Shuttle. Not one, but ALL of them. For sure the choice of material has got something to do with it. Lego uses some 'softer' plastic for other colors/parts, such as the new gears and all the pearl light gray parts. You'd notice that the new gears all have less friction (clutching power) on the axles. You would expect TLG, with the many years they've got with experience in plastic not have such issues but, it seems difficult to balance clutching power (friction) vs. durability (not cracking) vs. ability to use different colors (why grey crack and others don't) vs. the other many performance criteria. Any 'mature' engineer can appreciate the challenges with multi-objective performance optimization (aka performance conflict). The good thing is TLG does replace cracked parts (for now at least).

Edited January 26, 2015 by DrJB

[Milan]

Yeah, pretty common on older sets/parts that sits built for a long time. It happens also with system bricks on a built models.

[sergiuparaschiv]

Besides those I also have a lot of old (+10 years) "thin" beams that cracked at the ends:

Happens to these:

http://rebrickable.com/parts/6632

http://rebrickable.com/parts/32449

http://rebrickable.com/parts/2825

[Tomik]

I have many parts cracked exactly same as you can see at photo above. I don't think is't just problem of grey parts because connectors in other colors crack too. Most connectors and bushes are in grey color so you can notice this problem there most easily. I'm more disappointed with cracking plates and bricks.

[sergiuparaschiv]

Right, forgot to specify: the older ones are red and black (from a 1996 8443). I've got a coupe of yellow ones too from the 2003 8455 I think.

I'm not bummed or anything, you cannot realistically expect them to stay in perfect condition after at least 10 years of not-stop play :)

Let's not forget about Benny's helmet. I think I shed a couple of tears seeing him the first time in the movie.

[Eraman]

the same problem....

[Zerobricks]

These crack like crazy...Especially if you insert axle at an angle. Oddly enough the red colored ones seem to be more sturdy than bluish or dark gray.

[Freekysch]

Had the same problem with the thin beams of 8275. The set was built as a display model when i bought it and it had almost all of the thin beams cracked near the edge :(

[therealjustin]

I just checked my 8272 Snowmobile and 32184 in black, 42003 in red and 32291 in black are all cracked the same way. I'm afraid to look at my more expensive models like the modified 42009 or my 8110 Unimog.

This is very upsetting and should NEVER happen. This is not simply because of aging, etc. In my opinion this is down to poor engineering because with 32184 you can clearly see how the part bows out when you insert an axle. There are also small bits of excess plastic on the inside to increase grip but they could be the culprits.

Edited January 26, 2015 by therealjustin

[Rishab N]

I think its mostly a grey part problem. I;ve had many thin grey liftarms, bushes, and connectors crack for no reason

[Saberwing40k]

I've had some u joints crack, and some white prependicular connectors do so as well. This is most vexsome when the part is rare and no longer produced.

[Bricktrain]

The worst part I have had is pearl grey 3l thin liftarms that actually fell apart.

[nicjasno]

The U joints and old connectors in light gray from the 80s and early 90s were always cracking. The old plastic was pretty brittle.

[dougstar]

what message was TLG sending to have bennys helmet cracked / broken. if you ask me it was a dumb move! "our stuff breaks but its okay?"

[therealjustin]

I'm not happy about it. Some of the pieces are not that old and now they are useless! What about reselling the sets? I have to go buy new pieces to replace the countless ones damaged by TLG's faulty design.

I stopped collecting diecast cars because my 1:18 and 1:43 scale models were starting to get paint bubbling and some even had cracking metal bodies due to cheap materials. It seems my LEGO days may be over as well as I cannot afford to have $200+ sets fall apart on the shelf.