Belt Drive 4wd (racer) Do they exist anymore?

[sylentk]

Was talking to the local track/shop guy. He just got a carpet, onraod belt driven 4x beast. I was impressed. Which made me think, why are there no off road 4x racers on belt?

So back in the day. The best 4wd's were belt driven. Think Kyosho Razor or Schumacher. Yokomo? Not sure.

Stuff like the Tamiya Avanti (which is shaft) was sub par and not a thing you raced. But HA, lots of stuff contributed to the Avanti to make it not a racer. But I still love the "being nuts is neat".

So now that I can finally afford a sweet 4wd racer, I am wondering what happened to the belt drives of yester-decade.

I get the shaft thing. A bit better on the maintenance front. But the whip you get from that.* Hmmm...Was belt that much worse?

Not the transmission. I mean the bit that connects the rear to the front in a 4wd. That kind of belt.

*The whip I speak of is the tension created by the drive shaft. Which tends to ramp up, send power, then ramp down. Creating the "whip" effect. If you have a shaft driven, gas powered, weed whacker, you know what I'm talking about.

 

[DavidB1126]

The only off-road race kit that I know that is belt drive is ideally only yhr Schumacher L1R

https://www.amainhobbies.com/schumacher-cat-l1r-1-10-4wd-offroad-electric-buggy-kit-schk201/p1466650

Now shaft vs belt drive, never driven a belt drive and not that experienced in that so can't really talk about it lol.

Majority of off-road chassis are shaft drive now.
Onroad kits are still belt drive, unless it's a basher which uses shaft drive like tt02 4tec or Fazer

 

[nino]

I guess, even though 1/10 "offroad" trucks are mostly driven on carpet or very clean surfaces, there's still a chance they might see some dirt and that doesn't sound good for a belt. Or no?

 

[gragner66]

My guess is the belts can’t hold up to brushless lipo systems. That a lot more power that brushed set up. Those were really cool though back in the day

 

[nino]

Oh, that makes sense...

 

[CertifiedMike]

I am restoring an optima mid belt drive. I've got a long way to go but i'll be running a belt/bl set up.
Theres a few ppl who run them with 3s. Sa2 a guy who stuffed a 3660 in an Optima Mid.
My mid had a pretty nasty Checkpoint motor in it and it never skipped belt on carpet track.
This was before slippers too.
I am putting a slipper in this mid. I'll bet it handles this 3900kv without issue.
The new mids even hav a belt tension adjustment.
I can't speak for Schumacher except to say that they are still exceptionally competitive. They must be doing something right!
The Checkpoint motors I used back then are ROAR apporoved today. I would ut one up against a 17.5 or 13.5 bl motor today for sure!
You might not get the efficiency but you'll still get the snot.

 

[Littlemotor]

My guess is the belts can’t hold up to brushless lipo systems. That a lot more power that brushed set up. Those were really cool though back in the day

Belts are much stronger than you give them credit..

Xray X8 1/8 GP pan car (brushless)

Serpent 990e 1/8 GP pan car (brushless)

Cog belts also handle forced induction drive duties for every 12,000+ horsepower Top Fuel dragster out there. That’s an absolutely ABSURD amount of load, and “instantaneous torque” compared to a measly 1/10, or 1/8 brushless motor…

As for driveshaft “whip”, that’s not even close to an issue in any RC car produced. They don’t run belts in off-road because of ease of maintenance, dirt, and debris, and shafts just flat out make more sense.

 

[CertifiedMike]

Harleys run belts. Belts not handling power is a myth imo.
Unless your tryimg to run 8s on a 4mm wide belt system or something.
They offer belts with different pitches and tooth spacing.
I think maybe early systems weren't tensioned correctly or something.
My mid is built around the belt. That is fact. Replacing it is a lot of work.

 

[paytonimusrex]

I have only seen belts on inroad cars now, if possible you might be able to find someone selling an old sct that runs belt drive I think it was team associated that made it

 

[Littlemotor]

Check out Amain. They do stock Yokomo stuff, and here’s a couple Re-re’s of the belt driven off-road era..

YZ-10, and Super Dogfighter

These put a serious hurtin’ on the Schumacher guys back then too..

 

[332_RC]

I found this??? $40
https://www.ebay.com/itm/3651805052...q7FPNHENTvG&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=SMS

 

[gragner66]

I would also think belt drive is not as reliable. That’s a lot more moving parts and such.

 

[paytonimusrex]

for the sc10 it was covered

ultimate rc (rip a great channel) has a video on it

 

[gragner66]

for the sc10 it was covered
View attachment 205955

ultimate rc (rip a great channel) has a video on it

Slipper clutches are kinda outdated too for the most part too

 

[Littlemotor]

Slipper clutches are kinda outdated too for the most part too

Those too, still come in a myriad of 1/10 and under vehicles…

 

[CertifiedMike]

I would also think belt drive is not as reliable. That’s a lot more moving parts and such.

Belt drive cars have the motor mounted sideways, same rotationally as belt. There is no diff gear or pinion shaft, shaft cups, drive shafts... I'm not sure I agree.

What carpet cars aren't using slippers?

 

[paytonimusrex]

Slipper clutches are kinda outdated too for the most part too

except on carpet cars lol but outdoors yes

 

[CertifiedMike]

except on carpet cars lol but outdoors yes

Agree, not used in bashers but as the post is titled for 4wd belted racers, slippers are most certainly not outdated and indeed allow for monster motors to be used in high traction applications with minimal gear meltage.

To put it another way, I don't see how someone could get some of the bl high kv motors to work on these cars without one.

 

[paytonimusrex]

only time where slipper isn’t used these days in dirt racing in racing setting at least, unless you get the slipper eliminator like I plan to for the b7 when ever I get one, also I think I saw there’s a slipper eliminator kit for the slash too which I might get lol

 

[sylentk]

Belts are much stronger than you give them credit..

Xray X8 1/8 GP pan car (brushless)

View attachment 205938

Serpent 990e 1/8 GP pan car (brushless)

View attachment 205939

Cog belts also handle forced induction drive duties for every 12,000+ horsepower Top Fuel dragster out there. That’s an absolutely ABSURD amount of load, and “instantaneous torque” compared to a measly 1/10, or 1/8 brushless motor…

View attachment 205942

As for driveshaft “whip”, that’s not even close to an issue in any RC car produced. They don’t run belts in off-road because of ease of maintenance, dirt, and debris, and shafts just flat out make more sense.

Oh man. I do love the banter. But if you know. You know. Whip is a thing. Maybe your car is too slow? HA Or not torque-ee enough? Just giving you poop.

But I'd love for you to expand on "makes more sense". Prove it. Or diss-prove it? IDK. Plead your case.

Maybe we need to get RC Car Action to make a comparison. Or Amain. Or anyone with the money and knowledge and time and can post on Youtube. I'd love to hear it. I'd love to test it myself. But...life.

This is not directed at you, but there is this company. Gates. Gates Rubber Company. Denver, CO. They do all things heavy load belt drives, and more. From Motos, to cars (think timing belt, engine stuff), to bicycles. Like all the things. The tech is there. The reason for the post is why isn't anybody using it? From a mainstream standpoint. Why drive shaft? Especially if things are NOT on dirt these days?

The cars I list above were for dirt and they were belt. That was really the only option for off road. And it was messy dirt. Not this blue goove clay stuff. Do you see the tires on the old school YZ-10 and AE RC10T re-re's? cus the terrain called for it. You'd be last place in a race on a blue groove track with those tires.

I pretty much want to buy the Yokomo right now. But...life.