Clutch shoes

[Kodama]

I had to replace my clutch housing cause I didn't have the mesh right and I have a metal spur gear... Anyways, I put my truck back together and I used the diagram from Traxxas. When I started it it didn't engage... I don't know if I had the clutch shoes in wrong or what. But then I took it apart and flipped it around. It still doesn't engage. Which way do the clutch shoes face...? It's on the TRX Pro .15. And should I use some sandpaper, not very fine sandpaper, to scratch up the shoes so they grab or what?

 

[SkyMaxx]

Here's some helpful information found with the search engine...

Clutch Operation: I got this information from WWW.NitroRC.com, hope it helps you. If you go to their website they have several helpful diagrams as well.

R/C car engines rotate CCW (counter clock-wise) As the engine increases revolutions the leading edge of the clutch catches on the clutch bell and aggressively transmits the power from the engine to the clutch bell. This power is then distributed through out the car's drive train and eventually to the tires...

The stock clutch setup loads the engine with the strain of trying to accelerate 5+ pounds of car and at the same time the engine attempts to quickly accelerate to reach it's higher power band. 2-Stroke engines increase power output as the RPM’s increase. So if you want to use more of your engines available power when you need it the most (quick acceleration on the corners). You need to let the engine engage at a latter time when the RPM's are higher and when the engine has more available power to accelerate the vehicle.

You pull the clutch shoes off the flywheel and flip them around and re-install. This mod basically changes the power transfer when accelerating because now the trailing edges of the shoes engage the clutch bell. This allows the clutch to slip a bit for the engine RPM’s to build and jump starts the torque level when accelerating from the corners. It is very important when you flip the shoes that you don't pinch the clutch spring with the flywheel pins. You can push a small allen wrench through the pin holes to push the spring out of the way as you press the shoes against the flywheel. Reinstall the clutch bell parts in the order removed.

 

[Kodama]

Ummm... Ok. But that still doesn't help. It won't engage even if the shoes are on backwards...

 

[SkyMaxx]

As for why they don't engage, that is a tougher question.

Did you use too strong of a spring? If the spring is too strong, it would not allow the clutch shoes to spread under high rpms and engage the clutch bell.

Is the flywheel on snugly? When you spin the flywheel by hand does it move easiy or does it move with difficulty? When it moves with difficulty, does it move the drive axle? If the flywheel is not properly placed on the drive axle, the engine will never engage the clutch assembly. Basically, the axle would be spinning freely within the center of the flywheel and clutch.

Can you provide any other details to the problem?

 

[Kodama]

Uhhh... The flywheel spins fine other than the engine compression. Everything is on snugly and spins freely. I don't know of anything else...

 

[SkyMaxx]

Hmmmm...when you say the clutch will not engage, what exactly are you meaning. Perhaps we are talking about two different things.

When you rev the engine, does the clutch bell rotate at all?

 

[Kodama]

The truck doesn't go forward... lol. Sorry. The engine just spins and spins. It revs up and never moves.

Well, somehow the forward/reverse was in neutral somehow... So it wasn't the clutch shoes. I'm sorry I'm retarded guys. Thanks for trying to help though.

 

[SkyMaxx]

LOL...glad you solved the problem. Enjoy.