• Welcome to RCTalk! 🚀

    Join the #1 RC community where hobbyists connect, share, and get expert advice on RC cars, trucks, boats, drones, and more!

    • Friendly & passionate RC enthusiasts
    • RC tips & troubleshooting
    • Buy, sell & trade RC gear
    • Share builds & upgrades

diff fluid in the 4.6 SS?

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

CeSu-Pro

RCTalk Member
Messages
26
Reaction score
0
Points
0
RC Driving Style
I was thinking about doing the spider mod on my savage ss4.6 then i read that it already had the 4 gears instead of too, which made me excited.... then the questoin arose, did they put fluid in there? and if so, do any of you know what weight? I read about the mod here on rcnt and read that the heavier the weight the more "aggresive" and was just wondering exactly what "aggresive" means. I am new to the hobby, but i did build my own truck, and i do like the "best" of things, so i'm wondering if "aggresive" means "no noobs" or if you think i can handle it... cuz i want my poop to run...hard.... if that makes sense... so my question,... if there is fluid, what weight, and if not, which weight should i do,... how heavy can i get away with,.... because i want the heaviest strongest beefiest,.... if you know what i mean.
 
The SS 4.6 comes stock with prebuilt 4-Spider diffs with grease. You can add silicone diff lock fluid to limit the diff action. This means that if only one of your front wheels is off the ground with just grease it can spin almost freely, which will leave the other wheel without power, thus, slowing down the truck. The heavier, the less action the diff has which will give you more grip, BUT, if you put oil that is too heavy your truck will have a hard time turning becuase the diffs will be locked. Almost always you have a heavier fluid in the front and thinner in the rear. I ran 5K front and 3K rear and liked it, but you can go heavier if you want. Not sure how high you can go tho.
 
When I built mine, I cleared out the grease. That stuff is just putrid. And I filled with 5K (50K Traxxas) diff fluid front and back. It works really well. Diffs are nice and smooth.
 
wouldn't you then want LIGHTER fluid in the front so it turns easier? also,... i was thinking about going real heavy in the back (like 300k or something) to give it like a posi sorta diff then Lighter up front (maybe 5k) so it will still turn,... but i was wondering if that would be bad on the gear box with uneven distribution or somthing...
 
Last edited:
no no no.. lol

the heavyer oil kills the "diff" action.. thats what stops it from turning.. a diff allows one tire to spin faster or slower then the other.. when you turn the inside tire spins slower.. if you got to heavy oil it wont let it spin slower and you will push the front tires..

ever seen a 4 wheeler with solid rear axle.. when you turn real sharp the inside tire spins and leaves a mark.

you can go a bit heavyer in the fron t because the tires are accually turning.. they will pull the front around
 
ok,... so then opposite, i can go real heavy up front, and lighter in the back.... but again, is that going to mess with power distribution? and how heavy can i go,.... i'm thinking like 5k in the back,... then how heavy can i go up front?
 
no you don't want that either, you have to find your happy medium with the two, something that locks it a little bit, otherwise you will loose control and eat up tires... I went with 5k and cleaned ALL of the grease out of the diffs, it was a total bioch to get every last bit out of all the nooks and crannies but it seems to work really well, I did this new so I don't have a base comparison, but it got LOTS better traction than my stadium truck did
i'd say you could even go with 10k in the rear and 7k up front but not much more than this just another opinion to consider
 
ok, now you guys are trying to confuse me,... one saying go lighter up front, one saying go lighter in the rear,... both make sense,....in one case (lighter infront) you end up pushing the front wheels instead of turning, but on the other hand, if it is heavier in the rear then you're getting thatmore "rear wheel drive" sorta thing,... i dunno,...... so how about i just go real heavy front and back? even it out,.. so the back is pushing just as much as the front is pulling,....... i just want the wheels that are on the ground to get the most power when on two wheels etc.....
 
ok, sounds like a lot of ppl run the 5k setup,... perhaps i'll just go that route,.... then worry about changing it later, once i learn the effects it has to my truck
 
I just bash around the yard and dirt lots with my Savy and I put 5K front and back when I upgraded to the four gear mod. Seems to work well, but I'm no expert on this. I just listed to some suggestions here. Good traction and it still turns well with stock servo and HPI cam servo saver installed.
 
I think what they were saying is that you don't want to go super heavy cause they you will always be breaking loose, unless you are doing some serous sraight line driving or crawling you don't need to go super heavy with the diff fluids
 
Back
Top