dirt demon

[dmckie]

ran my dd yesterday started up fine and it ran great the first tank no problems. second tank it took a little longer to start, then it dident want to move .finally it started to move slowly then after about two laps of a figure 8 it started to move up to speed . third tank took even longer to start and even longer to move and it never really got up to full speed. eng seemed to run just fine, is this a clutch prob. it just seemed to slowly get worse each tank i went through. it has done this same thing once before. I'm stumped????? this is my first rc so i need help on where to start looking for the problem

 

[Robie6]

DD

I think i said befor when my DD came out of the box the diff's were locked up. Does the truck roll on its own without the engine running?? Should roll by itself 5" or so. If your burning clutches look around the front of the engine for black peices of fiber or black dust. The DD has a 3 shoe clutch with strong springs. Mine wouldn't engage till about 1/4 throtle, it was screaming at about 5-mph. I squeezed the springs in just a tad, now its fine. Not running- the cb should spin fairly easy against the spur. I just started removing stuff till it rolled on its own. To bad the last things were the diff's.-lol,lol. Mine was put together with "RED" loctite. Be careful here! that red stuff is for stuff you never plan to remove-EVER. I was lucky, I only lost 1 set screw I had to drill out then re drill & tap the other end of the collar. I ground a little off the bottom of the set screw as these guys come almost to a point. Let me know

you may also loosen the glow plug 1/4 to 1/2 turn when starting. This releases some compression but will still start. Dont forget to tighten it back up. The one-way bearing in the rear engine housing isn't strong enough to take alot of hammering on the compression stroke. there insides are plastic. I've been through 2 in both of my roto start mt's & at 16.00 a pop-no way I'm going to support a bearing co. I'm going to talk to Boca Bearing Co. to see what they may have. The present 1-way used in roto starts isn't made to take the pressure, I dont care who backs em up:whistle:

 

[dmckie]

I took the clutch bell off and descoverd that my clutch was completly melted away not to mention the inside of the bell. I bought another set .should the springs be that tight. Also if i set my truck on the floor, then lift the front end off the floor ,then pull the truck twords me .With the two rear tires still making contact with the floor. Should'nt the two front tires move too, being a 4 wheel drive?? oh ya it does move freely .A good push will send it about 4 ft.. It does kind of make a cliking noise though.

 

[Robie6]

If was like mine I had to get it to 1/4 throtle before the shoes engaged which means the shoes are hitting the bell 5 to 7000 rpm or so. It looks like thee may be racing type clutch at least I have a racing clutch that looks the same. There's no "in-between" so to speak there either in or out.
I put mine up a concrete block (my stand) & once the clutch springs were out I pinched them (the 2 long ends) till I could move the tail of the shoe just off its resting place with my finger nail with a slight resistance. If you do this to a new D.D. stock shoe you need a screw driver to get the shoe to move, its that stiff. You want the wheels (off the ground) not to rotate when the engine is idling but soon as you crack the throtle a tad-they spin. I pinched mine a little to much & when it was all together there was a little slop between the shoe "tails & where they sit on the other nose of the shoe. Just incase someone corrects the end of the clutch that goes on the pins is called the heel & the end that grabs the cb is the toe. I have a 2-shoe clutch with a round spring completly around the shoes & with my ported 24.7 engine & "jumbo max" tires it does just fine. Hope I didn't confuse you with all this but I think you get the idea. Got a few extra bucks around snap up a "Centax" clutch. There adjustable without removing it or the engine.
With the wheel problem you have an easy way to tell if all-4's are working is to spin the spur gear with your finger the same dir. as if it were running. Doing this will move the truck one way or the other depending where your trans is if you have a reverse. Turning the left front tire one way should make the right front rotate the opisit way. Turning both front tires the same dir. should move the rears the same. :tank:

If all ya here is a clicking sound you ok. Mine sounds like a rock crusher with bad bearings-lol. I'm tired of this thing on the bench. As long as I believe everything is set right, adj. right, broke in- I'm gonna run the piss outa this guy. I got lots of sand dunes, a gravel rd, & a field just across the street thats full of everything you can imagin. I'm watching some billit aluminum A-arms for the D.D. on ebay. The stock ones I here are weak.