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front wheel drive?

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Road America

RCTalk Basher
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RC Driving Style
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I've noticed that with my 2 wheel drive slash on smooth dirt I can't accelerate full blast from a stop without fishtailing and probably loosing control. Like coming out of a turn I have to slowly bring it up to full speed on the straight.
If I turn the car around and take off from a stop in reverse, I can punch it full and the car stays real straight.
This got me wondering how it would work to take my four wheel slash and remove the rear driveshafts to make it a front drive car. Has any done that - or are there any front wheel drive rc cars?
 
Road America said:
I've noticed that with my 2 wheel drive slash on smooth dirt I can't accelerate full blast from a stop without fishtailing and probably loosing control. Like coming out of a turn I have to slowly bring it up to full speed on the straight.
If I turn the car around and take off from a stop in reverse, I can punch it full and the car stays real straight.
This got me wondering how it would work to take my four wheel slash and remove the rear driveshafts to make it a front drive car. Has any done that - or are there any front wheel drive rc cars?
Click to expand...
keep in mind - you'll need to block (100%) you centre diff (if you have it) or slipper.

although this not going to do what you are looking for.
now you have oversteer, on FWD you will have understeer.
 
Road America said:
I've noticed that with my 2 wheel drive slash on smooth dirt I can't accelerate full blast from a stop without fishtailing and probably loosing control. Like coming out of a turn I have to slowly bring it up to full speed on the straight.
If I turn the car around and take off from a stop in reverse, I can punch it full and the car stays real straight.
This got me wondering how it would work to take my four wheel slash and remove the rear driveshafts to make it a front drive car. Has any done that - or are there any front wheel drive rc cars?
Click to expand...
As you have learned, 2wd requires throttle control to keep the truck going straight. Suspension tuning, weight bias front to rear, and tires also come into play here.
 
Kyosho Maxxim FF 😍❤️😎

https://www.rcscrapyard.net/kyosho-maxxum-ff.htm

The fwd class never took off. I bet it would be SO FUN!!!

Traction in turns is wonk on fwd. in dirt at least... You either have diff action and steering with zero traction for acceleration or posi, no steering but plenty of traction to go forward.
Sweet spot was non existent then.
Fast forward to now with oil filled, tuned diffs and slippers...
I bet they could be run now and be quite a challenge to tune. Maybe a very rewarding experience.
 
Road America said:
I've noticed that with my 2 wheel drive slash on smooth dirt I can't accelerate full blast from a stop without fishtailing and probably loosing control. Like coming out of a turn I have to slowly bring it up to full speed on the straight.
If I turn the car around and take off from a stop in reverse, I can punch it full and the car stays real straight.
This got me wondering how it would work to take my four wheel slash and remove the rear driveshafts to make it a front drive car. Has any done that - or are there any front wheel drive rc cars?
Click to expand...
As you accelerate it will lift the front causing traction problems. You might want to look at some weight for the front.
 
I haven't tried it yet, I didn't feel like messing with those eensy weensey e-clips on the u-joints.
At least I don't have to wreak anything to try this, the drive shafts can always be put back on (if I don't loose those little e-clips).
Sounds like it won't be all that great anyhow.
 
Well, I tried it. I was replacing all four driveshafts because they were worn and loose anyway. I put new ones on the front and took the old rear ones and cut off the outer u-joint so I just had wheel carriers. It worked ok in that I could accelerate hard (sort of) without fishtailing. The bad part is, the car was slower. Not granny creeping slow but not as fast as it was before. It did handle fine through the turns though. White Crow is right, somehow the differential is causing this. There is no separate center diff, but maybe it's part of the rear gearbox assembly. I suppose the axle stubs that would normally drive the rear wheels must be turning faster than the fronts.
It was an interesting experiment anyway. I would like to find a used four wheel drive chassis (Slash preferably) and modify it so the motor just drives the front only.
 
Road America said:
Well, I tried it. I was replacing all four driveshafts because they were worn and loose anyway. I put new ones on the front and took the old rear ones and cut off the outer u-joint so I just had wheel carriers. It worked ok in that I could accelerate hard (sort of) without fishtailing. The bad part is, the car was slower. Not granny creeping slow but not as fast as it was before. It did handle fine through the turns though. White Crow is right, somehow the differential is causing this. There is no separate center diff, but maybe it's part of the rear gearbox assembly. I suppose the axle stubs that would normally drive the rear wheels must be turning faster than the fronts.
It was an interesting experiment anyway. I would like to find a used four wheel drive chassis (Slash preferably) and modify it so the motor just drives the front only.
Click to expand...
Lighter rear diff oil might/will lessen the rear wheel fish tailing effect since it will act more like an open diff rather than locked.
 
TeknoJ said:
Lighter rear diff oil might/will lessen the rear wheel fish tailing effect since it will act more like an open diff rather than locked.
Click to expand...
For sure. Can also give it some anti-squat, rear toe in, lower roll center, heavier sway bar, lighter center diff, etc.. Makes more sense than clipping its nuts, and reinventing the wheel rather than making adjustments, using finesse, and learning.. 😉
 
I'm not doing this because I can't drive the other cars well. I'm doing this because it is interesting and a chance to do and learn something different.
Front wheel drive would be something no one else is doing, and I like to "take the path less traveled".
It doesn't seem like driving a 1:1 car through a parking lot would apply to this subject.
 
Road America said:
I'm not doing this because I can't drive the other cars well. I'm doing this because it is interesting and a chance to do and learn something different.
Front wheel drive would be something no one else is doing, and I like to "take the path less traveled".
It doesn't seem like driving a 1:1 car through a parking lot would apply to this subject.
Click to expand...
He means you don't need to slam full throttle on every take off. Nothing handles well driving like that, I don't care what it is. I have one 2wd sct and it does not respond well to full throttle take offs. They just fish tail, that's what they do.
 
Road America said:
I'm not doing this because I can't drive the other cars well. I'm doing this because it is interesting and a chance to do and learn something different.
Front wheel drive would be something no one else is doing, and I like to "take the path less traveled".
It doesn't seem like driving a 1:1 car through a parking lot would apply to this subject.
Click to expand...
Sure made it sound like you were doing it because you “can’t get the car to drive straight under full power”… 🤷🏻‍♂️
 
I had noticed that full power take offs in reverse didn't fishtail, and wondered if front wheel drive would have have advantages, and how a front drive rc car would handle. That got me thinking about how to build something that would let me try it.
I thought maybe someone else had done this or had driven an rc car with front wheel drive.
I already know how to drive one with rear drive.
 
CertifiedMike said:
Kyosho Maxxim FF 😍❤️😎

https://www.rcscrapyard.net/kyosho-maxxum-ff.htm

The fwd class never took off. I bet it would be SO FUN!!!

Traction in turns is wonk on fwd. in dirt at least... You either have diff action and steering with zero traction for acceleration or posi, no steering but plenty of traction to go forward.
Sweet spot was non existent then.
Fast forward to now with oil filled, tuned diffs and slippers...
I bet they could be run now and be quite a challenge to tune. Maybe a very rewarding experience.
Click to expand...
I remember when that car came out and I just laughed it off.
Because I kinda' tried it with my Optima already by removing dogbones to run 2wd dirt oval!
First tried RWD only, then tried FWD also. Neither worked that well, didn't spend any time tuning diffs/suspension - I ended up buying an Ultima!
 
Thanks everyone. So front wheel drive has been tried before - not particularly successful it seems. I would like to mess around with it some more, but it certainly wouldn't be worth buying a new 4 wheel drive and ruining the gear box.
I need to find a junker four wheel drive chassis!
 

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