Lots of issues with traxxas stampede

[Dupuis53]

So i just got a traxxas stampede. I'm new to all this and i guess i need quite a bit of help. Let me start from the begining of my problems.

the first day that i recieved the car used, i notice that after driving it around for about 15 minutes that my spur gear was stripped, i soon replaced it and got back to driving.

once i got it started i realized that the car would not move with the throttle. the problem was the clutch bell not contacting the spur gear. i stopped the engine and loosened the engine from the motor mount. i tried to slide it as far ahead on the mount as possible but it would still not contact.

i decided to drill 2 new wholes for the motor mount so that the 2 gears would spin. i tried to start the car but it was very hard to get running, once on the engine ran and i drove down my street but when i slowed down the engine cut out and died.

Then i restarted the car and it died as soon as i let out on the gas. started the engine again and it took off at max speed and hit the neighbors house.

I guess my two problems are why, ( since the spur gear and clutch bell gear are the stock ones) would after wrecking it would i not be able to get the gears to touch and secondly whats wrong with the engine that would make it be so erradict?

 

[noidle22]

sounds like the reason it's hard to start and cuts out when you let off the throttle is the gears are now too close together. too much friction in the gear mesh means more effort from the engine needs to go into making them spin effectively, the idle speed and running at low speed will not spin the gears smoothly and the increased friction will slow the engine down quickly and make it stall. kind of difficult to explain what i mean. a good way to check that your gear mesh is correct is to get a piece of paper or thin card and slide it between the gears then pull it back out. there should be enough give in the mesh to allow the paper to be inserted easily then removed without ripping it.
only reason i can think of for why it took off when you started it is that your batteries were getting pretty flat in the car's receiver or your transmitter, always make sure that they're well charged. not sure what else it could've been, unless there was some serious radio interference in your immediate area.

 

[MR4X4KING]

you bought this used did you go over the vehicle to check things before driving it?
what engine is in it?
please post some pics so we can see

 

[granjer]

"Loosened the engine from the mount"? Unless I'm mistaken, typically you loosen the mount from the chassis. The holes should already be slotted. You shouldn't need to drill new holes unless whom ever dropped the cb tooth # without upping the spur gear thooth #.
+1 on gear mesh being to tight.. pics would help see what's going on.

 

[truggy83]

when I got my used stampede I ended up putting more money into it that I could have gotten a new one. It sounds like your engine mount holes may be stripped causing the engine to come loose. Set your gear mesh. Take a piece of notebook paper and slide it between the spur gear and the clutch bell gear. Move the engine so it is resting against the spur gear. Make sure it is contacting the gear but you don't want to make it too tight. Tighten down the engine mount bolts so they are snug. Don't over tighten them. Run another small strip of notebook paper between the gears. It should come out like an accordion but there should be no holes in the paper. If there is move the engine away from the gear a little and retest.

You may want to check your clutch spring and shoes to make sure that they are not broken. Did the wheels try to spin when you start the engine? If so you should check it. Take the engine out. There is a C clip on the end of the clutch bell. Remove that and pull the clutch bell off. Be careful because there should be a little washer behind the C clip which may fall off. There is also two bearings inside the clutch bell. Pull the clutch bell off and make sure the spring is still on the shoes and that the shoes look ok. Make sure the clutch shoes are installed correctly by comparing them to your instruction manual.

Otherwise it sounds like you may have tuning issues with the engine. Does it have the .15 trx engine? If you could post some pictures we could better help you.

Like I said before I bought a basketcase Nitro Stampede as my first R/c without knowing it was so rought. I ended up spending almost $500 on parts to get it back to stock and than I changed my mind and did a 2.5 R conversion on it. I have tore the truck apart so many times I could probably do it with my eyes closed lol. I can help you if you have any questions or dissasembly or assembly questions let me know.

 

[Dupuis53]

heres the motor, its a trx 15. from research its the stock engine on these.
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/837/motorf.jpg/

heres what i had to do just to get the bell to hit the spur
http://img836.imageshack.us/i/redidmount.jpg/
http://img51.imageshack.us/i/withoutmotor.jpg/

Heres the alignment after makin new holes for the mount
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/641/alignmento.jpg/

So one of my friends told me that a bent chassis could be whats going on. Also i realized the clutch gear was way to tight against the spur.

 

[Dupuis53]

found the problem, the chassis was mounted wrong. Got it put back right, threw a new gear on and filled the tank!

It runs like a champ but i found it apparent that they like to roll alot, going to buy a roll cage. One last thought is that it burns through nitro amazingly quick, it is running way to rich and you car see nitro all over the exhaust and chassis. Any ways to adjust this?

 

[truggy83]

Glad to hear you figured it out. Were you able to go back to the stock mounting holes now? Your spur gear looks a little worn in those pictures, I am not sure if you said you replaced it or not but if not it will need replaced soon. When you replace it, buy a couple, you will go through these pretty fast.

You said it is getting fuel all over the exhaust and chassis. I am assuming you do not have the stock exhaust pipe on it than. The stock exhast pipe exits from the rear of the car sitting behind the rear shock tower and has two rubber ends which make up the dual exhaust system. It is normal for some oil to be on or around your exhaust. These are two stroke engines which mean that the car using oil in the fuel to help keep the engine cool and lubricated and the fuel and intake valves are open at the same time. The engine sucks fuel in, combusts it and the left over oil gets shot through the exhaust pipe. Nothing that can be done about that however you can control it somewhat by the high speed needle I am assuming you have a stinger type aftermarket pipe on the car. Maybe you can take a picture of the muffler to verify this. You can get something like this http://cgi.ebay.com/Duratrax-Exhaust-Diverter-TORQ-12-/250771960682?_trksid=p3286.m7&_trkparms=algo%3DLVI%26itu%3DUCI%26otn%3D2%26po%3DLVI%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D9075288882060509917

It mounts on the stinger of the pipe and you can adjust the exhaust spray away from the chassis. Most people like to direct them down at the ground. This will only work if you have an aftermarket pipe on though. It won't work on the duel exhaust pipe that comes stock on the stampede.

I highly recommend that you purchase a small temperature gauge from you local hobby store or online hobby store. These come in very handy when it comes to tuning these engines and it helps to catch problem before they get worse. Duratrax makes one for under $30. If you are spitting a lot of oil out the exhaust and the car is boggy and has a hard time reaching full speed you may be running the engine to rich or too much fuel to air. This can be adjusted pretty easily though.

To adjust the fuel mixture you want to lean out the High Speed Needle or HSN. The HSN is the needle that sticks up off the carb and has like a plastic end on it with a flat head screw sticking out. Turning this screw clockwise will lean out your fuel mixture which will result in the engine getting less fuel which means less oil will shoot out the exhaust. It also means that your engine temperature will go up exponentially as you are lessessing the amount of cooling oil that is mixed in the fuel so the engine gets hotter. On the flip side if you richen the fuel mixture out (turn the HSN counter clockwise) you are giving the engine more fuel which means more cooling oil will run through the engine and the engine will thus run cooler. Most engines run good in between the 200-250 range.

Now to tune the HSN. Start the car up and run it around for about half a tank of fuel to make sure it is up to its normal opperating temp. Make several high speed passes and note the performance. Bring the car back in, top off the fuel.
Turn the HSN clockwise no more than 1/8th of a turn clockwise. Make some high speed passes and note the performance. The performance should be increasing. Bring the car back in, turn the needle clockwise another 1/8th turn and run some high speed passes. You should see an improvement in acceleration. Keep doing this (making 1/8 turn adjustments and running high speed passes) until you don't notice any improvement in acceleration. Now RICHEN the needle by turning it COUNTER CLOCKWISE 1/8th turn. Your high speed needle should now be properly set.

If at anytime when you are tuning the HSN and you car cuts out at high speed or dies or starts to overheat (smoking head, temperatures 300 + at the glow plug) this is bad and means you went too far off the safe lean on the HSN RICHEN the HSN by turning it COUNTER CLOCKWISE 1/4 of a turn. Run some high speed passes and note temperature is falling under 300 and car is not cutting out or stalling. All engines are different but for the .15 they like to run a little above 200 around the 220 225 range. 270 and higher is getting to close to a too lean condition.

You will have to do this as your weather changes. The overall outside temperature, humidity, barometer all play in to how you will have to tune the engine. Generally cooler temps mean the air is more dense and thus you will have to richen the HSN. Hotter temps and you will lean the HSN out. Again having a temp gauge helps immensely in the tuning of the engine. When you check the temp of the engine with a temp gauge you hold the gauge approximately 1 inch from the engine head so that the sensor on the gauge is shooting down into the head at the glow plug.

I put an exhaust diverter on my stampede and I barely ever see oil on the chassis. There is some on the pipe where the stinger is but that will happen no matter what you do. Part of the perks of running a nitro I guess.

 

[mtaylortank]

yeah them exhaust diverters do save alot of the the mess for away from the rigs..... definetly helps keep them clean...dupuis while I was looking at the pic.s and it looked like quite abit of nitro was on the chassis (or oil residue) but it is always good to keep that stuff clean you never know when it could cause a problem... I dont know it thats just how anul i am about cleaning mine or not but it helps to keep that stuff off your hands.

 

[Dupuis53]

I have the stock exhaust on it, last night when running it the exhaust tube blew open when it rolled. I ran it without an exhaust, the back off the chassis was covered in oil. I do tend to wipe it down after i put it away.

Are there any quieter exhaust that i could put on it?

After running 4-5 tanks through it the cooling head was meerly warm to the touch, it was slightly cold out but it is bogging a little when you get on the gas.
i will try to adjust it and then re-post later today.

thank you for all the help guys!

 

[mtaylortank]

yup you will want to lean it alittle.. and those rubber ends you can get will quiet it down alot more than you would think.. I have one on a tmaxx and one tmaxx that dont and you can definetly tell the diference in sound between the 2... I dont know if running it without the exhaust will hurt it or not but I have seen bad outcomes while a friend was driving his with no muffler... And yeah it makes one heck of a mess.... good luck!!!!!!!!!

 

[truggy83]

I wouldn't run it without an exhaust pipe, it may lean the fuel mixture out to much and cause the engine to overheat. This was a mistake that I made with my stampede when I first got it because it didn't have the exhaust on it. I ran it without the pipe. Thats why my stampede now has the 2.5r in it. I believe I and the previous owner ruined the .15 by running it without an exhaust. Once I put the proper exhaust on I was surprised how much it quieted it down. You can pretty much put any exhaust on it with the right parts and adapters. Look at putting the stock traxxas 2.5 engine conversion kit muffler on it. That made my 2.5r very quiet. Not sure what the part number is but your local hobby shop should know. I wouldn't start the engine till you get that exhaust fixed. It will save your engine, your ears and some money from your wallet. It's too bad you are so far away, I have that rubber silicon pipe just sitting in my hobby box and I would give it to you. Unfortunately it would probably cost more to ship it than it would for you to get one from your hobby shop.

 

[mtaylortank]

definetly right on the money glad you figured that part out even though you had to lose an engine to find out but as long as you learned from it it is normaly worth it... The people that always do the same things over and over again even though they brake it are kinda funny to watch at first and then you always end up feeling bad for the rigs....

But yeah definetly a good idea to make sure the exhaust is alset before running again...

 

[Dupuis53]

I need to recharge my easy starter battery, i found a random ni-cid charger with the same tip and used that... seems to have worked but i would rather buy a pull start.

Any advice on it?

 

[truggy83]

Some people like them some don't. I was starting to hate my EZ starter on my .15 engine because the one way bearing kept slipping. It would take forever to start the engine or I would have to pull it off and clean it up. I despised the ez start and wanted to get a pull start. When I got my jato it came with the ez start. It has been working great and I do love it. When they work they are great. When they don't it can be a pain. My 2.5R on my pede that I have came with a pull start. I don't mind it too much and it works good. Only downside is having to take the body off to start it. But you have to take the body off to refuel it anyways. Either way they both work and it is more a personal preference. If you get a pull start you will have to get a glow ignitor. Also having a pull start means no more wires or ez start motor on the car to clutter it up and weigh it down.

 

[mtaylortank]

The other good thing about pull start is no more replacing the blue wires.. honestly half of my rigs have e-zstart and the other half has pullstart.. the only problem with the pull start is my glow igniiiter finaly fell apart so I have to go get a new one I recomend buying 2 glow igniters at a time just to be safe.. and on the e-z start always have a brand new spare harness available... and possibly extra wand and batt..

 

[Dupuis53]

well i got it charged up, but blew something in the ez starter up. Local hobby shop said that i would either have to buy a new starter, or buy a glow plug igniter.

the starter isnt sending power to the glow plug so i might go with a plug igniter

 

[Rolex]

That's been a common problem with their EZ start for many years. The circuit board fails and it will no longer light the plug. I can't believe they haven't corrected it yet. I guess they like to sell extra starter wands.
Go with the separate ignitor. It's the best way to get a hot glow and longer life from the starter battery.

 

[Dupuis53]

ok thank you

 

[mtaylortank]

I agree with Rolex by now you figure they would have fixed the problem or atleastvuse alttle better gauge wires so they don't fray up as quick. And the wands it seems to be the glow igniter part that always fail first. I have a couple wands that have only lasted a couple months and then I had to replace them with new and now sometimes I have to still use a glow igniter to get them started. I know my fuel plays a part at this time but i think there will still be lingering problems even after I switch fuel. Good luck!!