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Slipper Clutch

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NitroNewb

NitroNewb

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How tight should the spur gear get when adjusting the slipper clutch. I mean, the truck was barely moving from idle when given the throttle. I'm always hearing on here about adjusting the slipper clutch so I looked it up. All the book says is clockwise for less slip, counter for more. Should I be noticing a difference in the free spinning of the spur gear? I haven't run it yet after tightening it but it didn't seem to make the gear any tighter. I was told to tighten the nut until the gear is hard to turn with your fingers. That just doesn't sit right so I thought I'd come on here and ask.
GHM
 
It all depends on what sort of conditions you will be running under. Whether it's a race, or a practise session or just bashing around. Also, the type of ground you will be running on is important. If you were to be running on loose slippery gravel, you would want the slipper clutch adjusted so that it slips more and vice versa.

All depends on what you are happy with. Play around with the settings.
 
It should be hard to turn with your hand but not impossible. A good starting point is usually tightening it down all the way then backing off 1/4 turn.
 
The purpose of the slipper clutch isn't to "tighten" the gear or anything like that. It is do reduce shock by allowing the transmission to slip on hard landings when on the gas or on take off. So, by tightening/loosening the slipper, you won't notice anything by spinning the gear by hand unless you lock the trans.

You do this by putting a wrench in the hole of the shaft on the opposite side of the trans so it can't spin. That is the other end of the input shaft that the spur is spinning on. By sticking a wrench in that, your locking the shaft. Then try and spin the gear by hand, which should be hard to do, but it should spin.

An easier way to adjust it is to get the truck running and up to temp. Hold the truck down hard against the pavement by pushing down on the roll bar with the body off. Give it full throttle for a few seconds and see if the spur spins (while the wheels do not). If it does spin, then your slipper is doing it's job. If it doesn't, then your slipper is probably too tight. If it spins with minimal throttle input, then it's probably set too loose and your loosing acceleration off the line as a result.

If it doesn't slip when you do this, then it won't be likely to slip when it's supposed to, so it won't help avoid drive line breakage.
 
olds97_lss said:
The purpose of the slipper clutch isn't to "tighten" the gear or anything like that. It is do reduce shock by allowing the transmission to slip on hard landings when on the gas or on take off. So, by tightening/loosening the slipper, you won't notice anything by spinning the gear by hand unless you lock the trans.

You do this by putting a wrench in the hole of the shaft on the opposite side of the trans so it can't spin. That is the other end of the input shaft that the spur is spinning on. By sticking a wrench in that, your locking the shaft. Then try and spin the gear by hand, which should be hard to do, but it should spin.

An easier way to adjust it is to get the truck running and up to temp. Hold the truck down hard against the pavement by pushing down on the roll bar with the body off. Give it full throttle for a few seconds and see if the spur spins (while the wheels do not). If it does spin, then your slipper is doing it's job. If it doesn't, then your slipper is probably too tight. If it spins with minimal throttle input, then it's probably set too loose and your loosing acceleration off the line as a result.

If it doesn't slip when you do this, then it won't be likely to slip when it's supposed to, so it won't help avoid drive line breakage.
Click to expand...

Right now I can put the allen in the hole in the end of the slipper shaft and spin the spur gear freely. So I should tighten this down some.
I understand the purpose of the slipper and different traction situations, I just didn't want to tighten it down to much and break something.
 
Perfect. Running great. Is it anything other than vibration that would cause that to loosen so much??
GHM
 
Once I got mine tight and adjusted, I haven't had any problems with it coming loose. I know your son runs it for hours at a time and drives it like he stole it (which is a good thing, no its a GREAT thing) so it could be vibrating loose. I use the tighten it then back off a quarter turn trick and so far it's been just right for me. Haven't broken the driveline or gotten any heat from excessive slippage. If your spur gear melts or warps, it is often because of the heat from the slipper slipping excessively.
 
If it loosens again, take it almost all the way off and smear some locktite on the threads, then tighten it back down. I do that on the slipper nut for pretty much all my trucks to help avoid it coming loose.
 

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