Track Troubles...

[m00nst0ne69]

Into the second month of my first racing season. the first four races went awesome now the wear and tear of racing seems to be getting the better of me. First I found a couple cracks in the wheels that allowed the hubs to spin. Then a few rod ends stretched and some broke. Worst of all, the tank seal stretched and prevented the tank from closing properly. What a world of trouble that causes for tuning the engine! Last night...clutch issues...seems that poor tune caused my clutch to melt some and become grabby. This prevented me from having any get up and go no matter what the tune. Lessons learned.

I have seen many replacement clutch shoes and systems. Is there any place you can go to sort them all out? I am looking into 4 options.
1. Repair and modify the old clutch shoes...filing the edges and drilling new mount holes then resizing. Kind of like what you do with RPM racing shoes. free...May not work for long.
2. Upgrade to Aluminum clutch shoes with adjustable counter weight. most Cheap and will last longer then stock.
3. Upgrade to a 3 shoe clutch system. More $$
4. Upgrade to the Werks Racing adjustable clutch system. Most $$$ most interesting option!
Any thoughts?

 

[FastEddy]

Ill let others answer the clutch question.

When it comes to racing, the first thing you need to do is make sure your truck is going to finish the race. One of the biggest issues is making sure everything is in not only good shape but great shape. Its not uncommon to check all the weak points after every race and replace anything that looks less then perfect. After a race a close to complete tear down and cleaning should be done. Inspecting every part for wear and breakage is the best thing you can do. If a part looks even slightly worn, replace it. Not only will you have a new part on the truck you will have a spare to bring to the track.

Just some words from someone thats been there.

 

[Plaidfish]

4 races and I bet you didn't do one tear down huh?
racing is still racing...whether it's 1:1 or 1:10 scale.....do the nascar guys end a race and park the car in the garage until the next race day?......racing will wear your stuff out 10 times faster it seems.......this is the point where you ask yourself if you really want to race or just go play at the track......I do both

 

[Revo Rancher]

What did you do to cure the tank seal problem? Both me and Jetmech have had this as an ongoing issue.

 

[Diver6127]

#1, I agree with plaid. Tear down your car. Clean and relube your bearings as well as just "general cleaning." This will allow you to inspect vital parts in the driveline. As far as your clutch goes, you can just replace the shoes. If you go for aluminum, you will need to debur them avery so often.

When tearing your clutch apart, deglaze the clutchbell and roughen up the shoes after every raceday. IF you have time, do it before your mains. If you want to upgrade your clutch system, the werks adjustable clutch is the way to go. It's basically a centax system (push type clutch). You can adjust engaement points with a turn of a screw. Only thing is that you have to keep an eye on your thrust bearing. Relube it every 3-5 runs or it'll just explode into a bunch of little ball bearings all over your pit towel.

Those that don't tear down their cars will reap what they sow (or don't sow). It's vital, even for those that just run the park. When you race, carry 2-3 pf every part you will most often break. Basically servos, driveline parts and suspension parts. Remy saw what I take with me to the track. Basically enough to build 3 cars. I have every screw, e-clip and used to carry a spare chassis.

 

[m00nst0ne69]

Great information folks. A little depressing but great. First problem is the one we all know to well, I'm on a budget wait...a tight budget. The next but easiest to resolve, Time, I have maybe a couple of nights a week and one of those is dedicated to racing. Excuses to some reality to most. I can manage a partial tear down in the time I have and save full tear downs for the weekend.

Now as for the clutch shoes, I just looked at both sets I have and I think I can salvage them. Partially by deglossing, partially trimming down. The added bennefit of that is I may get a a little more punch. But that also means that they will wear quicker. Hey would you look at that, I'm learning. hehehe As for the rest, I am upgrading a little at a time. This winter will bring some welcome down time to build the spare parts inventory.

Revo Rancher, I did two things to cure the tank issue.
First I changed methodology. I check the seal after very tank and when I close the tank I give it an extra touch just to make sure it's in place.
Next I went to a local harware store and bought a bunch of o rings the same size. I put one in a tuperware container (don't tell my wife) with a splash or two of feul to see how it holds up. I'll have to get back to you on how that works. The only thing I didn't simulate with that is hot exhaust. But even if they only last a month at $.20 a piece I can change one or two every week and be quite happy.

 

[J-Daddy]

For clutch shoes grab the MIP ones, they work great. I run them in my race Revo with the OS 18tm and I love it.
Now for the fuel tank problem, the Revo stock tank SUCKS...It's the worst part on the entire truck...You have 2 options, either buy a bunch of rebuild orings for it and rebuild it every time you run it to be totally safe...OR... Replace the tank with another style of tank. I run a MUGEN MBX5 1/8th scale buggy tank on my Revo now, it takes some work and you have to do away with the battery box but it's alot better tank. Or alot of other people are running the Trinity Spyder MT tank, kinda of the same deal, you have to repostion it to where your battery/receiver box is but it's still better in the long run.
Wheels= the stock Gemini wheels suck, they are known to crack and strip the hex hub out....2 options, if you want to keep the factory size hub either get some Traxxas Hurricane wheels or some Proline Veloctity dish wheels....Or go to 23mm wheels & hubs and use the Wabash wheels from Proline and either Proline 23mm hubs or the Dace 22mm hubs "Dace is your best bet for those"....
After that just maintain everything and you should be good to go.

 

[cvec7]

The nova adjustable shoes are great! A great improvement over my mugen teflon shoes. I'm running the novas on my savage, so I can't really tell you how the revo ones perform, But I reckon they perform just as good.

 

[jetmechG550]

I may have found an o-ring. Won't know until I get home on friday but I'll let you know.

 

[Plaidfish]

moonstone,
you got the right idea on the tear down...beleive it or not we all have the same deal....not enough time to set our stuff up properly so 10PM friday night you start tearing it down and stay up all night to get it ready to race on saturday...yeah I do that more often than not.....if you are seriously starting to race let me give you a tip....clean everything after every race day.....that's the only way you will see what's messed up from th eraces and hopefully by replacing or repairng something you save another part from breaking prematurely......I wouldn't try and repair clutch shoes though....I think your logic in the mod on them is backwards...if you lighten the clutch it will engage sooner not giving more power to the wheels but actually robbing it from tem.....you want the clutch to engage later so you can let the engine rev up more before the load is put on it.....get the mip shoes...about 10 bucks and they last and work very well w/ all the CB and Flywheel you already have.....if you get a bigger badder mill one day then look at changing the clutch set up you run....

 

[Revo Rancher]

Moon, as you can see, JetMech and myself are experiencing the same issues with the tank seal. If either one of you comes up with a useful alternative part for that o-seal LET ME KNOW PLEASE!

 

[m00nst0ne69]

Revo Rancher & Jet Mech...will do. Everyone else thanks!