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diff fluids for bashing around on the street

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smirkracing

Well-known member
Messages
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Tekno RC's
  1. EB410
  2. EB48
  3. ET48
Driving Style
Basher
All the tracks are closed, so I'm mostly bashing my eb410.2 around on the street, setting up a small ramp and jumping, etc.

What diff fluids would you recommend?

I had the car set up to stock weights per the manual, but I was getting tremendous ballooning of my front tires. Stock weight on the center diff is 30k, so I bumped that to 80k, and that's helping some, although I think I still might need to increase it to maybe 150k or thereabouts.

Now, though, I am getting some instability while accelerating hard or even just at high speeds. If there's a slight bump, or I'm turning, I can see one wheel start to unload too much, balloon, and then the car starts to whip back and forth. I am guessing my set-up is now way out of balance (heavy center, so the rear is still getting a lot of power, but very light fluid in the rear).

Any thoughts for a good set of weights for the f/c/r for on-road bashing? This is NOT racing, so I'm willing to give up some agility and race-prowess for a more fun (and hopefully stable ) ride.

Thanks!
 
Traditional on road setups have very heavy fluid in the front. To the point where the diff is almost locked (millions CST). I don’t like going too high, but would start there second (since you already raised the center diff fluid).
Get your front real high and see what it does. Rear should be fine tuned from there.
 
Bill, thanks for helping.

I am running these tires:
DuraTrax Bandito 1/10 Front 4WD On-Road Buggy Tire (2) (C3),
DuraTrax Bandito 1/10 Buggy Rear On-Road Tire (2) (C3)

I bought those because you recommended Banditos back in Dec when I first got the EB410.

But, I had not realized how many different choices there were, and maybe the specific ones I got are too soft (they are ballooning badly). The ones you're linked are also C3 compound, like the ones I have.

Are there harder compounds with Duratrax?
 
I've been bashing my new .2 on the street. I'm running proline primes for slicks. I'm also running the thing basically box stock except for ride height and camber tweaks. stock diff fluids. 30k center, 15k front, 10k rear.

it traction flips in tight turns when starting off by flooring it
it understeers like crazy at speed
I can do donuts if I'm careful

BUT it is very controllable and predictable.
 
I've been bashing my new .2 on the street. I'm running proline primes for slicks. I'm also running the thing basically box stock except for ride height and camber tweaks. stock diff fluids. 30k center, 15k front, 10k rear.

it traction flips in tight turns when starting off by flooring it
it understeers like crazy at speed
I can do donuts if I'm careful

BUT it is very controllable and predictable.

That is almost exactly the way mine drives... maybe not surprising if we've both built them per the manual.

I did move to 80k diff fluid in the center, and that made a very noticeable difference in acceleration. I will probably bump up some more, because I'm still nowhere near flipping or even doing wheelies (which is not the goal, but just a way of knowing when you've gone too far).
 
I don't think it'll ever do a wheelie. Weight is too far forward and CG is pretty low.

I might try the "B" (outer knuckle) hole for the front camber link to see if I can reduce turn-in aggressiveness and improve mid-corner steering.

What is your droop looking like? Ride height?
 
Maybe set up the front diff more like a TC. Most TC these days have a spool in the front, this helps with on power steering. I am pretty sure there is not a spool option for the front but you can up the front diff fluid to lock it up more to create a similar affect.

Also, lower ride heights, stiffer springs and sway bars and adjustments to lower your roll center will help on-road driving.

Yes there are harder compounds C2 is what I have and am using on both my ET snd EB.
 
Maybe set up the front diff more like a TC. Most TC these days have a spool in the front, this helps with on power steering. I am pretty sure there is not a spool option for the front but you can up the front diff fluid to lock it up more to create a similar affect.

Also, lower ride heights, stiffer springs and sway bars and adjustments to lower your roll center will help on-road driving.

Yes there are harder compounds C2 is what I have and am using on both my ET snd EB.

Good idea. I'll see just how easy the "quick change" diffs are to change out. Maybe aim for triple the oil weight (45 to 50k).

Thanks for the tip on the C2 compound - ordered a set of those.



I don't think it'll ever do a wheelie. Weight is too far forward and CG is pretty low.

I might try the "B" (outer knuckle) hole for the front camber link to see if I can reduce turn-in aggressiveness and improve mid-corner steering.

What is your droop looking like? Ride height?

Yeah, you are probably right.

I haven't measured droop or ride height recently, but I can tell you that to start, I left the shock collars almost all the way to the top of the shock (down a few threads, just so the spring is engaged even at full extension). So the ride height is quite low. I am not using droop screws yet, so the droop is large.

The first problem I want to solve is total lack of on-power steering...
 
That will make a difference from what you are currently running for sure.
 
News that doesn't require diff rebuilds... have you tried changing your kickup/caster in the front? I flipped the front A block pivots so the dot is center top. At-speed steering improved a little. I plan to put the center low dot in the B block to increase caster even more and see how that changes things.
 
It changed things, but it makes the car too aggressive at turn in at low-mid speeds. Thankfully it can pull out of oversteer easily, but it's just too much.
 
So you're undoing it? Let me know what you try next. What tires are you running?
 
Not yet. To be honest, it's a little fun. Plus the, as the saying goes, understeer is scary for the driver, oversteer is scary for the passenger. I can do donuts all day long if I want....

I'm running proline primes in MC (clay) compound. The asphalt is pretty fresh and grippy and these may not last til summer!
 
@smirkracing did you ever land on a diff setup that worked well?

I finally got PART of my diff fluid shipment from last summer (wtf right?) and have 100k and 60k to play with.

I was thinking of starting with 100k front, 60k center and seeing how it works. I can always mix them for viscosity values in between...
 

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