Cut rear tires for 4wd fronts
11-21-2008, 06:51 AM
#1
Cut rear tires for 4wd fronts
Anyone have a tutorial on how to do this? Ive run across several people saying it is easy but not found the way to do it yet. I have two sets of rears i would like to make one of them into fronts.
11-21-2008, 09:06 AM
#2
I've not seen a tutorial, but I've done it successfully. The trick is to get the cuts straight so both remaining halves match up with little or no gap.
I cut a set of red ifmar pin rears since Losi doesn't make these in fronts. I took a regular heavy scissor and cut between the pins 1/3 of the way in from the right side, then again 1/3 of the way from the left, leaving a rubberband shaped piece from the middle of the tire as scrap. In hindsight I think it took a little too much out of the tire, nearly 1/4 inch (4 rows of pins) where maybe only 2-3 rows were needed.
I carefully glued both halves together with tire glue not regular CA, since tire glue remains flexible where regular CA gets stiff when it cures. I went around after the glue was set and put two extra layers of glue on the inside of the tire, widening the patch of glue slightly each time to make sure it fully covered any gaps. I let them cure overnight, then mounted them on the rims as usual after cutting the foams down slightly to match (optional).
These tires are worn now, but are still our go-to set for the SBV2 at any track.
I also reglued a set of Prolines that the foams had collapsed in (imagine that, crappy proline foam!) but the tires still had great tread left. Since the beads were glued solid I cut down the center of the tire to peel the halves back to get the foams out and new ones back in. This worked great since the line was exactly matching from left to right, but I couldn't get the extra glue on the backside once they were closed. Made a great set of practice tires.
I cut a set of red ifmar pin rears since Losi doesn't make these in fronts. I took a regular heavy scissor and cut between the pins 1/3 of the way in from the right side, then again 1/3 of the way from the left, leaving a rubberband shaped piece from the middle of the tire as scrap. In hindsight I think it took a little too much out of the tire, nearly 1/4 inch (4 rows of pins) where maybe only 2-3 rows were needed.
I carefully glued both halves together with tire glue not regular CA, since tire glue remains flexible where regular CA gets stiff when it cures. I went around after the glue was set and put two extra layers of glue on the inside of the tire, widening the patch of glue slightly each time to make sure it fully covered any gaps. I let them cure overnight, then mounted them on the rims as usual after cutting the foams down slightly to match (optional).
These tires are worn now, but are still our go-to set for the SBV2 at any track.
I also reglued a set of Prolines that the foams had collapsed in (imagine that, crappy proline foam!) but the tires still had great tread left. Since the beads were glued solid I cut down the center of the tire to peel the halves back to get the foams out and new ones back in. This worked great since the line was exactly matching from left to right, but I couldn't get the extra glue on the backside once they were closed. Made a great set of practice tires.
11-21-2008, 11:07 AM
#7
I actually made lots of 2wd fronts from 4wd fronts well before I made a 4wd front from a rear tire. Back before Losi made a taper pin 2wd front and that was the hot ticket at several of the major electric off-road races...
11-21-2008, 04:19 PM
#10
There are a few R/C Car Action articles on this very subject. I wrote them 
. Check with them for a back issue.
. Check with them for a back issue.
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