Reedy26

iTrader: (5)

I disagree. There are plenty of situations that I will land under full throttle. Especially if it is a large outdoor track with a "launch ramp" and I need to control the pitch of the truck mid air. If I start to nose dive because I let off to soon then I gotta floor it to get leveled out befor I land. Sometimes Im still on the throttle when I land. I have NEVER is 10+ years of racing stripped a trans/spur gear because of a landing. And I run my slipper clutch a bit tighter than the box settings on my Associated.

Slipper clutch and ball diff are adjustable for a reason. So you can change their settings to suit your driving style and track conditions.

With that said Ive always been a ball diff guy. To me it just seems a simpler set up once you get the hang of installing the diff balls.

Chuck 21

iTrader: (1)

There is a guy at our local track running a gear diff in his SC10 stock with
the black grease. He blows the factory drivers away by over a lap most of
the time and his truck is a stock RTR SC10 blue shocks & all no FT parts on
it at all.

He once in awhile gets to go out of town to race CA.NV.UT. and blows
everyone away at any track he goes to. The guy is very broke and runs
bald wore out tires he gets from other racers. He only can get to a race
if others offer to take him.

Ball Diff vs Gear Diff is all total bull $h!t IMO.. If your a good driver you
will go fast with any R/C car/truck with any tires,diff,slipper,shocks or
what ever. I know another driver in CA. (non Factory) that broke his
Kyosho SC in practice could not repair it. So he went out to his full size
car & got out his sons (BOX STOCK RTR) Traxxas SC I mean bone stock
tires,radio,shocks with box factory oil in them. He would kill everyone
with his K truck every race even the factory drivers. Guess what??? He
did it again in 17.5 class & Mod open class with the bone stock RTR
Traxxas...

Moral of the above stories is: If your good, it makes no difference what
your driving unless maybe your at the Nats or Worlds and even at that
level I think the same guys will win with anything their driving period"

Like a very wise roundy round driver told me once when I was younger
driving late model stock cars on dirt tracks.

He said Son" Why don't you quit wasting your sponsors money on big
engines trick chassis & parts. Just get your butt out there and practice
finding the fastest lines & the fastest way through traffic" You'll go alot
faster that way then spending all the money in the world (I promise ya")
He was 100% correct and it apply's to all forms of racing.

Get on the track and learn to go fast with what you have, not what
everyone else thinks you need to go fast...

Okay" I'm off my soap box now LOL"

Wild Cherry

I know for a fact if your slipper is torque down nice & tight , your gona be a lap down compared to me ...

mattleegee

iTrader: (9)

I switched over to ball diffs after many recommendations, it has specifically helped my driving abilities putting down better track times

If someone needs extra gear diffs so they can have these "different weight" setups ready to go i got two of them in my tool box, and an extra case

no passenger

iTrader: (24)

Here is an older post i wrote on this topic. Use the Search function people. This topic gets discussed quite often.

BALL DIFF > GEAR DIFF

A gear diff is an "open" diff and power will be transferred to the tire with least amount of resistance. Typically, this is the inside tire. You might think, "ok perfect, power to the inside tire means more steering and easier/faster cornering." well yes this is true, but its usually excessive, cause fish-tailing, and not a lot of forward traction coming out of corners. This is where the ball diff comes in...

You can apply the same concepts, but ball diffs work more like a "limited slip" differential. They seem to have more initial resistance to rotation than a gear diff. If you pick up the rear end of your car/truck and spin one tire with your hand, you can feel this. almost any gear diff will be very easy to spin one wheel and have little to no stress on the driveline and the opposing tire will spin the opposite direction. If you do this with a ball diff, you will most likely spin your whole driveline, including motor.

The biggest advantage ive noticed with a ball diff in an sc10 is accelerating out of corners. I can get on the power a lot sooner and get more forward bite with the ball diff. Ive gone back and forth with both diff setups and tried everything from black grease to 5000wt diff oil, and even ran only 2 spider gears with different oil combinations.

In reply to other questions on here, slippers and diffs are both adjustable to track conditions. Manuals say dont use the diff for tuning because most people dont know how. The slipper is there to aid with traction on acceleration and protect the diff. Im sure many of you know that running your slipper too tight will cause your diff to slip under high load. Slipping ball diffs is VERY bad and causes premature wear.

simplechamp

iTrader: (73)

I have to agree with Dlewis4, it's going to be different for different drivers and situations.

Just because one guy (pro driver or not) had faster lap times with a ball diff doesn't mean it's the end all, be all right answer. It's called anecdotal evidence and doesn't really mean anything. "So and so did better with a ball diff, so it must be true for everyone in every situation" that is a logical fallacy.

What if I know someone who had the opposite effect, and had faster laps with a gear diff? Does that automatically cancel out your statement and make gear diffs faster? No, it just means for that person, that vehicle, that track, etc. the gear diff is faster.

It's fine to have an opinion or belief, but that doesn't automatically make it a fact.

wyd

iTrader: (51)

To me I ran mainly diffs for 20 plus years and just recently ran some gear diffs that don't leak or very little leakage. I will say for me with the right silicone or grease in the gear diff it can easily be as fast as a diff. I do like the little to no maintenace of a gear diff. Once you find the fluid you like in them its easy after that. I have two different ones I have used and like both on the track. Its nice and smooth but not too tight or too loose.

Everyone has their favorite and not up to us to tell that person what is best for them. Its up to the person driving as to what feels best.

Wild Cherry

If you gave a good driver or a beginner a poorly set-up car and timed them they will go slower.
Fact :with out good traction & steering their driving abilities will suffer ..

Has nothing to do with their style or technique..
So ?
If you time a good driver or a poor driver between using a Diff with gears or balls ?

The ball diff will be faster with either driver , the stop watch could care less who is driving and will show the truth..

The stop watch is the proof I'm right and
the lap time is the "fact" and it always proves who's is correct.

Testing is the only way to find out and a professional driver like Scott has the experience to learn with testing the "facts" how's the car performs best ...




So tell the professional you still go faster with a gear diff and find out if it changes his facts ...


Do it till you turn blue ...

Dlewis4

iTrader: (148)

Again- to each his own.

I am faster with gear diffs. You can think what you want about me-i am a contender every week at my track in any class I run. In 4wd, i was 2 laps faster with my Durango than i ever was with a B44. Gear Diffs.

Scott is a pro driver. He can run whatever he wants from AE. He is faster with a ball diff. Thats great.

I like the consistency and ease of a gear diff. Very similar to my 8th scale stuff.

rangerjkb

iTrader: (45)

I'm liking the gear diffs, seems to put more power to the ground. For me, it's better.

synap2012

iTrader: (2)

for electric hands down ball diff, any track, any condition. It all comes down to knowing how to tune a ball diff. Most folks have no idea what they are doing with a ball diffs so they quickly go back to the gear diff. Just what I see around the tracks around here.

Dlewis4

iTrader: (148)

Ugh....

rangerjkb

iTrader: (45)

Wow, what a battle of types of differentials are better..... All great points, some fact and some belief (kinda like trying to justify global warming or reverse hypothesis ). It does come down to what a particular driver prefers and is more confident/comfortable with using, resulting in acheiving faster lap times, similar to comparing better chassis platforms (AE vs. Losi vs. Kyosho vs. Etc).

JFuel11

iTrader: (152)

I really had no idea this topic would become such a debate when I started this thread. I agree there has been some good discussion here.

So since we do not agree on types which is ok what are some of the key aspects of diff adjustment?

When should you run a tighter diff/heavier oil and when should you run a looser diff/lighter oil? What handling aspecst can you solve by making this adjustment especially on a 2wd vehicle? I have a basic understanding but am curious please.

t0p_sh0tta

iTrader: (35)

High traction = loose diff. You want the wheels to spin at different rates when turning, otherwise the car will push.

Low traction = heavy diff. You don't want the outside tire to unload when it breaks traction in a turn. Think of a spool/locked diff. Both wheels are more likely to spin at the same rate.