Southpaw477

Agreed. Most people run an underpowered iron and forget to tin.

STLNLST

iTrader: (32)

I wouldn't say people have an under powered iron. I too ran into an issue removing the original wires from the speedo and I know for a fact I have a good iron. Whatever these things are held together with it takes a ton of heat to remove. Its a PITA. We better get back to talking about the B5 though before we get a finger shook at us.....lol

bds81175

iTrader: (20)

-finger shaker

triplesix

Does the new PL Predator body fit the Lowrider gearbox conversion cars?
I'm running an AC RC-Gear 4gear Lowrider conversion and I really don't like the look of the JC Finnisher I'm currently running and would love to switch to the PL...

Edit:
OK - it's written in the description, it does...
Sometimes watching the beautiful pictures is just not enough...

Bubonic-X

iTrader: (4)

Im confused why does everybody talk about lowrider this and that...How many astro tracks are there in the U.S.? I would think you don't need all that lowrider stuff to make a car decently competitive on Astro. Just sayin...

Sean B.

iTrader: (13)

This is an international forum.
Step outside the bubble. Just sayin...

the incubus

iTrader: (17)

If you know about racing you'd know that the lower everything is, the better. It doesn't matter of it's F1, Nascrap, Indy, GP2, LMP, GT, MotoGP, Slot cars, or RC cars… Lower center of gravity is the most crucial element, period.

Just because a car does better on a certain type of surface does not mean it cannot perform equally well on other surfaces. And if you stick with it, eventually you will make the car work better on any type of track period. If it was done with Rear Motor cars for 25+ years, so too can it be done with the low slung Mid-Motor cars currently flooding the hobby/sport.

They're still in their infancy so new things are being learned and discovered all the time and in due time laydown transmissions will be figured out and it would not surprise me to see laydown tranny cars winning everything. Dirt, Clay, Carpet, Astro.

Socket

iTrader: (61)

Low slung mid motor RC cars have been in production for 25 years as well. It's not a new concept.

Cite: My XX4 that would ruin the can of my trinity D4 every 10th race. Cans were a wear item.

racer1812

iTrader: (31)

Lay down tranny's have little to do with lowering the CG. A little sure. But they're using them because it moves the motor farther forward. Lay down tranny's are being used on high grip tracks to change the weight balance of the car (motor position). IF the "lay down" part was the only reason they were doing it we would see direct drive tranny's like oval guys use. You can worry about CG all you want, but if the weight balance is off you're screwed and left with one option. ADD weight behind the motor...cough cough TLR 22MM.

Socket

iTrader: (61)

There's definitely a push (pun intended) to move motors forward. But then there's also a trend to move them back as well.

The Centro, B5M, Bmax2 and the D216 all have a motor very far back. Coincidently, these cars (other than the D216, too new) are well known to have very good rear grip, with mm-like corner speed. They provide an excellent balance.

As traction has come up, and continues to, consistency has risen in demand as well. More traction, you can move the motor farther forward, and gain more corner speed without losing speed and drive off the corner.

F1 and other forms of sport have very little bearing on RC, because of the severe power to weight ratios RC has, as well as corner speed to direction change required. On scale, these cars are not at all in proportion, and haven't been for at least 25 years.

The yz2, 22, schumacher KF and other forward-motor car can do well on lower bite or lower consistency track, but still struggle with getting off the corner.

Cite: yz2 at nationals/cactus, as grip came down and consistency went to crap, the yz2 times dropped.

Incubus, could you please stop speaking without experience - soon we're going to ask how you did at nationals and other large races, because you're starting to spout off useless facts without ANY background. I realize you've bought a YZ2, please stick to telling them you know everything, not the B5M group.

tsair

iTrader: (3)

Anyone know of a source for 7mm ballstud washers? I run a B5R with 3mm of spacers (6mm ballstud) on the rear aluminum hub carriers, which only leaves 3mm of ballstud threaded into the carrier. Unfortunately this is a little small, which leads to easily stripped carriers in a crash.

AE makes an 8mm ballstud, but this goes too far into the carrier and rubs the bearing.

Or maybe I could try the Schelle version?

Thomas PA

You could always grind down the 8mm a little

Razathorn

iTrader: (2)

I disagree. The ideal front to rear weight distribution is different on low vs high traction surfaces. You can't just arbitrarily shove weight forward in an effort to lower cg under the guise that you can tune for any degree of change. Mid motor is nothing new for rc—super high traction tracks are if anything. We're not the pioneers of car development. Rear motor sand dune buggies and mid motor race cars, all developed surface appropriate, have been around for longer than rc cars—Roger Curtis used real off-road cars and existing full size race cars as his design influence for the original rc10. All were doing is gaining more traction with different surfaces and thus gaining the ability to use more surface appropriate chassis layouts.

Wayne

iTz Nicholas72

iTrader: (19)

I <3 my B5M!

That is all...

jpcopeland1

iTrader: (166)

I have had to add weight on all MM cars I have driven. Even my B5M lite needed the aluminum bits to get the forward bite I require. Its not just TLR.