WHITESTER

This should get intresting....

What are the pros and cons of Shaft driven cars?
What are the pros and cons of Belt driven cars?

Please be accurate in your statements, and opinions, know your facts before you type. Thanks!

patcollins

The pros of a shaft include the ability to take a few rocks and not chew a belt. With my yokomo YR4M2 Pro I ruined several rear belts because the surface we ran on had a lot of little rocks in places and just one got under that rear belt it was gone. Now most of the beltdrives are sealed and dont have this problem.

A shaft car is easier to take the trannies apart and rebuild the diffs. It use to take me all day to redo the diffs in my Yoke but only an hour or so to do my TC3.

WHITESTER

Great!
I am looking for power, effieceny pros and cons. Which is better and why??

dtm

No... not really, this subject has been discussed to death in just about every forum on the internet! AND THAT IS A FACT!!!!!

Modena AL

Why do you say "know your facts before you type"? You are the one with the question! Besides, you are asking a completely opinionated question, so everyones answer will be different... .

I do not feel inclined to answer your completely opinionated question because you sound like one of those people that come into the hobbystore I work at, ask me a question, and then tell me I don't know what I am talking about, when you are the one with the question, that probably doesn't know whats going on anyway.

Corse-R

Shaft driven cars:

Pros:
Better efficiency, it can run very loose without failing putting large amounts of torque on the wheels.

Since they don't have 'elastic' parts in the transmission, the power output is more real and instantaneous since they don't have parts to stretch.

With a closed transmission design, the dust remains out of your delicate differentials and remains in good shape more time.

Dismantling a part of the transmission is clean and quick, you only need to remove few screws to access to the differential without battling with belt tensions and other weird things.

Cons:
With a design with transmission bar and the bar stays loose on their place, it moves back and forth, creating some sound. Tip: install a blup MIP o-ring at each end of the bar.

Is more prone to create some noise when functioning. the shape of the gears is very sensitive to this.



Belt driven cars (I don't want to enter sepparating 1, 2 or 3 belt cars).

Pros:
Since they rely on elastic parts to transfer the power from the motor to the wheels, the power output is filtrated by the elastic properties of the belt and their tension. This can be an advantage on low grip conditions.

Lesser noisy cars: since they don't have to battle with gear alignment and other noisy issues, those cars should be more silent.

Cons:

On open case diff designs: The dust and small pebbles are quite interested on becoming a 'part' of your diff, ruining it or ruining the belt.

Closed case designs: changing a belt can be painful (ask about those to Street weapon owners and their front belt).

Knowing the shape of a belt on a closed transmission car is like a lotto: you never know when a belt should fail simply seeing the belt. And as Mr. Murphy teached us, they fail when you are TQ on the main final.

I tried to be as much impartial as I can be. I've driven cars with transmission bars, 3 belts, 2 belts and one belt.

seaball

iTrader: (9)

wow. the meat is on. whoops i meant heat. i did. i dunno. i have a tc3 and a few belt drive cars too. the tc3 is loud. big deal. it's sealed drivetrain is a blessing on dirty lots or tracks. when properly set up, the shaft can be very efficient. a big difference between the two is sort of an efficiency versus speed issue. regardless of speed, a shaft drive transmission maintains virtually the same amount of drag. a belt drive tranny on the other hand can gain efficiency as the centripetal force pulls the belts away from the pulleys. what this means is that at lower speeds the shaft system may well be more efficient, as seen in the accelleration of a tc3, but as the speed increases the edge may lead in the direction of the belt cars. as with the single belt cars, most of the resistance comes from the layshaft and idler tensioner area and doesn't seem as affected by rpm's as a dual belt system.
another issue that is inherent to the shaft drive cars is torque steer. not because of the shaft, but as a result of the inline motor position. it's minimal, and of course won't, by itself, keep anyone out of the a main, but an issue all the same.

well, i tried not to be opinionated and just relay what i have read or experienced. hope it was some help.

Modena AL

People know when my TC3 is on the track. It sounds like a jet doing down the straitaway. I think its a combination of the IRS chassis, Robinson Machined spur, aluminum parts.... and the fact that I cut the back of the body out for less wind resistance cause it to make the noise that it does. I LOVE IT!!!!

WHITESTER

Hmmm... you sound alittle stressed. Need to relax alittle. My point was about "know your facts...' was because I didn't want people just spurting things out. I probably should have asked for experienced opinions. I just went about it a different way. But I meant nothing by it. So chill out, don't let your panties get all bunched up!

WHITESTER

Thanks to the people who answerd my questions. I apprieciate it!

patcollins

In a belt car with 2 belts there is a phenomonen that occurs when your belts are two different lengths. On many cars the rear belt is rather short and the front belt is long. This means the front belt is stretchier that the rear. In this case the rear belt has almost no elasticity compared to the front belt. This can create a very quick yank at the rear tires while the front tires are yanking more slowly for an instant. The only place that this may be an issue is on the starting line from a dead stop but it is still possible.

This is why Schumacher has been making their cars with the motor in the middle and the two belts are of equal length or close to it.

It should also be noted that the guy that did the belt vs shaft drag didnt do it with a load so the test really don't mean a whole lot.

Potato

From looking at all the designs, I think most belt drives have lower rotating mass, but slightly higher friction. The belts also stretch, but from what I've seen, they don't stretch much.

The shaft drive cars seem to have a higher rotating mass, but run with less friction. There also might be the problem of the car leaning to one side on acceleration, and to the other on braking because of the center shaft's rotation. I don't know if this is an issue or not, but if it was an issue, it would result in inconsistent turning.

I think both are pretty much even. A good shaft car, and a good belt car are both extremely competitive with the right setup and in the hands of a skilled driver. This is just my observation, if I could, I'd test out all these very clever car designs and see how they perform on the track, but I can't afford so many cars. Maybe someday...

badboy

iTrader: (14)

i recently just changed from shaft driven cars to belt driven cars

all i can say is, BELT DRIVE RULES!!!

imataquito

hehe what dhaft driven car did u previously run???
i used to run a TL01 and it obovoiusly not good cause during acceleration it would run to one side ... well its with a 9 turn motor all u need to do is set it up stiffer to the extend that the torque will not upset the side to side balance then it will be ok BUT on certain BUMPY tracks ... the car is undrivable !