GSMnow

I have my 1/8 electric conversion up and running and will start racing it regularly very soon. At this point I am only using the motor brakes, but to help it stop (as well as launch) I filled the center diff with 50,000 silicone diff lock fluid. So far I am liking the result, but I do get a little more push under braking, and I thinking about going with a lighter fluid so the rear tires might unload more. The other option I has is putting a small servon on the rear mechanical brake to give a bias adjustment. With just the motor brakes, I have no problem hauling the speed down as quickly as anyone else, but I can't toss the tail out now. I am not sure if this is bad, or good just yet. I have had a few other people try the car and they all have had only good comments about the braking, so I should probably just drive it in a real race and see if I need to make a change.

I would be curious what other 1/8 electric guys are doing for brakes

Mechanincal only, one servo with bias bar, two servos??

Motor only (what are you using for the centrer diff also, type, oil weight)

Hybrid, motor and mechanical, describe how your doing it.

I do have a DX3.0 which has the aux channel with brake mixing functions. My Z-Car has the rear brake on the rear diff input, so I have room for it. The front brake will not fit without mods though. I was thinking about motor brakes until 3/4 travel, then pulling in the rear disk to toss the back if I need a handbrake turn. Does this sound like a fair idea, or just silly for a normal race? I could also put the mechanical brake on the aux button, to have it totally independant. That might be cool for a drift competition.

brofroe

iTrader: (20)

I use motor brakes on my Tekno 8B with 8000 center diff oil. I love the simplicity of motor brakes. I didn't use nitro that long, so I never got used to "throwing" the rear end around. I use a smoother approach to driving rather than point and shoot. Hope this helps.

ta_man

iTrader: (168)

I ran an E-8 for a little over 1 season with electric brakes. I didn't really like the push but had to live with it until I got a Tekno 8 conversion. I have never owned a nitro car and had no idea how effective mechanical brakes could be.

Now I use only mechanical brakes. I race on a very small track and I have effectively completely eliminated front brakes. I know there is still some front braking because of the center diff fluid, but not as much as having both front and rear discs clamped by the servo. Now I can throw the E-8 around in the corners like my 1/10th scale 2WD buggy. It is not always the fastest way around, but sometimes I need to go deep into a corner to get by someone.

I've got a Tekino 8 2.0 conversion I am going to use this season. They are supposed to have more steering because of forward relocation of components. If it has enough, I might go back to using some front brake.

The only thing I miss is reverse.

R40Victim

iTrader: (1)

This was at the beginning of the BL 8th conversion thread. I started in nitro, so I wanted to retain the handling. It sparked a heck of a debate, but ultimately, it comes down to your track and your driving style. Some guys are perfectly happy with no brake bias. I worked to find a way around it, and so far, I'm doing pretty well with it. The nitros can still get under me in 8th buggy, but truggy is much closer. I race on two tight, technical tracks. So I need LOTS of steering, and the ability to pull tight corners very quickly.

What I've found, is that running the same diff fluid viscosity in both front and center diffs, with lighter fluid in the rear, I can successfully use electric motor brakes all the time. The trick is to dial it out to a bare minimum needed to slow the car for corners. I run lighter shock oil in the front, which allows it to transfer more weight forward rapidly. With all that pressure on the front tires, I can hook the corner, and use my on power steering to pull out of it. Its a different line than the nitro guys, but 99% as fast. You come out of the corner so much faster than nitro, that it makes up for the slow entrance.

My truggy is a little different. It was "endoing" so badly, that it would lifter the rear tires, then due to the center diff, they actually spun backwards! This tore up the rear diff internals twice before I figured it out. I dialed the brakes way down, just enough to reduce the speed, and not enough to endo. Now I can sling it through the corners just like a nitro. I basically set the truck up loose. Since it's a truggy, and everything happens in slow-mo, I can control it.

Check this vid. Mine is the green and white truggy. Once I get by I start back-flipping(because it FUN!) Nothing can beat the fun and performance of a well tuned BL car:

+ YouTube Video

chiro972

iTrader: (10)

I'm happy with motor only brakes. Definitely have to make driving adjustments because I was used to mechanical on my nitros, but I do love the simplicity and not having to deal with the extra weight and maintenance. If you absolutely need the very best handling possible, I think the mechanical is the way to go, but for me I'll stick to the motor braking.

osobad

iTrader: (26)

In serveral my cars I have run a combo of mechanical and motor brakes but with a catch. The mechanical is just rear. The motor braking is ajusted first to give almost enough braking. i then adjust the mechanical to put in the amount of rear bias that I want. there is no front brake pad or linkage used a all. it makes front to rear bias very simple to adjust because motor braking is 50/50 and you are adding the amount of rear bias( if thats what you want). you only have to use rear linkage and pads and you can even use smaller sevo since it does't have to be as strong. I have used all setups and this is what works best for me.

fallguy

iTrader: (3)

motor only brakes for me as well.. but im not much of a racer, just getting into it. But i have never owned a nitro so the motor brakes is what I know..

JAMMINKRAZY

iTrader: (17)

Motor brakes only for me. All I had ever driven was nitro before this winter(still a gasshole at heart) but I really didn't have much trouble adjusting to the feel of motor brakes. You'll have a bit of push, but nothing that can't be adjusted to with driving and other setup elements.

GSMnow

Thanks a lot, this is exactly the kind of stuff I was hoping for.

I think I will start with a little lighter oil in the center diff. I really like the power on with the 50,000 in there as it will actually wheelie a tick if it has great grip, and the front tires never blaze away. I think the 7,000 will be too light in this car though. The rear tires have amazing forward bite and I think it will just have too much front tire spin if I go too light. I think 10K to 20K will be my next step. I certainly have enough brakes with the electric only. I have it dialed to 70% in the ESC and a curve that makes them hit about 60% at the 85% trigger, then a faster ramp at the end for when I really need to slow it down.

I have thought about just adding the rear mechanical, and i am glad to see I am not the only person with that idea. I do have the room for the hardware, but I will try a little more tuning before I load up the second servo and all. It looks like quite a few are having very good results with just the motor brakes. After seeing one of our local hot shoes tear up the track with my buggy, I know it is close and faster than my ability at this point. I am over driving it in the tight turns. With all the electric low rpm torque, it is just too easy to put it in a four wheel drift. And it sure does look cool with dirt rooster tails off of all four tires. But as cool as it looks, it is certainly not the fast way around a track, no matter what the drift crazies say.

Also thanks to the great low end torque, I think I will turn the best lap times with a slower corner speed and taking the best possible line to aim for the next turn. The push under braking right now is making it tough to get the entry tight without braking before the other cars. If I try to brake as late as the nitro guys I end up fairly wide as the front tires try to regain grip. OnceI do get the entry right, then I need the disipline to keep my finger light on the power as I drive the turn on the inside. Once I have it lined up, I can roll in the power. The course has a nice 90 left 90 right section. It was so fun tossing it nearly dead sideways on each turn, but when I did it that way a Slash was able to stay with me. I calmed it down, and pulled out 10 feet in the same section on the next lap.

Bottom line is that 1/8 electric is a different beast than a 1/8 nitro. There are places on the track where nitro is faster and other places where electric is faster. It does make sense to run them in separate classes because of this. If I ran last night we would have had a heat of five 1/8 electrics. I didn't see all the times from the mains, but in qualifying, the 1/8 electrics turned the fastest laps.

My setup is close, now I need to work on the driver.

kufman

iTrader: (6)

Motor brakes only. Losi 8ight, 5-5-3 oils (F-M-R). Tekin 2050 motor. I tried the a Tekno conversion with mechanical brakes but I didn't like the non-linear deceleration. I have been driving electric too long to like the feel of mechanical brakes. I ran my RC8 with basically the same setup, 5-7-3, 2050 motor. I tried the smart diff in the center and didn't like its inconsistency. Sometimes it would lock sometimes it wouldn't. Tried all sorts of stuff to make the smart diff work better, but it just didn't seem to matter what I did.

I like you partial mechanical idea with the Z-car, just using the rear mechanical brakes to give a little bit of emergency brake bias (E-Brake).

osobad

iTrader: (26)

I like the linear feel of the motor brakes also and with my hybrid set up I retain that feel.The rear only part of the mechanical comes in to play only at the end of braking where you need it. I think rear bias is faster in traffic when you need to brake but maintain a tight line. When you are in the open I don't know if it is as important as is with the type of corners you have.Sweeping not as important as if you have tighter or 180's. Drove 1/10 4w for years so I am used to motor brakes and also drove 1/8 nitro. For me the combo of motor and rear mechanical work best. I have had several people try it and to my knowlage they stay with it. In the end what ever works for you but it's cool to try other things. Sometimes you find something that really makes a difference.

blade329

iTrader: (114)

Never run Nitro before. I used motor only brakes on my Ve8 and Losi 8ight-B. It's simple to use and my temps are fine.

tschenck

iTrader: (110)

motor brakes only for me too.

GSMnow

I got about 10 minutes on the track today with my altered suspension settings. Still the 50,000 in the center diff though. I really tried to calm down my inputs, especially getting on the throttle, but also braking deeper. The motor only braking is working well, it didn't seem to push as bad. I wonder how much is the surface, my driving, or the suspension change? The stiffer rear springs and softer front bar sure seems to help in the long sweeping turns as it didn't wash out near as bad. But the motor only braking did take it's toll. It ended up ripping one of the teeth right out of the pinion gear. It was accelerating just fine, I came into a slower section, got on the brakes, and when I squeazed back on the throttle, it sounded like a cement mixer. I stopped right away and could not believe it did that. I will post a pic on my Z-Car e-conversion build up thread.

kneedeeppow

i had a simular problem with rcmonster pinions.loosing one two and sometimes half the teeth.have switched to robinson racing pinions and they seem to be holding up very well.have had a16t in my trug for about ten or so battery packs and it hardly has a scratch on it.