Originally Posted by Davidka

Not true. Under load, belt is more efficient.

Think about it- in a shaft car, the power must make 2x 90* turns across ring/pinion gears that are trying to separate under load (this is also bad for ball diffs, though they run well).

Belt seems draggy on the work bench, but because the belt/pulley contact is smoother and everything rotates in the same direction, binding and friction don't meaningfully increase under load.

If belt cars were draggy, stock TC racing would still be dominated by shaft drive cars. At the recent Associated race in Wisconsin, 13.5 4wd was won by aSerpent SRX4 and several of the a-main cars were 22-4's. This race is as competitive as 13.5 off-road racing gets.

Originally Posted by rythby

So if you buy the narrow belt kit does it have all the parts to get rid of the clicker as well?

Originally Posted by rythby

So if you buy the narrow belt kit does it have all the parts to get rid of the clicker as well?

Originally Posted by rythby

So if you buy the narrow belt kit does it have all the parts to get rid of the clicker as well?

Originally Posted by lyons238

while this does have some truth to it - it's not totally true. all belt cars are not created equally. for instance the yz4 has an incredible amount of tension on one side of the belt. there is also more points of friction in a RC car belt system than a shaft driven. im sure either car type will work with stock. i just said i prefer shaft because overall they have less drag IMO - also in stock many times you want the car to coast very fast so you don't use much brakes you just coast through the corners and get back on the power smoothly. the belt car probably forces you to drive a rad more aggressively and not quite as smooth. this is subjective however.

Originally Posted by robbie_gtc

In kit form yes there is a fair bit of drag on the belts of the yz4. But this is easily remedied. Removing the shims from the diffs and loosening all of the tensioners off. Lastly adding the narrow belt. My car rolls very freely now. Better then any shaft car I jave had.

Originally Posted by lyons238

i'd beg to differ. i know a bunch of people with yz4's and my xray def rolls more freely. i can't compare under load but def more free rolling off power.

Originally Posted by Piles

Its easy to confuse, "rolling freely" with a heavier rotating mass. Once the work has been done to get your vehicle up to speed, the heavier rotating mass of a shaft driven car will take more energy to slow whether that be friction of rolling resistance or the brakes. This is why a belt drive car feels a little more "snappy" under acceleration but by comparison will also slow quicker.

Originally Posted by lyons238

im talking about even just rolling the cars by hand mine rolls more freely, noticeably.

im not having a shaft vs belt competition here i like both. im just saying shaft cars roll more freely at least not under load. i can't confidently say a definitive for under load.