houston

iTrader: (96)

peter has some killer clutch bearings


i agree on the clutch setup


three blue aluminum w/ 1.0mm springs on my kyosho and easily get 2 gallons out of 1 set of bearings .

i did a test of how long i could make them last and after heating them up and oiling with synthetic engine slick rbmods lube got about 4 gallons out of 1 set of avid revolutions cheapo clutch bearings

2fst2c

iTrader: (114)

Well I had the stock MP9 3 shoe clutch with the aluminum shoes on it. So shouldn't be too much to get wrong as far as setup goes. I could see it if I was running my werks with carbon shoes and the spring was tight but I know better and run the Rulon shoes and use the light spring and have engagement about the same as using the stock clutch. I have very little slip with that setup. But I wasn't running that clutch anyways. I know heat will blow bearings.

DOMIT

iTrader: (1)

Clutch setup isn't just shoes and springs. You need just a TINY bit of endplay. If it is shimmed too tight, as the motor and clutch heat up it tightens up even more and destroys the bearings. Running your gear mesh too tight will kill clutch bearings... and so will running it too loose. Excessive chassis flex (which makes the clutchbell beat on the spur gear, and in some cases, the chassis) will kill them quick too... on the older Losi this was a definite problem for me. Putting the King Headz extended motormount helped a lot, as did running the mesh a little looser than I would on any other car.

On the Avid clutch bearings we blow them out with compressed air (almost all bearings have too much lube from the factory... it will spin out onto your shoes, making the clutch slip and generating heat... which is hard on the bearings AND the clutch shoes.)

I didn't mean I get half a season out of clutch bell bearings... 2-3 races and I change them. Cheap insurance against clutch-related DNFs. And I run those Racer's Edge vented clutchbells. (BAD if you have a sloppy pit crew... but good otherwise!)

You also need to be sure your clutch components match up properly. I know the OFNA stuff is a slightly different diameter (inside of the clutchbell and pins that hold the shoes) compared to, say, Mugen and Xray which are compatible with each other. That changes the point at which the shoes engage...

2fst2c

iTrader: (114)

Thanks for the input. I had just enough endplay to feel back and forth movement. Another shim made it tight. Stock kyosho flywheel, shoes, springs, bell so everything there should be good. First time running the clutch so the shoes and everything were fresh. The clutch bell didn't turn colors like they do when they get hot from slipping. I also set bell to spur clearance with just a wiggle. The strip of paper trick works pretty good. I would definitely rather replace 1.00 bearings every race or every other race compared to 8.00 bearings at the same intervals. I was just under the impression the Acer ceramics were the cats arse and I had high hopes for them. I'm more pissed about their lack of Customer Service than anything.