Mtx5 optional upgrades
 

While I have seen and heard of the gear striping problem I've not strip one yet and have been running the 5 for about 6 months. I believe the two best fixes for this is the Brace that Trackside RC sell.
And the One piece Engine mount.

To clarify I run two 5's one with a OS 12TG and the other with a pro engine, however I predominantly have been driving the 12TG.

I have bought a few of the new gears so I can try them as mugen said the reason for this gears is so as to minimise the wear to the pinion .

Also I did some basic deflection testing with new chassis and it is my opinion that the material is not stiff by any great amount.
I got a brand new chassis and an original and tested the amount of deflection by clamping the chassis to the bench and adding static weights to the end of the chassis and measuring the total deflection.

The conclusion is that within their elastic zones both materials have identical deflection rates. However I was not prepared to do destructive testing, ie find the yield point of both, this might have given a slightly different result.

I clamped the chassis to the bench so as to only test the Front 3/4 of the chassis this way I excluded the cut-outs for the fly wheel cut out. I have no doubt the chassis is stiffer at the rear because of the exclusion of the dummy flywheel cut out but the material itself seam to deflect in the same manner in within the elastic zone.

So my conclusion is the brace and the new engine mount are the two most effective way to resolve the issue with spur gear damage. If I had to choose just one I would just run the brace and no real need to upgrade the chassis or the engine mount.

I would be interested in some feedback regarding the handling characteristic because I'm not really that good a driver and I really could not comment about the finer points of the changes in handling with any of the options . But when it comes to reliability a good rear brace will get you across the finish line and get rid of DNF's.

I will keep running the original spurs as I'm yet to damage one!
Well I did wear one out but I guess 10+ race meetings is ok out of one gear.

Yes I'm on holidays so I have had time to fiddle.

Steve H

I had a feeling after some thought recently that the engine mount was most likely to reduce or stop any stripping people were having, in part maybe cause it may act like a brace, but also because anytime my car has stripped a gear, the engine mounts always seems to have moved or tweaked on me.

The chassis plate maybe was more a quality upgrade perhaps, as the old ones tend to very easily flex and then not flex back, which seems a quality issue, the new chassis is more expensive, which seems to suggest something.

The gears, well the originals are a pain to thread screws into, absurdly hard, and I noticed they buff the anodizing off the alloy pinions awfully fast, which then seems to leave them very prone to chipping, a softer grade plastic should reduce that and extend the life of the pinions at the expense of the spurs, but then spurs are dirt cheap.


Just speculation really, but I'm the most keen to buy a few of the new engine mounts as first priority, followed by the softer gears to preserve my pinions, and maybe just a chassis for my Pro spec car, though I like the look of a couple of the after market ones.

The Knack Racing chassis is quite interesting. Has anybody tested it?

Is that the same one that accepts the X-ray style engine mount?

The site says it can use them apparently, though it's not real clear, it's the chassis I want cause they always had a good rep on the old mtx4, but I wonder if the Mugen one piece mount works on it.

I went for the new mugen chassis without the one piece engine mount. I thought that both together would make the chassis a little too rigid.. I do know someone at my track who ran the new chassis and mount together with new spur gears and he was still blowing spurs. I think it still leads back to perfect alignment, spacing between spurs, watch clutchbell end play and a consistent 2-speed. That's my opinion . By the way , with a simple brace i made original chassis original spurs and original engine mount, I don't blow gears.

It never ceases to amaze me, that the 4 had gear stripping problems, and then the 5 comes totally new design n still the spurs strip, n honestly know one knows why, my buddy braced his no strip, someone else no brace no strip, some new chassis no strip........car is awesome, but that's got to always b in the back of you guys mind when your leading that Main! ( please don't strip):nod:

I think he key here is confidence. Confidence in your vehicle. Whoever feels like they have the right combination of answers to their stripping problem, they should stick to what works for them. I personally don't think about it, cause I think the odds of my car stripping is the same as anyone else's. you must have confidence or you have nothing.

did not have As much problem with 4r once they got steel pinions

I was having a look at the chassis of Knack and now I understand the reason of two extra holes under the engine which aren't in the original one: it's to make it compatible with NT1 engine mount. The one piece engine mount of Mugen is also valid for this chassis. Just have a look at Xray website to compare both chassis and you'll understand what I mean. Do you know a web-store to buy the Knack chassis?

Pro Shop Futaba in Japan stocks the Knack chassis.

I prefer the stock chassis but the one piece engine mount is a nice option... although it is not neccessary.. low profile servos in my opinion are a must.... the car is very light when using lightweight gears and lightweight gear diff arms

How is the balance of the car from left to right when using low profile servos and life or lipo ?

Ive tried both standard and low profile... will only run low profile from now on. The balance is much improved... the car is very light without motor pipe ins box ... Very noticeable and much improve steering response and overall control.

Is it more balanced using nimh, or lipo with the low profile servo