JPHRacer

The centax is going to be heavier than the 3 shoe but other than that I would recomend it, is very adjustable plus it will allow you easily adjust it.

On the one-ways, I have not broken a drive train part this whole season yet. I run very fast motors and am most allways in the top 3. I don't no what your doing wrong but I have had no problem.

NTC3NUT

Now that I have the Centax, I don't think I'd go back to the 3-shoe unless I needed a back-up. I will say that the 3-shoe performs awesome if it's set-up right. I had the heavy springs, drilled the shoes, and used the L/W bellhousing, and it rocked. I never had a problem with soft launches or fading. If Associated can TQ the Nationals and TQ & Win the Worlds with the 3-shoe it can't be all that bad, and it's super cheep. Here's a picture of how I had mine modded before I went to the Centax.

InitialD

When you talk about the Centax clutch, you are talking about THE most efficient clutch that you can get on your RC car.

With the Centax, you do not have to worry about clutch springs breaking. You only need to only maintain the thrust bearings when you're done for the day.

Even when you're not using the right 1st gear pinion for whatever reasons, you can set the clutch to engage at higher engine RPM and you can somewhat achieve the same effect as using a smaller 1st gear pinion.

Overall, with a Centax, it's like strapping a whole new 5 port engine to the car. It makes your car launch harder. What good can the engine be when the clutch is not efficient?

Craig

NTC3NUT-What is your thoughts on the Centax? How well does it work?

Francis M.

iTrader: (2)

ive bought the centax and found that there wasn't a
performance gain over the three shoe clutch that is
cut properly the advantage to the centax would be
tuning ease and that it puts the power down a little
smoother than the three shoe clutch.

speedy100

I heard from the grapevine that the team associate were using the cutted clutch shoes in the world. Does any people who have this experience and how to make it ? thanks

Francis M.

iTrader: (2)

if you decide to cut the clutch make sure to go to the three
shoe clutch. any way just cut the ends of the clutch shoes.
the shorter you go it will take longer for the clutch to engage
or needs more engine revs for the clutch to fully engage how
much to cut off all depends on you. this method makes the
car have more bottom end response or snap.

NTC3NUT

Craig, I really like the ease of adjustability, and the smoothness it provides. I do believe it provides a performance advantage, even over a properly modded 3-shoe set-up. It is however very expensive initially, and you do have to remove the engine after every 2-3 runs to regrease the thrust bearing. I had to buy 2 complete Kawahara sets for spares early on due to a lack of individual replacement parts (not an issue now). I watched Billy Easton drill his shoes at the Worlds, very similar to the picture I posted earlier. The only differance between drilling, and cutting, is that with a drill you simply go to a slightly larger bit for a lighter shoe/later engagement.

InitialD

Ummm, didn't realise that for the way the engine mounts on the NTC3, taking out the pinion clutchbell to access the thrust bearing on the Centax is rather cumbersome.

NTC3NUT

Yeah, It's kind of a pain. Still worth it though. I go thru my car after every race weekend anyway, so it's a given to pull the engine. 3-shoe is easier to maintain though.

InitialD

On a belted <heaven forbid that word> car like Serpent, I take the thrust bearing out pretty easy. I just unscrew the allen cap nut and out the thrust bearing goes... Same like it is on the V1RR or MTX version of the Centax.

BOLISARIO

iTrader: (57)

NTC3NUT: please share the wealth on where we can get Kawahara spares. I can't find a single store that carries spares. The distributor probably sucks. Was thinking about trying out the K Factory centax since they should soon provide spares for rebuilds.

About the thrust bearing, there's a way to remove them without taking out the engine. If your hex wrench is long enough, you can reach in from the rear to unscrew the cap screw.

Front One-way: The new AE one-way is made by Yokomo but with shims. The PN is 1728 I believe. Don from AE said they should be out in stores now. Called all my local stores and no one has even heard of the update. I need one soon, my Yok one-way is going through diff gears left and right.

Boomer

I think SpeedTech has spares now. . .

NTC3NUT

Yes, you should be able to get Centax spares from Speedtech, or order direct from Hong Kong. I will be looking for the new Yokomo one-way. It's supposed to have a larger ring gear support, and the ability to be shimmed. Hope fully this will increase the survival rate of the ring & pinion gears when using a one-way equipped car. If we're really lucky they'll include a set of the machined gears they used at the Nationals & the Worlds, or at least release them as an option. I love the way the car handles with a one-way. I'll check out the thrust bearing access from the rear, if I can see it I'll buy one of the longer Hudy hex wrenchs to get to it.

BOLISARIO

iTrader: (57)

I can't find the kawahara spares in the speedtech site. Unless something's changed within the last week or so since speaking to Steve from Speedtech. Alot of stores are having difficulty with their distributor to get these spares.

BTW, I don't know which forum it was in, but someone was using a Mugen centax spring on their Kawahara to get consistent engagement. Is it the gold or silver one. I bought both just in case. The silver spring is really stiff!

One-ways: I hope AE releases their new one-way soon. The distributors don't know of them yet. But an AE rep on "NTC3 talk" (rc10.com site) states that they should be in stores now. PN 1728