RC10 goes slow, gets hot, stops, please help!

[Rizzo]

I thought that I would take Darryns advice & change the esc. I went to the local bmx track so that I could at least have some space to wind it out to see if it was still slow. At first it wasn't too bad. But still not as quick as I would have liked, so I kept going to see if the heat would get to it & cut it out again. All of a sudden an almighty noise came from the car, it sounded like it was a nitro car! I stopped it immediatly.
Frustrated & not wanting to pull it apart there & then I fired up my Wild one. Now this was fast! it had so much more speed than the rc10 it wasn't funny. So there is something definantly wrong with the driveline of the rc10bug.

I've just cleaned the cars up & took the gear cover off & there was the culprite. A tiny stone was stuck in the pinion gear. It hads also stripped/indented the spur gear.
Do u think this is it's way of saying, let it go & just put me back on the shelf LOL!
I might give up for alittle while. At least it looks fantastic in action!

One more question for u guys, does the plate that wraps around the motor, that the motor is bolted to, get hot on your cars? or it just because mine is straining?
regards
Jak

[Bugle]

Great pics!

Maybe it's just all those gears being too much for a 540 motor. The easiest way to eliminate all 6-gear issues is to just put a stealth gearbox in it. Or put a mod motor in it, I tried a 12 turn in mine and it went pretty quick

Yeah the motor plate usually gets almost as hot as the motor if it's too hot to touch that's probably a bit too hot.

[Rizzo]

HI Guys
Just a quick update. Got hold of a 87 tooth spur gear (thanks Bormac) mayed to a 18 tooth pinion.
Took it for a run in the back yard only & it lasted the whole battery pack & was noticably faster.
Was picking up the front wheels on pavement!
But, I could smell it getting hot (I kept checking) in the end the motor was hot enough to burn me & the tamiya esc wasn't far behind.
I have a 90T spur & 24T pinion coming as well to play around with the gearing.
What is everyones thoughts on the 87/18 gearing? too high, too low? also would u reccomend getting rid of the Tamiya esc & spending some bucks on something a little more stable or up to the task?
The tamiya esc seems fine in all my Tamiyas, but seems to be getting very hot in the RC10.
Thanks to everyones help so far.
regards
Jak

[Bugle]

87/18 sounds alright, you can get some pretty cheap decent brushed speedos these days. Look out for LRP IPC V7.1 speedos they're pretty much the best brushed speedo ever you can never overheat them.

[Brandon G]

BITD, we would go through the 6 gear trans and clean up all the sharp edges in the gears. Sounds to me like you may have a bad idler gear bearing or another bearing in the trans causing it to bind. I have a buddy that would replace the bearings with bushings in the trans, and then put a bunch of toothpaste in the gearbox and bench run the thing for a couple hours. Of course that was before the stealth and everybody was looking for any possible advantage. He would then clean it out and put the bearings back in. All this just to polish the gears and make it run more efficient.

Anyway, if you spin the tires and they are free, it won't always show bad bearings in the trans. When you apply the power with the motor, it may be a different story. Long story short, inspect the internal gears and bearings inside the gearbox. That's what I'd do.

If you are running the 2.2" tires (which it looks like you are) they are a LITTLE larger diameter, get more traction, and with those aluminum wheels, you will end up with more rotating mass than with the stock wheels and tires.. Definetly gonna need gear changes with that setup. Especially if you want the Tamiya ESC to handle it.

[bearrickster]

BITD, we would go through the 6 gear trans and clean up all the sharp edges in the gears. Sounds to me like you may have a bad idler gear bearing or another bearing in the trans causing it to bind. I have a buddy that would replace the bearings with bushings in the trans, and then put a bunch of toothpaste in the gearbox and bench run the thing for a couple hours. Of course that was before the stealth and everybody was looking for any possible advantage. He would then clean it out and put the bearings back in. All this just to polish the gears and make it run more efficient.

I use to to use Automitive valve grinding compound, to do the same thing. it really polish's them up and seats them together. I took it apart and cleaned it out with brake or motor cleaner. then renstall the bearings alight coating of greese and run it again then its sooo smooth.

[rctenracer]

check the back lash maybe to tight. with a stock motor try 21 85 on the pinion and spur.also maybe check the clutch mite be a bit to tite.

[Rizzo]

G'day guys,
There is an upcoming vintage meet so I thought I better sort mu bug out once & for all. I rebuilt the gearbox yet again, I also took the old Sport Tuned out of my Wild One & put it in the RC10.
Success!
It was the new sport tuned all along. I put a battery pack through it yesterday & absolutely flogged it. It flies now.
Heres a vid.
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=y32wxk5t8VI
Thanks to everyone for all the advice, I've learnt quite a bit about RC10's lately.
regards
Jak

[Gary]

All I can say is that's one cool and fast RC 10 VW Bug. Great video !!!