why is my rc10t so slow??

[longboardnj]

i have a rc10t with esc and Duratrax Photon Speed Motor 20x1 (only about 10 runs on motor)..it has full ball bearings and 81/23 gearing...i was running it on dirt now i run it on street with low profile street tires...i think the bearings are old.. i may just buy new bearings, think i can get a full set of rc10gt bearings for $20...is that my only problem??? maybe that motor is slower then a stock race motor?? i want the 10t to run like new again...my plan so far is new bearings and another motor...just wanted to ask to find out what other people do to keep the old ts runing strong.. alot of people here have good ideas...

[Group B]

try fresh bearings, brushless motor, lipo battery, RPM 2.65 trans, the appropriate spur/pinion combo, and call me in the mornin'!

[soniccj5]

I would try different gearing first. That is always the cheapest route.

Good way to tell if you need to go to a lower pinion is if the motor is really really hot after a run.


ED

[CamplinP]

Go system by system. Spin the front wheels and make sure they are free. Then take the motor out and move the drive train. If it seems to bind take out the drive line and make sure the bearings in the hubs spin freely. Make sure the transmission is smooth. If not rebuild the trouble area. If this is all good put the motor back in and make sure the pinion and spur mesh is not too tight. They should be close but still rock back and forth slightly before touching each other. If still slow, it is an electronics or gearing problem.

[longboardnj]

cool... lots of good advice.. first i must do the bearings that will help .. the pinion /spur maybe too tight (i was in a rush building it to run with a friend)..i think i may leave the gearing...im running on street plus i may put in a stock racing motor(maybe faster then the motor in now)...

[CamplinP]

I also re=read you first post and you said you went from dirt to low profile street tires. You would want to increase you pinion gear some . The smaller rear tires will slow your top speed. Don't be to quick to buy new bearings if yours are not shot. Clean them with some motor spray and then re-oil them with a good bearing oil. I use SIN from Acer with great results.

[SteveK]

Ditto on the above. Give the bearings a good clean and lube. If you can manage it, removing the seals makes it easier to flush them out with motor spray, as does the RPM Bearing Blaster. I just tried some DuPont silicone/teflon spray lube in a few bearings and it seems to have potential. Those Duratrax tires are a good half-inch or so shorter than the typical off-road tires, so that will affect your top speed for sure.

Did the truck become slower than it was before with the same setup, or is does it just seem slow overall? If it has gotten slower then it is probably either a maintenance issue, or the smaller tires affecting the gearing.

If it just seems like it should be faster, I'd be willing to bet that the Duratrax motor is slower than the typical racing stock motor; it's designed to be cheap to make and last longer than a racing motor. You can build a 4 cylinder racing engine that puts out more horsepower than a regular V6 or even V8, but it will need a lot more maintenance and be a heck of a lot more expensive, know what I mean?

Also, where are you running it? The exact same truck in a wide open parking lot might feel slower than on a race track, since everything is so far away from it while you're driving.

[longboardnj]

well i did alot .. center/idle trans gear was worn so i changed that...i would of changed all gears but for some reason only the idle gear seemed worn(plus this is my beater).. dif gear and top shaft meshed well with new gear, i wonder why?? i would think at least the diff gear would be worn too... replaced 6 main bearings in the stealth relubed the diff and trans then put it back together.. when it came time to put the slipper on i put on a slipper eliminator and took my time to get a good gear mesh.. now i cleaned and lubed the rear wheel bearings and went for a run... it was faster but i was not lovin it... seemed to have no punch so i ran 86/ 23 gearing and thinking i may have overheated the motor last summer put in another motor(epic brand, older but like new off ebay think its just a stock racer).. finally i have the rc10t i remembered.. not the fastest thing around but now fast enough to have some fun thanks everyone for all the help

[markt311]

Check the brushes and springs on your old motor, sounds like either the brushes are worn out or the springs lost some tension when you overheated it last summer.

[tamiyadan]

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[treehugger]

cool... lots of good advice.. first i must do the bearings that will help .. the pinion /spur maybe too tight (i was in a rush building it to run with a friend)..i think i may leave the gearing...im running on street plus i may put in a stock racing motor(maybe faster then the motor in now)...

when i put my spur and pinion together i use a plastic bag from safeway and double it up and use it as a gauge its keeps the two gears apart the right amount

Paul

[longboardnj]

when i put my spur and pinion together i use a plastic bag from safeway and double it up and use it as a gauge its keeps the two gears apart the right amount

never used a plastic bag for that.. i always used note pad or copy machine paper but now i can just go by feel..

you went from Large diameter off-road tires to Low profile on-road tires, so you need to re-gear the transmission you can either increase the size of the pinion gear or shrink the size the spur gear to give you desired result.

i forgot the pinion i usedfor the offroad tires (thinkin a few teeth smaller then 23) a spur change was needed with the 23 pinion .. i wanted more punch so i went from an 81 to a 86

Check the brushes and springs on your old motor, sounds like either the brushes are worn out or the springs lost some tension when you overheated it last summer.

i checked and all looks good.. the motor is kinda dirty so it looks to need a cleaning..the other thing is it has a pressed in endbell and it seemed to be a bit loose.. any of this cause the motor to slow down.. the only problems i had with motors slowung down was worn out brushes, comms and bushings/ bearings

[CamplinP]

Don't spend too much time with that motor. My son had that in his Evader and it was a POS since day one. After the first few runs it got slower and slower. All the cleaning and lubing in the world won't help it any.

[longboardnj]

Don't spend too much time with that motor. My son had that in his Evader and it was a POS since day one. After the first few runs it got slower and slower. All the cleaning and lubing in the world won't help it any.

Evader seemed good for the $$$...my buddy grumbles had 1 but traded it after a year... the problem is duratrax got greedy... they had a decent Evader with some nice parts ..then just when you thougt it was going to get better they down grade and make the Evader with the cheapest parts and get rid of the decent Evader....back to the motor ..it ran good when i first got it but now it is slowing down ... whats up with that??? oh well the motor was super cheap and i got alot of good runs out of it so i dont really mind

[CamplinP]

Yup, the Evader is an old Losi design. I have a Losi truck chassis that I got for a $1 at a close out because the hobby guy said it would fit the Evader ST. Exact match. The older ST's and BX's especially the Pro were much better than the newer ones. The motors are not good and I was not real impressed with the transmission. Maby I am just used to the Stealth. T4's all around for my family now.