Track is eating front A arms along with E clips RC10 CE

[Alan_r]

As listed in the title, is this common? The car is a 1990 Gold Pan Championship Edition RC10. Within two or three laps, the rear E clips are missing from the front arm inner hinge pin. I've tried glue, putting a washer behind them, everything. They get ripped right out. I also have been through 3 sets of arms. They are literally ground down right where the rear inner hinge pin E clip sits. I've tried extending my chassis tape to cover the area but it gets sanded off very quickly too. My Worlds Car does not have this issue, even with the extreme caster the car has. On my track, the car runs best with silver front springs and about 4mm of preload on the spring clamps. If its normal I'll just stock up on A arms. But something seems wrong here. I'll post pictures of the setup tomorrow.

[TRX-1-3]

E-clips are sort of notorious for popping off here and there. My suggestion would be obtain spares correct for the application and never re-use them. Have no insight on the front arm issue though.

Mark

[jwscab]

Sounds like you need some kind of scuff guard on the front end. Maybe something fashioned out of lexan or Kydex. Also you can get heavy duty snaprings for 3mm or 1/8" that are tough to put on or remove.

[Alan_r]

E-clips are sort of notorious for popping off here and there. My suggestion would be obtain spares correct for the application and never re-use them. Have no insight on the front arm issue though.

Man, I wish I had the problem of deciding whether or not to reuse them. They are gone by lap two. Lol

Sounds like you need some kind of scuff guard on the front end. Maybe something fashioned out of lexan or Kydex. Also you can get heavy duty snaprings for 3mm or 1/8" that are tough to put on or remove.

That's kind of what I'm starting to think. The AE Chassis Protectors just aren't cutting it. I even tried leaving an overhang to cover the rear of the hinge pin but it gets eaten away very quickly. I already drilled a tiny hole and installed a small screw, like on the B44.3, to retain the front of the hinge pin to keep it from backing out. It's raining today so I haven't tried it yet. But maybe some scrap ABS plastic could be attached to the front nose plate to protect this area. Just seems strange that this is happening to a track car on the track. I'll look up the HD snap rings. I never heard of them before.

Here are some pictures of what's happening.

[jwscab]

mcmaster 1/8" snap rings 97633A110
mcmaster 3mm snap rings 98541A111

although it looks like you have quite a bit of nose contact on the track, is this common on other cars on this track? may want to consider just a bit more preload.

[Asso_man!]

mcmaster 1/8" snap rings 97633A110
mcmaster 3mm snap rings 98541A111

although it looks like you have quite a bit of nose contact on the track, is this common on other cars on this track? may want to consider just a bit more preload.

That or a thicker oil? Maybe adding a bumper that covers the whole front nose could also help? Are you sure the kickup is not bent too much?

[yellowdatsun]

Looks like the back of your a-arm is ground down to the point where it's be nearly impossible for a clip to stay on. Try a new set of arms that aren't worn so much in the pin area, or drive on a less abrasive surface.

[RC104ever]

Have you tried a different shock tower in the front? The World's tower gives you more adjustment options which might give you the slight increase to front end stiffness you need without changing springs or shock oil.

[scr8p]

It looks to me as if you have .56 shocks up front and you are using the top hole in the tower which is really meant for .71 shocks. The arms are travelling up more than they should and could be helping to cause the issue.

[RichieRich]

Wow! I've never seen that kind of wear on the arms. I would drop the shocks to the lower mount as Jason has recommended and buy a new set of front arms.

[yellowdatsun]

Yeh, like I said, I think it's due to the worn arms. Your guys comments on the shocks and such kinda confirm that theory. That nose plate is absolutely hacked, even on used cars they rarely have ALL of the gold worn off. Get some new arms, and raise up the nose with either different positions, springs, or longer shocks. A new nose plate would also help, as you can see the rear corners near the c-clips have the aluminum shaved down, further exasperating the problem.

I would also try to locate a vintage bumper for the RC10.It helps keep the front end in good shape, and the plastic from the bumper goes all the way back to the end of the a-arms, which would help you out a lot. On mine you can see how far back the bumper goes. I think mine is a vintage Parma piece, but you can usually find them on ebay, both used and new.

You can see how there's zero wear on the a-arm around the c-clip area on my car.

[Alan_r]

mcmaster 1/8" snap rings 97633A110
mcmaster 3mm snap rings 98541A111

although it looks like you have quite a bit of nose contact on the track, is this common on other cars on this track? may want to consider just a bit more preload.

No, only on this car. My Worlds is fine as is my B44.3. Thanks for the part numbers, may be useful for other things as well.

mcmaster 1/8" snap rings 97633A110
mcmaster 3mm snap rings 98541A111

although it looks like you have quite a bit of nose contact on the track, is this common on other cars on this track? may want to consider just a bit more preload.

That or a thicker oil? Maybe adding a bumper that covers the whole front nose could also help? Are you sure the kickup is not bent too much?

I'm running 35w which seems to be right. Ill look into a bumper. Thx

Looks like the back of your a-arm is ground down to the point where it's be nearly impossible for a clip to stay on. Try a new set of arms that aren't worn so much in the pin area, or drive on a less abrasive surface.

That's the result of my problem. The lost e clips are a byproduct.

For everybody else, you might be on to something. Last year I decided to upgrade the shocks to the newer, top loading style. I bought them off eBay as a kit. They might be shorter than the original bottom load shocks. Ill check that for sure. They are mounted in the box stock location, using the original tower that didn't have 6 holes. If these shocks are in fact shorter, I'll try a lower mounting position. I also have a new 6 hole tower too try as well. I figured something has to be wrong here. The car drives best low but this wear is ridiculous. I may have to completely change the setup and go to stiffer springs as well. I've got a new chassis and nose plate ready to go but I wanted to solve this issue first.

Thanks for the help guys, it means a lot. It's weird but I enjoy driving and racing my old RC10 more than any of my newer cars. But it would be nice to be able to keep the old girl in the fight. Currently, this won't do. Ill report back with a what I find out regarding the shocks.

[Alan_r]

Man you guys are on it! I didn't notice this when I built and installed them. The new top load shocks are shorter than the bottom load ones they replaced. So should I just try a lower shock mounting point or go the stiffer spring/retune the whole car route? Obviously I'll need new arms; my third set in a month......

[Asso_man!]

Either you keep the shocks you have there (0.56 bodies) and use another shock tower like this one (1st gen): http://www.ebay.com/itm/TEAM-ASSOCIATED-NEW-VINTAGE-RC10-FRONT-SHOCK-TOWER-/361392528884?hash=item5424ac5df4
or you keep the shock tower and swap for 0.71 shock bodies. Performance wise it's probably better to change the shocks as they allow for more travel, but it's also the most costly route. You could even drill some lower holes in that shock tower and call it a day.

[jwscab]

just rebuild the bottom load shocks with new orings and you should be good to go.

if you are missing pieces from the bottom load shocks, the traxxas rebuild kits that are available have the right spacers and such.
http://www.amainhobbies.com/rc-cars-trucks/traxxas-shock-rebuild-kit-tra2362/p45156?gclid=CjwKEAjw4s2wBRDSnr2jwZenlkgSJABvFcwQbedabwTOr8lG7Z1mdUlDPv9e8ff6Ex9p1Msu9oDuvxoC19nw_wcB

the other option is to buy a new set of .71" bodies (top load) and swap all the other stuff over.