Losi Hydradrive Conversion - Team Suzuki

[dinglem]

This has found its way to me in the past couple of days.... from what i gather it is a Losi Hydradrive on a Team Suzuki shaft. Having researched them a little I have found a handful of examples fitted onto Works '91, '93 and Pavadis cars.

Does anybody know much more about them? All examples I have seen are fitted to shelf cars, so i have not found any feedback on how the Hydradrive actually performs in a 4wd car.

Certainly a nice addition. I just need a build to fit it to now

slipper.jpg (47.13 KiB) Viewed 1863 times

slipper.jpg (47.13 KiB) Viewed 1863 times

[stickboy007]

Boy do I wish I had one of these (for a build, not a runner ).

I would think any type of viscous drive unit (hydra drive or schumacher viscodrive) is better for 2wd than 4wd chassis, since 4wd has a larger traction window. For what it's worth, I did run a hydra drive on my RC10T a few times. It was on a smooth, low grip surface, and I did notice being able to get on the power more on corner exit, since the hydra drive basically smoothed out the throttle response. It's really intended for bumpy surfaces, but in my view any low grip surface would benefit from this; however, this must be weighed against the cost of having more rotational mass. A good enough driver can run a standard slipper on that kind of surface and leverage the reduced weight to go faster. If you look at the 2wd '93 World's video, although Kinwald won with an RC10 Worlds and a hydradrive, I think Joel Johnson actually looked a bit quicker, despite not having a hydra drive and despite the track being blown out. So it's somewhat down to preference and driving technique.

[Dadio]

Could you educate an old fool who doesn't know how they work ? I mean I guess they use something akin to diff syrup on a multi plate slipper ?

[dinglem]

From what i gather the spur gear is attached to the outer casing of the Hydradrive, the unit itself being filled with thick viscous fluid. Various fluid thicknesses can be used to tweak the set up. Within the Hydradrive unit is some sort of impeller which is attached to the shaft. The spur turns under hard drive along with the Hydradrive unit, and the viscous fluid follows it, thus turning the impeller which in turn rotates the shaft generating the drive. Varying the fluid thickness adjusts the lag/slip and also the 'cushion' on the transmission following a hard landing for example. That is roughly how it works i believe, but i could easily be totally incorrect. It can therefore be tweaked with a lot of use and experience to maximize available drive on slippery tracks, bumpy tracks and so on. I am only basing this summary on what i have read since this came my way yesterday so please correct me if i am wrong in any way.

It is the Suzuki shaft which is the hard to find part here, to enable the Hydradrive to be fitted to the Yoke.

[stickboy007]

From what i gather the spur gear is attached to the outer casing of the Hydradrive, the unit itself being filled with thick viscous fluid. Various fluid thicknesses can be used to tweak the set up. Within the Hydradrive unit is some sort of impeller which is attached to the shaft. The spur turns under hard drive along with the Hydradrive unit, and the viscous fluid follows it, thus turning the impeller which in turn rotates the shaft generating the drive. Varying the fluid thickness adjusts the lag/slip and also the 'cushion' on the transmission following a hard landing for example. That is roughly how it works i believe, but i could easily be totally incorrect. It can therefore be tweaked with a lot of use and experience to maximize available drive on slippery tracks, bumpy tracks and so on. I am only basing this summary on what i have read since this came my way yesterday so please correct me if i am wrong in any way.

It is the Suzuki shaft which is the hard to find part here, to enable the Hydradrive to be fitted to the Yoke.

Yeah, you got it right.

[Dadio]

So its kind of like a torque converter on a full size automatic car gearbox , nice thanks .

[aip47-2008]

Have not built yet but have gathered a few bits including shaft!

This has found its way to me in the past couple of days.... from what i gather it is a Losi Hydradrive on a Team Suzuki shaft. Having researched them a little I have found a handful of examples fitted onto Works '91, '93 and Pavadis cars.

Does anybody know much more about them? All examples I have seen are fitted to shelf cars, so i have not found any feedback on how the Hydradrive actually performs in a 4wd car.

Certainly a nice addition. I just need a build to fit it to now

slipper.jpg