nemesis666

i just bought a caldera sc 10e about a month ago and am having a blast with it .....i just decided to go to a 2s lipo for it and its a whole new truck with lipo....only problem i have is spur gears ,,,i keep stripping them out and fast....within about 10 mins....i have experience with properly setting gear mesh ..as i have done with all my other rcs and they all are fine....but with the caldera on lipo i cant catch a break....(i even have had a few of my more experienced friends look at it and they told me what i did was correct).....im just wondering if anyone found a hardened steel spur and pinion set that fits the caldera ...i would like to continue running a lipo in this truck and not hinder any of the performance that is running now .

nitrosportsandrunner

the stock ESC settings work OK for the nimh battery....but not for Lipo.
Lipo has a lot more punch, making that motor more powerfull.
You can find instructions online on how to adjust the "punch control" setting on the ESC. this setting will ramp up the power more gentle. There is also a brake force setting, which you will want to lower.
You can do it with just the remote, but it is a pain...counting beeps and such.
Hobbywing program card makes it WAY easier and they costs $10-$15 on ebay.

Changing those 2 adjustments will still give you the increased power and top speed, but do so in a way that is more gentle on the driveline. Those settings can take the place of a slipper clutch...which the redcat models do not have.

nemesis666

that does make sense due to a higher discharge rate ....but that launch is awesome were its at....but o well for the time being untill i can figure out some steel gears that will do....ive look into some programming cards and its seems like there isnt one for my esc...every programmer says its for version 2 or newer and mine is a v1.1 i believe...this is what it is....hobbywing ezrun 35a-sl-v1.1...........will one that says v2 or newer work with this esc or do i need a differ one..

nitrosportsandrunner

pretty sure those black V2 cards will work. There are more adjustments on that card then your ESC actually has, but the 1st 4 or 5 on the card will program the features that esc does have.
you can do the programing with just the radio if you want, just takes some patience to do it right.

PetRock

There must be something wrong with the gear mesh. I ran 3 different motors in my Caldera, with the final 3674 being double the power of the stock motor.... and I didn't strip a single spur gear the entire time I owned it:



That motor ate stock diff parts until I put in the tougher 1/8th-1/5th parts, but the center spur was fine. Is the motor backing away from the spur because the motor mount screws got loose? It's an awkward angle to tighten them: just pop a couple screws out of the bottom of the chassis and pull the motor out still attached to the top plate. Easily set perfect mesh every time!

4redcs

I have discovered that it is possible to get small rocks and other debris trapped between the spur gear and the chassis. As the gear turns it continually tries to pull things in. Stripping the gear in a hurry! My temporary solution: A small piece of cardboard between the battery and the gear. I thought about removing the small rectangular piece from the bottom side to let stuff fall through but decided this might cause even more problems.

04bobkay

i am very new to the rc world but i have a caldera sc10e, while parking lot bashing today i somehow managed to make it front wheel drive only. is this a gear mesh issue? and before you ask no i have not taken it apart yet just wondering if this is a known issue with this truck

nitrosportsandrunner

no, if the front wheels are still moving then the pinion/spur gear mesh is fine. the spur gear turns the front and rear center drive shafts, which in then turn the front and rear diffs.
The issue could be the rear diff input cup...the cup which accepts the center driveshaft, it has a small set screw which holds it to the input shaft of the diff.
The other possible issues if that screw is tight are a broken dogbone (from diff to wheels) if even 1 is broken all of the power from the diff will go to that side and not spin either wheel.
Those are the outward visible issues. if both of those are fine, it could be inside the diff.

If both rear dogbones are fine, hold one tire and spin the other by hand. If there is resistance, crunching or odd feeling from the diff then the problem is in there. If the diff feels fine but you don't see the center driveshaft or spur gear turn then it is likely that diff input cup.

04bobkay

If it helps the rear driveshaft doesn't turn, so I am betting its the connection by the spur gear

nitrosportsandrunner

there is a drive cup by the spur gear, and by the rear diff. either one could be slipping on it's shaft if the set screw (grub screw) has come loose.