Redcat Racing Earthquake 3.5 Help please
#26
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I have an earthquake 3.5 and I've been told that a lot of the parts break easily. If anyone could give me some suggestion on what needs to be upgraded to aluminum first before driving I would really appreciate it.
#28
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otherwise, just keep it maintained, especially with nitro you gotta take care of the engines if you want them to last.
the one time i had to do a major repair was when i landed a jump off a skateboard ramp right onto the front bumper, and i bent the chassis, everything else on it wasnt broken, just replaced the chassis and that was it
#29
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I still have my earthquake 3.5. Got it a few months ago and had some problems outta the box, but now I'm past the hiccups and it runs great. I had the most problems with the clutch an spur gear. I melted the spur gear right outta the gate. I went to run it with the idle tank for break in and it started revving high on me and tried to take off so I grabbed the bumper to keep it from taking off and then it started revving really high. I shut it off and looked it over and noticed my spur gear was stripped really bad. I got a new spur gear and when I got it put back on I noticed the wheels were locked up if I tried to roll it. My clutch spring was broken and my clutch shoes had no retention. So I took it back apart and pulled the clutch bell off and saw the clutch spring was completely gone and the clutch was destroyed. I replaced that and got everything back together. Fired it up and had some trouble getting the idle speed set on the throttle and such. I called Redcat they gave me the factory settings for the low speed needle and high speed needle. So I applied those specs to those needles and it still wouldn't set my idle right. I looked it over again and figured out it was the HSN or the LSN it was my throttle linkage. The barrel nut wasn't adjusted properly and would allow my slide carb to open more then what I had the gap set for on idle. Silly mistake on my part. It got overlooked when I was going through the vehicle. I adjusted that barrel nut and reset the gap on my carb to 1mm on idle and haven't had a problem with the motor since. Runs great. However I am on my third spur gear I was trying to get the tension right(loose enough so it wouldn't pop wheelies on acceleration and strip the spur gear and tight enough so it wouldn't melt the spur gear pads) I believe I have that issue worked out. As far as parts breaking I have had to replace the front bumper and the rear lower A arm pin. Both broke from the tree I ran it in to. We'll the A arms are cheap and I just went with a bolt for the lower A arm pin. That worked great. At one point my throttle servo switched on me and come to find out the transmitter was bad and Redcat replaced it. And my gas tank had a hole in it somewhere, Redcat also replaced that. Redcat has a pretty good warranty department and a good tech department, so utilize them. You can get the number and warranty info on their website. I got all that worked out and man I really like my earthquake and it can take a beating. I'm disappointed that there aren't many how to videos on repairs and such for earthquake 3.5. But it's not really that hard to figure it out. If you have anymore question feel free to hit me up. By the way not much I can find out there for aluminum upgraded parts for my earthquake.
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Sorry about that, it all stock, the only thing I've put on it was a fuel filter. I'm thinking that the shocks and shock towers are more important to upgrade to aluminum now more than the steering knuckles and other stuff?? Any opinions???
#35
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Don't upgrade the spur to steel, I did that and what happened was instead of stripping the spur gear, the steel spur ate the clutch bell, which was a harder repair, and more expensive, set the right gear mesh and make sure the slipper isnt too tight, if the slipper is too tight youll strip gears like crazy, i found the right setting after a few spurs and its been good since although ive sold it since then, all electric now
#36
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I have a steel spur gear but I haven't put it in yet. Actually I probably won't at all. If you have a plastic spur gear in place and it gets stripped. It's a pain in the butt but it's an easy fix and cheap. Metal spur gears could possibly do more damage and I didn't want to risk it. I would advise you to just pick up a few extra spur gears and maybe an extra spur gear assembly. As far as the shocks upgrades go, that is really preference. I still have the stock ones on mine and they are holding up fine. If they go out then I might replace them with aluminum, but until then I plan on running it hard until they give out. I haven't had any probs thankfully with the steering knuckles either. Oh yeah I would probably pick up some extra dog ones or cv joints. They can be fairly inexpensive as we'll and usually come in pairs. Drive shafts are dog ones and cv's go from the trams box to the wheel hubs. They could get bent or come out if something gets loose.
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Make sure your gear mashes sit properly. Cut a piece of printer paper about half inch wide and about 4 inches long. Take the strip of paper you cut and run it through the gear mesh with your fingers turning the spur gear when you get the paper all the way in, then reverse the process pulling the paper out. If your paper tears or rips that means your gear meshes it too tight. If your paper has light in dents in it that means your gear mesh is too loose. The paper should have identifying marks noticeably indented that will ensure that you have a perfect year mesh. So answer your question yes it can be easy to strip the spur gear whether you accelerate quickly or slowly if your gear mesh is not right.
Last edited by kuntri72; 03-01-2015 at 09:06 PM. Reason: Added more
#40
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This is for anyone out there, my earthquake 3.5 is still spitting fuel out of the exhaust pipe even when I leaned out the high speed needle, I know that running that rich is hard on the glow plug and the engine, the needles are already set at factory setting. WHAT DO I DO???????
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Running TOO rich is hard on the engine, running too lean is also bad, you gotta find that middle ground where you still get a nice smoke trail coming from the exhaust all the way through the power band of the engine.
That being said, the high speed needle has no effect on fuel flow while the car is idling or from idle to about half throttle, from half to full the highspeed needle takes over. The low speed needle is what you're looking for here, lean that out in very small incriments till you have it where you want it, factory settings are set rich to help with break in, once broken in, you're supposed to lean them out, put the high speed needle back, retune.
heres a quick article to help you out
That being said, the high speed needle has no effect on fuel flow while the car is idling or from idle to about half throttle, from half to full the highspeed needle takes over. The low speed needle is what you're looking for here, lean that out in very small incriments till you have it where you want it, factory settings are set rich to help with break in, once broken in, you're supposed to lean them out, put the high speed needle back, retune.
heres a quick article to help you out
#42
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This is for anyone out there, my earthquake 3.5 is still spitting fuel out of the exhaust pipe even when I leaned out the high speed needle, I know that running that rich is hard on the glow plug and the engine, the needles are already set at factory setting. WHAT DO I DO???????
#43
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Ok thanks, my friends exceed rc nitro buggy has a tendency of stalling when the break is applied, from my understanding this is a clutch bell issue, does the clutch bell need to be replaced?
#44
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Sounds to me like he needs to check the gap in the carburetor. Should be about 1mm gap in the carburetor. Turn on the transmitter and then the car. Pull the carb filter off and look to see what the gap is. Adjust if needed. Use the idle set screw to make the adjustments. Start it back up and hit the breaks see if it stalls. Try adjusting the knob on the throttle knob on the transmitter. Preferably set it to zero if you have a knob like on your earthquake transmitter and set idle srew from that. Let me know if that doesn't fix it.
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My brand new engine is very powerful, but I'm concerned because when i reach full throttle and and then let off of the accelerator it almost sounds like the engine is making a sound resembling a jake break, is this normal????
#46
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Not sure if that's normal. I don't recall hearing that sound of a jake break in my vehicle. I would have to hear what it sounds like.
Last edited by kuntri72; 03-09-2015 at 10:43 AM.