bigwill5686

i am setting up my first drag car..well actually its a truck, but its a ruster vxl. The main reason i am using this is i can get it set up quickly to run, but i need alittle advice on which way to go with it, first..i can not run lipo on my track because i am running against nitro's so i have to stay with a nimh due to track rules, so how many cells should i go with 7,8,9? i have already changed up my tires to 2.2 proline road hawgs 2's. i have lowered my truck as far as i can...and i have adjusted my slipper clutch so that it doesnt slip hardly at all...now my ? what else should i do? i will racing in a 2wd truck class against mostely jato's. i am up in the air about foams or belted slicks, not sure which i should use since i have never used either..we run on fresh paved blacktop with some kind of sticky compound on the ground to help the tires hook up..any help would be appreciated, thanks

ahr43

7cells. Foam tires. Lock the diff.

snellemin

I agree.

If you go against Jato's you will need something better then the VXL motor, if you can only use NimH. Get yourself a higher kv motor. On the cheap you can get the 8s 540 Feigao motor. That is what I used to go against Jato's on 3s A123 and I usually came out on top.

bigwill5686

thanks for the advise, i am thinkin i will try a 7 cell and an 8 cell to see which is better, i am about to order my foams but there are so many different compounds, any advice that way? i have never locked a diff before, anyone know of a write up where someone has done it?

snellemin

There is somebody on ebay that sells a locker for 20 bucks or so. I just put epoxy in mine.

ahr43

The R1E ran Jaco #JAC2016 Assoc. Truck Rears (foams). No idea on the shore rating. They are hard. Won't accept Koford very well. But, hey, they worked for me in bracket class for 20 months. Ditch the hexes and run pin drive. May have to drill out the wheels. My Rusty was 5mm RR axles and the Jaco's were 5/16" SAE/USS. I used RPM nylon hex nuts as wheel nuts. Mounting the Jaco's didn't leave enough grip for a steel nut. They'd just spin off the left side.

BTW-the Jaco at 1 7/8" is way to wide for a 6/7cell bracket car. For 7cell 1 1/2" would be enough. For 6cell, taper the edges to reduce footprint to 1 1/4" or less if you can.

Hope this helps. Have fun.

ahr43

Here is Traxxas blow-up. I have "Xed" through the parts I eliminated. All that is left in the diff case are the output shafts and sun gear alignment shaft. In addition to J-B welding the alignment shaft to the output shafts, once they were slipped together, I ran a bead of J-B around the seam between the two gears. Like in the valley between them. Had to re-position the shaft every 20min or so until the J-B took a set. Otherwise they're be a 'blob' at the bottom.

Be careful not to get any J-B on the output shafts outside the case. Tranny case bearings ride ride up against the diff case. I let the shaft assy dry for 24hrs before installing it. After i did a couple of these, I'd put a couple of drops of J-B on the inside of the side cover plate. Later, after the J-B set, I could remove the (4) side cover plate screws. That diff wasn't coming apart ever again anyway, and removing the side cover screws reducted rotating weight.

Hope this helps. Not sure if your new generation Rustler diff is the same as this. Since I retired the R1E, I haven't kept up with what TRX is doing with its' E-rusty. Weak point for me was the main diff gear itself. At first I ran a 10t motor. It ate up diff gears. Backed off to a 19t spec motor and all was O.K.

"Oz"

bigwill5686

thank you for the write up, i don't really know if i am gonna lock the diff just yet because last night me and my buddy that races a jato in the same class i will be in went out for some practice runs, on 7 cells the truck hooks really good and hard, it runs straight all the way across the 132ft mark, but he runs me down on the too end, on 8 cells it leaves hard but i have to correct the steering alittle bit but from where we were standing it looked like i won the first 2 races until my cells started to wear down, so with foams that should be my combo for now, but who knows i still may end up locking the diff, i am also thinking about changing over to jato drive shafts though, the stock slip shafts really took a beating and i don't know if they are gonna hold up all that well

snellemin

The jato driveshaft held up well for a whole year running 5s A123, but on 6s A123 they just twisted at launch. Currently running the HPI dogbone setup and has zero play in them. Cheaper then doing the jato mod as well.

bigwill5686

just doing a little research online and found some traxxas dogbones or the rustler/stampede, would those be the same? they weren't expensive at all so i will probably try those. also i will be getting a new body because the body i have now is in no way shape or form aerodinamic and remove the rpm wide front bumper, so that the new body can almost come down to the ground so that i don't get to much lift on the front end at top speed

snellemin

Parts list for the HPI setup:

Two HPI 5x10x18mm joint cup Manufacturer Stock# 72108
HPI Dogbones SPECS: Length: 86mm, Ball diameter: 6mm (0.24")Manufacturer Stock# A554
Hpi Axles SPECS: Length: 5x40mm Manufacturer Stock# A549
HPI Screw shaft M4x2x12mm Black Savage Manufacturer Stock# 86094
Traxxas Fiber washers 5x8mm Manufacturer Stock# 1985

There is also a heavy duty HPI mod, which is basically 1mm thicker and adds 10 bucks more to the total cost.

bigwill5686

i don't think i will be needing the heavy duty ones since i am only running 8 cell nimh, snellemin, what are you running as suspension? i am thinkin of doing a jato spring swap onto my integy piggyback shocks since the jato's seem to have a better suspension the the stock rusty

snellemin

I use the big bore traxxas shocks with the blue trinity springs.