BlueBorderRC

I run the b44.3 at a indoor clay track. Its a 4wd 10 scale buggy with triple diff setup. The b44.3 is currently running the manual recommended 5000 front, 60000 center, 5000 rear. Im thinking about changing it to 7000 front, 80000 center, 5000 rear, hoping it will make things a little more symmetrical. I had new crime fighters on the front and new blockades on the back at the same time. Now the crime fighters (front) are almost gone and there are still 3/4 tread left on the blackades (rear) lol. What do you guys think about the fluid change in the diffs to help the front wheel drive problem?

Maj_Overdrive

My Feedback: (11)

Well the fronts are going to wear faster as they do the majority of the braking, are turning the vehicle and accelerating it as well. I'm not fluent in 1/10 4wd race tires but that wear does sound a little excessive. Are the tires worn evenly across the tread or more in the center? If they're worn more in the center that would indicate the tires are ballooning which means the center diff is definitely unloading more power to the front. Thicker fluid in the center will send power to the front and rear more equally while thinner fluid will allow the center diff to unload sending more power to the front.

Same goes for the front or rear diff. Changing to a thicker front diff fluid won't help with your tire wear situation. It will make the vehicle a little harder to turn in (under steer) but should power out of turns a little better. Remember to make one change at a time and test the results before making another. I'd try a thicker center diff fluid first and see how it goes before touching the front.

BlueBorderRC

I wish I had seen this reply before I tryd thicker fluid in the front. Bad move. Your exactly right it made the car steer worse and didn't do anything with torque distribution to the front lol. Its ok I changed it back to stock and decided I'll go thru 2 sets of fronts to 1 set of rear tires. The tires on the front were wearing pretty even across though. Maybe a little more in the middle at first but other then that pretty even. I'll go with the good advice next time and change the center diff fluid. We'll see what happens. Maybe its the tires also. If that's the case then PL Blockades really hold up good and PL Crimefighters wear out fast.

Maj_Overdrive

My Feedback: (11)

Well diff fluid tuning, like any other tuning, is trial and error. My statement about thicker fluid up front was a generalization and is really only true when you go with a weight that's higher than optimal. Its all about balance. The wheels want to rotate at different speeds around a corner so we have a diff. But coming off a corner under power the diff will send power to the wheel with the least traction causing it to spin faster while still not going anywhere. So we have diff fluid to help send power more equally to both wheels. But if the fluid is too heavy the wheels won't spin at different speeds as easily and this can cause one or both of the tires to lose traction because they can't overcome the diff fluid to spin at different speeds. In the case of your front diff this causes under steer. But if you had started at say 2k and went to 4K you probably wouldn't have noticed any increase in understeer and only saw improvement in how the vehicle powered out of the corners.

Center diffs are easier and a little more tricky at the same time. The speed difference between right and left wheels is much greater than the difference between front and rear so it's not as critical. You're basically trying to use a heavy enough fluid so the vehicle doesn't light up the front tires. But it can be easy to go too heavy especially if you just mash the throttle all the time because then you're going to be spinning something all the time and likely the front. So you go heavier and heavier until you lose the benefits of having a center diff in the first place. But if you noticed that much of difference with a 2k change in front fluid I don't think you're driving like that and won't get lost lost tuning the center diff.

Like I said I don't know 1/10 race tires or 1/10 4wd buggies. Maybe the wear is normal or the different compounds caused it like you said. Either way it's a racer and tires are consumables. Personally I'd try heavier in the center diff and see how it goes. But if lap times are better with lighter fluid then you need to decide what compromises you want to make.

Sorry for for the long post, felt like typing.

BlueBorderRC

I agree. I'll just plan on going thru two sets of fronts to one set of rear on this car. If I changed anything else it would be thicker in the center.