lemans23

Hello all. It's been a while since I was in the RC game, but it's good to be back.

Anyway, down to business. I cooked my 2.5 that came with it at around 6-7 tanks. Ran great until the compression went away. So, a few weeks ago, I decided that i'd restore the rustler and I went looking around and saw that Traxxas had made a "new" engine (the 2.5R and 3.3 didn't exist when I was doing this). I picked up a 3.3, and installed it. I fired it up today after school and noticed that the car wouldn't just creep forward, it would literally move as though it had about 1/4 throttle. I got through one tank doing this, until I realized that no matter how much pressure I applied, I couldn't get the brakes to engage strong enough to lock the wheels (it had been when I started the break-in). So, I kept fooling around with it until I got about half-way through the second take and decided that I needed to do something about it. Called Traxxas, talked to one idiot who told me to lean out the HSN, then called back again and the guy said that there was a drivetrain problem somewhere. I thought hmm, clutch? Took off the spur and clutch bell, and saw that the aluminum clutch shoes I'd installed for my 2.5 were no longer bright blue. In fact, they had worn down so much that the edges of the shoes were sort of flanged as though they'd been pressed on very hard. I also took note of the inside of the clutch bell and saw that it was completely scraped up by the clutch shoes. It hadn't happened when I was using my 2.5 engine in it. So, here's what I'm wondering. Is the problem that I'm having (the car moving forward like the clutch is engaged at 1/4 throttle) due to my worn down clutch shoes and CB? And if so, do you think that just replacing the shoes, spring, and bell would be a viable solution? If not, what do you think it is? I've tried richening up the LSN as well, that didn't do jack ****. I should also note that the aluminum clutch shoes I had were not for the rustler, but for the t-maxx 2.5. At the bottom of the post is a link to the exact ones, maybe that's my problem altogether. Sorry for the long post, but I wanna get this car broken in ASAP. Thanks for any help!

-Dave

Link to clutch shoes:
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...p?&I=LXGBC4&P=

piney 73

I would replace the shoes I replaced mine with thesehttp://www.novarcproducts.com/tmaxxshoes.html.I have had very good luck with these and I would also replace the CB

lemans23

So you think it's a clutch problem? It's interesting though, because the traxxas part numbers for the rustler clutch shoes and those of the t-maxx are different. The rustler is 4146 versus 4146X. However, on the exploded view for the rustler, it lists them both as replacements. Does this make them interchangeable?

piney 73

They must be I just went by the motor I have a 2.5r and they work fine I dont know what difference there is if any.Maybe the X is a heavy duty or something.

lemans23

Alright, I thought that it would be the clutch. So, here's the big question then. Should I go with aluminum shoes again (seeing as they lasted SHORTER than the stock composite ones), or just stock up on the composite ones?

piney 73

I would try the stock shoes for now there cheaper and you could probably get them faster.I usually take some fine sand paper and lightly sand the shoes and inside the cb to remove any glazing that occurs.

lemans23

Alright, will do. Thanks!