Clutch Bell Bearings
How to Improve the Life and Performance
of Your Clutch Bell Bearings
"I am having problems blowing my clutch bearings in my 1/8th scale nitro offroad buggy. I heard that ceramic bearings are better so should I make the upgrade? I am running carbon clutch shoes and .9mm springs in my stock clutch bell."
Ceramics Bearings in On Road Racing
Ceramic ball bearings have less rolling resistance which allows them to spool up quicker and produce less heat at high speeds because of the reduced friction. They are quite expensive but popular in serious on road racing.
Ceramics for Offroad Use
The downside to ceramic bearings for offroad
nitro rc cars and trucks
is that they don't react well to fine dust getting in which is easy to do under offroad conditions. Since your problem is blown bearings, using ceramics to reduce the amount of heat build up only serves to cover up some problem in your existing set up whether that be improper shimming, idle too high, or something else and still may not last as long because they're more susceptible to dirt.
Clutch Slippage
In fact, excessive clutch slippage is the #1 reason for clutch heat buildup and blown bearings. Your .9 springs may not be strong enough to keep the shoes from slightly contacting the bell at idle and low speeds which creates a lot of heat from the slippage. Try going up to 1.0 springs and see what happens.
For more on choosing, buying, building, tuning, racing, and maintaining electric and nitro gas powered rc cars and trucks,
check out RC Car Talk Magazine, it's FREE...
Clutch Bell Bearings > RC Car Talk Home
|
