belt or shaft

[dandun]

I was wondering which would be better in an on-road car shaft or belt driven. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

 

[FastEddy]

This is the age old question.
Chocolate or vanilla?

 

[RatzoRC]

Well, yes and no.
Belt driven cars are more prefered by racers.(not sure exacty why)
maybe less metal to move around???
Bashers or parking lot racers that are not on a prepared surface like shaft driven cars
because the pebbles can't get caught in a belt.

 

[Lessen]

interesting Ratzo. I'm glad somebody brought this up. I was curious about it as well. I bet the belt system is less rotating weight as well huh? I don't have an on-road yet but I thought about getting a shaft kit just cuz of the realizm factor

 

[FastEddy]

This thread will get interesting.
Good subject
I don't recall it being discussed in depth on this forum in the past.
It will be interesting to see what comes about.

 

[RatzoRC]

interesting Ratzo. I'm glad somebody brought this up. I was curious about it as well. I bet the belt system is less rotating weight as well huh? I don't have an on-road yet but I thought about getting a shaft kit just cuz of the realizm factor

I'm not sure about the weight thing.
It might be because there is less that can go wrong with a belt system.
(less moving parts)
I don't know how many times I bent a main drive shaft, and was done for the day.
But I have also broken belts. But thats an easy fix cause I always have spare belts.

 

[Rolex]

I helped assemble a belt drive HPI, and I'm willing to bet big bucks that there's a LOT less vibration in that system.
Just a hunch now, but it's possible that it might also provide a bit of Gyroscopic stability also.

 

[FastEddy]

Some say that the shaft drives will give more torque steer under heavy acceleration and the belt drives are smoother under the same circumstances.

 

[Team 17]

I prefer belts since I do race on prepared surfaces. Like Ratzo said, racers like belts over shaft for a couple reasons. If u smack the wall or get in a pile up, depending on how hard u hit u can bend the shaft. An the other main reason is u can use different size pullies for the belts. By changing the pully sizes u can change the amount of tire wear to the front and rear tires. So in all u have more options with belts and no worries of bending a shaft.

 

[Lessen]

thanks eddy, I was just gonna ask about torque steer. Can you adjust the tension on the belts in those things?

 

[FastEddy]

I believe most have a tensioner. My MTX3 does.

I'm taking a pic of it now.

 

[Team 17]

All cars that have belts have a tensioner.

 

[Lessen]

that's cool, I didn't know the belt systems were so involved... is it me Eddy or are we just goin back and forth between threads? heh, sorry bout the derail.

 

[Rolex]

heh, sorry bout the derail.

The only thing that can derail is the belt, without the proper tension.

 

[FastEddy]

Here is a quick shot.
Sorry about the dirt I ran it this morning.

 

[shadey26 ntc3]

Also braking is diffrent, shaft cars slow down diffrent because there is really not that much play in the drive train then a belt. Also under hard accleration sometimes a belt might skip! not saying it will but might. Driving styles are diffrent ,I had a belt car and when I switch to a ntc3 I had to get use to the braking and cornering of having a shaft car . A couple of team driver told this to me at the track when I ask is there really a difrence.

 

[RudeDog55]

i think this is the best thread i've read yet and it answers so many questions for a newbie such as my self. sometimes i just dont know what to ask. thanx

 

[RatzoRC]

Well as for the braking, most belt drive cars come with a front one way diff, that uses the rear wheels to stop the car, which will cause the back end to come lose, and spin the car out during hard breaking.
A 15 minute adjustment to the ABS on my radio, fixed that problem.
Where on my nitro TC3, it has 4 wheel braking, which makes hard breaking very controllable, and I can hit the brakes as hard as I want with hardly any fade.

 

[Malakai3]

So, If you aren't running on a prepared surface, shaft is best?

 

[Diver6127]

Yup, unless you don't mind changing or replacing belts because of debris or pebbles