Tame my wheelie machine!

[ejw]

Hi All

Interested to know what people have done to reduce tendency to wheelie on their b4.1? I know weights seem to be the norm in this buggy but im new to this and not sure how far to take it in terms of front end.

Does anyone completely engineer out the wheelie effect with weights or is it simply a matter of great thumb control to feed in the power.

Any advise greatly appreciated.

[Andyp]

Loosen the slipper clutch would be the first thing i would do!

[ejw]

Hi Andy

Interesting, as i said im a total novice so that didnt even occur to me, slipper clutch! will have a play. How much control can i expect to get, i guess what im asking is, if you give your buggy full throttle does it rear up requiring some nifty thumb work or have you managed to engineer it away completely.

[MiCk B.]

Yep,

Slipper clutch would be the first this. You should have a foot or two of slip.
(And feed in the power.)
What motor are you running?

Other thing would be to add weight to the front of the car, around the bulkhead or around (under) the servo.

Ghea make a brass bulkhead for adding weight to the front of the car.



(Business plug, these are in stock at http://www.p-dubracing.co.uk)

Or you can just use any sort of weight on the front of the car. Allow wheel balancing weights are good for this.

MiCk B. :-)

[blue_pinky]

Slipper would def be worth adjusting first! It should be loose enough that it slips for the first few meters of the cars travel when you use full throttle from a stand still. If it's too loose though it'll slip all the time, heat up, and polish the slipper pads nicely. Not the end of the world, they can be replaced, but not ideal!

The slipper will make a high pitched squealing noise when it's loose, listen out for it as you take off.

For reference, what sort of motor/speedo are you running?

If it wheelies that easily, turning down the punch on the speedo might also help, and there's also throttle adjustment on most transmitters as well. These might also help if your still struggling to control it smoothly!

Something else to bear in mind, weights aren't there to keep the front wheels down from take off...they are there to help generate grip, and balance the car. Lipo batterys are soooo light that most/all cars benefit from decent weight distribution to gain the best grip and control while racing.

Welcome to the forum dude!

[ejw]

Thanks mick b and blue pinky

Ok so what is the best way to ensure i have my slipper set correctly? any cunning techniques?

Running a speed passion gt2.0 lpf blue edition which i have tamed as much as poss and a 8.5t vampire brushless motor.

Not afraid of putting in the effort to improve my driving style to deal with the issue but dont want to bang my head against a wall if everyone else is chuck a brick in the front and slamming on the throttle whenever they like as hard as they like

I do have throttle curve adjustment on my tx but i dont understand it and am terrified to mess with it if im honest. instructions are pants.

[/tobys]

Make sure the slipper is not too tight, run some weight under the lipo and servo and try a smaller spur gear to push the motor further forward (less rear overhang).

[ejw]

Just thought i would let you guys know that slipper adjustment worked a treat, now have it set so if i completely gun it from a standing start she will still bring the nose up a bit but with a minimal amount of finesse just accelerates smooth and fast, Nice!

Thanks again.

Ejw

[MiCk B.]

Good to hear that you got it sorted.

MiCk B. :-)

[chuckie stella]

Originally Posted by /tobys

Make sure the slipper is not too tight, run some weight under the lipo and servo and try a smaller spur gear to push the motor further forward (less rear overhang).

Smaller spur = more punch! I maybe wrong?

[MiCk B.]

Bigger spur and or smaller pinion = more punch and less top speed!

Smaller spur and or bigger pinion = less punch and more top speed.

MiCk B. :-)

[/tobys]

Originally Posted by chuckie stella

Smaller spur = more punch! I maybe wrong?

You may be right; less rotating mass and all that.

However, I believe the theory is less weight transference to the rear and so less inclined to bring the front up. It is also supposed to reduce the pendulum effect.

It's a tactic I believe was used by the AE boys in the 2010 nationals, before the C4.1 was born.

I tried it on my B4 last year and it definitely made the car feel more nimble in high grip situations.

As the OPer has found, there is no substitute for setting the slipper correctly though