Blog of Jon Wright

Finally got round to fixing the burned out clutch on my nitro Rush Evo. I am told it's a common problem on these cars where if you don't periodically check or re-adjust the slipper clutch, the friction causes the plastic disk hub to melt to the stainless steel slipper plate. Also/or, at least in my case, the 56 tooth spur gear melts as well. Hey i don't do things by halves Don't panic! Luckily there's a modification in the shape of an aluminium/hard anodized heavy duty disk hub (to the right of picture), well they've got to make money out us novices before we wise up, don't they The lack of fitting instructions on the packet isn't a problem, because thanks to the internet, there's an easy to follow tutorial on HPi's website, that takes you through the process step by step. The modification took no more than 15 minutes to do and I guess it makes you appreciate how well designed these HPi cars are for newbie's like me to work on. With the plastic disk hub out of the picture, the heavy duty hub is able to withstand more heat between runs, lessening the chances of meltdown. And of course i've now had the experience of my first breakage and will keep and eye on this in the future. Adjusting the slipper clutch was straight forward and after following the tutorial i took the car out for a run. The engine was still revving higher relative to the car's speed, so half a turn clockwise on the slipper nut and all was well again. There is a danger however, of over-tightening the nut, thus rendering the the slipper clutch useless. The idea of the clutch is to take the load off the gearbox when under stress, hence the word 'slipper'. If the clutch is too tight, then the transmission could be damaged. Hey i'm sounding like an expert now