air soft in tires?
 

I was thinking of runing air soft bbs in my tires, iv heard of other crawlers like 2.2 and scaled trucks doing it . but will it work on a txt? what does it do to the tires exactly? Has any one tryed this in txt tires or on such bigger crawlers?

thanks for the info

I was considering this also. But in conjuction with foam.

I just got a trial set of Panthers over Imex 30series MOLDED soft foams. I cut the foams down in dia and width.
When fit over the rims, they leave about 3/8" of air gap between the foam and tire.
I added 8oz of steel shot (larger then BBs).
The molded foams allow the shot to roll around better then cut foam.
I also added a shot of baby powder as a dry lubricant.

I want to try this setup on my Lizard-Claws I have.
They are 5.75" dia, so would have a 5/8" air gap.
Rather then steel shot, I would fill about +/-1/2 of the gap up with Airsoft BB's.

Keep us posted on how that works!

hey thanks for that, I need to do some research since im not sure what Panthers are. how does the larger BBs make a difference?

The regular BBs I find now are steel vs. copper. There is some friction generated while the roll around and I bet in the current rig, eat up a couple perecent of the power to the wheels. With the wight I wanted, I had to put less of the shot vs. the smaller BBs, so I figured it would have less friction.
I have two with BBs and two with shot and you can feel a little difference rolling them.
I added the baby powder as a dry lube to them to help.

But against using the shot, is that the smaller BBs can conform to an obstacle the tire is on, better then the larger shot.

I should say that I do not comp, only fun runs.
Most comp rigs prob do not run BBs or other free weights.

I don't either, so I'm not to concerned with "rules""thumbsup"

sweli have you tryed using just airsoft pellets in your tires? im trying it out and it adds a some weight to the tires and also makes the tires conform better. another thing, does your tires make noise rolling? my tires do.

those of you that run bbs or air soft bbs in your tires, does your truck make a lot of noise while rolling?

It does in my scaler and did in my other 2.2.

The ones I mentioned in my post above (4th from top) do not make that much noise.
Must be a combo of the smaller space, soft Panther compound, and the baby powder.

808mills, I'll have to try it. Thx for letting us know.
How much weight were you able to add?
What tires are you running?
Any foam?

Im running stock txt tires on narrowed txt wheels with no foam. As for weight, my front tires are running 16.8 oz, and my rears 8.4 oz in each tire. sweli how much weight do you run in your tires? Are you using the shot just as weight or to help conform as well? just a side note how much does your crawler way in total?

if you have them in at any speed it causes your rig to hop and jump

Quick idea....
 

Instead of using BB's, if you are only looking to add weight... why not try using a type of wire wrap around the rims. Possibly using a lead-based material would really give you some weight. But if your cheap, like me, just use some lashing wire, or simple bailing wire. As long as you keep the wraps consistent, and use the same amount on both front, or both rear, or what have you, it should work perfectly fine. As for the conforming the tire around the rock, or whatever your climbing, maybe a form of thick sand or non-sharp metal shavings. NOTE- i havent tried either of these methods, but now that im brainstorming, i think i might give it a try! "thumbsup"

re re
 

Ok, so i found some lead lashing wire sitting around, and went into it. It worked great, and added about 1.5 pounds to the front axle! Now im gonna do the rear. Other than that, i think this is all the weight i was looking for. Also, its a lot better than waiting for the manufactured wheel weights...