a different kind of wheel weight??

[Nova]

I was just thinking... a few posts ago, someone had the good idea of the basketball stem for adjusting the pressure in the wheel... BUT what if you use the same concept and use water??... water has more weight than air and makes a good template for a tire to sit on a rock....

Just a thought.... i was bored

 

[FritoBandito]

They use water in 1:1 crawlers all the time but it's probably not practical for us. RC crawler folks use lead shot or BBS in the tires. Close to the same results without the hassle.

 

[Nova]

i heard NOT to ever use BB's as wheel weights...

 

[FritoBandito]

i heard NOT to ever use BB's as wheel weights...

From who and why not?

 

[BENDER]

i heard NOT to ever use BB's as wheel weights...

I'd like to know too, some RCC members use BB's in their tires.

 

[AdamF]

I use water in my wheels. Not on purpose though. My wheels are not sealed and when I'm playing in the creek they pick up several pounds of water in the foams.

 

[EeePee]

Water in the wheels works. I don't have foams, and I have holes in the wheels.
Drive through the creek a bunch, and POW. Wheel weight added. Makes a differrence.

BBs are heavier, and sound kinda cool.

 

[JohnRobHolmes]

bb's are just messy after a while. they get all oxidized and nasty. who wants oxidation all over their bearings?

i think wheel weights are a waste of time and power. maybe they are useful if you cant build enough forward weight bias into your crawler, but otherwise i dont use or like them.

 

[Gimbal]

we run bb's in my boys Clod. They seem to add some traction.
But, I'd like to point something out. The extra weight far out on the axle like that adds quite a bit of stress to the axles. He goes thru knuckles and axle tubes like candy. But then, he's not the most patient driver either :lol: squeeze the trigger and let er rip!

 

[FritoBandito]

bb's are just messy after a while. they get all oxidized and nasty. who wants oxidation all over their bearings?

i think wheel weights are a waste of time and power. maybe they are useful if you cant build enough forward weight bias into your crawler, but otherwise i dont use or like them.

Good point. Lead shot would probably solve that.

You're obviously more experienced in this area than I am but doesn't a forward weight bias create problems in a downhill situation? This seems to be confirmed when I watch a nose heavy crawler make an extremly competent climb upwards only to topple end for end at the first sign of a downward slope. I would think that adding weight equally to the tires would allow for competent up or downhill ability. Your thoughts?

 

[Heavy]

I use bb's and swear by them. They definately make a positive difference in my case.

It does add stress to the axles, I had to go to aluminum knuckles on my clod.

The bb's are inside the tire, so nothing from them affects the bearings ,except the weight, and I've had no bearing troubles.


Heavy

 

[FrankyRizzo]

How about mercury? It's liquid and it's heavy. Plus it's great for the environment.

 

[EeePee]

Here's a good thread: http://www.rccrawler.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7609&highlight=weight

 

[Heavy]

How about mercury? It's liquid and it's heavy. Plus it's great for the environment.

:roll:

 

[JohnRobHolmes]

Good point. Lead shot would probably solve that.

You're obviously more experienced in this area than I am but doesn't a forward weight bias create problems in a downhill situation? This seems to be confirmed when I watch a nose heavy crawler make an extremly competent climb upwards only to topple end for end at the first sign of a downward slope. I would think that adding weight equally to the tires would allow for competent up or downhill ability. Your thoughts?

if the forward weight bias is built correctly, then downhill should not be any different other than the challange of keeping the front wheels from wedging. to accomplish this the forward weight needs to be low.

eg1) if you have a battery directly over your front diff, its no big deal. if you have the battery a few inches above the diff it becomes a very efficient counterweight when your truck is on its nose. all gravity will do is pull the battery and create torque on your front axle trying to pull you over frontways. when you are on the rear tires the battery is not very efficient of a counterweight because of the shallow angle that gravity is pulling at. a diagram would help explain, and i might make one.

eg2) if you place your battery directly behind the front diff you still can get that forward weight bias. for shafties it takes some creativity, and for clods its still hard to accomplish. imagine the truck sitting on the front tires with the battery directly behind the diff. the battery is just pushing directly on the tire contact patch and not creating any torque to flip the vehicle.

i would like to revisit the extra stress on driveline caused by extra weight- its a very valad point but i think everyone gets it.

 

[JohnRobHolmes]

crude but illustrative. i didnt want to get into torque to prove further, but if you imagine relocating the battery you get my drift.

the pivot point would be tire contact patch and not the axle stub. i drew the dotted lines to the wrong spot.

 

[Nova]

Well, a lot of people (Including myself) needed to know about it, and this has been a good tread turn-out

 

[toyofast]

BB's = bad and messy, especially if you play in water much.

Stick on wheel weights = Great. No mess and you can easily add and remove weight. Just go snag some of those stick on wheel weights from a tire shop.... stick onto your wheels :mrgreen:

 

[JasonInAugusta]

I run BBs in one truck, and dead weight in the other.

The Clod comp rig gets BBs in the front tires and stays away from water.

The TXT rig gets a good bit of lead sandwiched between the two axle halves...no rotational mass is added...just good, solid weight down low.

 

[JohnRobHolmes]

the lead stuck down low would be the best solution if you wanted to add weight to your rig iMO. no rotational mass or internal tire friction is added. that is until you roll your vehicle down the slope while the truck spins around the front axle. :lol: