Up graded slash transmission

[orca44]

I successfully installed a 28t pinion on this trans that appears to be max size relative to the room in the slots to adjust proper mesh. It did not rub on the cover.

Also just sharing this reply on other topics we have been discussing, from Aaron at PL:
The best way to sum up adjusting / fine tuning the slipper tension is you want it about 4 to 4 1/2 turns out from full tight (Pre-Adjusted from the factory). If you can hear the slipper for more than two seconds from take off, then tighten it 1/2 increment turns until the slipper can only be heard about 1 seconds fro take off. Anything under 3 turns from full tight is too much and can damage the idler gear.

We originally designed the transmission mostly for racing with low rotating mass. Since all the gears are plastic, they do not require lube on the gears. Traxxas Uses lube on their transmission because they have more than one metal gear face. Any time you have two meshing metal faces, you should always use lube but it is not necessary on ours.

You can supplement the stock transmission idler gear for now until a replacement idler gear can be purchased

Thanks Kwitty, harry697 , rag6 and all the other forum guru's who have participated in this thread. Between this thread and the one Kwity started on the Proline Performance tranny, alot of information has been gathered, discussed and even particapation from Matt with Proline.

Between these two threads persons with intrest should be able to make an fairly informed decision in making a purchase of this product.

It is obviously a new product that has some room for improvement, but out of the box the product has performed really well...

Instructions should have been included with the tranny and not have to go to a web site for instllation information, especially the clutch adjustment portion.

I personally do not bash my ride, I drive it just like I was in it. I want to be fast but also want it to last...I constantly tune and look for ways to improve my ride...And with everyones help this has been an improvement, straighter starts, better cornering control and better launching on jumps.

I don't know if Proline will replace my idler gear, but at their request I did send them a pic of the broken gear, and since they will be on vacation soon it may be a week to hear back from them.

I found my temp gun and motor temp was 152 degrees, still a little high but out side temp yesterday was 86. Wheels, tranny etc spin freely, no binding, it will still roll down hill like the stock tranny. I guess I was expecting lower temps.

Once again ....Thanks GUYS for all of you input

[kwitty]

Orca44 you sure took things well in stride and shared a lot of good info for all of us to absorb and comment on. This is the real life happenings that we are sharing, I am a lot like you on how I drive my car, I want to be fast and furious but not negligent. Everything has a limit, we don't know what it is until we get there sometimes LOL Apparently you have good brakes! LOL

I thank you for letting me participate and share in your thread what I have learned and what might help you and others. I sincerely hope we find these tranmissions to be durable, I'll get a spare idler in hopes I'll never need it

Have fun, keep us up to date.............thank you!

[redlightrandy]

152 degrees and its only 86 outside? i get only a little higher than that sometimes and its 100+ outside.

[Racer XXX]

Well today while running on my track the new Proline Transmission gave up . When I took it apart the idler gear (middle one) has some stripped teeth .
I called proline but they were already closed...
I have been driving this same truck for over a year and never have stripped any gears in the stock tranny, lost a few spur gears but nothing in the tranny or differental.
I was not driving any different than any other days, just out for a nice afternoon ride... Don't know why it happened, no dirt or debris in there other than broken plastic teeth.
Hopefully Proline has the gear that I need to get it running again or at least where I may find one that will work, I had to leave a message with them to please return my call.
Well at least I have another Slash to play with and can always put the stock tranny back in this one.

Well I was out at my local track yesterday and the idler gear gave out. My slash is running 15T/86T on VXL, 8.4V stock battery. The slipper nut was set at 3MM just like what Matt said from PL. What a bummer. It went only about 10 feet or so then bang=broke. I started to remember all the details that orca44
left on the forum and went from there. 20 minutes & 3 dollars later I was up and running again. Also noticed during reassembly the screws on the side played a big roll on how free the whole trans spun.

[kwitty]

Another idler gear failure and a documented internal diff gear failure. Not good news. Curious to see how the metal idler holds up and if anyone experiences a gear failure on the outside of the diff.

So far the top gear is shown its strength! No one reporting slipper issues, heat or wear.

Anyone seeing issues with the integrity of the threading in the motor aluminum plate or securing the screws into the plastic halves? I have a one threaded area that seems to be stripping on the aluminum plate and one screw into plastic that does not want to bite well enough for me.

[Racer XXX]

Another idler gear failure and a documented internal diff gear failure. Not good news. Curious to see how the metal idler holds up and if anyone experiences a gear failure on the outside of the diff.

So far the top gear is shown its strength! No one reporting slipper issues, heat or wear.

Anyone seeing issues with the integrity of the threading in the motor aluminum plate or securing the screws into the plastic halves? I have a one threaded area that seems to be stripping on the aluminum plate and one screw into plastic that does not want to bite well enough for me.

So most likely the next thing to fail for me is the diff.... Wow i think its time to go back to the stock trans for me and sell off the PL trans.....
FYI: No problems with aluminum plates screws here. Plastic ones are ok too for me.

[orca44]

Another idler gear failure and a documented internal diff gear failure. Not good news. Curious to see how the metal idler holds up and if anyone experiences a gear failure on the outside of the diff.

So far the top gear is shown its strength! No one reporting slipper issues, heat or wear.

Anyone seeing issues with the integrity of the threading in the motor aluminum plate or securing the screws into the plastic halves? I have a one threaded area that seems to be stripping on the aluminum plate and one screw into plastic that does not want to bite well enough for me.

I also have one of the screws that secures the clear cover (upper one on the left), I believe I may have over tightened that one the very first time I put it on.

No other screw issues at this time.

The metal idler gear I installed is holding up fine so far. (I did pick up an aluminum one just in case) I have about 6 more battery packs since putting in the metal gear. But I also have the slipper clutch at 3 3/4 turns out which has been allowing for almost two feet of slip before full engagement.

At our track here at my house we only had 5 people racing on Sunday and using my Slash with the PL tranny I got 9 out of 10 hole shots.
When the guys asked what I had done, I just told them I balanced, hand cut, taped and found a way to let some air out of the tires for better traction in the loose soil. I can't repeat what they said I was full of. I said ..no it's true, I just used less dense foam and a special formulated NASCAR duct tape. They said " you watch too much of the speed channel".

They stiil don't know.... I'll tell them next weekend....Maybe!!!

For thoes who have a need to know.... Remember not to over tighten the clutch

I inspected the clutch this morning and there has been some minor disk ware, so I would imagine a spare set of disks would be in order if you have this tranny and put alot of time on it.

[kwitty]

I also have one of the screws that secures the clear cover (upper one on the left), I believe I may have over tightened that one the very first time I put it on.

I have that one too and the one below it questionable that secures the plastic motor guard which has room for improvement. Would rather see this much harder plastic.
Glad to hear you are getting plenty of run time and pulling good hole shots too! What kinda tape you using LOL

[harry697]

So far the top gear is shown its strength! No one reporting slipper issues, heat or wear.

That's because nobody has had one working long enough for the slipper to get hot.



Sorry, that was just wrong.

[kwitty]

That's because nobody has had one working long enough for the slipper to get hot.



Sorry, that was just wrong.

Well at least you had a good reason
Well other than the size of the slipper pads, it does seem to mimmick the Associated slipper which doesn't seem to get a bad rap. If it it to slip but for a second or less and it is vented I'm just gonna think we might be OK? There aren't any slippers that when run too loose won't overheat are there?

[orca44]

harry697 I think your more right I did get alot of good run times in yesterday and to be honest, the harder I drove the more it entered my mind "will the tranny hold up".

The more I drive it the more I'm liking it. My other Slash with the stock tranny the motor was 10 to 12 degrees hotter at 160 to 162, so the proline does run a little cooler.

Kwitty NASCAR won't officially allow me to say......Gorilla tape...

[orca44]

Just a little update on the new tranny.....I feel after the last 2 days of testing this transmission with running the clutch from 3 to 4 1/2 turns out in 1/4 turn increments, that 3 3/4 turns out allows for about 2 feet of slip which helped in high grip areas of our track.

I have even tried to break something, hard corner breaking, landing with throttle on when landing off jumps etc.

So now since things seem to be holding up I am going to go to a race track, clay surface, and give it a try there. Now I have only been to this track to watch a friend of mine who is a professional rc racer so this will be my first time driving on groomed clay surface.
I do need to get some clay tires today as that is what was suggested.

I'm going to drive both of my Slashes, just change body's, shocks and tires to keep them as close as possible. The only difference will be the transmissions. I'll go to the track tomorrow and post some results then.

Also tomorrow is their race night and I just might race... I was there last Friday night and there was only 2 Slashes there, the rest were Losi and Associated SC10's. I'll see how it goes.....

[kwitty]

^^^ Good luck in racing and my hopes for no equipment failures of any kind^^^ That should be fun to be on a track that actually has traction, our local one sure doesn't! LOL

[rag6]

It will be nice to hopefully see a success story out of this trans.

[orca44]

I have not had internet since last Sat... But we are up at last!

I forgot that the grand kids were comming over for the weekend so I did not race Friday night but I did have about 2 1/2 hrs of track time with the Proline Tranny.

First off... no failures and I was very pleased with the tranny...Remember I do have the metal idler gear for now.

I started with 19/86 gearing and then 18/86 and the last test was with 17/86.
Because this track has alot of jumps, tight corners and only one 90 ft straight, I had the best results with the 18/86 gearing. My castle 5700 kv 4 pole motor ran very strong.

I ran 2s as that is what they allow unless you run 1/8 scale.
The 17/86 gave the lowest motor temps at 135 degrees, 18/86 at 142 and 19/86 at 156 degrees.

I still had the slipper clutch at 3 3/4 turns out which gave me 2 feet of slip on 19/86, 1 1/2 feet of slip with 18/86 and just about 1 foot with the 17/86.

The tires I used were J Concepts Bar Codes for a clay track and gave me all the traction I needed.

I didn't change the shock oil weight but I did move the front shocks out one position and the rears as well to give a little lower ride height.

The sweetest thing compaired to my other Slash (which I had my son-in-law drive) was almost perfect straight starts, super control in the corners and straighter approches to the jumps with straighter launching.

All in all the tranny is doing great.....in fact I don't even want to replace the metal idler gear with the aluminum one I bought.

Enough for now..... don't want to make this a novel

[orca44]

After another two weeks of testing and racing this tranny on an indoor clay track and our home out door track, here are a few additional findings.

First off I installed a hot racing tranny case in my other slash, other than that ,the two trucks are identical, I even used the same body for compairsons.

My Slash with the hot racing tranny and Traxxas diff, gears and clutch runs cooler by 12 to 15 degrees. Hooks up quicker out of turns and clears the double / triple jump at the clay track I raced on.

I an effort to get the PL tranny to perform, like my other Slash I needed to tighten the slipper clutch to two and half turns out but could not clear the double / triple jump as easily as my other Slash.

For this to be a racing tranny, quick out of the turns and clear jumps, you have to have traction and so far the only way for this to work, the slipper clutch must be tighter than PL recommends. So as we know so far this is the cause of the idler gear to fail. At these race tracks you must be able to accelerate quickly and break hard, which the PL tranny does not like in it's off the shelf form.

I also would have to have at least 2-3 good warm up laps to allow the diff oil to warm up, which is ok as this is done in any race vehical.

I personally think PL did some pre-testing and was aware of the tranny gear problem. They have just left the real testing to the customer. Sorta like when Traxxas first introduced their Spartan boat over a year ago.....mass problems in the beginning.

The tranny has still held up well with the Traxxas metal idler gear, but I just do not want to tighten the slipper clutch any more for fear of stripping the the plastic diff gear....this should also be metal..

On the track here at the house the tranny has just been fine with the slipper set at 3 1/2 turns out, providing just enough slip for excellent straight starts and controllable slides in corners.

PS... Kwitty....If you want ... can post this on your thread...

[SLW-SVT]

Good info here. I have the pl tranny and a full Anza kit waiting to get installed on my raptor. The first mod will be the steel idler. I hope to see more of your findings/experiences with that tranny.

[orca44]

I have finally tightened the slipper clutch to only 2 turns out on a clay track and what a difference the added traction has made to the acceleration for jumps and out of tight corners which also decreased breaking distance.
The metal idler gear is holding up just fine so if you want to break and accelerate hard, the steel or aluminum idler IMO is a must.

I have to keep a close look at several screws that hold the metal motor mount to the plastic tranny case as when they loosen the flex tends to widen the pinion/spur mesh.

I also improved the mounting of the rear motor protector and RPM bumper. I take some pics this afternoon and post. It was easy to do and has held up good at the race track and our track at home.