ASK Cub Reporter, 06.21.2012, Version: Q&A Can Be Fun

Pro-Line Transmission
Is there a projected availability date? Is there a waiting list? What does one have to do to get one of these? I’m sure you get numerous similar requests, thanks for any info. you can provide.
Paul M.

Cubby– Hola amigo, mucho gracias for the email. Enjoy the stickers that will be headed out your way.

Release date for the uber Pro-Line Traxxas transmission was June 15th, but Tower Hobbies is showing late June as the date they are expecting them. So… if I had to give you a projected date to when you can actually hold one in your hands I’d say late June to early July.

What does someone have to do to get a Pro-Line uber tranny? Only three things…

1. Send me a bottle of 00′ Warhol Dom.
2. Send me a Nixon Rotolog, preferably a light woody.
3. Send me the 85′ Christmas card that President Reagan sent out from The White House. (I’m missing that one from my collection)

Or…. I suppose…. you could just order the PL tranny from your local hobby shop or from Tower, but that would be sooooo much less fun. Any which way, hang tight, the tranny will be in your hands before you know it, and I promise you it’ll be worth the wait.

E-Maxx (The Weak Links)

I have seen on the E-maxx that I just started messing with the that the front center drive shift front he transmission to the diff has a small contact area for the splined part of the shaft that allows it to slide as the chassis will flex. I do know that you can get metal CV style replacements to address that and I might have to do that. But to me it seems a cheaper and better solution would be to install metal collar nice and snug on the outer part of that plastic splined shaft. This would bear the load of torque that slams into it better since my assumption is that the inner part of the shaft pushes out with great force and as that outer part takes the load it can slip the spines and shatter the shaft. The only other choice seem to be taking it easy, but who wants to do that. So I ask, what are the options here, fabricate a collar to slip over the center drive shafts? That would cost as much up front as a CV set up more than likely to get one made at a machine shop but I assume it would make down the road cost cheaper as you should be able to re-use the collar as the drive shaft is worn out.

Also on this E-maxx I see that my Castle 2200KV brushless gets rather warm… much more than on my 1/8 buggy with the same motor. I did put the castle 40mm fan on it, but that seems to not help at all. This got me to thinking that the plastic case for the fan is doing as much to hold the heat in as the fan seems to be doing to cool the motor off. I feel that the fan setup they provide is at best a neutral wash on benefits. I have since found one aluminum 40mm fan that I bought off ebay, and I feel it will do a much better job as the case of the fan is conductive and will help draw the heat up to larger surface area instead of working t trap it. If there was any way to test the different fan options on a hot brushless system that would be a fantastic shoot out in my opinion. Who would not be willing to invest in a premium fan if we had some way to know how they rank up to each other.

Lance B.

Cubby– Wow, that’s a lot to munch on there Lance, but thanks for the email, Brian will be shoot’n ya out some stickers in the near future.

The E-Maxx was an innovative platform when it came out a decade ago, but it wasn’t without issues. Over the years the Texan behemoth has changed and refined their E-Maxx into quite a weapon of bash destruction, but yet still there are some small lingering issues here and there.

Yes, massive BL and Lipo power can still blow parts of the E-Maxx drive-train. Luckily, because the truck has been so popular and been out for so long, any part you are having problems with has a much stronger upgrade out there, you just gotta look around to see what works best for you and your budget.

And yes, the Castle 2200 runs fairly warm in the E-Maxx. The E-Maxx is no joke for weight and rotating mass, it presents a formidable load to any power system. However, can we skip the dumb stuff here? Those lil’ bitty fans simply do not move much air, certainly not enough to cool the heat being put off by most motors. Not to mention that a couple of hard hits typically break most fans leaving them useless. Focusing air from outside the body to flow on your electronics can yield much lower temps than fans ever will, but that task is not easily accomplished, and doesn’t work at all if you only do low speed driving.

There is one solid cure for handling motor and speedo temp issues- liquid cooling. I mean, you don’t see many air cooled full scale cars (or motorcycles) running around the streets. Yes, liquid cooling an rc power system would add a certain amount of complexity, and it would increase the price, but it IS the solution. Period. In your case there are water jackets available for your Castle motor, so all you have to do is find a radiator, a pump, and some tubing. Perhaps a good summer project for ya Lance? Be sure and shoot us pics afterwards. 🙂

That’s it for this week, shoot me your questions, non-sense and what-nots to Cubby at BigSquidRC dot com. If your email makes the front page we’ll send ya some stickers, and if I pick yours as letter of the month you’ll get a T-shirt!

YOUR Cub Reporter