3 or 4-gear?

[V-Rossi]

Just out of curiosity, which are the advantages and disadvantages of both 3-gear and 4-gear systems? And is there any other way that might be leading to the holy grail?

[Mike Hudson]

when your on throttle the rotational mass of the armature throws the car’s weight forward onto the front wheels with 3 gear where as 4 Gear turns the motor around so the armature throws the car’s weight back onto the rear wheels so with 3 gear you have more steering but less grip rear end on steering where as with 4 gear you have more rear end grip on throttle but slightly less steering which is over all better as abit of setup change can give you more steering

[RogerM]

Nearly ..... depends on which way the motor is facing.

With a convensional 2wd a 3 gear places the motor so the pinion shaft is on the right hand side (viewed from above ... front away from you) so the rotation of the armature helps aid traction as Mike says.

In a mid mounted 2wd a 3 gear reverses this and so the 4 gear transmission is used to correct for this.

There have been belt driven 2wds (Schumacher and Kyosho) but to be honest there is was little too much drag in them compared to the free running gear trains.

I think that there is nothing revolutionary that can happen to 2wds with transverse mounted motors.

[Chris Doughty]

im not sure your right Roger.

in mid-motor cars the motor still runs 'forwards' and if its go 3 gears in a traditional gearbox setup the kick of the motor will always kick the weight towards the front of the car in a B4 or an X-6

the pinion/spur for 3-gear trans that are done 'right' and not just a home-made-job have the spur/pinion on the right side of the car.

the 4-gear boxes have the spur/pinion on the left and the kick is reversed.

[Body Paint]

Chis is spot on. As per usual

I think Roger might be confusing some of the DIY conversions which have been done which actually just spin the gearbox around, this means you need to effectively run the motor in reverse to make the car go forward.

Either that or his explinasion is confusing

Mike explains the "effect" of the two types very well.

[Chris Doughty]

even the DIY cars, the motor ended up kicking the same way on a 3-gear car because you had to run it backwards

[RogerM]

Originally Posted by DoughtyUK.net

im not sure your right Roger.

in mid-motor cars the motor still runs 'forwards' and if its go 3 gears in a traditional gearbox setup the kick of the motor will always kick the weight towards the front of the car in a B4 or an X-6

the pinion/spur for 3-gear trans that are done 'right' and not just a home-made-job have the spur/pinion on the right side of the car.

the 4-gear boxes have the spur/pinion on the left and the kick is reversed.

I would have thought that the armature shaft position relative to the wheel axle would play a part too .... maybe wrong ... will think about it some more.

Originally Posted by Body Paint

Chis is spot on. As per usual

I think Roger might be confusing some of the DIY conversions which have been done which actually just spin the gearbox around, this means you need to effectively run the motor in reverse to make the car go forward.

Either that or his explinasion is confusing

Mike explains the "effect" of the two types very well.

Ok ..... never seen a 3 gear mid-mounted 2wd with the motor mounted with the so the pinion shaft is on the "conventional" side ..... then I was racing gas for nearly 3 years so may have missed them!