RC Truck Drivetrain functions as turning motor or engine power into motion. There are a variety of drivetrain designs and each has its advantages and disadvantages that make them suited to particular applications. Whether on-road or off, RC cars drivetrains are two-wheel drive (2WD) or four-wheel drive (4WD) and use one of four different drivetrain types: direct drive; gear-reduction transmission; belt drive; or shaft drive. Our Dragon Hammer and Voltz uses Shaft Drive.
Shaft drive is very popular for both on- and off-road 4WD vehicles. There is no exposed belts. Instead a driveshaft joins a pair of enclosed gearboxes. The gearboxes may use reduction gears, but most shaft-driven systems use a simple bevel pinion gear and a ring gear to transfer power. This makes a very lightweight and efficient drivetrain.
Speaking of driveshaft, there are also some different designs like dogbone, universal joint, CV joint and telescopic driveshaft. Here I’ll focus on CV joint and telescopic driveshaft, as FID is using them on our trucks.
CV joint, also called Constant Velocity Joint, allows a rotating shaft to transmit power through a variable angle, at constant rotational speed, without an appreciable increase in friction. It’s kind of a mixture of Dogbone and Universal Joint. There is a universal joint at one end and a dogbone at the other end. It’s reliable and largely trouble-free. The main failures are wear and partial seizure, however it is very easy to check the wear which can be seen as poor fit between the drive cup and yoke. We can see many high-performance RC cars are equipped with CV joint.
Telescopic Driveshaft contains a telescopic middle element that enables quicker and simpler repositioning than possible with a rigid two-joint shaft. They allow for easy length adjustment in axial misalignments.
FID Racing has its own proprietary transmission system design. It features a helical cut front & rear differential crown & pinion gears, a 12mm internal rear driveshafts, 25mm rear telescopic center CVD driveshaft, 20mm front telescopic CVD driveshafts, and middle differential reversible system.
