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Slipper eliminators - what is the deal?

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Back when I last took note of such things, most Tamiya buggies were generally looked down upon as they did not come with slippers.

Nowadays I see some people with slipper equipped buggies either tighten them to the point that they can't slip, or fit slipper eliminator kits.

What's the deal? Are slippers good or bad? Why would one want one and why would one want to eliminate it? Can anybody throw any light on this? I am confused...

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Interested in this also, especially the optimum set up for a slipper. I understand that for jumping they are desirable to take up any access sudden motion through the drivetrain upon landing and for surfaces where there is too much grip. I assume if they 're not required then an eliminater might be lighter? Less weight for a pinion to spin up? 

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The eliminators are used in stock racing as the lower power motors mean the slippers aren't necessary like in mod, you can control the traction with the throttle. The eliminator is much lighter than running the slipper tightened up so less rotatating mass, so faster acceleration which of course matters in stock racing

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I tend to drive my cars on asphalt more than off road so I just tighten them up to lock and then go driving.  When doing some weekend sprint car racing, I did try backing the clutch off just a tad as the track was pretty slippery. But the more laps we did, the smoother the track got and went back to locking it again.

So I suppose the answer to the OP is it depends on the driving conditions and probably the driver;s skill too. I hadn't heard of slipper eliminators before, but they do make sense to use if the conditions are right.

Rotating mass is something that can have a major impact on a car. I was using 2 similar cars and couldn't work out why one accelerated so much better. I eventually weighed the wheels/tyres and found that the foam ones were less than half the weight of the rubber ones.

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On 6/19/2019 at 7:27 PM, Jonathon Gillham said:

The eliminator is much lighter than running the slipper 

 That'll make sense, with low power. Hadn't heard of slipper eliminators before tbh.

I know on the higher power stuff (arrma 6s for one) they use an oil filled centre diff, so control front end lift by how much power % goes to the front wheels.

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Agree with @Jonathon Gillham

And I sort of struggle with any decent  racer not building a car to suit the track in the first place ?

Including the gearbox. 

To be fair, there are mixed tracks where an eliminator / slipper combo might be the best choice but surely not many ? 

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22 hours ago, Wooders28 said:

 That'll make sense, with low power. Hadn't heard of slipper eliminators before tbh.

I know on the higher power stuff (arrma 6s for one) they use an oil filled centre diff, so control front end lift by how much power % goes to the front wheels.

Most 4wd buggies seem to have a centre diff now too. The Lazer ZX6 had a slipper but the 6.6 replaced this with a centre diff. My new HB has a centre diff (so does the nitro but that fits with thr higher power you mentioned), so does Tekno and i think Xray.

Funnily enough I was looking at exotek parts (the only way to get a 68T spur to get the FDR I need is with an exotek diff cap which also takes different spurs) and they do a centre spool for stock racing, to replace the centre diff. That seems weird as there is nothing to lessen the drivetrain shock then

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2 hours ago, Jonathon Gillham said:

Funnily enough I was looking at exotek parts (the only way to get a 68T spur to get the FDR I need is with an exotek diff cap which also takes different spurs) and they do a centre spool for stock racing, to replace the centre diff. That seems weird as there is nothing to lessen the drivetrain shock then

Different application than racing, I think.  I was doing some speed runs with my TRF801XT a year or two ago, and the center diff was problematic as it kept sending a lot of power to the lightly loaded front tires under hard acceleration.  They were spinning and wearing the tread out on asphalt more quickly than the rear tires were.  When I locked the center diff that completely changed everything.  Hard launches now sent power to the rear with grip.  The downside is I forgot about locking the diff, and when driving the truck recently it had terrible understeer.  With the center diff active, it was way more maneuverable.  It's about time 1/10 4WD adoped the center diff!

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