Welcome to the World of Slipperentials!

A bit late in the coming, but to all enthusiasts out there......"Welcome to the World of Slipperentials!"

Cadima here, design engineer and co-developer of the slipperential. Not only did I work with Mike to create this thing, I was the primary lab rat for testing and have more hours of use with the Slipper than anyone else in the world! And so, after reading the slipper threads and seeing some of the questions/responses/feedback, I feel obligated to add my 2 cents (this may turn out to be 4 cents however).

First off, what is the purpose of the slipperential?
Science Guy Answer: To attenuate peak torque loads through the drivetrain to a desired level.
Translation: Basically to help control the vehicle by softening up the delivery of power to the wheels (smooth it out) so you don't slide into an oversteer situation so easily, and to reduce the shock transmitted to the entire drivetrain.

Next Question………why use a slipper to smooth out the delivery of power when this can be accomplished with my ESC?
Answer: Yes, today’s ESC’s can in fact emulate a slipper clutch with respect to “smoothing” out the power delivery. Problem is, they do it whether you are taking off from a stand still or already rolling onto a straight away going 10 mph. So when you smooth out the power using the ESC, at slow speeds it helps traction but at higher speeds you don’t need traction control and you loose some of the punch that makes brushless so sweet to begin with. This is not to say the tune-ability of the ESC shouldn’t be used. It is a critical part of the system. But it cannot accomplish what the slipper does. The slipper, in a sense, smooth’s out the power delivery at lows speeds but once you’re rolling it delivers full power with no delay. Gaining this extra degree of freedom to tune is why you should try a slipper.

Next Question.......why would I care about shock to my drivetrain when it's bulletproof already?
Answer: Much of the stress applied to any part of your drivetrain is, in fact, weakening it over time. Eventually, fatigue sets in and the parts will break at stresses much lower than they originally could withstand (aluminum can very susceptible to fatigue failure). But all that jazz aside, bent driveshafts, popped motor rotors, excessive gear mesh wear, chipped spider gear teeth, and things like that just happen. Those who experienced such a thing as a busted rotor on their prized motor may never forget. Limiting the peak power you allow to be transmitted into your truggy/buggy is always a good thing. The result is predictable reliability, a more consistent and uniform rate of wear, and less catastrophic “Oh $^!#” moments when the stress sent into the drivetrain does manage to exceed the strength of one of the parts.


Other FAQ’s:

Q: What fluid should I use with the slipper?
A: I’d start with whatever you were using before. The slipper does influence the diff action sorta but it depends how much slip you have it set for. Lots of slip is bad so don’t go there. I found no real need to change course from what I using sans a slipper. Experiment and decide for yourself….there’s no single right answer here.

Q: After putting the slipper in, my truggy seems slower. Why?
A: Only two things with the center diff can affect speed……the gearing and excessive clutch slip. The slipper currently comes with a 46T Mod1 spur. If your old spur was a different size and you didn’t compensate with the pinion you will run at a different speed…..nothing to do with the slipper function. However, if your slipper is too loose it will limit power severely and you will not make full speed. You also reduce the life of your clutch significantly. See “How do I set up the slipper?” below for more on this.

Q: Where do I start when tuning a new slipper application?
A: You will read or see in the slipper manual a suggested gap between the nut and the thrust bearing washer that sandwich the wave springs. This is a good number to keep in your head to get a bearing and calibrate yourself, but I suggest you start here:

1) With everything ready to go and freshly with built, go out with the slipper adjusted to a loose setting but tight enough to keep together and hold its composure for some spinning. Hit the throttle in short bursts making the slipper slip around a bit to bed-in or seat the pads against the pressure plate. You want to make it slip only long enough to make it warm…no more.
2) Next, tighten the slipper as much as reasonable so it slips little, if at all, when lapping the track. When driving you should not notice any difference between a slipper and a typical rigid diff since they do the same thing if the slipper isn’t slipping! If you can’t get it tight enough to prevent slipping (not sure why this’d be, maybe you have a heavy truck or something), you should add another wave spring in there to increase the spring force.
3) Tune by working your way down from no slip. Gradually find the point where you just begin to notice a smoothing out of the truggy when lapping, particularly when shooting out of a corner. This is where I stop and lock down the setting. I find that it’s set about where I like it when I can barely get the spur to turn by hand (when the slipper is out of the truggy, that is). You may want more slip, maybe less, but it shouldn’t be too far off this point. You shouldn’t be slipping up and down the track, just like any other slipper shouldn’t be. Play around but try and avoid excessive slip or you’ll get excessive wear and that sucks.

Good luck and hope you enjoy!