Hello,
Just to say that clutch bell setup will increase the distance between front bearing and mesh contact, resulting in a lot of stress on the front bearing !!! And that is BAD for efficiency and bearing ;) Forget it... Contact some pinions suppliers and buy them by quantity of 20 :lol::lol:

oh yea... didnt look at it like that...

My CD Diff setup is under way... Changing pinions and setting mesh will be easy with my new setup, so i am not so worried now

Not true nuz69. IT has not been bad for efficiency in our years of testing the clutches in our many brushless racing vehicles (truggies included). Our bearings last many times longer compared to a nitro clutch and this is with standard cheapo bearings. There are way more issues involved with running a pinion directly connected to the drivetrane with no disconnect like a slipper or a clutch. A pinion directly relays all of the initial torque of motor start up and under braking the issue is compounded. This relay of torque is moving out to the driveline components like outdrive cups and CVD joints. This is where the problem really exists, not in a clutch bell bearing.

Yes but mechanically the force on the front bearing increases with the distance of the mesh, that's why for example the RC elite motor mount include another bearing to dispatch the stress between front motor bearing and the mount bearing...
Maybe your bearings would have lasted even longer without clutch bell... Anyway like you say the best solution would be pinion + slipper, but most of people run their buggies and truggies with a direct drive system without drive train problems...
For the Monster-trucks an the other hand, with their very high grip and large tires, the drive train is more stressed for sure so a slipperential could be needed...

Yes it does, but that's like saying "don't run a pinion, because it hangs off a shaft that has a bearing supporting it too far away". At some point, the design is given faith that it will work. The clutch "works" and doesn't blow out bearings, doesn't make mesh issues, doesn't hurt anything, in fact we are very surprised to see how little we have to maintain them in order for them to keep working perfectly.

Point is, we both choose different ways to run our motors in this hobby and I am trying not to mis-lead anyone that may want to choose a very accepted option (the clutch) by giving them all the information and not just one point of view.