Well, a few years on, and we'll finally be having some serious snow overhere. Arctic air, straight from the east. 's About time..
Time to get the MXZ from the attic, and do some deeper tweaking.. Full-Option Blizzard FR snowcat (blade, Tiller, Lights, rotating beacon, full interior etc. etc. ) is already prepped.
Dis gun' be good.
I went for a long-can 490-type 2530kv hobbyking ducted-fan brushles motor, and a cheap 45amp hobbyking esc. 16t pinion still, and some serious cooling-fins. And, hooboy, does that work like a charm! On a humble 7.4v 2000ah 30c LiPo, it accelerates like a rat on fire. Way faster than it ever was with the brushed 380. Run-time something between 10 to 15 minutes. Haven't tested top-speed yet, though. 25km/h full-throttle seems about correct. It's much faster than a stock Grasshopper on the straights, that's for sure.
To my surprise, the whole shebash got warm, but no more than a "comfy" 45 to 50 degrees, even in the enclosed front. That tells me A) that BL motors for ducted fans are highly efficient, and B) a 17 or 18t pinion could work when I do something for ventilation in the front.
Only thing hampering its performance, is the way the lugs are molded in the track. I got a broken track for free, and discovered that flexible CA-glue/gorilla glue works pretty well for repairs.
My plan is to cut the lugs in a manner like they are on real Skidoos. I noticed that they never, ever use broad, single lugs, but always stagger them. Me thinks that could work. The MXZ will never be a true "deep powder" machine, but everything preventing digging-in, is worth trying.