twineuros

Hi everybody. Im not really new to the hobby (per se), but im new here and have been out of the hobby for about 15 years. Last week, I bought an OLD rustler and an rc10t3 for $125. Both run and drive but the electronics are really outdated so I wanna upgrade to newer stuff. Im gonna upgrade the rusty first because of the parts availabilty and I might have the rc10 sold. Id like to get back into racing eventually but I dont know if any tracks in my area (oklahoma city) still race electric stadium trucks or not. If not ill buy an sct but for now I just wanna do some bashin and enjoy bein back in the hobby. For the past couple days ive been lookin around on here and have gotten a pretty good idea of the parts I wanna go with and would like some confirmation of whether im headed in the right direction so far. I just bought a primal charger yesterday and I have an onyx 7cell 5000mah nimh and a venom 7 cell 3000mah nimh and ive got a turnigy 2s 20-30c 5000mah nimh and a charge bag on the way. Figured ill got to 3s after I upgrade to brushless. Ideally, id like to just have a nice basher that I can run on the street or in grass with the potential to run 60-65mph and stay fairly cool. With that said im thinkin about runnin 1 of these combos:
http://www.hobbypartz.com/ezrun-35a-9t-3650-motor.html
Or
http://www.hobbypartz.com/ez-60a-rc-...ar-system.html
Or
http://www.hobbypartz.com/car.html

With this tx/rx
http://www.hobbypartz.com/fs-gt2-24ghz-radio-black.html

So I guess im just askin what motor/esc combo out of the 3 would be best for what I wanna do and still have room for more upgradeability in the future and despite the low cost, is the tx gonna be better than my other option which is the traxxas tx/rx?

Also im gonna pick up a set of j concepts tense wheels but im lookin for suggestions on some decent tires. Thanks in advance for all the help...

bcredneck

well you cant (shoudnt) go brushless with a old rustler tranny i would get a new metal gear traxxas 272 magnum or get a brushless esc with brush mode till you do get one

twineuros

Oh yeah ill be gettin a new tranny way before the brushless setup. Just didnt mention it because the owner at my lhs already has 1 set aside for me and I dont know anything about it lol...

bcredneck

oh ok just didnt want to see you stick a motor in it a blow it cant have fun with a broken truck

phmaximus

id hate to see u waste cash on a new transmission......

what colour is the rustlers chassis? black or grey?
does it have a slipper??? if it does check what gears it has...
I bet its already got the steel gear on the slipper shaft. so rather than buying a new gearbox.... why not just get the steel idler gear? its under $5 and...
rather than replacing the diff housing/gear with 2381x get the HR sealed diff housing or Traxxas ball diff....u could also replace the housing with a RPM housing.... or get the proline transmission....

Northern Mike

Δ should be taken seriously as his info is solid and is very knowledgeable (not kissing up, honest).

On the electronics front.... I have the same lipo as you and its pretty good (no complaints here other then I had to shave my chassis 2mm to make it fit. Be careful running it on a brushed ESC as most don't have a low voltage cutoff. Without a lvc, you risk running your battery below safe levels and killing it. I would say keep it aside for now and use your other batteries as you won't see any performance gain by it. For lipo and brush less upgrades, I always say figure out the motor and ESC, then get the battery to match. In your case, you have one lipo (the same as one of mine). Sizing batteries is pretty simple. Take The battery amp hour and multiply it by the "C" rating will give you the max amperage draw your ESC should draw. Take your battery for example, 5A *20C = 100A ESC. Cell count or "S" number doesn't play a factor in this calc.

I'll reply later with more info and/or lessons learned from my mistakes with my rustler.

Northern Mike

Looking at your motor/ESC options, I will say the first two options will be tough to hit your desired speeds without risk of burning either the motor or ESC. I had a leopard motor almost exactly the same as the first option with a 60A ESC. The motor is not a 540 motor. Its closer to a 380 with the can size (including cooling fins) of a 540. I popped my motor doing a speed run on hard packed snow at a speed of 55kmph. Had been OK as long as I had snow coating the motor, but that one day I didn't and it died.
Your second option sounds better, but will be still tough to balance the tempature and gearing. I have also noticed that you can get a decent Castle Creations combo for about the same price as that combo. I'm not promoting the CC systems, but I know its all the 100mph guys talk about.
From what I can see (and others may confirm or prove me wrong), lower kV numbers, the higher the power. More power, the faster you can get. The sweet spot appears to be 2500kv to 3500kv. KV is the motor rpm per volt applied. The word I've heard is 40, 000rpm is about the point where heating becomes an issue.

Myself personally, I'm running a 2930kv 4pole motor. Its estimated at 65A and good for 5s (18.5v). My target is 60mph on snow, which may or may not be obtainable, but its my target. I've only been able to hit just under 60kmph on a 2s.

twineuros

The chassis is black. As far as whether its a slipper or not, its been a long time since ive been into this stuff so refresh my memory on how to tell the difference...

twineuros

I sorta get what ur sayin. I was confused I guess in thinkin more kv= more power. Im gonna be limited in batts even after I go brushless because my charger wont charge bigger than 3s. I dont necessarily HAVE to hit 60mph as im not buildin this to be a top speed truck. Its gonna be more of a basher and I might race it if I can find a place close by that still races stadium trucks. Basically I want somethin that will make me competitive if I decide to race and I wanna see a noticeable difference in power over what ive got now...

phmaximus

this might help....

[img[http://traxxas.com/sites/default/files/magnum_272_tranny_cutaway.jpg[/img]

See on the side of the gearbox that big black gear with 48p written on it?
that's the spur gear, the slipper is that alloy circle looking thing with the nut and spring in the middle.

twineuros

Ok then yeah I got the slipper, but mine is waaaaay older than this 1...

Northern Mike

Yep, I made that mistake too and ended up killing the ESC and motor eventually.
I think if geared low enough, the higher kV motor might be snappier. When I had the leopard 60A with 3930kv motor in my Kyosho Turbo Optima, I had it geared pretty low and it was like a jack rabbit. I'm not sure what the final ratio was, but with a 13t pinion, it would dance on the rear wheels with less then a quarter throttle.I could snap from 3/4 throttle to full on a 2s and it would lift. This was a chain driven 4wd. Keep in mind, that car wouldn't break 35kmph on that setup and really was a jack rabbit for a heavy tank of a car.
Its kind of hard to wrap your head around and I can't really come up with a good analogy. I guess the best I can come up with is a Porsche 911 vs. MaClairen F1 (my dream car). The Porsche will be snappier at slower speeds with its little engine, where the F1 with its monster will take it at top with its slightly slower (rpm) but stronger motor.

Northern Mike

N​ot to hijack the thread, but does the stock diff have oil in it and if so, what is it stock?

phmaximus

no oil in the diff.... its grease

twineuros

Just lokin at the manual, and if it has the steel gear on the slipper shaft, shouldnt it already have the steel idler gear?

phmaximus

not necessarily.

twineuros

I only ask cuz according to the manual, the idler gear on came in steel and aluminum and it says the aluminum 1 couldnt be used with the steel slipper shaft gear. Just picked up some white lithium grease so im gonna pull it apart tonight and see what all ill need. Are they hard to put together?

phmaximus

Not at all just pay attention where the bolts go...

I remember something about that...I always thought it was steel and delrin not alloy...They use to recomend using the Delrin gear with the steel metal slipper gear In the old days but it looks the other way around now and they now come standard.

i use to have a old black chassis rustler with a slipper. And the first part to brake after a brushless conversion was the idler gear... Then the diff out put yokes



if ur going to rebuild the gearbox have u thought about replacing the gearbox housing with a RPM housing?
and once u have a good gearbox, the next thing to look at is the axles or yokes.

twineuros

Yup. Gonna price the rpm housing while im at the hobby shop today...

twineuros

So interesting info. When I bought the truck, the guybgave me the original box. Keep in mind my rustler is 10+ years old. Went out to storage earlier to get a tool and took a look at the box while I was out there and according to the little spec area on the side of the box, my rustler has the 272 magnum trans. Took the gearbox apart and the only gear in it thats not steel is the big planetary gear. Gonna check on the rpm housing when I go to the hobby shop in a few and will probably get that. Is it possible to upgrade the big planetary gear to steel or do they even make a steel 1?

hands without shadows

It'll be fine leaving the diff plastic. Ran a MM on 2s with oversize tires for a long time. Stripped the stock idler, replaced with metal, never any more problems.

phmaximus

yes there is a Traxxas steel ones... but hot racing & FLM make one that's sealed so u can fine tune the diff action via fluid.....

twineuros

I ended up just upgrading the planetary gear. Think I got everything ready now besides the driveshafts and im gonna wait on those til I break mine. Now I just gotta decide on my motor/ esc...

AYR3S

Im going with the castle 3800 8.5t. Costs about 110$ at my lhs and from what ive heard its one of the best choices for the rustler

twineuros

Motor and esc?