bgrac17

Ok so while ago i got myself a bz-444 from hobbyking because I wanted to test the waters to see if Rc was the hobby for me, turn out it is but I quickly grew tired of the cheap buggy breaking and me not being able to find parts so after running probably 5 full 5000mah packs through it the rear diff went and I decided it was time to get something better and i stripped the car for its semi-decent electrics.

So I checked eBay every so often and I found myself a brushed e-revo that I couldn't pass for the price. Owner said that he was selling due to not having enough space to run the car. Ok so fast forward a few weeks and it arrived after a postage mess up. So after buying some lipos ( https://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/...dproduct=24187 ) for it and more waiting they arrived, I soldered on some hxt-4mm connectors to the esc with no issues. set the car up and it ran well, surprised by the amount of torque those dual brushed titans put out, decided to check the car out 15min in and oh boy the heat it was putting off, i actually burnt myself on one of the motors, sorry but I don't know how hot it was but it was unbearable to touch, got a laser thermometer on its way right now. The motors were hotter than my bz-444's after a full 35 min summers runs and it's autumn here. The esc's heatsink was again, scolding to the touch and even the wires to my lipos were warm. I checked the lipos right away for any puffing or heat and they were only slightly warmer than when starting with no puff or cracking in the hard case. This is both my first brushed and 1/8th (it really isn't 1/10th) experiences so i don't know if this is normal. Tl;Dr: motor, esc are to my knowledge overheating.

after I ran the car i noticed that there were scorch marks in the battery bays and there were smoke stains in the lexan above them that i mistook for spray paint but they weren't there from me so previous owner looks to have pulled the wool over my eyes. Any advice is appreciated because I’m really lost here.

Onto a happier note I still have the 10.5t motor and esc from my Bz-444 and I would like to preferably build something from a kit because 1/10th and 1/8th are a different species altogether. At first i fell in love with the idea of the Tamiya XV-01 kit but i soon realised that I simply can't run it where I like to. I like to be able to drive on whatever's in front of me be it grass, dirt or on road but mainly grass that is well kept. Ideally I could build from a kit but I’m willing to buy a chassis from an eBay chop shop. Really price isn't that much of an issue to an extent, the main thing is its fun, somewhat durable and has great part support and great upgradability in the future. It doesn't need to be a performance racer, would love to race but the closest track only runs nitro and it’s kind of far away anyway.

Anybody got any suggestions? Feel free to fan boy a favourite brand, I’m sure there's a good reason that it’s your fav anyway .

Again sorry for the wall of text but I’m really lost at this issue. The batteries are in theory able to put out 100 amps of power right and I don't see how 2 brushed motors can be drawing more than 200 amps when i should be able to run a brushless e-revo off of them.

collector1231

My Feedback: (1)

The transmission may be bound up. If you can (if you can't, don't worry), take apart the diffs and transmission and look for bent shafts or dead bearings. As far as a brand favorite goes, OFNA/Hobao is what I like but their stuff is hard to get. I assume you want a monster truck/truggy? If so, HPI's Savage line looks like it'd be nice.

If you can't rebuild it yourself, I could do it for you if you really needed me to.

Maj_Overdrive

My Feedback: (11)

The Erevo trans is the same whether it's the brushed model or the brushless model. Either way they're basically bulletproof. But there could be some binding and an easy way to check is to simply remove the pinions from the motors. Then you can roll the truck, rotate wheels individually, rotate both the front wheels together, then the rear, listening and feeling for anything funky in the drivetrain without the motors interfering.

The most likely source of any binding though is the pinion to spur gear mesh. Many people just can't get this right and if they didn't care because they were selling it the mesh could be off. But before you put those pinions back on check the size (spur too) and compare to the manual which is available online at Traxxas.com. The previous owner could've geared for a higher top speed increasing the load on the motors making them run hotter. If the tires are much heavier and taller than stock they could also have an effect. I've never ran a brushed Erevo but from what I've read they're slightly overgeared from the factory and to keep them cool you need to drop about 2 teeth on the pinions compared to stock. Also in the manual is how to adjust the slipper clutch, if it's slipping excessively the motors could be getting hot from that. Adjust according to the instructions although I recommend going about 1/8 turn tighter than the instructions.

bgrac17

I don't think that the transmission is bound up because the ride is so smooth and any noise it makes does not change throughout the drive but I will check it when I can. From the looks of things OFNA/Hobao have good quality vehicles but yes they don't seem to have a lot support for the vehicles or parts. I don't really want a monster truck or truggy I think the e-revo oddly imho has both of those fields covered for me, the savage flux hp was what I’d have gotten if the e-revo hadn't shown up so cheap. Like I said I fell in love with the Tamiya XV-01, I love the looks of the rally style but i just can’t run it where it will work. Really I just want something that will go well with my 540 10.5t motor and can ideally take a battery the same as my e-revo takes. Ideally from a kit but I’m willing to buy a chassis from the eBay chop shops. The main things are it needs to be fun to drive and durable fwiw with parts support to the extent that if the most trivial thing breaks I can replace it. I know that most of these qualities are that of a monster truck or truggy but I still don’t think I’d like another one

Thanks for the advice, I’m pretty sure I can rebuild the transmission if need me, I had to replace the spur and pinion on my buggy on separate occasions so this should be somewhat similar.

bgrac17

Thanks for the reply, I will do what you have said when i get the chance just went to check the mesh screw and it seems that the motor mount is pretty much stripped of any thread so seems I’m going to have to replace that. Could that really put all that stress on the motor? Not sure whether to contact the seller to see whether he has screwed me over or not, but I think he may have and if there has been a fire or anything like that I feel that that's something you should tell the buyer. It would make sense, a battery fire may have been the reason he did not include the stock nihms. The tyres and wheels are stock as far as I know. The issue with gearing it down is right now it's to the point where it's not fast but is still very fun. If I'm going to make it slower I will probably just put in a brushless system and skip all these issues with the brushed layout. I haven't taken it apart yet, or done anything you should do when buying used but this run was just to see whether it worked and check out the brushed system to see whether I do need to upgrade. Either way I won't do much until my thermometer arrives so I can find out the actual temps.

Got any suggestions as far as a 1/10th anything? Just something I can run off a single 2s, ideally the same batteries I use in my e-revo and I would love to build something from kit.

Maj_Overdrive

My Feedback: (11)

Motor mount. Let's start with the front motor. The blue motor mount itself is not threaded for the front motor, the screws go through the blue mount and thread into the motor itself. One of the screw holes in the blue mount is actually a slot that is in the shape of an arc and is used to adjust the pinion and spur gear mesh. The rear motor mount is basically the same thing except there's the aluminum piece that's between the motor and blue mounting plate. That aluminum piece is what moves to adjust the mesh and the screw that holds the mesh threads into the aluminum piece not the blue motor mount.

Now as for a mesh screw, there's no screw that you turn to adjust mesh. You loosen the screws, adjust the mesh and tighten the screws back down to hold it there. None of these screws thread into the blue motor mount, they thread into the front motor itself or the aluminum piece for the rear motor. So the blue mount has no threads in it whatsoever.

Now if the mesh between the pinion and spur is too tight this will make the motor work harder. More work for the motor equals more heat. You can use the paper in between the gears trick or whatever you like to set the mesh, but there should be a tiny bit of play between the pinion and spur. If you hold a finger on the pinion to keep it from moving you should be able to rock the spur back and forth a little bit.

As for the temps vs speed. I hear what you're saying that you wouldn't want it to be slower. That's the problem with brushed motors in this size vehicle, they're on the limit to make it fast enough to be fun. The best thing is to just go brushless and recoup a little $ selling the stock esc and motors.

As for a kit to use your 10.5t motor. You really should stick with a 1/10 2wd buggy, stadium truck or a 1/10 4wd buggy. These types of vehicles are the perfect weight for your motor. Larger heavier vehicles like short course trucks (even 2wd) are a bit too heavy for a 540 size motor and I wouldn't feel comfortable recommending them. There's tons of 1/10 buggies, stadium trucks and 4wd buggies out there. Team associated, Losi, Durango, Kyosho, they all have at least one of each type of kit with much better parts availability than HK. Then there's tons of Tamiya's, everything from the rally cars, buggies, trucks, etc. they're more scale and a little less capable performance wise but it all depends on what you're looking for. Check and see what your local shop carries the most of if that's where you're going to be doing your parts shopping.

bgrac17

Yeah I realised how the mesh adjustment works when I first saw it, just called it the mesh screw due to lack of a better word for it. Thanks for the advice on how to adjust gear mesh, I used the paper method the when I had to replace spur on my buggy but found it to be a bit too tight so when I changed out the pinion I used a piece of paper folded over and that worked well. I think I will just go brushless because after looking at the transmission everything seems to be in order but I still cleaned and regreased all bearings I could get to. Might use Loctite to better hold the motor in position because I plan to use it over Easter but after that I will do everything I should have in the first place, clean out everything and replace diff fluid etc. unless the seller will accept a refund after what I had to do to it before I could even use it.

I have contacted the seller about the issues and have a response. He offered a refund after I send it back but I have changed the connectors on the esc and had to break the plastic around a stripped screw on the receiver box and had to cut the tabs of the futaba style servo connectors to use my jr style Y combiner so I can't really send it back for a full refund, do I request a partial refund? Any advice here? He claimed to be selling it due to not having the time to use it, yet I think that the overheating was the real issue and there was no mention of scorch marks or fire in the description and while the mark on the body was visible in the pictures I mistook it for perhaps overspray from another project or something like that.

So for my next vehicle I think for my purposes a 4wd buggy sounds best as 2wd is more suited racing than bashing right? And I can't see any 4wd stadium trucks so I suppose that is out of the picture. Are any of the big companies set to release any new kits or vehicles that are worth waiting for or should I get maybe an AE b5m or maybe a Losi 22-4? Despite saying I don’t want a monster truck the Losi TEN-MT has sparked my interest simply due to the way it looks although even if I could get a chassis for that I doubt my motor would cut it.

Again thanks for the advice I’m sorry for being the typical “I have an issue help me fix it” and the typical “what car” guy but truly thanks. You guys are helping keep the hobby alive for people everywhere, without you guys a new fella like me would totally be lost.

Maj_Overdrive

My Feedback: (11)

Honestly I don't think you're entitled to any sort of refund. Traxxas overgears from the factory and they run hot stock so the truck isn't damaged in that regard. The scorch marks don't effect how it runs and they're not something that's too easily hidden and you admit to thinking they were paint. But if you don't want it and can get yourself out from under it for the cost of shipping it back plus a few bucks for the sellers hassle and what you changed then I'd dump it back on him. Contact him and tell him what you had to do in order to run it and offer $20 off your refund. You get out of something you found out you didn't like for way less than you'd lose if you bought new and the seller gets a chance to resell potentially for a higher price.

Your 540 motor needs to go into a fairly light vehicle, under 5lbs RTR. You can bash 2wd buggies although 2wd stadium trucks (basically buggy with bigger tires) are a little more suited to bashing with their increased ground clearance. I personally prefer 4wd, easier to drift and if you liked having a 4wd buggy then just get another one. You can never predict when a company is going to come out with a new or revised product. I believe Losi and Associated just updated their 1/10 line so it may be another year before they do it again and those revisions are usually only critical for the top level racers. The Losi TEN MT is pretty cool and definitely a capable vehicle but is most definitely too heavy for your 540 motor.