Brushless Brama 10b
 

Well today I took out my Brama 10b for its 1st run with the 8.5t BL motor/hobbwing ESC combo since its been installed. Used a 5000mAh NiMh for its 1st run (LiPo's on backorder). All 4 axels are the rear ones off a Nitro RS4 (front were cut down a little), the diff cups are also off the same RS4 Nitro, dogbones are redcat #6006 dogbones, also has yeah racing center and rear alum drive shafts, and has the E10's motor mount to give more pinion gear options.

Well anyways onto the main part (Will post pics once it dries off, and I clean it up a little)
Handling thing was almost uncontrollable. I decided to use On-road TC rims/tires instead of the stock rims/tires for the testing(it spun out super easy on cement with the stock rim/tires). Now boy did this thing go flying though at full throttle when I had it perfectly lined up on the sidewalk. Motor and ESC were both cool to the touch after 5 minutes so I could probably bump it up some in the gearing. Due to it being uncontrollable it went flying into snow banks a few times. Will say one thing about it no matter how fast it was going it never actually flipped from turning.

The rear tires started to lock up after 5-10 minutes, for some reason they just stopped turning period. (Diff might be toasted will check after it dries off))

The chassis you can tell is cheaply made and not suitable for bashing(or a BL setup period). By the screws that hold the motor to the chassis the plastic is starting to shatter. This is not all due to the BL motor it was already cracking before it was installed just the motors torque made a crack go up the side of the pan. Also the chassis rear end snapped early on before I even flipped it once. This was just driving on cement no jumping at all was involved.

I actually already ordered a new chassis last week seeing I figured the motor would have ripped itself out of the thing, I never expected the rear to snap as it did. Now I'm wondering where I could pick up a 2-3mm think piece of aluminum cheap to cut and use as a chassis plate instead seeing it will probably just snap the new one just as easily.

I would have taken a video but unfortunately I don't own one and the digital camera I borrow sucks at videos (I actually tried doing it the vid quality was so bad I just deleted it)

BTW the Brama was ran only 2 times with a brushed motor, and only for a few mins each time(I was VERY disappointed with it) so it was pretty much brand new.

EDIT: Uploaded the photos showing the cracks.

RE: Brushless Brama 10b
 

Also found out why the rear locked. It wasn't due to the diff but due to the yea racing rear alum drive shaft coming out and binding the rear diff.

Also forgot to mention the HPI RG-1 Receiver, and TQ-1 Transmitter, had no glitching at all from the Brushless system that I seen. I ran it around 90 yards away from me and was in complete control the whole time

RE: Brushless Brama 10b
 

a little feul tubing will help with the shaft....

the lug

RE: Brushless Brama 10b
 

how cold is it there? cold makes plastic more brittle, you might have better luck on a hot summer day.

RE: Brushless Brama 10b
 

Actually it won't it came out cause the back end snapped like the pic shows and separated a tiny fraction(just enough for it to pop out and bind), It actually had no play before the chassis snapped. The Brama and E10 have a weird drive chain layout that looks close to the Tamiya DF-02.

And it wasn't that cold today. Around 40 I'd say. Last time prior to this it was outside it was summer, and it already had developing the cracks by the motor mount screws before I got the BL system so the cold shouldn't be a factor there. Now the cracking did get alot worst due to the BL's torque. Alot of the failure of the chassis stems from that one screw it seems.

Thinking about buying a sheet of 3mm or so think aluminum and some brazing rods and trying to make a custom chassis pan. Which should give it more weight so it would hopefully get more traction

BTW I actually somewhat expected it to fail worst, which it probably would have if the back end didn't crack.

RE: Brushless Brama 10b
 

WELL took it apart the rear diff is busted...

HPI decided to glue plastic to metal diff gears from the driveshaft, and the plastic seems to have sheared completely off. BTW I have no ieda where the plastic went. I'm thinking my best bet might be to redesign the layout somewhat using my spare Nitro MT1 parts I have laying around instead of completely remaking the chassis out of aluminum seeing it wouldn't solve the differential issue...

RE: Brushless Brama 10b
 

Well last status update for about 2 weeks while waiting for things to come.
Just ordered a big piece of aluminum thats about 2.3mm thick for $15 or so and some aluminum brazing rods to see if I can redesign the chassis some.
All of it will be made using a Dremel, sheet metal snips, and a propane torch ;)

RE: Brushless Brama 10b
 

good luck, pictures when you're done!

RE: Brushless Brama 10b
 

the df 02 awaits your brushless setup, guys routinely run brushless in them, have no fear, it has steel shafts with plastic molded to them also but you can replace both the prop joints and diff outdrives with hardened steel ones from tobee craft racing, aluminum ones are available to but a true basher needs the steel ones.

RE: Brushless Brama 10b
 

yea well brushless brama is more hilarious I plan on taking it to a track once its rebuilt just to have people gawk at me and be like A BRAMA YEA RIGHT :D
and the DF-02 has the same exact gear the brama has that was obliterated in the drive chain.
Also my DF-02 is made waterproof for winter driving, and racing my nephew with his stock DF-02, he didn't have much fun last time he raced me and my nitros went flying past his pede (main reason I got electrics actually) ;)

Actually the Brama originally was bought to race his pede but I could never get it to a similar speed.

If making the chassis fails I'm just going to slap the BL into my Nitro MT1 convert which putters around currently and could use a speed boost.

RE: Brushless Brama 10b
 

hmmm ok hit a brick wall with my plan something I should have thought about before ordering the aluminum and all...
My issue is the differential. I can't seem to find the diff gear in metal(its in the last post I did with pics). Can't even find a metal edition for the E10. I might have to extend the chassis slightly to allow another diff case to fit from something else but that is going to introduce other issues (namely shock towers). :(

Anyone got ideas?

I've thought about getting a gear off another model but can't find a cup short enough to fit this purpose, and am kinda low on ideas.

Edit turns out the gear wasn't metal melded to plastic like most the parts, but completely plastic teeth and all... also seems the rear diff is a hair larger than the front. next week going to the hobby shop and going to try HPI part 86227 and a855 they might fit if I tinker with it or cut a slit into it to fit the rod end. The guy who designed this thing should be fired.

RE: Brushless Brama 10b
 

well after going to my LHS and going through every diff gear they had I kinda am screwed. I can't find anything to work with that diff housing. The only gear I could locate that would work is too big, and I tried cutting it down but no dice(wasted $18 there). I'm thinking of scrapping the idea of trying to rebuild the Brama 10b into a good RC plan seeing it seems impossible(well not impossible but no where near worth the trouble I'd have to go through). BUT if I give up trying to make it looks stock that can open a whole new plethora of parts I can tap.

Heres my new idea copy the bramas chassis layout extend the front and rear tires about 2-3mm's from the center.
Diff casings/diffs from a MT2
shock towers Front off some HPI(not sure which, I buy random part trees sometimes for one piece from other models) Rear off a MT1 with a little cut down on it.
Arms, hubs knuckle radio tray, shocks, wing mount(maybe might make a custom),drive shaft, battery mounts, and (maybe) the center brace/body mounts will be from the Brama.
motor mount/spur gear from a E10

well thats my current game plan unless I magically find the perfect diff gear, only thing I can't figure out yet is what I can nab a buggy style bumper off of for the above idea.

RE: Brushless Brama 10b
 

I expect better from hpi

RE: Brushless Brama 10b
 

yea so did I main reason I bought it originally. I was at least expecting something on par quality wise with a traxxas stampede or bandit seeing there about the same price. But its quality is closer to being on par with the low cost exceeds and Tyco's. Honestly this turned me off of buying new HPIs when they come out like the Bullet brushless it looks nice but I won't pay for something that they might decided to say screw it and offer no parts for in a year (like the brama and cyber 10).

Sadly though this damn gear is the ONLY DAMN THING I cannot figure out how to replace with something metal from another model/brand. For the hell of it I just sent HPI's customer service a e-mail asking if theres anything they know of that will work in its stead thats not made out of cheap plastic.