KCMike

Picked up my 2nd RC car for Father's Day this weekend ... and have a few questions.*

*I've owned a Rustler. It was purchased in 2000 and sold 7 years ago & am just now getting back into the hobby.



) What's the best battery to use? (The guy at the shop sold me a Venom 3000. He said anything larger would burn out the motor in about 30 days of use.)
2) How much run time can I expect out of the battery?
3) Is it difficult to upgrade the XL-5 to brushless?

I've been away from the hobby/sport for some time so I'm really just relearning what's available and what options are on the market. The biggest change obviously is brushless & quite frankly it has me really excited. I thought about going for the VXL but since this is really just for goofing around with my BIL & nephews, I had to keep it on a budget (for now ... ).

sheograth

1) The motor won't last long anyway - Titan 12Ts aren't known for their reliability. Run it till it dies, then get something more reliable or upgrade to brushless.

2) Run time depends on lots of factors, so give it a try and see what you get.

3) Yeah it's easy to upgrade to brushless, just get a new ESC/Motor, and swap them out.

iTz Nicholas

You will also want to get a Steel Idler Gear when you go BL.

I would say look at the eZRun systems when you are ready for a BL upgrade.

Dialed_In

That's the same setup as a Traxxas Slash. I've been running 7.2V 3800 and 4200 batteries and all is ok. I have 9 runs on the motor so far but I don't abuse my truck. The Titan motors don't last forever and any 6 or 7 cell NiMH should be fine to use. The stock motor runs about $24 if you do burn it up which is inevitable.

The only thing to watch out for when getting a higher mah battery is it increases your run times and therefore you might want to keep an eye on your motor, battery and esc temps. If it gets warm then take a break and grab a cold beverage of your choice [sm=thumbup.gif].

I admit I'm new to RC but I'm going by what I have read. I'm only running 6 cells because I found a good deal on them when I bought my Slash. I've never timed my run times but I would guess at least 20mins. I also plan to go brushless but need to save up for the initial price hit.

Even Traxxas advertises the 35+ m.p.h. which requires a 7 cell battery as well as a gear change. See at the bottom of the page here.
http://www.traxxas.com/products/elec...ustler3705.htm

Get the best batteries you can with the highest mah you can afford. Heck, even I'm tempted by the 2 pack of unmatched 7 cell 4600mah batteries at Pro-match racing for $76.

P.S. You do have a good peak charger don't you?

P.S.S. Congrats on your new RC!

nitroade

Actually, all the new XL5 Traxxas vehicles now come with the Magnum transmission so the idler gear is steel already.

KCMike

Thanks for all the great info. Here's the charger I have.

Prophet Sport AC/DC Peak Charger by Dynamite


That's one of the main reasons I bought it.

CarGuy7a

I'd say if you plan on going brushless in the future, get some batteries that you can still run so you won't have to start all over again in the battery department. STAY AWAY from Venom batteries, yes they will run fine in your XL-5 but if you plan on a VXL or Mamba brushless system in the future the Venom batteries will be worthless. Venom's do not like BL systems and alot of them have exploded on them.

I would go with a battery that has EnerG cells in it from either Promatch or SPC. Those you will be able to run on a BL system. EnerG cells are the best on the market IMO.

Nice shiny truck by the way.

KCMike

Thanks for the info CarGuy. I'm starting to see that EnerG cells are the way to go. As for the clean car, I wanted to get those pictures in before my poor driving skills took over. Case in point, after that picture was taken I flipped it in the street within 30 seconds of it putting the battery in. Now it looks like an RC car.

Here are a few more pictures.

CarGuy7a

I would also recomend an RPM front bumper if you are primarily just going to bash with it. I have one on mine and it can take a beating. I let my sister drive it once and she accidently ran into a curb head on at half throttle and it didn't even phase the bumper. The upper chassis deck and front bulkhead is a different story though LOL.

Orion1024

Before you run it for too long, I would highly recommend getting an infrared temp gauge. It's an essential piece of equipment to have for any R/C vehicle, whether it be brushed or brushless. If you get brushed motor temperatures exceeding mid 150's you'll need to gear down or your motor won't last long. If you keep the Titan below this temperature it will last for months...if not, it can fry in a matter of weeks. If you're running strictly onroad, you might be able to get away with the stock 19T pinion...but I normally recommend to gear down right out of the box (it would save a lot of people from cooking their motor). And don't even consider using the option 23T pinion. As CarGuy mentioned, your best bet are some Ener-G packs from SPC or Promatch. If you keep it brushed for awhile, you could go cheap with an unmatched 7-cell pack like Promatch has for $28.

KCMike

I picked up the RPM Front Bumper today. I'll try and add a few pictures once it's installed.

Jeremy Z

Well, I have the Stampede XL-5, which does fine with the Titan 12T motor. They have a varied history. I use 6 cell, 3600 mAh NiMH packs from Trinity mostly. They're fine. Battery capacity has nothing to do with how long the motor will last. With a 7 cell battery, it won't last as long. Higher voltage = higher current = higher temperatures = shorter motor life.

One thing I noticed in Traxxas' literature is that the VXL cars have "Steel Gear Magnum" transmissions, and the XL-5s only say "magnum transmission." Not sure if they have steel gears or not, but more than one person has posted about stripping the gears in the stock trans when they leap to brushless.

I may get an RPM bumper soon, just as insurance.

The one mod you really should not wait for is to fit ball bearings in the wheel hubs. With the bronze bushings, the wheels and maybe hubs too, will wear and get wobbly, with the only solution to replace them. A full set of bearings can be had for less than $20 from ebay.

I have that charger. I only have two complaints about it:

a) The buzzer beeps every 90 seconds after the peak charging is done, so in order to trickle charge, one has to listen to that beep all the time. (and the beep is VERY loud and piercing)

b) It will only charge at 4 A when powered with a DC power supply. The transformer is not beefy enough to source more than 2 A.

I can't complain though, as I got mine used for $20 as a back-up charger.

If you run on the street, you'll want to buy some street tires and wheels, as the stockers won't last long on the street.

KCMike

What do they look like?

TIGER76

Time to do some hopups i reckon lol

I would go for the traxxas hub carriers not only are they alloy and stronger than the standard ones ( which usually break first) but they come with oversized bearings too
saves you money in the long run that way and as for the vxl..go for it m8 you wont regret it BL is tons of fun [8D]

CarGuy7a

My bet would be that his has all steel tranny gears. If he bought it recently and it's a new production model XL-5, it will have them.

Jeremy Z

http://cgi.ebay.com/TRAXXAS-STAMPEDE...3A1%7C294%3A50

KCMike

What about these instead? Or are these just for the front?

http://www.traxxas.com/products/elec...eer_blocks.jpg

nitroade

You can't just buy the bearings as they are a different size from the stock bushings. You would need to replace the stock axle carriers/steering blocks. The aluminum stuff from Traxxas is nice, but I'd personally go with the RPM stuff which is as close to indestructible as you'll get. Also way cheaper than aluminum. You can also usually find complete VXL steering blocks and axle carriers with the bearings for cheap on a certain well known auction site.

CarGuy7a

I would go with TRX brand alum bearing carriers and castor blocks if the funds allow. I have seen numerous threads over at the Traxxas forums of people breaking the RPM carriers just as easy as the stock ones. Yes RPM has a great warranty, "you break it, you send it to them and they'll send you a brand new one" but, I'd rather get the alum ones and never break them. If you hit hard yes they may bend but you'll have alot more parts destroyed than just that little steering block or axle carrier.

RPM castor blocks are notorious for bending King Pins.

CarGuy7a

Yup those are just the fronts. They also come with the bearings and so do the rear axle carriers.

Rears
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXPNL6&P=Z

KCMike

Here are my first 2 mods. I added the RPM front bumper & aluminum caster blocks. I'm not a huge fan of the "look" w/ the new bumper on but I know it'll be very useful in saving the front of the Rustler.

CarGuy7a

You may want to spend a few extra bucks and get some VXL stock steel adjustable camber links for a little more adjustablility if you want.

KCMike

Cool. Thanks for the suggestion.

I'm so "R/C" busy right now. Yesterday I picked up the 1/16 Revo!