Project Midnight Maxx begins

[M n M]

I case anyone cares to see it next to the stock Titans.

[Wildman4910]

What did you feed the blue one!

[Wildman4910]

Do you mean that the suspension doesn't compress as much when forward momentum is applied? It seems to me that is the case because it appears that the suspension doesn't bottom out as much when I'm running it and jumping.

What I mean is when jumping the truck it has forward momentum so even when the skids hit the weight of the truck is moving forward which makes for less of an impact to skids then a static straight down drop.

Think of it like jumping off from a swing set(which is dangerous kids so don't try it at home!), if you land straight down you really jar your feet & knee's, but if you hit & bend your knees & roll it lessons the impact to your feet & knee's.

Jumping you truck is in effect the same thing vs. coming straight down. The transfer of energy is spread out instead of hitting all at once.

[M n M]

What I mean is when jumping the truck it has forward momentum so even when the skids hit the weight of the truck is moving forward which makes for less of an impact to skids then a static straight down drop.

Think of it like jumping off from a swing set(which is dangerous kids so don't try it at home!), if you land straight down you really jar your feet & knee's, but if you hit & bend your knees & roll it lessons the impact to your feet & knee's.

Jumping you truck is in effect the same thing vs. coming straight down. The transfer of energy is spread out instead of hitting all at once.

Gotcha... I'm tracking what you mean.

[M n M]

What did you feed the blue one!

Blue peanut M&M's

[M n M]

So after the Easter Family dinner I had some time to get this bad boy wired.

Since the brushes can easily be removed and replaced, I decided to keep things maintenance easy so I soldered the two red together onto a female push connector rather than soldering the wires directly to the tab on the brush. I also put a piece of heat shrink around the solder joint. I did the same thing for the negative side.



I also tested it. I plugged everything up and turned on the truck. Since I don't have it mounted yet so I just held it in my hand while I slowly and lightly ran the throttle.

I'm pretty sure that it's snowing in Costa Rica because the torque this thing has pulled the earth off it's axis!!

Motor mount should be here this week so I can finish this puppy up.

[M n M]

The new motor mount and cover arrived today. I'm working on getting the holes to line up correctly. I'll get some pictures up later.

My LHS has been kind of dropping the ball lately. All I hear from them now is "I can't find that" or "This is on backorder" or "My distributor doesn't carry that". So all the stuff he couldn't find I did and just ordered. I did get them to order me a Proline Raptor body.

Over the next week or so I will be getting in...

A set of Traxxas 5151R Front and Rear CVD's (thanks for the link Wildman)
IMEX Swamp Dawg tires
A bottle of clear lexan glue by XXX Main for glueing custom images inside RC bodies

And for the best part, DRUM ROLL PLEASE.....

2 - 2s 5800 40C-80C LiPo's and LVA!!!!

Well I need to go grind on this motor mount some more.

[M n M]

Ok so as promised, I got some pictures for you guys. First off, this is a pretty easy mod to do. I, just like anyone else that has done this to their Maxx, had to grind down a little on the tranny case in order to get the motor to sit flat against the mounting plate. I guess I could have snapped a few shot of that but it's not that difficult to envision. I also decided not to grind off some of the motor tabs to make it fit flush against the plate. I choose to use a big washer for that, you'll see further down.

I may also repaint the motor. The blue I picked up looked darker on the can in the store than what it really is. I'm not a fan of it, but it'll do for now.

I ordered a single motor mount and cover (3997X & 3977X). It's not needed, you can mod the two motor plate to save some money but I wanted a cleaner look. Plus I have this thing about being able to put stuff back to it's original configuration.

One Motor plate as it comes un altered:


After cutting and grinding to make room for the big new motor. I had to open up the adjustment groove and drill a new hole to the lower left of the stock hole. The screw that fit the Dewalt motor are the same as what hold the tranny and motor to the chassis. I checked the threads at Lowes today, what I picked up were Hillman M4 - .70 x10:


After tinkering around a bit trying to get it set right I decided I would use a large washer to allow the motor to sit flush. I needed to cut some grooves in the side to allow the mounting screws to pass through. Then I realized that by doing this I would not be able to adjust the gap and set the pinion right. So I thought that chopping a side off the washer would do the trick. Washer before and after:


Here's how it fits on the motor:


The only thing I didn't like about the position I choose to mount the motor is the mounting screws are tucked up under the spur gear. I played around with it a few different ways and how I positioned it was best for me. I had to slightly tighten the screws using a pair of pliers after I was happy with the mesh. Then I removed to spur gear so I could tighten the screws up with a hex wrench. In the future maybe I'll look at putting small metric bolts in there so I can use an open end wrench to tighten them.

Here it is just sitting in the chassis. I still have to put on the gear cover and mount the tranny to the chassis. I did plug it up and slowly ran it for a bit.:

[M n M]

Well I took out the Maxx to break in the new motor and I got some data for you more experienced folks to review and tell me if things look right.

Let me start by saying that so far I'm glad I did this mod. The truck is just as fast, well actually it's .3 mph faster. I tested with my wife's GPS running the twin Titans on fresh charged NiMH and got 20.4 mph on pavement, I was using the stock 17T pinion and 68T spur gear. Today with the Dewalt on fresh NiMH I ran 20.7 mph on a dirt road using the big 22T pinion on the stock 68T spur gear.

The spur and pinion look fine so I think I got the mesh good. I did the strip of paper between the gears trick.

So here is the temps that I got from it.

10 minutes running it easy at 1/2 throttle:
Motor = 123 degrees
ESC = 113 degrees
Batteries = 89 degrees

Then I picked it up a little and did a couple WOT speed run to get the max mph from the GPS:
Motor = 128 degrees
ESC = 125 degrees
Batteries = 96 degrees

Then I ran it on the track for a few minutes. After that I went for some hard hill climbing/bashing until the NiMH's started to drain.
Motor = 143 degrees
ESC = 136 degrees
Batteries = 170 degrees

That seems high for the batteries but I guess since they were nearly discharged it stands to reason.

Here is what 87 GN posted a while back.

"Hot motor + cool esc = under geared.
Cool motor + hot esc = over geared
Everything warm just right.
Motor ~ 180/190*F maximum, ideally 140/160*F, temps can be 10* higher inside the motor
ESC ~ pretty much same temps / Fan comes on @ 150*F
Lipo's ~ 140*F max, ideally 100/120*F"

I guess I'm still with in those guidelines. I think the battery temps will come down when I get those 40C LiPos in and charged.

I'll also post up some speed run times once I get those LiPos running.

[M n M]

So I got new Raptor body in and today I finished trimming and fitting it.



Unfortunately this portion of the project will be delayed until I get in that Lexan glue that was backordered. I want to add so of my own graphics but need that glue first.

I also need to either add some more foam seal to my shields or just build some new ones. The bigger body has created gaps.

[Wildman4910]

Lookin good M, it's coming together nicely!

[trax de max]

i had mine set that way. Changed it over so there is a single 10awg soldered directly to brush tab+heatshrink. Then swapped over the stock esc-motor bullet connector to 6.5 bullets two wires in 1wire out.
Looking good btw the motor may be hot because of the paint.
better connections = less heat+less resistance = better performance.

[M n M]

Well My LiPo's and LVA are still somewhere in Singapore. While the new tires, F&R CVD's and Lexan glue are back ordered for several weeks!

I need the glue to adhere some decals to the inside before I can start to paint!! The back order parts and the body are sort of the last major portion of this lengthy build project. Sure I'm going to do stuff later on but putting that new lid on it kind of sums it all up.

To top it off, I thought I might as well start to tear down the truck and do some needed maintenance. Well low and behold I find another shock that isn't dampening, yes ANOTHER one, this has happened before. I'm assuming that 70wt oil is too much for one hole piston and or the e-clips are to weak. Twice now I've had the top e-clip come off the shaft which of course allows the piston to float around in the body.

I guess I'll put in either 2 hole pistons with the 70wt oil or one hole pistons with 50wt.

One thing I don't understand is if 70wt is too thick to pass through the piston then it would stand to reason that the piston would push the lower e-clip off the shaft on the compression stroke. But it's more like the shock gets compressed and the force of the piston on the top e-clip to popping it off on the rebound stroke.

GRRR!!!

[M n M]

Well it's a raining weekend in the panhandle of Florida. And since none of my parts have yet to arrive I have decided it's time to do a near complete tear down and maintenance of this beast. The motor is brand new and tranny has just recently cleaned and greased so I won't be doing anything to them. But all the bearings are going to get cleaned and oiled. The diffs are going to get cleaned and re-lubed. All the plastic parts are going to get a good hot soapy water bath. The batteries are currently going through a discharge/charge cycle.

I'm also going to open up the shock and clean them all up. I'm going to put new e-clips on since I keep bending and popping them. I'm also going to go back to the 2 hole pistons with 70wt. I think i may try a little trick I read on this site:
http://www.rc-truckncar-tuning.com/shock-damping.html

Half way down this linked page it talks about tapering one side of the piston holes. It's said to rebound quicker if the taper is down.

[Popoxx]

I really like your last mods ! The beast looks like... a beast indeed Can't wait the vid !

70wt is thick... Why don't you try 50wt with stiffer springs ?

[M n M]

I really like your last mods ! The beast looks like... a beast indeed Can't wait the vid !

70wt is thick... Why don't you try 50wt with stiffer springs ?

Thanks Popoxx, I was wondering if you were going to chime in, you know your the reason for a lot of this madness (Lol).

Nothing wrong with 50wt, I had it in my stock Ultra's with the Traxxas white progressive springs. But with two of the thickest preload clips on each shock and one hole pistons, I was still sagging and bottoming out. I just want to experiment some with the 70wt. I like the dampening of the 70wt, but I guess with one hole pistons the pressure on the e-clips is just too great. Now that I have some adjustable shocks I can play around with the pistons and oil to get them tuned up fine... I hope.

[Popoxx]

I hate tuning shocks...
50wt oil all around is the best compromise I found for my driving style. Then I test different spring rates to improve bouncing.
Trx progressive springs are really really too soft for a FLM/RPM maxx. And if you add big spacers, the progressive effect is cancelled...

Good luck

[buRRp]

That's a pretty sweet build. Nice job.

[M n M]

Popoxx - Yeah I'm with you on that, it's a pain to work on shocks. If I don't get them tuned the way i like with go around I'm going to look at different springs. Maybe a pack of Losi and play around with them.

Burrp - Thanks man. Half my enjoyment is in this hobby is tinkering and mod'ing and the Maxx is a great platform to go that with. I can't take all the credit, there's lots of folks on here that have done it before me and I've just followed, Popoxx being one of them. Wanna see a crazy E-Maxx build, check out his and you'll see why we blame a lot of this madness on him (just playing Popoxx, your stuff is awesome) http://traxxas.com/forums/showthread...ghlight=popoxx

[buRRp]

I was big into the hobby way back when. My first R/C was a Traxxas Hawk. Then I just kept getting more and more. Looking to get back into it. Looking at getting a T-Maxx here soon.

[buRRp]

M n M... sent you a PM

[M n M]

Postman brought me these today!!


I was just checking them out, they fit great!!

The hex nut is a little thin so with the Traxxas CVDs there is about a 1/16" of play in and out of the carrier. I don't know if this would be true with other brand of axles. But I've got some washer and they take up that play really nice. I put them between the outer edge of the carrier and the hex nut. I'll try to post up some pictures later.

The "hex Slop" seems to be gone. The only "Slop" that I can feel is in the carrier and bearings.

Lets hope they hold up well during some bashing!!

[trax de max]

cool, I may of found some other 17mm hex that might fit good on the 3906 axles bookmarked on my other computer.

[M n M]

I'm going to list todays mod in two posts the front and then the rear.

So if you've read any of this project you may know that I've struggled with the front and rear bumper getting pushed into the body, and eventually cracking or tearing the lexan. I've tried to use lock washer to hold them in place, but those didn't hold long. It seemed no matter what I tried, tight or loose, lock tight or washers, but every time I hit the front or rear hard the bumper(s) would end up smashed against the body. With the fresh new body just around the corner, I certainly don't want to do more damage to it then is necessary.

I figured that a brace of some sort was the answer. But I'm kind of an esthetic kind of guy, I want something to work right but not look retarded doing so.

By now I've gathered up a little stash of screws, washers and lock nuts plus some metal strapping.

So here is what I came up with. I bent one end of a strap around the front RPM bumper and screwed the other end through the stock skid plate and through the metal X brace. The theory is (notice I said theory, this has not been tested) that the bumper will stay in place and the force is taken up through the skid plate. As long as the blow to the bumper is not so great that the strap is bent.

I know, I know... stop talking so much and roll with the pictures!

Fitted, bent, drilled and screwed:




Side view:


Had to Dremel grind the RPM Skid to relief some space for the screw head:


Dry Fit:




Painted and mounted:




Next up is the rear brace.

[M n M]

The distance from the bumper to the flat portion of the skid was longer than the front. So I had to do this one different. I had to secure the strap just to the plastic stock skid. But I thought about it for a little bit, my theory is (there I go again with that word, it's gonna get me in trouble) that there is a much smaller percentage of hard rear bumper landings as opposed to hard front end landings or just hit to the front end in general.

Sorry I didn't get a picture of this but there is a small gap on the inside of the RPM rear bumper. There is just enough room to slide in a lock nut and the end of the metal strap. To hold it in place I drilled a hole in the step portion of the RPM Bumper and used a spare stainless steel hex screw. I tightened it up, bent it to fit, marked the spot on the skid I needed to drill the hole for the other screw and nut. I even counter sunk the hole a little to give it a cleaner look.

So here is what it looks like. If it doesn't work out, at least I have a cool looking SS trailer hitch ball!





Side view:


With the new body set on:


Top view:


Counter sunk screw, it's just above the RPM skid plate:

[M n M]

One of the last things that I had still in pieces on my work bench is my shocks. And for good reason... I HATE TUNING AND REBUILDING SHOCKS!!!

The Team Blue Star shock that I got can with two hole pistons and thin (I assume 30wt) oil. The springs are said to be progressive by the manufacturer. I can't really tell by the feel so I'll go with what the product description says. I will say this, my patented side by side / simultaneous finger squeezing gauge reveals the stock TBS spring for the Associated MGT are stiffer than the Traxxas white progressive.

I back a few weeks ago I put some one hole pistons on the shafts and dumped in some thick 70wt oil. This seemed to work well enough. They would keep the truck from bottoming out at a height of around 20". Much more than that and it was slapping the chassis. I thought this was awesome but... during an After Bash Check (ABC) I noticed that one corner didn't seem to dampen like the other 3 corners. After further inspection I found that one of the two shocks on that corner wasn't dampening at all. So I opened it up and much to my surprise the top e-clips and failed and let the piston float off the shaft!! I fixed it, topped it off with oil, put it all back together and went on about my business.

The next time I went out for a bash I came back did my normal ABC and found the same situation on a different corner AND another shock on a different corner that was soaked in oil!!! &

I make the call then that the 70wt is just too thick for one hole pistons. I was popping e-clips and blowing oil out the cap!

So today I rebuilt them with two hole pistons, still using 70wt oil but back to the stock TBS large orifice two hole pistons. I did put in the Traxxas dome shaped rubber diaphragm. The stock diaphragm in the TBS are a bigger, thicker squared off top hat looking part. It also seemed easier to pop out of the little groove in the cap and let the oil flood in. The Traxxas black dome shaped diaphragm seemed to fit better in the cap and stayed there much better.

Man what a pain it is tuning and filling shocks. I drop one drop too much and the shock won't compress but half way, I pour some out and it's not enough... now the shock bottoms out!! I put a drop back in and then I tighten the cap to much and twist up the diaphragm so the shock bottoms out and doesn't self rebound OR it acts like it's air locked and won't move a bit. and

Finally after my shock formula of (pour+add-dump+tighten+curse+add)8 equals shocks that have relatively the same compression stroke and self rebound. Yeah, this was how I spent my afternoon.

Best advise I can give is to fill up the shock about 3/4 of the way. Gently push the shaft in and out to work the oil through the piston and force the air up. Let them sit for a while until the air bubbles have worked their way up to the surface and are gone (I let them sit for about a hour). Then you can top them off leaving about an 1/8 to 1/16 of an inch to the top of the body. Tighten the cap up finger tight until the cap no longer can turn. Thats about how I found it best to get them to work right.

I did try the Baldy dual rate / dual spring mod http://traxxas.com/forums/showthread...ht=powerstroke . I have the weak red stock springs and the retainer rings from the stock Ultras. I glued two of the rings back to back and chopped up a red spring. Right away it was too much compression. I chopped up more of the red spring, basically only using about a 1/4 of the spring... Still too much compression and the stock spring was warped to the side and rubbed against the body. I didn't care for it so I scrapped it and just went to the single spring stock set up.

I think I see in the future of this truck some Raven RC or Losi springs or something of that sort.

[M n M]

My first set of LiPo's arrived yesterday!!

I got them charged up and took it for a little test run on the back street.

I ran it slow for a few minutes at first, nothing over 1/2 throttle. The temps never got over 100 degrees, they all stayed in the low to mid 90's. Then I ran it about 3/4 throttle for a few passes, checked temps, motor was around 110, ESC was barely over 100 and the LiPos were still in the 90's.

I grabbed the GPS out of my 1:1 truck and strapped it onto the truck. After about 3 passes at WOT I checked the temps. The motor was at a warm 120, ESC was about 110 and the batteries were a cool 96. It wasn't a long run. I mainly wanted to see how the truck reacted with LiPo's. I'm sure when I get to bashing it good those temps will come up a bit.

So here's some data to throw at you guys:

Motor - 14.4v Dewalt
Pinion - 22T with 32 Pitch
Spur - Stock 68T
Tires - 5.5" tall PL Mashers (3.2 series)
Batteries - 2ea ******* ********** 2S 40C (80C burst) 5800mah LiPo
ESC - stock 16.8 EVX-2 (non-LVD)

Max speed on asphalt road - 21.8 mph, this is 1.1 mph gain over running NiMH's

I know you speed demons are thinking kinda slow isn't she??? But remember, it's a big fat torque slinging brushed 14.4 volt motor controlled by a ESC that is not designed to push out crazy power. Also I'm not going for a 10lbs rocket that can wheely stand the length of a football field. I have nothing against that, it's not what I want out of this truck. What I'm going for is a strong, powerful, durable truck that can bash up the side of mountain of dirt, drop off into a big mud pig and pull through it like a boar hog on a hot Florida day, then shake it off and say "What... Thats all you got, psst.. too easy"

Oh and the HPI 17mm hex adapters are working out great!

[Wildman4910]

Man what a pain it is tuning and filling shocks. I drop one drop too much and the shock won't compress but half way, I pour some out and it's not enough... now the shock bottoms out!! I put a drop back in and then I tighten the cap to much and twist up the diaphragm so the shock bottoms out and doesn't self rebound OR it acts like it's air locked and won't move a bit. and

I think I see in the future of this truck some Raven RC or Losi springs or something of that sort.

Roll up a paper towel & dip it into the shock to soak up some of the fluid instead of trying to pour it out.
Dipping a Q~tip into it work's well too.

A good spring selection helps too, the AE MGT spring's are a fit & are available in rates 4.40, 5.10, 5.95, 6.90 if you need a heavier spring.

[M n M]

Roll up a paper towel & dip it into the shock to soak up some of the fluid instead of trying to pour it out.
Dipping a Q~tip into it work's well too.

A good spring selection helps too, the AE MGT spring's are a fit & are available in rates 4.40, 5.10, 5.95, 6.90 if you need a heavier spring.

Thanks for the info on the springs! I did end up doing the Q-Tip dip method, thanks again.

[PowerToTheMaxx]

Looking good, I have noticed that it seems like half the parts on Buytraxxas are listed as "out of stock" I wonder if they're going to come out with a 3rd Gen Maxx/Monster truck line.


I like the blue DeWalt.

[M n M]

Ok so it was Take Maxx to work day.

On my lunch break I took it out for a little spin in the back field area. I wanted to see how she felt with the new batteries and also gather some more data.

I was impressed with the run time. Thats one of the things I wanted out of the LiPo. I ran it about 50/50 WOT and some slower clawler speeds with a burst of throttle here and there to get over some rough stuff. I drove for 42 minutes that way until the LVA whistled.

I took my trusty IR temp reader with me (because I'm paronoid I'm going to melt something )

42 minutes of running and the batteries never got over 105 degrees. The ESC peaked out one time around 120. And the Dewalt maxed out once at 180!!! Seemed kinda high, I don't know, this is my first Dewalt. Should I look into gearing up a little since it seems under geared? Or maybe look into a heat sink and fan.

Power was good, I was bashing over stuff with ease. I did hear my slipper squeal a couple of times when it got bound up in some rough stuff. I thought I had it only a half turn from tight but I had to tighten it a lot more than that. Tonight I set it at a 1/4 turn from tight. Maybe that will help gain some more traction... or break something.

[trax de max]

it maybe hot because of the paint.
Mine ran cooler with a larger pinion, which goes against all the rules.

[M n M]

Ok, so the title of this update is a little nerdy but hey, it got your attention didn't.

So while I'm waiting, yet again, for some parts that no one seems to has in stock, too include my LHS. I decided to do a little custom work.

I read on another post about a member that got a stick jammed into the cooling fan of his motor. I have my home fabbed plastic debris shields but it doesn't stock everything. And god forbid if Big Blue Dewalt got damaged by some rock or twig

So I let the creative juices flow and here is what I came up with in about an hours worth of work.

I started with a piece of printer paper to be template. I marked and cut out the basic design.


Then I placed it on my stock of wire mesh and cut it out with tin snips.




Then rolled it to size and used a thin piece of wire to lash it together. Then marked and cut out where the contact leads are located.


I trimmed up a round piece for a cap and wired it on.




And here it is put in position.






If your going to consider doing anything like this, here is one word of caution... Make sure your power wires are insulted and shorted out to the wire cage.

[MooCowliber]

This is awesome! Really like watching your progress and seeing the new ideas you come up with.
This is a hobby where I feel like most won't DIY but applying a little can go a LONG way.
Also I hate doing shocks as well but practice makes perfect, and youtube.
I did finally bite the bullet and get "those progressive springs from that one place"
Hopefully I can put them on tonight we'll see how they work out.
Nice work!

[Cipher_Jones]

Meticulous job dude. Absolutely pro.

It's the opposite of every bad RC youtube video I have ever seen.

[E-MAXX Rookie]

How hard is it on the parts when they get that dirty!?

[M n M]

How hard is it on the parts when they get that dirty!?

Most everything on off road RCs are made to get dirty. But I'd have to say that in a way the wrong kind of dirty can be catastrophic. I guess what I'm trying to say is that getting your RC out and having a good time in it's self shouldn't be harmful to the vehicle. Sure you may have the occasional rock get wedge in the A-arm and shred up the pretty blue boot of the half axle and gouge up the plastic (yes this happened to me, just one of the deciding factors to go with the steel CVDs). And of course you may get a twig or pebble to get lodged in the motor, but thats why a lot of folks use aftermarket chassis covers or some custom fad job to prevent that.

I think what is more damaging to an RC is not clean it or do any maintenance on it after it's been subjected to dirt, mud or water. To me thats where the bad damage can come to light. Let bearings seize up from rust could cause an output shaft on a differential to freeze up which may cause a few teeth on the shaft to break or bend. See where I'm going with this.

IMO the parts you have to worry about the most are bearings and joints on the drive shafts or axles. Keep them clean and free moving and you've won 1/2 the battle.

[M n M]

Well I have some sad news... I'm going to have to take a short break from this project. I've had some things come up that needs my attention and some money. Plus I'm going out of town for a couple of weeks in June and won't be able to mastermind anything then. And with RC parts store being out of most of the things I want anyways... I've just come to the conclusion that I'm going to have to put a minor pause on this build.

BUT... That doesn't mean that I can't improve on some the things I already have. It also does not mean that I can't work on some other custom ideas. So the project is not dead by any means, just slowing way down.

Any day I should be getting some different size pinions so maybe I can get this hot motor cooled off a bit.

[M n M]

Ok, so like I said in the last post, I'm playing around with the pinion size.

My motor was getting hot and my ESC was normal. So following the tried and true guidelines:

"Originally Posted by 87 GN
Hot motor + cool esc = under geared.
Cool motor + hot esc = over geared
Everything warm just right..

Motor ~ 180/190*F maximum, ideally 140/160*F, temps can be 10* higher inside the motor
ESC ~ pretty much same temps / Fan comes on @ 150*F
Lipo's ~ 140*F max, ideally 100/120*F"

Thanks for that info 87 GN!

Then I'm under geared right? But what is under geared, the spur or the pinion? The more I read and the more I asked (which I got conflicting answers) the more confused I became. And to establish a baseline I did not want to change the spur gear, just the pinion.

So I decided I would just get a couple pinions smaller and larger and just see which ones worked the best.
Back in a previous post I said I am running the stock 68T 32pitch spur and a 22T 32 pitch pinion with my Dewalt and the top speed I got was 21.8 mph but my motor temp spiked to 180°.

Today I popped in a 24T .8mod (31.75 pitch). On the flat pavement I got her up to 23.3 mph and the motor temp hovered around 120°

I also took it into my back yard. We've had rain for the past couple of days and my small yard is partially flooded. I wanted to see how it would do under a little bit of a load. The batteries and ESC stayed normal and the motor barley rose into the 140°'s

I believe I'm on the right track.

I got a little video I'll edit and post up later

[M n M]

Ok, so like I said in the last post, I'm playing around with the pinion size.

My motor was getting hot and my ESC was normal. So following the tried and true guidelines:

"Originally Posted by 87 GN
Hot motor + cool esc = under geared.
Cool motor + hot esc = over geared
Everything warm just right..

Motor ~ 180/190*F maximum, ideally 140/160*F, temps can be 10* higher inside the motor
ESC ~ pretty much same temps / Fan comes on @ 150*F
Lipo's ~ 140*F max, ideally 100/120*F"

Thanks for that info 87 GN!

Then I'm under geared right? But what is under geared, the spur or the pinion? The more I read and the more I asked (which I got conflicting answers) the more confused I became. And to establish a baseline I did not want to change the spur gear, just the pinion.

So I decided I would just get a couple pinions smaller and larger and just see which ones worked the best.
Back in a previous post I said I am running the stock 68T 32pitch spur and a 22T 32 pitch pinion with my Dewalt and the top speed I got was 21.8 mph but my motor temp spiked to 180°.

Today I popped in a 24T .8mod (31.75 pitch). On the flat pavement I got her up to 23.3 mph and the motor temp hovered around 120°

I also took it into my back yard. We've had rain for the past couple of days and my small yard is partially flooded. I wanted to see how it would do under a little bit of a load. The batteries and ESC stayed normal and the motor barley rose into the 140°'s

I believe I'm on the right track.

I got a little video I'll edit and post up later

I forgot to add my tires size is 5.5" in diameter.