Review: Leopard 4065 2700kv

[Slaughter33]

As I was building my Pede, I noticed everyone using a lot of the same parts. It's always nice to have a lot of reviews of a product to help make a decision, but that doesn't always mean those products are the best or the only solution. When it came to my motor, I went cheap. A Tacon 3650 2950kv. While it served its purpose, Tacon's run too hot for my bashing style. At least on 3S. 2S might serve them better. I even tried a 1/8 Tacon with the same results. I didn't want to go with Castle for the cost and I knew there had to be other motors out there. We have all heard of Leopard, but I dismissed it as another Tacon type motor. When I started digging into my research, they seemed like they were more than just a cheap brushless motor.




I took a chance and ordered one from ebay, $77 to my door from Hong Kong. I put in the order on the 29th and it showed up on the 7th. Not too bad. The packaging looked nice. Better than my previous Tacons anyhow.



My expectations weren't high coming from the Tacons, which these looked very similar. Nothing special about the motor. It's slightly larger in diameter than the Castle 2400 but slightly shorter, so I did have to do a little trimming on the chassis just like you would with the 2400. After installing the the larger grub screw on the 5mm pinion, I will never, ever go back to a 1/8 shaft on any motor. If you have a 5mm shaft motor, you know what I mean. The motor was the perfect length because my ESC still fit wedged in there.




I charged up the 3S lipos. This motor is recommended 3S-5S. I was geared 15/52 which had me right around 45mph according to the speed calculator. I ripped off some WOT runs, spun continous donuts in the street, jumped some curbs, through some grass, did some backflips off of curbs and bright it back to measure temps. It was at least 10min of non-stop action. To my surprise, 120 on the motor and 150 on the ESC. I took a break and came back and ripped off some more runs and bashing and temp came back at 113. Now I am in Texas and the street temp is typically 100-130 degrees, so for the motor to be in that range is a beautiful thing. Of course with this size of the motor, it had stupid amounts of torque. I have one Trencher blown out, so I had to run with the Talons which were probably making the motor work harder than it should because the tires wouldn't hook up very well.

I need to get some more pinions to see how far I can push this motor, but I feel based on my results, this motor is up there with the Castle 2400. If you are looking for Castle type performance at a lower cost, this is definitely a motor worth considering. This is the highest kv motor in the 40mm/65mm can, but the 4068 can has more options. Leopard

You'll appreciate this. My wife came out during my testing and I was telling her how great this motor was... blah, blah, blah is what she was hearing. I said watch this and jammed the throttle, the Talons broke loose on the curve of my road and.....BAM!, into the curb. Caster block and knuckle were the only casualties.
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[Petertje60]

Nice review! It's good to see something else than Castle Creations.
Did you see that 210 degrees C?? I wonder if that is correct.

[Slaughter33]

Thanks. This was going to be my last motor purchase before giving in and getting a 2400. I thought those numbers should be in F, but I looked up the Curie temperature (the temp a magnet loses its magnetism) on Neodymium magnets and it's 320 C. There are different grades of Neodymium and the suggested working temp ranges from 80-230 C. If Leopard's info is accurate, they are using very high quality magnets. Will it stay bonded to the can is the question....

[rag6]

I thought the magnets were on the armature in an in runner setup?

[Slaughter33]

You are absolutely correct. The magnets are on the rotor on an in runner and why replacement rotors are not cheap.

[rag6]

So what were you wondering would stay bonded to the can? The coils?

[Petertje60]

A motor that gets up to 200C will probably cause some other problems like melting parts.

[rag6]

Yeah, maybe melt right through the chassis lol!

[O.G.]

Nice write-up.

What esc are you using?

Yes I feel you're pain about the 5mm shafts.

Sent from the cockpit of my Jeep Wrangler

[Slaughter33]

Thanks. It's a MMP.

[mike-susieq1]

doest the 4074 have the issue with the 5mm shafts?

nice write up also as i was thinking of getting a tacon motor instead of leopard but think i'll get the leopard. i seen that tacon makes the motor for leopard but guess they use better stuff to me it for them if they do.

[Slaughter33]

I think all the larger Leopard and Tacons use 5mm shafts. I think you guys misread my post. I LOVE the 5mm shaft and will never use a motor without it! The larger pinion means larger grub screw, which is easier to torque down and being larger, it has more contact on the motor shaft which means it will hold better. Pinions cost more, but are worth it to me.

Skip the Tacon unless you are on a budget and are going to run on 2S. Almost all Tacons are 2 pole motors which struggle with the weight of the Pede. The highest kv 4074 is 2150, so you will need 4S or higher. The 4068 series seems ideal to me, but I had a hard time finding them.

[pavmentsurfer]

EZrun also has a version of this motor... I believe its the same just with a different name. They can be had for about $68 on hobby partz. I have one in an Emaxx and its working excellent. Never thought about it in a 4X4 pede but now that I've seen it, it makes perfect sense. Good idea and nice write up.

[O.G.]

At least in my neck of the woods, its hard to find 5mm pinions in 54 pitch. My lhs had to order some in.

Sent from the cockpit of my Jeep Wrangler

[Slaughter33]

Thanks Pave, There is a hobbywing that has the same specs but because leopard and hobbywing are different companies and leopard is OEM for other manufacturers, no guarantee its exactly the same motor.

Your hobbyshop should carry 5mm pinions for the larger traxxas trucks since they are stock on those. It is still worth it to have your shop order them if they don't have them.

[ksb51rl]

I think all the larger Leopard and Tacons use 5mm shafts. I think you guys misread my post. I LOVE the 5mm shaft and will never use a motor without it! The larger pinion means larger grub screw, which is easier to torque down and being larger, it has more contact on the motor shaft which means it will hold better. Pinions cost more, but are worth it to me.

Skip the Tacon unless you are on a budget and are going to run on 2S. Almost all Tacons are 2 pole motors which struggle with the weight of the Pede. The highest kv 4074 is 2150, so you will need 4S or higher. The 4068 series seems ideal to me, but I had a hard time finding them.

I'll apologize first thing if this seems like a downer, but I have read of at least one case where an allegedly 4-pole Leopard motor was discovered to be a 2-pole motor in actuality. I don't suppose you gutted your motor just to check it?

[Slaughter33]

I haven't but I would be very surprised if a 2 pole geared 15/52 on 3S could maintain 120 deg temps. That would be one bad A motor! Next time I have it a part I will check though.

[ksb51rl]

Too right, but it IS a big motor.

I checked my memory and it was a Leopard 540 motor that was allegedly wrong. I don't think they make a habit of that kind of fraud.

[Malfavon89]

are there any cheap 4pole motors
if you know pm me
thanks ∞55∞

[O.G.]

Thanks Pave, There is a hobbywing that has the same specs but because leopard and hobbywing are different companies and leopard is OEM for other manufacturers, no guarantee its exactly the same motor.

Which manufacturers?

Sent from the cockpit of my Jeep Wrangler

[Slaughter33]

Malfavon, this is probably as cheap as you will find a 4 pole.

Manufacturers usually don't release their OEM partners. Especially ones that sell their own motors for less than the competition.

[AbSoLooT1]

NICE!!!! Those motors got a great color.

[Malfavon89]

thanks Slaughter33 really saved me some money

[TQi]

That's awesome! keep us posted on any problems if you run into any

is there a way to get faster shipping on it?

[Slaughter33]

You might be able to get it quicker through helipal.com but I haven't dealt with them. I thought 9 days was reasonable since it came from Hong Kong and the ebay posting said 2-3 weeks. I just got an 18T pinion so I hope to test it Monday and report back.