Help for a Friend

[Dustin Fowler]

A friend of mine who recently purchased 3 used Rustlers for like $50 is wanting to hop one of them up. I know very little about the Electric side of the Rusty as all the Rcs I own are Nitro powered. I am not sure how old they are as I havent seen them yet, but he is wanting to know what all it would take to get it closer to the 45mph range. So I will post more when I find out more. I told him the easiest way to go would be to put a different Motor in it and change his gearing, is that correct? I also dont know if there is for lack of a better term a cut off on how old one can be and still have the newer motors still mount up. So any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

[degenerit]

info info info... I would say to reach 45mph you would want a 2s lipo on the vxl motor. If it is the brushed motor, you have a few hundred dollars to go to get in that speed range. If you knew if the motor was brushed or brushless or if the batteries were nimh or lipo or maybe even pictures would help we could give exact information. IMHO for that price you probably have 3 rustler's closer to 1st gen with brushed motors. more info will get you more info.

Hope i am not coming off as rude! Tell your friend to join us on the forum.

[Dustin Fowler]

No not rude at all. I am just going by what info he gave me, he is supposed to drop it off at my work tonight so I will be able to figure out more about it and be able to do a little better research. I will get a pic of it posted and lay out what specifics I can figure out on it, as I said electrics are foreign to me as I have all nitros and I am still new to that somewhat soo.

[Dustin Fowler]

Okay after looking at his Rusty. Here is what I know about it. It has a Titan 12t motor I am not sure if its brushless or not, I do know his servos are not waterproof. It has a yellow XL5 esc, and it still has a crystal rx and tx , the rx is 2109 and its a 27mzh. I will post pics as soon as the GF gets home as I know nothing about how to do that. So if anyone knows anything please let me know. He is wanting it to hit around 50mph and not spend alot on doing it, and I think he wants it to waterproofed soo thats all I really know.

[Stampedenit]

He will need one of these.
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXXWM5&P=OW

One of these w/a lipo charger.
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...H=traxxas+lipo

I'm sure someone will chime in on gear options. May want to also think about changing the plastic gears in the tranny to steel gears.

This link is what I use. Without getting crazy and retro-fitting parts from one model to the next, this will let you see a lot of what is available. There is a ton more, he just has to log in and see what we are all doing.
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...=TRAD15**&P=OW

[QYKSLVR]

Under brushless power, "thinking" about steel tranny gears is not an option. More like a must. Also if they are older style and not steel tranny gears, they likely have bushings. so you should upgrade all of those to bearings also. you will need 8 5x11 bearings for the 4 corners, plus whatever you need to change in the trans.

[Dustin Fowler]

Yeah im thinking it may be a bit more expensive than he is will to spend on it but I will let him know what all he needs. I had figured he would need to upgrade to a brushless system and lipo. I dont think he realized just how expensive this hobby can get lol.

[rustlervxl4life]

3 rustler for $50, a lie or a really good deal!

[rustlervxl4life]

The thing is that you can't keep on getting cheap brushless systems there is no point eventually they will blow common amongst cheap combos. Best thing to do is have a application as in:


Full rpm basher!



70mph+



Bling,Bling fully upgraded.


I must say and people will agree with me Coming into rc requires you to be prepared to spend allot of money UNLESS you are a really good deal finder or you never upgrade anything. Tell the guy to join the forums

[clmarek1]

I would sell the 3 rustlers and make a profit. You could sell them for 35 bucks a piece and leave with 100. Or try to get more. Then reinvest that money into another car. Yes this would take more time but I think its not a bad idea since he got the cars on the cheap.

[O.G.]

You have a brushed setup so you should go brushless. Your Rustlers probably have steel transmissions but I can't tell for sure without pictures.

I'd pick up used velineon system off the market place here, along with a 2.4 radio.

[Dustin Fowler]

Yeah I told him how much it would be to do all that in the end it would just be cheaper to buy one of the new rustlers. I talked to the tech at my lhs about it and he said after looking at it that the cheapest and easiest way to get more out of it would be to just go with a 7 cell hump battery which is only $35 so thats what he is gonna do. Yeah I couldnt believe the deal he got on them and i talked to his wife and he did get them for like $40 so yeah he did luck out on them. I said something about joining but he didnt seem interested as he just wants to play with them and not really do alot to them.

[degenerit]

well i can tell you that i am very new at this hobby. My first summer even! i started with a brand new rustler xl5... 4 burnt up titan 12t motors later, i bought the vxl motor and esc off of ebay for 140 or so. With that being said, i have the 7 cell hump nimh battery and the brushless motor. i put the gps on it and got way close to 40mph. Now i do not have the best motor skills but i can tell ya unless your friend has been rcing for awhile 40 is FAST! i would start with that; the 7 cell batt, the vxl motor and esc, the last thing, the only thing i am unsure of is the transmitter and reciever. Hope this helps your friend bro, and give 'em props for the wicked find!

[Dustin Fowler]

Yeah I am also pretty new to the hobby though I normally run a nitro, and I get lots of grief from my lhs(as a joke). Yeah it blew my mind when he told me what he found, I was like wow why cant I find a deal like that. Yeah he said its pretty hard to control them now so I know once he adds the 7cell he will be amazed, my gf is the electric runner she has 4wd stampede and loves it.