Brushless Traxxas Jato
 

Here are a few pics of my latest project:

<img src="http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b239/1joeyoung/Jato%20-%20Brushless/Jato_top_right.jpg" alt="Image hosted by Photobucket.com">

<img src="http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b239/1joeyoung/Jato%20-%20Brushless/Jato_top_left.jpg" alt="Image hosted by Photobucket.com">

<img src="http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b239/1joeyoung/Jato%20-%20Brushless/Jato_side_right.jpg" alt="Image hosted by Photobucket.com">

<img src="http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b239/1joeyoung/Jato%20-%20Brushless/Jato_side_left.jpg" alt="Image hosted by Photobucket.com">

And here's the current setup (as you see it in the pictures).
The Jato is absolutely stock, with the following additions/changes:
Lehner basic xl4200 motor
MGM 12012 speed controller
19-tooth 32-pitch pinion gear
(This matches VERY closely with the Jato stock .8 mod spur. It's not exact, but the spur should last for some time.)
Home-made motor mount
(Made from an aluminum elbow bar I got at Home Depot. Made with a reciprocating saw, cordless drill, and a dremel.)
FMA BalancePro 2s2p lipo pack
(The pack is currently sitting on the top of the chassis plastic. I will be investigating raising the motor so the battery can sit beneath it, flat on the chassis).
Traxxas dish wheels
Losi IFMAR pins (red) in the rear
Losi directionals (red) in the front

I kept the brake servo to provide the braking, rather than using the speed controller. The steering is stock, but I expect to replace the bushings with bearings and install a faster servo. The stock Traxxas 2055 is more than enough power for the steering, but I think I'd like it a little faster.

Performance is pretty impressive with the 2s lipo. I left a couple little ruts in my back lawn last night. I'll try and get a short video tonight so I can share it here.

I also need to get into the tranny to adjust the shift point to occur sooner. Like my MGT, I'd like it to shift into second at about 1/4 throttle. During my 10 minutes or so of driving last night, it didn't shift at all.

Lastly, I did a horrible gluing job on my tires so I don't know what I'll get for a speed run, but I'll try nonetheless and report back what I find.

That's the way a Jato should look like!! no nitro parts..

Do you like the handling, speed and acceleration?

Looks good. I think you are the first to have a brushless Jato!

www.sdp-si.com has the .8 mod gears if u start eating spurs.looks great though now all you need is some one with the nitro one to make a fool of.

I had the same idea except i was going to use a basic 4200 or 5300, i didn't think you could get enough power out of an xl. Thank you for the ideas:cool:

Got a video together tonight. It's not much since I had to hold the camcorder and radio at the same time, but you can get a glimpse of how it ran :)
I hadn't adjusted the two-speed yet, so what you see is first gear only.

http://www.rcpics.net/view_single.php?medid=62102

Nice, Joe! Looks like it needs a bigger yard, though!

You need an Open road or parking lot, and to teach your little girl to work the camera.

Great vid. I guess there is hope for my jato after all. I've been having trouble with it overheating no matter what i do. this deffinatlylooks like a possible alternitive. Hey mike. Do you think a basic 4200 or 5300 and mgm 8012 will work in this setup?

Yes, the mentioned setup would perform very well in a Jato.

thanks, that is what i will probably try if i can't beat the problems with the nitro

Compressed 2MB video - same as the first, but smaller for low-bandwidth downloads.
http://www.rcpics.net/view_single.php?medid=62204

It'll be a couple days before I can do more with the truck...one of the front turnbuckles didn't like greeting my garage at 15MPH. I did get the GPS up to 27MPH before it happened, though. It was still in first gear, too...I guess my 80ft driveway won't cut it for speed runs, heh.
:)

Hey Batfish, did you use the engine mount or just mount the motor plate to the chassis?

I made an "L"-shaped mount from aluminum. The side of the L has the motor screwed to it and the bottom of the L is attached to the chassis.

I'm hoping to have the replacement turnbuckle today, so I may be able to get more testing done tonight.

That's the best looking Jato I've seen.

You've got some serious skills, holding the camera and driving at the same time. I usually put the camera on a tripod and move it around with my knee, but it doesn't turn out as well as yours.

Another good way is to steer with your chin, I find this works particularly well in freeing up your other hand.....:D

I actually use my thumb on the wheel of my MX-3 for steering. Push up for right and down for left :)

It's a little more difficult to operate the camcorder at the same time and keep the vehicle in-frame. That's why I nearly hit the stump and did hit my gutter drain in the film. :)

Anyone interested in filming this way first needs to see if they can control their vehicle with one hand on the radio. If you can do that, you're halfway there. Once you can control the vehicle with one hand, hold the camcorder in the other hand and point it where you're looking (it helps if you have a small camcorder, of course). Since you should always be looking at your vehicle, if you can keep the camcorder pointed where you're looking you should be able to keep the vehicle in-frame most of the time. If I do this more often the real challenge will be learning to zoom in and out while driving.

There's absolutely no way I'd be racing like this, but it makes it possible to take video in my back yard while my wife's too upset at me to run the camcorder ;)

get a crowd pleazer 2.0 body for that beast!!

I may get the crowd pleaser. I have a clear stock body for now. I'm expecting to paint it this weekend, when the humidity drops below 150% here...
:P:

Vids downloading now, looks very tidy in the photo's. Much better than with all that garbage nitro stuff in there :)

Don't suppose you fancy making me a motor plate for my RC10GT conversion? If you do please email me rtsbasic@yahoo.com - I'm having trouble finding a way to mount the motor for less than $50 (current plan is to use TC4 mouting bits, but lots of $$$)

Cheers.

thats the freaking sweet man .

Here's the latest setup:

<img src="http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b239/1joeyoung/Jato%20-%20Brushless/Jato_overhead_left_fans.jpg" alt="Image hosted by Photobucket.com">

I now have a hitec servo (green arrow) for braking because the stock Traxxas one was the reverse of what I needed. I just hunted around the ones I had until I found one that turned in the right direction. Can't put the radio throttle in reverse because of the ESC.
There are also two 5V fans (green circles) spliced together and plugged into channel 3 of the receiver. One is pointed at the speed controller and the other is pointed at the motor. A bit of running in my back yard and a few speed runs on the street never got either the speed control or the motor very hot. The maximum I read for the speed controller was 118F and the maximum for the motor was 113F. These safe temps in what was about 85F ambient today lead me to believe I could move at least two teeth with the pinion and possibly some with the spur.

Either way, here's the awaited speed results.

The highest I could get it in my back yard was 21MPH even.
<img src="http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b239/1joeyoung/Jato%20-%20Brushless/21_mph_backyard.jpg" alt="Image hosted by Photobucket.com">

On my street I was able to let the motor wind as far as it would go and it pushed the Jato to 36.8MPH.
<img src="http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b239/1joeyoung/Jato%20-%20Brushless/36_mph_street.jpg" alt="Image hosted by Photobucket.com">

Considering I have room to play with gearing due to the good temps, I'm sure it could reach the speeds of a nitro even with just the 2s lipo. Next, I'm thinking of putting my 3s pack in and seeing what it will do :)
36.8 is faster than I will drive on any track and clearly faster than I can use in my yard, so I doubt I'll do much more experimenting with the gearing. I appear to have hit my mark on the first try :)

wow thats quik
got a vid of it running on the streets??

No video yet. Kids were acting up so my wife couldn't hold the camcorder, and I'm not chancing taking the video myself while running 30s on my street.

Here are pictures of the Brushless Jato with the body on it. I finally painted it and applied a few decals.

<img src="http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b239/1joeyoung/Jato%20-%20Brushless/Body_overhead_front.jpg" alt="Image hosted by Photobucket.com">

<img src="http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b239/1joeyoung/Jato%20-%20Brushless/Body_front_right.jpg" alt="Image hosted by Photobucket.com">

<img src="http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b239/1joeyoung/Jato%20-%20Brushless/Body_front_left.jpg" alt="Image hosted by Photobucket.com">

looks sweet batfish
will look even better with a Crowd Pleazer 2.0 for the Jato from Proline

Hey bat

Is there enough room in the chassis to run a regular 6 or 7 cell pack ?.

There's easily enough room for a 6- or 7-cell pack. Plus, you can tell from the second picture that there's plenty of room above the pack that you could even run double the cells, stacked. :)
By the way - Yes, my car stand is the stock MGT wheels and tires ;)

<img src="http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b239/1joeyoung/Jato%20-%20Brushless/Nimh_overhead.jpg" alt="Image hosted by Photobucket.com">

<img src="http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b239/1joeyoung/Jato%20-%20Brushless/Nimh_side_right.jpg" alt="Image hosted by Photobucket.com">

p.s.-> Anyone want to buy an OFNA force .25 or Dynamite Mach .26? :p The OFNA is very obvious in the picture, and you can just make out the head of the .26 behind the front tire of the Jato.:p

Hey bat i like the radar gun you used for your speed run :L: . Are the batteries on the chassis or are they off the chassis a little ?.

Looking great still! That speed isn't bad, especially if your motor is hardly getting warm.

The batteries are sitting on the plastic bits of the chassis plastic. The front of the pack sits over the steering and the back nearly touches the motor. I was talking with rc-monster Mike about this and I'm contemplating making a motor mount that would raise the motor up and allow a battery pack to sit directly on the chassis, under the motor. Since the battery pack will nearly always out-weigh the motor, the CG will be better with the pack down and the motor up.

The speed is actually more than I'll every need bashing at my house or racing. I don't know of a track that allows for regular running at 35+ MPH.
That said, I posted this statement to the Traxxas Jato board as well: If there's anyone in central MA with a nitro Jato that wants to race me, I'll stick my 3s lipo and maybe add a couple teeth to my pinion...should be no contest ;)
Assuming everything holds together, 3s lipo should put me near 57MPH, which is 2 more than the RTR is rated for. Plus, I'd expect to get there a bit quicker than the nitro beast :)

Joe you have to repersent for your BL brothers:eek:

I also like the idea of your motor mount.

Good point...maybe I'll do a run with the 3s anyway, just to clock the speed.
Perhaps I shall git my speed in da hizzie wit da shizzle....or something to that effect :cool:

Looks nice. Now you just need to get the transmission to shift.:D

Awesome Jato, best one I ever seen!

But, did I see a nitro engine in the background there :eek: Just kiddin'.

How do you like the mechanical break? Did you disable reverse?

I think I forgot to mention that I did adjust the two-speed. The speeds I posted are in second gear.

Yep - there are two nitro engines in the background. If I could actually make them run I might be able to put up with the smell, sound, mess, and maintenance ;)
In the meantime they're just waiting to go up on ebay.

The mechanical brake has been okay on the grass and the street, although not as strong as I had hoped. Once I try it on the track I'll have a better idea.
Two things that make it less effective than I'm used to are the speed of the truck and the weight distribution. With so much weight up front I think the rear tires don't have as much grip during braking.

You are missing the brake power on the front wheels... ;) ;)

Heck yeah :)
I was so used to the 4-wheel braking on the MGT and buggy...that's how the Jato met my garage at about 15MPH :)
It had been more than a month since I drove a 2wd stadium truck. It's still a great class, but I do like the control of 4wd.

Do you have a weight on that jato there bat? I am curious.

I've only got my bathroom scale to weigh with, which weighs in .5 lb increments.
Using that scale, the Brushless Jato weighs 5 lbs ready to run with my lipo pack.

Heavier than my XXX-T, but I think the weight helps it to be controllable.