Buggy/Truggy BL Conversion w/ Brakes & 2-Spd
 

Hello there.

I'm relatively new to this forum, and I'm learning quite a bit just by lurking. Now, however, I have a couple of questions for the community. I'm considering doing a brushless/lipo conversion of a buggy or truggy. I'd like to keep the front/rear brakes to maintain control over the vehicle and to take the braking load off the motor. I might even try to shoe-horn a 2-speed transmission between the motor and the center diff in order to increase maximum speed and reduce current draw at any given speed. (Yes, I realize muli-speed transmissions aren't legal for buggy or truggy racing, but, I doubt I'll have the opportunity to race, anyway.) So, here are my quesitons.

1. Do you think it's possible to fit this all in a buggy, or would I have to go with a truggy? (I can't help but notice how tightly packed BrianG's buggy is.)
2. If I left out the 2-speed, do you think I could fit everything in a buggy?
3. How does one wire the brakes on an electric car? I can imagine just putting a Y cable between the Rx and the motor and brake servo, but then the brake servo would be pulling an imaginary throttle link when the motor was running.
4. Can anyone point me to photos of similar conversions?

Thank you, in advance, for any direction you can offer.

Hi. Welcome to the forums! I'm sure you will like it here. To answer your questions:

1. It is possible, to fit it in a buggy, but it will be tight

2. You shouldn't have any problems with fitting everything if you ditch the 2 speed

3. Putting a Y harness between the brake servo and the ESC will work, but if you have a radio with channel mixing, I would just do that so you can put the ESC in the 2nd channel and the servo in the 3rd channel.

squeeforever, thanks for your reply.

I've only ever had RTR-quality AM radios. (I've done a lot of modding of my cars and trucks themselves, but never upgraded the radios.) I'm glad to hear that channel mixing exists.

I'd prefer to do this conversion with a buggy, so it's good to know that everything should fit, at least if I only have one speed. I'll have to decide whether to go to truggy to try to fit in the multispeed, too. The truggy would not only give me a longer chassis, but much more volume under the body.

Does anyone have any photos of BL buggies with front and rear brakes?

Thanks again.

No problem. Channel mixing is only on the higher end radios, such as the DX3, React, M8, M11, and so on.

I would recommend running one 4S LiPo pack. That will leave room for just about everything. Personally, I would remove the radio box, put the ESC there (I would run a Mamba Max), leave the servos alone, put the motor on the motor side were the gas tank would be, and then the battery behind that. You should be able to move the motor up far enough forward by simply flipping the diff so the spur is towards the front. Flipping the diff might be a problem for some buggies, but if you run a small enough plastic spur, it shouldn't hit the chassis.

I opted for rear only brakes via a servo on my truggy conversion, and use the motor for the front braking. You can use the EPA on your radio to bias the front to rear braking. I plan to only have a "drag" on the front with most braking coming from the rear brake caliper. This removes most load on the motor also.

Very thorough replies, guys. Thanks.