[BrianG]

Yeah, Neil gets a little grouchy at times. I think he just needs a hug, but I'm too far away (it's a long swim), and it probably wouldn't be welcomed anyway. You just gotta read in between the rants to get to the "meat" of the post.

The tires do look rather large, but as long as you were geared to compensate, it shouldn't be a problem. Temps were ok, so thermaling was not a concern. Maybe something got caught in the drivetrain momentarity causing excessive overcurrent? Or maybe the MMM decided it had enough.

As you know (and was said), wires should be kept as short as possible while retaining enough slack to reach their destination without stress. And, if you had it wired incorrectly (in parallel vs series, or series the wrong way), you'd definitely know it; the truck either wouldn't move at all, or be very slow.

I personally still think the abrupt brakes issue was either caused by improper ESC/radio calibration, or the servo reversing was set wrong. The reason I say this is because you said you used the same radio and has been this way from day 1. The brakes should NOT be that touchy, especially since you turned down the brake force. Once you have it set up right, you'll see how they are really supposed to work.

An indication (aside from heat) of overgearing is short runtime. What kind of runtime are you getting with what voltage/Ah battery? (You may have stated this previously, but I'm too lazy to look). 6s @ 5Ah of decent cells should get you at least 20 minutes. If you were getting 10-15 minutes, then gear down a bit.

Good luck and let us know how things turn out!