Thinking of a new truck..

[Rtsbasic]

Well I have my T3, its almost fully hopped up, very durable truck (http://home.btconnect.com/rtsbasic/pictures/). But I want more, the car has a couple of weak points (rear shock tower, front upper plate) where I eat parts when I start doing the stupid stuff..jumping over my garage, onto/off roofs of small buildings, BMX track etc. I also want more speed, on 7 cells its coming on 40mph and 8 cells it'll pull 50mph off.

So my point of this post is I'm looking for a bigger truck, thats VERY durable, this is the biggest requirement, but also I want it to be faster/have more runtime than my T3 (it gets 5-10 mins when racing pending on the track layout/size).

What would you guys/gals recommend? How much more durable would an Emaxx be? I was thinking Emaxx + every RPM part + alloy in some areas. But I'm open to suggestions, cost is always a concern but I'm looking for the best durability wise and I know money talks.. For power I'm sorta limited to 14 cells (don't want to buy new batts yet). What sort of speeds/runtime do you think would be achievable with 14 cells? I don't want 35mph..if possible I would like the same speed my T3 can do, around 50mph. What would runtime be like with a system that can do that?

Sorry for all the questions but I figure you guys here know your stuff so best place to ask :) Cheers.

[RC-Monster Mike]

The e-maxx can be made very durable for a price, but the weight of an e-maxx vs. a t3 makes it hard to get the speed AND the runtime using only 14 cells. Better is to use more cells or Lipo. I t will cost a good buck to make a bulletproof e-maxx taht reaches 50 mph (which is very fast for a truck this size). If you do it right, you could use small tires (like komodos) and select parts to keep the weight down, which by itself increases durability as well as make sthe speed and runtime more achievable.

[Rtsbasic]

I wouldn't really want to run smaller wheels than stock for bashing, and was thinking of using RPM offset wheels to widen it up a bit..for racing though I would use smaller tyres so the cars lighter.

What sort of money do you think it'd take to make one bulletproof? If I put a lot of money into a bigger truck I would want to make it so part breakages are far and few between, but I know its a lot of dosh.

For speed/runtime, I know its limiting..I don't think I would use (or afford) lipo's in a emaxx..in 1:10 fair play but I wouldn't want to risk damaging $300 of batteries in one really bad accident. Regardless how much runtime do you think 14 GP3300 cells would give it, if the vehicle could hit say 45mph?

[RC-Monster Mike]

Probably get around 5 minutes of run time at that speed. There are many ways to go with the maxx trucks. You could build a serious truck for $1500 or so(including a brushless setup).

[squeeforever]

well my e-maxx has a xl3100 and 9920 with 12 sanyo 2400s that are crap and it does at least 45 with a 14/66 gearing which i need a 15. with a 15/66 gearing and 12 cells my maxx should to 50 no prob. the only thing is it weighs only 8 1/2lbs. so a heavier truck would be slower. i think to make one bulletproof would cost about 1250if you didnt have a bl setup for it. as far as cost you could save alot of money it you look on e-bay for parts. such as something i just bought that its a STEAL! i paid 112.50 for NEW proline powerstroke shocks, lunsford titanium turnbuckles, AND proline mip cvds. thats a steal. like i said just look on e-bay for stuff and you will save loads of money.

[Rtsbasic]

Hmm..OK if I was to go lipo, say 2x 4s packs of 4400mah, what sort of runtime do you think it might get with still being able to hit 45mph? $1500 is pricey but over time and importing everything (I'm in the UK) it doesn't work out too bad..

[Rtsbasic]

I could save money by using my current controller if I could keep to 12 cells, but it might be pushed for power? Would prob get the 9920 and be done with it. I buy half my stuff through ebay and so would shop on there for some hopups, and for some bits come through here. Whats runtime like with 2400's? I dread to think..

Cheers.

[RC-Monster Mike]

Make it 2x 5s packs and wire them in parllel and you could get around 20 or more minutes of runtime, depending on how you drive it. $1500 is a bit pricey, but if you want the beast, you gotta build it from premium parts!

[RC-Monster Mike]

With enough 2400s, you could get a decent runtime. If you want 45mph out of 12 2400s, you won't get a lot of runtime! Some folks run gp2200s and get great runtimes. You just use a lot of them with a slower turning motor(use voltage instead of amperage for the power) and you get higher efficiency. 20 gp2200 cells weigh about the same as 14 3300 cells.

[Rtsbasic]

I was thinking of making a pack of GP2200's up for my TC3..9 cells for the weight of 6-7.

OK realistically 4 packs of 5s lipo is outside my budget. But a bulk order of 40 GP2200 cells isn't much more than a single 5s lipo of a good capacity. 40 cells -> 4 packs of 10, two packs/cycle so 20 cells a run. Thats starting to sound realistic. Would it be safe to push the 9920 to 20 cells every run? I'd run a fan over it to be sure but I dont' want to risk damaging it.

What sort of runtimes do you think 20 GP2200 cells would give compared to 14 cell GP3300? Math tells me 20 GP2200 cells is about 900-950w of energy output, more for peaks. Surely thats enough to break 50mph with semi decent runtime? Thanks for the advice, I never thought of using smaller cells but simply more of them.

[RC-Monster Mike]

The controller can handle the cells with the proper motor selection. These little cells provide quite impressive power (almost as punchy as the larger 3300 or 3700 cells) and they are actually more energy dense than the larger cells. 50 mph could be achieved with 20 cells and you could still get a decent runtime. Of course, it depends on how you drive and where you drive as well. 50mph still takes a bit of energy in an e-maxx. I recently built a tuck for a customer using 20 cells and an xl2000 motor. Even dialing out half of the available power, the truck was capable of rolling wheelies at high speed simply by pulling then trigger! I didn't drain the batts(just tested them and sent the truck out), but the customer wrote me an e-mail praising the performance AND the runtime. He had run it over 10 minutes and hadn't dumped the packs yet. His truck is geared to reach high 30s to low 40mph(plenty fast for these trucks). More speed = less runtime, but the potential is there.

[squeeforever]

well my truck was actually getting aroung 10 to 11 minutes of runtime with the 2400s. but keep in mind that thats not just at high speeds. that was at normal running conditions. basically just jumping and bashing, ect.

[squeeforever]

mike, are those 2200s nimh or nicd?

[RC-Monster Mike]

nimh

[squeeforever]

is $50 good for 2 intellect 3600 6cells packs? is it worth the extra 10 dollars for the 3800 loose cells?