Losi 2.0 Conversion

Originally Posted by Shark413

Dave, the gear failure was kind of strange. I ran Kyosho plastic gears in my truggy/buggy and what would happen is I would knock off a few teeth from either landing with the throttle on or heavy braking coming off a big jump (both are mistakes). With the Losi spur it looks like it melted, or at least the plastic softened. I had an issue with my last run of the day (when the spur gave out) where one of my eagle tree sensor wires got caught in the rear drive shaft. This could have caused binding, heated up either the motor/center diff causing the spur to get soft. I didn't temp the motor on the last run because the sensor that got ripped out was the motor temp sensor, and by the time I temp'd it with my handheld Raytek it had been sitting for a while and cooled off. Until I hear more feedback on how the Losi plastic spurs hold up I will stick with my steel spur. I am also going to try a 2200kv motor to see if I can get my temps down to an acceptable range.

Well, in a few more weeks off-road should begin here in the northeast and I'll be happy to give you feeback on the Losi spurs. I plan to try them in both buggy and truggy and hope for the best.

[Shark413]

Originally Posted by Electric Dave

Well, in a few more weeks off-road should begin here in the northeast and I'll be happy to give you feeback on the Losi spurs. I plan to try them in both buggy and truggy and hope for the best.

Dave, yeah let us know how your vehicles perform. As for me I am going to switch to a lower kv motor. The 2650kv just runs too hot for SoCal summers, so I am dropping down to a 2200kv motor which I have used in the past with good results (performance ans temps).

[Shark413]

Update:

I have been using my MMM 2650kv motor for the last month or so and just have not been able to get any consistant temps. No matter what gearing I tried the temps seemed higher than they should be. So I decided to change out the motor for a 1515 size. I had a spare TeknoNeu 1515/1.5D, so I decide to install this into my buggy. The TeknoNeu 1.5D I have is a square can, so I had to remove some of the material from the side of the can. I have found that the 1515/1.5 runs cooler and I can use more gearing options because of the added torque. The extra wires are for my Eagle Tree data logger sensors, they are just temporary and will be removed once I get the motor/ESC/Battery temps where I want them. Also I mounted a 40mm fan to the top of the motor to help with the cooling.

Shark, did you re-tap for 4mm? How did that go being unable to take the front part off?

[Shark413]

Originally Posted by Electric Dave

Shark, did you re-tap for 4mm? How did that go being unable to take the front part off?

Dave, first I DO NOT RECOMMEND THAT ANYONE RETAPS THEIR MOTORS. The risk to damaging the motor/coils is very high (there is only a few mm of clearence from the endbell to the coils). And that's why I didn't mention in my post. It is much safer to send it to Neu and have them re-tap or exchange for a m4 can. But that being said I just could not sleep seeing that huge motor held on by two tiny m3 screws, I had several motors loosen up (slip) a few times and I think it could be related to the m3 screws that stretch or the small heads dig into the mount causing the looseness. For the m4 screws I used a mill to drill the holes, with the mill you can set it to only travel a specfic amount, so I measured the depth of the holes and ensured I was well short of the coils. You have to take the motor apart so you can clean out the metal chips. I used a special tap (blind hole) that allows you to tap in a very shallow hole, normal taps have a starter point and they need to be feed deeper into the hole, which could hit the coils. When cleaning out the can I was careful not to blow out the bearing grease/oil, nothing kills a bearing faster than lack of lube.

The losi plastic spur failed on the first night of running for me. I think the kyosho ones are much better quality havent had a problem with one of those ever.

[Shark413]

Some updates:



Added a fan guard.


Added Integy front/rear carriers. Yeah I know some people say there junk, but I also have the new KingHeadz carriers on my truggy so we will see how the Integy stuff compares. Both front and rear carriers feature the larger 16x8mm outer bearing.

[Shark413]

Got the buggy out this weekend and gave it a good workout. Ambient temps were higher (mid 80's) but the new motor ran much cooler, it was fast and controllable on 4s. Max motor temp after 10 mins was 122 degrees.

[Shark413]

Update:

I recieved my Traxxas ESC mount and added it to the Losi. Some people use the existing holes in the Losi battery tray, but when you do that the ESC sticks out too far and hits the body. Any blows to the body would be transmitted directly to the ESC which could cause a malfunction. So I mounted the ESC more inboard and turned 90 degrees. In this configuration the body cleared with no problem.

[Shark413]

Update:

I was cleaning/checking the buggy out when I noticed the shrink wrap on my motor wires looked strange. I took a closer look and the middle wires shrink wrap had split and was bascially falling off. It does not appear to have shorted because there were no burn marks on the endbell cover or wires and the buggy ran fine this weekend. I took off the rear endbell cover, added two layers of new shrink wrap and bolted the endbell back on. There is still a little gap between the wires and the holes in the endbell that can cause friction wear on the wires so I filled the gaps with hotglue. The hotglue also provides a better dust seal.

[Shark413]

Update:

Got six practice/race weekends under my belt now with the Losi buggy. That's about 18-20 4s lipo packs thru the buggy. No major breakage until the last time out when the ESC blew a cap (MMM V2). Went to slightly stiffer springs front and rear (green/black). The Integy spindles and carriers seem to be holding up ok, very little slop and the larger bearings are holding up well. Novak 40mm fan gave up the ghost and I replaced it with a generic PC fan.

[Shark413]

Another Update:

There has been a lot of talk about the new Tekin RX8 and T8 motors. I have been using MMM products for a while and have been very pleased with there performance. But the Tekin motors had some features that were unique, #1 solder posts for attaching power leads, bullets are convienent for removing the motor/ESC, but I had my MMM bullets loosen up and come apart during a race, so I always had to go over them to be sure they were tight and if not I would have to pull them apart and adjust the tension. With the Tekin, just solder them on and don't worry about them. Also, I had a Neu short out because of the way the wires exit the rear endbell, very loose and vibration causes the wires to wear out. #2 Tekin has 3 and 4mm mounting screw holes, and 4mm is much stronger than 3mm (leftover from 1/10 electric), so I don't have to drill/tap my motors anymore. #3 Removable front endbell, makes servicing the front bearings a breeze. #4 Tekin uses 6 screws to hold on the front cover. I have heard stories of guys landing heavy and having the front cover rip away. Anyways I ordered a buggy sized (4030) 2050kv motor and hooked it up to my MMM. I have used sensored ESC's before (Novak) and they are very smooth, but the MMM's are also pretty smooth for a sensorless ESC and I really like the programming interface (Castle Link). I was only able to make a few runs up and down the street but it felt as strong (may be even stronger) as the TeknoNeu it replaced (which was a bigger 1515 sized motor). It was also very smooth with no clogging. I can't wait to get out on the track.

[nitrostarter]

Sure looks good! I'm tempted to try the Tekin system as well.

[stum]

i've been racing weekly a medusa v2 60mm 2000kv for nearly a year and only had to replace the bearings in my tekno 8ight-e. Wicked awesome motor and a very nimble weight to boot. MMM v3 for the esc.... save the money iMO, those castle 2200's are 140ish, these medusa's are only 110 and w/ a mmm they are both deadly and rock solid.

[sabongi]

Any updates on the tekin motor?