My T/E-Maxx setup

[zeropointbug]

It's a shame isn't it?!

They were really good cars too, 0-60 6 secs, IIRC 150 miles range, and no maintainence.

There have been quite a few scapped projects for EV's by manufactureres. In fact that is where I got my motors from, the 'Ford EV Ranger'. I got 130hp motors for $6000, a steal.

[digitalsolo]

The hub motors we're planning are custom, built by my Uncle. :)

He's designed some near unity motors in the 6-8 HP range already, and we're planning to scale them up massively (the 6-8 HP motors are only a few pounds each). In theory these can be pushed over-unity (not technically, as they pull/replenish energy via magnetic field switching) for zero loss on the batteries. In reality, the wind resistance, rolling resistance and wire resistance will keep it in the high 90s. Still VERY good efficiency. ;)

We're going to build a remote control (which will eventually become "intelligent" enough to cut the lawn by itself) lawnmower based on a combo of brushless and hub motors (brushless drive, tank style 0 turning radius w/ hub motors for the blade system). Should be fun, I'll post some pictures when we start getting somewhere. Both projects are just napkin designs currently. ;)

On the topic of my T/E hybrid, I got it back on the road today, and found out about 8 minutes in that I have a cracked shock tower (from the old accident), but it's just an annoyance for bashing, but will need fixed before I track it at all.

Now that my Lipos are properly charged and balanced, all I can say is WOW. I killed a rear center driveshaft (stock e-maxx) about 10 minutes into the run. I had spare E-maxx axle assemblies, so I modified one to replace the damaged part, worked fine. I am definitely going to need to upgrade to something stronger though. I only have 5 more assemblies, so that's only an hours run time. ;) Any recommendations?

I'm also going to start playing with gearing, as I'm way to heavily geared right now. It hauls ass, but is well beyond my needs, for anything beyond speed runs. Temperatures are moderate, but low enough the MM isn't going thermal. Probably going to pull 2 teeth out of the pinion and try it again. I'll post up some pictures as soon as my dipurgital charges up. :)

[digitalsolo]

Well, I've been working some bugs out of the truck (too busy repairing/replacing things to get any good pictures).

Primary problems I've found (none of these really surprising) are the center drive axles and the factory slipper.

The center drives have CVDs on the way (should be here any time now) and I just picked up a Strobe slipper w/ high temp pads and a 15T 5mm mod1 pinion. Hopefully that should alleviate both problems, and allow me a little bit of slip so that I can quit abusing drivetrain and keep the front wheels on the ground a little better. ;)

I also mounted a cooling fan on my MambaMax ESC; temperatures dropped from ~140-150* range to ambient. I'm VERY happy with that result. The current setup runs for ~35+ minutes of bashing, with the motor temps in the 140* range and the ESC at whatever ambient sits at (40x40x20 mm cooling fan on the ESC, + UBEC). That's on 4s2p 5000 mah ThunderPower packs (balanced every change with my CellPro 4s, which is a great charger BTW).

Aside from that, I did manage to crack a lower a-arm and bulkhead, and pop a shock cap. No major breaks, just a few hairline cracks, truck still drove fine. I have spare parts for all of that, so a few screws and she'll be happy again. :) I'm also considering picking up a longer T-Maxx chassis and applying my modifications to that, to try and increase my in-air stability and keep the wheels on the ground a little better.

I promise, I'll have some pictures up soon. :D