My 14.4V brushless MT2
 

This is my first attempt at a brushless conversion, but I think it turned out rather well. I’ve wanted to do one for a while. My other R/C, an electric Stampede, is fun, but I wanted something 4wd with better handling to supplement that 2wd tipsy beast. I wanted an electric truck, of course, but the 4wd electric stadium truck is extinct on the market right now. So, I made one myself. I was actually inspired by camel_rc’s MT2 last year, but I challenged myself to fit an even bigger motor and more cells on that tight chassis.

I hunted for a used MT2 18SS for a while, and finally found a good one. It even came with a Hitec 645MG servo for the steering. Bonus! I sold all the nitro goodies for my brushless fund, of course. I wanted to make the truck really strong for bashing, so I upgraded some of the MT2’s weak areas. Most noticeably, I installed an RC Solutions roll cage to stiffen the flimsy chassis and protect my valuable brushless system and batteries from damage. Then I installed CVD center driveshafts to replace the stock dogbones. I also installed aluminum knuckles and c-hubs at all four corners to replace the stock plastic ones.

For the brushless system, I am using an Mtroniks Truck controller and a Feigao 540C-9L motor. The batteries are matched IB3800 cells from Promatch. The motor mount is made out of 2.5” x 2.5” x ¼” 6061 aluminum angle that I designed and a buddy of mine made for me at his machine shop. It is similar to coldfusion’s mount, but this one is custom made for the MT2. I enlarged two of the engine mount holes in the chassis and drilled two more. It is secured by four countersunk M5 screws. The batteries are held in place by a G3 GorillaMaxx strap and by M3 dual lock fasteners on the bottom. I was able to use existing chassis holes to bolt the straps on. To mount the servo and controller, I decided to keep the front half of the radio tray. The controller is mounted with dual lock fasteners to the bottom of a T-Maxx receiver box, which is bolted to the top of the MT2 radio tray. The receiver is mounted to the chassis with double-sided tape behind the motor. The antenna mount was removed from the radio tray with a dremmel and then shoe-gooed to the roll cage.

I drove it for the first time yesterday, and it really flies! I have it geared 49/14. The controller got warm, and the motor got really warm. The truck is heavier than stock, so the suspension was sagging a bit. I need to install stiffer springs to support the weight. I ran it with the stock Dirt Bonz, jr. tires, and they worked well. I’m going to try it with the Masher 2000’s today if it doesn’t rain. The balance of the weight seems to be pretty good, and it handles much better than the pede! I think one of the diffs is going to die soon, though. When I first started the truck, it was clicking a little bit, but by the end of the run, it was clicking loudly and skipping occasionally. I’ll buy new diffs soon and make sure that they are shimmed properly.

Thanks to Mike for the GorillaMaxx straps. They work great!

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Nice work, I bet that really flies!

I just sold my MT2 (nitro) today and posted. I'm glad I have. Going to convert an EB4s3 with the money.

How are your Gorilla straps held in?

Good work.

Check out the second picture. I used the bolt and washer that came with the straps and secured the bolt to the chassis with a 3mm nylon locknut.

Looks good, but the real question is will it burn a nitro? lol

Any brushless stadium truck with 12cells will have more than enough power to burn almost any nitro. 12cells will push a 5kg maxx to 40mph+, think what it'll do to a 2.5kg stadium truck!

I remember camel saying somethign about his back diff going out a couple times. I hope you don't have a proble or atleast a solution for it. That is one clean ride. I like the conversion on it. You have to get a video of it.

nice conversion. :cool::cool:

Today I performed my first ever gps top speed run with the mt2. My setup was as follows:

Feigao 540c 9L
Mtroniks Truck controller
12 IB3800 cells
52/14 gearing
Masher 2000 tires

I managed to record a speed of 46.7 mph. However, I am sure that this is not the top speed. I was having problems with my slipper coming loose after every run. I'm going to have to take the whole spur/clutch assembly out of the truck so that I can get it really tight. Then I'll try another run. I'm confident that I'll be able to hit over 50 mph.

Here's a couple second long video of it accelerating.

http://media.putfile.com/MT2

I have no doubt you can hit 50 with that setup,GPS readings can read a couple of MPH short anyway as it needs to cover a few feet at that speed to measure it.i've tried my GPS against my road cars speedometer and they read pretty close.Nice converson BTW,i like the layout,the weight distribution looks good.

it seems to accelerate real smooth like. Pretty quick to.

Keep that slipper as tight as you can make it. Mine was always loosening. I still have to retighten it after about 5 runs or so.

I forgot to mention that it weighs 7.7 pounds with the M2K tires. The weight distribution is really good. It jumps nice and level.

Indeed, a GPS measurement is not accurate, unless you run it that speed for like .5 mile or something..

I've got this gps in my car that tells the speed, when I'm accelerating from 0-60 mph, it takes quite some time before it really stabilizes to the 60mph..
If you accelerate as fast as your RC it's not accurate at all. I'm sure when you drove it longer on top speed you would have gotten another number. (higher)