Losi Ten-T Conversion
 

As said in another thread, I picked up a Losi Ten-T 10th scale truggy today at the LHS. Took it home, and proceeded to tear out the nitro stuff. Now that everything is out, I can list a few observations:

- The combination of telemetry and ROSS creates a whole lot of wiring! There is a channel along the radio box to lipo/ROSS box where all the wires are routed, and it was a PITA getting the wires out! And in that tangle are 2 servo extensions. There are little slots where the wires enter, and it was tough getting the connector ends through those slots. You have to remove the whole radio/lipo box to do it right, and even then it's not easy. I would hate to be the one to have to replace a servo or whatever if kept in its stock form.

- There's a mix of metric and standard screws. WTF? Is this typical for Losi? The kit comes with the necessary tools, but they are just crappy L hex wrenches. Once I modded the radio box, I replaced the std screws with metric ones to make it easy for myself.

- The center diff. Diff orientation is not "brushless friendly" and will to be flipped to mount the motor on the right side where it belongs. Which also means that either more chassis has to be cut out to clear the spur, or lift the CD up a bit. The spur is a plastic 44T Mod1 gear, but the way the teeth are shaped makes it look like 32p. It's odd. I think I'll see if Mike can make the mount so that a standard CD with a Kyosho 44T spur can be used. Or maybe lift the CD and slot the chassis so a normal 46T spur can fit there. The different between 44T and 46T is only 1mm radius, so that's not a big deal.

- With the diff moved over, there is PLENTY of room for pretty much any lipo pack you want. My 5s 5Ah pack fits with plenty of extra room. This pack is ~145mm long, but there is still room if front/rear of the battery for the ESC. A MMM can even fit there. If the motor is put on the typical side, the screw for the mudguard will get in the way. So, whatever mount is used will have to sit the motor up a little to clear this.

- The little "hubcap" that covers the wheel screw is purely cosmetic. Three tiny screws (looks like 6, but only 3 are actually screws) hold it in place. I'm gonna keep them off because it would just be a PITA to change tires when racing/bashing.

Some vehicle facts:

- In roller form (no motor, ESC, battery, mount, batt tray, tires) the vehicle weighs 4 lbs, 10oz. Each stock tire weighs 125g.

- The rims use 14mm hexes.

Below are some pics with all the smelly nitro stuff removed. If you want to see the original pics in stock form, the Losi website has those:

Sorry about the fuzzy pic, I didn't realize the camera wasn't in focus. This one is just showing the CD and you can see it well enough.

http://scriptasylum.com/forumpics/losi_ten_1.jpg

http://scriptasylum.com/forumpics/losi_ten_2.jpg

Thats' Awsome mate,looking forward to seeing the end result.I've been keen to do this aswell .

I want one of these so bad

Kinda sounds like this one is gonna take a little bit of work. I'm very interested to see what Mike is gonna come up with.

Looks alot like an 8ight b/t layout. What would be the benefit of this over an 1/8 buggy? Weight? Any chance you can get an overhead pic of the truck next to a 1/8 buggy?

My camera batts are dead, but the length between wheel nuts is just about the same. The Ten is about 1" wider. I think the biggest thing is weight. At about 4.5lbs as a roller, it'll be about 6-7 lbs fully loaded.

Figure out what the diff ratio is yet? I would be curious as it sounds like it would be a good canidate for a MMM/2650 on 3s as long as you wouldn't need like a 5tooth pinion to keep a decent speed.

35/9, which is 3.889:1.

While looking that up, I found that the spur is actually 48T. I measured it at 46mm, and since a Mod1 pinion rolled across it without binding, I assumed it was Mod1. Well, it has to be something else, maybe a "shallow" Mod1? It does look a bit odd.

If you get these parts from Mike before us lowly forum members get our cd/motor mounts I'm calling shenanigans!:lol:

Mods/admins have preferential treatment. :na: Actually, I was talking to him today and he was gonna get one of these vehicles so he could develop a mount anyway. So, my vehicle is going to be for the greater good! :smile:

I just did more playing around with the center diff spur. It measures exactly 44.44mm in diameter, and has 48 teeth. That does not match either Mod1 nor 32p, but is somewhere in between. After doing a little calculation, the pitch is actually 28.578p, or Mod 0.889. I knew it didn't look right.!Both 32p and Mod1 gears roll somewhat smoothly without skipping, but don't mesh perfectly.

BTW, the formula for finding the pitch is:

pitch = (tooth_count+2) / (gear_diameter/25.4)

module = 25.4/pitch

So, Losi decided to really do some weird stuff here with the gears. The easiest thing to do would be to convert to Mod1 or 32p. But as I said, the diff has to be flipped around, which means the diff has to be raised to clear the chassis. To minimize the amount of height increase of the CD, a Revo 40T spur could be used, which is 42mm in diameter. This knocks off 1mm from the radius of the stock spur, which means it will fit without raising the CD much. And the 40T spur with a 12T pinion, along with the 4.41" tires, creates a speed of 30mph@30k rpm. Yeah, a little slow for some, but increasing the pinion to 14T creates a 35mph speed while not gearing up too high. And/or get a motor/voltage combo to get 35k rpm and the 12T pinion gets you 35mph. 14T would get you a little over 40mph.

Sounds like a big mess.... I may have to give the 4x4 slash a go. Some al shock caps and rpm lower arms... Who knows it might be worth a carp... Fishy!!!

I was also thinking of one of these...but reading this post...I may reconsider.

I really don't think it's a big deal guys. There are a few stumbling blocks, but nothing that can't easily be overcome. The CD is actually longer than a standard 8th scale diff, so there's plenty of room for an adaptor plate in which to bolt the Revo spur. The stock CD placement is perfect for motor/battery balance, there's plenty of room to use whatever motor/battery you want, and when the battery/motor is installed there will be a lot less wasted space so it will look nice when finished.

Sometimes it's nice to have something that will be a little unique. Yeah, it requires actual thought and planning to get it right. There are a lot of electric vehicles out now where one can slap whatever they want and be done.

IMO, the Slash is a really simple vehicle, and certainly not worth the ~4 bills it goes for. The 2WD Slash is ~$200 and the 4x4 version is not a whole lot more vehicle for double the price. Yeah, it does have a BL system in it, but most of us would ditch it anyway. I would have much preferred the PE came with no motor/ESC (or a brushed setup just to keep the RTR factor) and cost ~$300.

i think you made a good decision, Brian. alot of the guys that i know who got the slash 4x4 are waiting on parts or keep breaking them. i must admit, i'm kinda disappointed at the lack of durability.

the ten looks like a mini-8ight. i saw one the other day at my lhs, and i was really tempted to pick one up. i hope you and mike come up with a sick conversion and a solution to the weird pitch. a revo spur would be perfect. i can't wait to see what you guys come up with.

Losi Rocks ....i would take this over any other 1/10 4x4 ,Just which that Losi would bring out a race roller version only because I would want the hassle of selling of the stuff I won't be using..been there, done that.
Geared for 35mph on 3s this would be awsome.The more I read about it the more I want to get one,Awsome work Brian