Another Gmaxx is born

[suicideneil]

1. I could live with that- I have perfect the art of custom motor mount fabrication a la hacksaw and files
2. That would be a problem. I could drill out (or use a lathe) on some 3mm 32p gears, but it i wanted MOD1, I would have to go to SPD for some custom items. Hmm, thats a pain... why cant life be simpler? **grumble grumble**

[TDC57]

I just wanted to let you know that I do to you and your totally awesome build, I now have found my inspiration for my next build!.. (yes / thank you!)…

So I went on line and ordered up all of the parts a few days ago!.. Drained my toy account again!! (DAM YOU!!)

But it should be as nice as my GEVO when it done.. (woo hooo)

Thanks Neil..

P.S.
DAM YOU!!!

[suicideneil]

Happy to be an inspiration!

I found some suitable springs for my shocks thankfully- they really are rather huge at 20mm inside diameter, and 22mm outside diameter, I ordered a couple pairs of the Losi purple rear springs for the 8T; should make the suspension nice and stiff. On a side note, Pro-line power stroke springs would fit too rather nicely, but they are rarer than rocking horse poo. Just need to fix the purple color with some suitable paint, or i might just attack them with some oven cleaner, and keep them clean to prevent rust:

I am not having any purple on my truck, it looks... aweful.

[jayjay283]

Originally Posted by suicideneil

Just need to fix the purple color with some suitable paint, or i might just attack them with some oven cleaner, and keep them clean to prevent rust:

I am not having any purple on my truck, it looks... aweful.

You have the manly purple 8ight springs now too !! I was so envious of you getting the black front stock stiff springs. I have 4 of the dark green ones rear (3.1) I could post to you if the purples are too stiff.

[suicideneil]

I know, it kills me inside, it really does, lol. Tower doesnt list them, so i had a hell of a time tracking some down- ebay came up trumps as per usual- 'Atrainhobbies' or something like that had them- $18 posted for 4 springs to the UK, bargain. We'll see how it feels once they arrive- I need to actually drive it to see what oil to run too, but thats another thing to work out entirely :/

[jayjay283]

I could never find out what the stock oil is in them so I dont really know how much thicker to go LOL If you find out let me know it will save a few steps in the experiment

[Patrick]

Looks like front shocks have 45wt and the rear has 30wt http://www.wivoutracing.co.uk/teamlo...setupsheet.pdf

[jayjay283]

Originally Posted by Patrick

Looks like front shocks have 45wt and the rear has 30wt http://www.wivoutracing.co.uk/teamlo...setupsheet.pdf

you sir, are da man ! thanks

[suicideneil]

Cheers Patrick. I think Wallot said he settled on 80wt in the end, but then again he does like to jump his maxx abit.

Selling some stuff on ebay:

Integy MSR4 piggyback shocks, 2 sets 4 shocks.
UE knucklehead towers, polished with stubby posts.
Trinity XXX heavy springs for the maxx shocks, 2 sets of 4 springs.

[suicideneil]

Shocks are sold- £40 for all 8 (~$75), which is what I paid for them originally when they were new, so Im well happy- more than covered the cost of the 8T shocks I bought to replace them.

[suicideneil]

UPDATES:

Losi 8T front shocks, with purple (heaviest) rear springs.
Home made single motor mount- didnt want to pay ~$40 for the GorillaMaxx one.
Re-wired esc for single battery pack use.
External BEC- we will see how well it performs very soon.
LVC- has a little LED that lights up when voltage dips below 3.0v, very cool.















I like how the shocks are setup, they arent as stiff as the old setup with 8 MRS4s & Trinity XXX springs, but it 'feels' better, like it would actually handle well if i threw it around a track or something. The weather is ment to be good tomorrow, so Im peaking my Nimhs and hoping I will be able to go bash with my new setup, and see if I can blow up my cheapo ebay lipos....

[jordan...]

looking good Neil!! be sure to let us know how those buggy shocks work out. Can't wait to see that beast running with some A123's and a 'serious' brushless system Is that the LVC on the antenna?

jordan

[suicideneil]

Anyone for toast?

Well, today I went to the park with the truck, and had a real rollercoaster ride. I plugged in my 7cell Nimhs using my series adaptor, turned on the radio, then went to 'arm' the system by pluging in the BEC (leaving the esc turned off as per the instructions for running a single large battery pack), and the truck took off at full throttle! I slammed on the brakes, and the truck came to a halt, but a thick cloud of white smoke rose up from the truck, and it tried to take off again, but then on hitting the brakes for a second time the truck stopped dead and the smoke cleared- all this whilst I ran over to the truck. Seems my little BEC didnt like 16.8v going through it and let out the magic smoke before dying- as you can see in the photo, the posistive lead melted clean off the board. I then spent the next half hour trying to get the truck running again without the external BEC; in the end it seems that as I yanked out all the plugs from the radio to kill the smoking BEc, I plugged the throttle back into the wrong slot and had my steering mixed with the throttle.... Well, I figured it out in the end, and managed to get some nice video of truck running with my cheapo lipos; wow....

Video to come shortly, just need to edit it up.

The LVC (that is it on the antenna, correct) worked like a charm. it would glow red under hard acceleration, but would quickly go out once the truck was moving. I got roughly double the run time of my Nimhs when using the Lipos, and Im amazed how much punch they have, and continued to have all through the run. Even towards the last few minutes when the LVC light was staying on to indictate 3.0v per cell, I could still wheelie the truck fro a standstill, or from anything upto about 10-15mph, as the video will show. Not bad at all for $20 lipos....

On the shock front, Im going to say that rears would be better than fronts, and that you may well need 4 on the rear of the truck, and two on the front. The truck did handle really well when flung it into corners, but the rear would squat a fair bit under acceleration, so I think Im gonna pick up another pair of shocks & another pair of the purple rear springs, just to stiffen it up abit.

On the damage front, I killed the BEc, and at one point lost a shock- the screw holding it to the A-arm came loose, so I just need to add some loctite in a fair areas. I also dislodged the rear body posts from the tower after a violent wheelie; truck slammed back onto its lid, then back down onto all four wheels- did that a few times during the run, lol.

I also recorded some temps during the runs, makes for interesting reading:

NIMHS:

Motor = 109
Esc = 90
Batts = 150

Lipos:

Motor = 130
Esc = 110
Batts = 110 during run, 120 at very end of run.

In the old days the esc would rarely get much above ambient, as was the case today with the Nimhs, but when I switched to the Lipos it seems have made the motor really come alive, so amp draw has increased, and the esc was alot warmer than usual, same to with the motor. The batts stayed quite cool during the run, but towards the end I did about of a torture test and ran full throttle for a good minute or so back & forth, then brought the truck in to end the run and check temps.

I think Im also gonna pick up one of those nifty little voltage checkers that you plug into the balance taps on lipos, just to be doubly safe- they only cost about $5 or so and its a worthy investment.

[suicideneil]

Video!

5minutes, 10mb. The audio isnt very good for some reason, but its not that bad I suppose. Unlike the actual video, which is horrendous, lol.

[its me]

Originally Posted by suicideneil

Video!

5minutes, 10mb. The audio isnt very good for some reason, but its not that bad I suppose. Unlike the actual video, which is horrendous, lol.

LMAO! at "got him!"