SCX10 brushless or 2 speed upgrade?

[CoolRunning]

Hi Guys, I'm new to crawlers and am really enjoying them. My son and I got a Bomber RR10 and SCX10 for Christmas.

I've read about the 2 speed gearbox upgrade to make the cars a bit faster for zooming around so you don't sacrifice the crawler ability.

My son is young (6) so I particularly did not want really fast cars like a SC truck which would likely get destroyed quick smart.

Basically, an upgrade that would give us some decent speed for doughnuts and small jumps which wouldn't destroy the cars would be great.

I'm experienced with RC helicopters and have a good charging rig so a brushless lipo setup would be a possibility though I particularly picked 5000ma NiMH as they are much safer for a 6yo.

If a brushless mod would still provide the same crawling ability (i.e. just as good) but also some decent speed, and not cost the earth I'd be happy to go that route but if a simple gearbox swap would work with the existing setup that would be a great option.

We get really long drive times with the NiMH's which I find absolutely fantastic coming from the 2minute 30 second world of 3D heli's!

I would prefer reliability over anything though. If I would need to beef up the cars radically I might need to rethink as I got tired of spannering all the time on the heli's.

Any info would be greatly appreciated!

[common rock crawler]

Originally Posted by CoolRunning

Hi Guys, I'm new to crawlers and am really enjoying them. My son and I got a Bomber RR10 and SCX10 for Christmas.

I've read about the 2 speed gearbox upgrade to make the cars a bit faster for zooming around so you don't sacrifice the crawler ability.

My son is young (6) so I particularly did not want really fast cars like a SC truck which would likely get destroyed quick smart.

Basically, an upgrade that would give us some decent speed for doughnuts and small jumps which wouldn't destroy the cars would be great.

I'm experienced with RC helicopters and have a good charging rig so a brushless lipo setup would be a possibility though I particularly picked 5000ma NiMH as they are much safer for a 6yo.

If a brushless mod would still provide the same crawling ability (i.e. just as good) but also some decent speed, and not cost the earth I'd be happy to go that route but if a simple gearbox swap would work with the existing setup that would be a great option.

We get really long drive times with the NiMH's which I find absolutely fantastic coming from the 2minute 30 second world of 3D heli's!

I would prefer reliability over anything though. If I would need to beef up the cars radically I might need to rethink as I got tired of spannering all the time on the heli's.

Any info would be greatly appreciated!

In my opinion go brushless on 3s if you can. You still have the crawlability and wheel speed. Just my opinion though

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[CoolRunning]

Cheers CRC.

The guy that sold it to me warned me off 3S as he said it'll destroy the drive train really quickly.

Do you mean with a new brushless motor as well as 3S?

What would I realistically need to beef up for everything to survive?

Originally Posted by common rock crawler

In my opinion go brushless on 3s if you can. You still have the crawlability and wheel speed. Just my opinion though

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[common rock crawler]

Originally Posted by CoolRunning

Cheers CRC.

The guy that sold it to me warned me off 3S as he said it'll destroy the drive train really quickly.

Do you mean with a new brushless motor as well as 3S?

What would I realistically need to beef up for everything to survive?

What I meant is go 3s if your drivetrain can handle it. If not stick with what you have now and their should still be plenty of wheel speed. Also look for a higher kv motor if you want more wheel speed.

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[CoolRunning]

So is the stock SCX10 strong enough to handle a 3S lipo?

A bit more wheel speed is all I want for zooming around between climbing.

A couple of Hobbyking 2200 3S lipos are dirt cheap but I don't want to sacrifice reliability.

One thing about the gearbox upgrade is that you reduce torque in the high gear so it'll go decently fast but won't have the torque to break things as easily as the 3S setup. We're not planning anything radical. It's just me and my 6yo having some races between climbs.

[common rock crawler]

Originally Posted by CoolRunning

So is the stock SCX10 strong enough to handle a 3S lipo?

A bit more wheel speed is all I want for zooming around between climbing.

A couple of Hobbyking 2200 3S lipos are dirt cheap but I don't want to sacrifice reliability.

One thing about the gearbox upgrade is that you reduce torque in the high gear so it'll go decently fast but won't have the torque to break things as easily as the 3S setup. We're not planning anything radical. It's just me and my 6yo having some races between climbs.

Try it just on 2s. If you dont like it you can try 3s but your sacrificing reliability

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[waw]

my preference would be 2S Lipo
crawling doesn't need too much speed IMO

[Prime]

The center gear is the weak point of the SCX gear box, a swap to metal gears cures that. That being said, I run my Ugly Duckling on 3S with a 27T motor and the gear box is 100% stock, eventually though I am sure the gear will give up the ghost cause I do have a heavy finger at times. If you go brushless the speed and power gain (especially on 3S) is nice but the gearbox will need some metal gears.

[TrailDawg362]

The 2 speed option is nice but adds some noticeable weight. 1st gear is great for low speed torque and control and the gear reduction helps greatly for downhilling. Runtimes are increased due to reducing the workload on the motor. A good brushless system will give nice low end response and plenty of wheelspeed and torque. It's kind of a toss up between the two options.

[CoolRunning]

So you can just change that single gear to metal, put in a 3S lipo and have a good reliable rig?

So, no axel or diff breakages for normal running and crawling?

I mean if I had to put in a better axel after 6 months or something of running, that would not be a big deal.

Originally Posted by Prime

The center gear is the weak point of the SCX gear box, a swap to metal gears cures that. That being said, I run my Ugly Duckling on 3S with a 27T motor and the gear box is 100% stock, eventually though I am sure the gear will give up the ghost cause I do have a heavy finger at times. If you go brushless the speed and power gain (especially on 3S) is nice but the gearbox will need some metal gears.

[CoolRunning]

Do you personally feel a brushless motor would be better than the gearbox change?

I guess that requires a new ESC as well as motor and gearbox mods plus a lipo (that is probably starting to get a bit expensive for two trucks)?

Are there any budget builds for this that come in at the price of the 2 sp gearbox?

Originally Posted by TrailDawg362

The 2 speed option is nice but adds some noticeable weight. 1st gear is great for low speed torque and control and the gear reduction helps greatly for downhilling. Runtimes are increased due to reducing the workload on the motor. A good brushless system will give nice low end response and plenty of wheelspeed and torque. It's kind of a toss up between the two options.

[Prime]

Originally Posted by CoolRunning

So you can just change that single gear to metal, put in a 3S lipo and have a good reliable rig?

So, no axel or diff breakages for normal running and crawling?

I mean if I had to put in a better axel after 6 months or something of running, that would not be a big deal.

The gears come in a set an replace all three trans gears. I would recommend the Hot Racing gears.

[Gunner1]

Castle just came out with a brushless sensored motor/esc combo. I bought a SCT 3800 KV for mine which is a non sensored. The sensored setup allows you to have a really great low rpm crawl on lips 2 or 3s and still scream on the top. They came out with it right after i cracked open my box. Also I bought a RC4WD 2 speed trans. It comes with metal gears and has a 5 to 1 crawler gear with a 1.7 top gear. I believe the stock axial is about 2.75. I think I have 250 in the motor and trans. Not a ton but not cheap either. I wanted something that would crawl really slow and still blast over the sand dunes. I will be testing it out soon.