Thoughts on power mods for Sumo Crawlers
 

Love to hear various options for increasing power/torque on my 1/24 Redcat Sumo crawler BESIDES the 2s lipo conversion I see many users do. Currently I'm running Panasonic Omloop Pro aaa's on stock gearing and motor. Any suggestions??

Re: Thoughts on power mods for Sumo Crawlers
 

This would be better in the micro crawler section where those into micros would see the post.
Typically for more power you can play with the pinion or spur, swap to a better or bigger motor, or add a more powerful battery.
There isn't really a large spur gear on the sumo, and the motor and pinion don't have any bolt in replacements. You would have to fabricate something. You could swap to the losi micro crawler or trekker transmission, but that would make your sumo much faster and not really a crawler and for the money and time it's probably not the best option unless you want lots of speed.
Even though you don't want a lipo that really is the best option for power for the sumo.
I'm not sure what the omloop is, I assume you mean the eneloop.
I have some and try are great batteries for remotes and transmitters, but they are still low voltage nimh batteries.
They simply do not compare to lithium batteries. A lipo conversion will be less weight up top which lowers your center of gravity, a noticeable power increase, the power is also more consistent across the charge of the pack rather than dropping off towards the end of the charge like NIMH, and the run times will be even longer. The power is what's most noticeable though.
There is a reason you see everyone swapping to a lipo. It's the best bang for the buck and the easiest.

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Re: Thoughts on power mods for Sumo Crawlers
 

Word on the streets is that the motor from a TowerPro mg958 servo ($11 shipped) gives a significant increase in power. I've yet to try it myself, but I've got 2 of those servos in service on other cars, and I'll be ordering a few more this week. If the gears fail first, I'll certainly be robbing the motor from one of the servos to give it a try in the Sumo.

I know you don't want to hear it, but switching to a 250mah 2s (~$10) meant for a Losi micro rock crawler felt like it doubled the power. Equally beneficial, it allowed us to drop a lot of weight by losing not only 4 batteries, but the battery boxes as well.

Re: Thoughts on power mods for Sumo Crawlers
 

Ok, I'm ready to do the lipo mod for more power. One concern: Will the stock ESC take it without burning up? I have heard various reports on this question....mostly yes, it can take it. Thanks for the input too.