School me

[94xjsport94]

First post on this forum! I bought this crawler from a guy in my off-road club kinda sight un seen. Looking for some help and guidance.



The motor seems to "bog down" while climbing vertically. Not sure if it's the motor or the battery, but the motor will heat up and i can smell it.


Just a standard receiver?


What is this and where can I get a new one?


Same thing, what is this and what does it do?

I'm not new to electronics, I'm getting my degree in it right now, and I'm also rather handy with my 1:1. Looking for good info and where to buy! Thanks everyone!

[dentonmac]

Welcome to RCC, it quickly turns into an addiction, and yes we will be enablers!

Looks like you are starting off pretty good!

The SR300 is a good receiver, no need to worry about upgrading that.

That is a Castle BEC. It controls the amount of current going to the receiver. When you add a high powered servo or go 3s lipo, it will require more power than the receiver and BEC from the ESC can deliver. Wiring diagrams are easily searched.

CC BEC Wiring Diagram

Before you run out and spend $$ see what you are dealing with. It looks like a pretty good little setup to get you started. Connect everything up like the castle diagram and see what happens, look for a green light on the BEC, it may be OK. The ones I have had are pretty robust.

Looks like an AE-2 or Mamba Max. Both pretty good ESCs (score). And adjustable/programmed with the Castle Link.

The integy 35T motors are IMO underrated. Probably needs a good com cut and new brushes. Then it will run pretty well for you.

Please let me know if you have questions.

[94xjsport94]

Originally Posted by dentonmac

Welcome to RCC, it quickly turns into an addiction, and yes we will be enablers!

Looks like you are starting off pretty good!

The SR300 is a good receiver, no need to worry about upgrading that.

That is a Castle BEC. It controls the amount of current going to the receiver. When you add a high powered servo or go 3s lipo, it will require more power than the receiver and BEC from the ESC can deliver. Wiring diagrams are easily searched.

CC BEC Wiring Diagram

Before you run out and spend $$ see what you are dealing with. It looks like a pretty good little setup to get you started. Connect everything up like the castle diagram and see what happens, look for a green light on the BEC, it may be OK. The ones I have had are pretty robust.

Looks like an AE-2 or Mamba Max. Both pretty good ESCs (score). And adjustable/programmed with the Castle Link.

The integy 35T motors are IMO underrated. Probably needs a good com cut and new brushes. Then it will run pretty well for you.

Please let me know if you have questions.

Thanks! I'm already battling the addiction of my real Jeep, so i might as well bring in another component, right? Lol.

I've had the crawler up and running around a little bit the past two days. I'm getting that green light and it seems OK, just kind of wrapped in half melted electrical tape. I have a mini g3 lipo and another larger one (Equalizer wires are messed up on the larger one though) that i have been charging and using.

I got 3 other motors with the crawler so i will take a look at those and see which one i could swap in. Not a fan of how this stuff is soldered!

Where do ya'll buy most of your parts from? Most people in my club recommended CKRC.

[dentonmac]

Mechanically at first glance. The spacers on the adjustable shock arms (those are LCC, nice addition) need to connect at the shocks. So the bolt that holds the shocks screws into the spacers. Much stronger, don't know what the PO was thinking there.

The passenger side tires are backwards. Take the wheels off and see if there are two that feel heavier. With the upgrades I am seeing, I am sure there are two of the wheels that are heavier. Those go in front. Also make sure the tread goes the same way. The Rover tires are a nice upgrade especially siped and shaved sidewalls (another score). Am I seeing knuckle weights on the front? nice!

Really just looks like it need the electronics cleaned up. Luckily that sounds like it is in your wheel house.

Also review the OlleP Friction Reduction thread. It will do wonders for keeping the brushed system alive.

[dentonmac]

Originally Posted by 94xjsport94

Thanks! I'm already battling the addiction of my real Jeep, so i might as well bring in another component, right? Lol.

I've had the crawler up and running around a little bit the past two days. I'm getting that green light and it seems OK, just kind of wrapped in half melted electrical tape. I have a mini g3 lipo and another larger one (Equalizer wires are messed up on the larger one though) that i have been charging and using.

I got 3 other motors with the crawler so i will take a look at those and see which one i could swap in. Not a fan of how this stuff is soldered!

Where do ya'll buy most of your parts from? Most people in my club recommended ****.

Ohhh the fun begins.

It really depends on what you are needing. For hardware, I look in the FS and vendors section here on RCC, Ebay, and local club. Electronics, ebay or RCC vendors.

I have purchased from C K R C before and had good results, but they have sold out of most of their Losi 1/10 stuff.

[94xjsport94]

Originally Posted by dentonmac

Mechanically at first glance. The spacers on the adjustable shock arms (those are LCC, nice addition) need to connect at the shocks. So the bolt that holds the shocks screws into the spacers. Much stronger, don't know what the PO was thinking there.

The passenger side tires are backwards. Take the wheels off and see if there are two that feel heavier. With the upgrades I am seeing, I am sure there are two of the wheels that are heavier. Those go in front. Also make sure the tread goes the same way. The Rover tires are a nice upgrade especially siped and shaved sidewalls (another score). Am I seeing knuckle weights on the front? nice!

Really just looks like it need the electronics cleaned up. Luckily that sounds like it is in your wheel house.

Also review the OlleP Friction Reduction thread. It will do wonders for keeping the brushed system alive.

How do the tires come apart? Like normal beadlocks? Might as well look dumb now lol. I'll look at the shocks and mounting since its laying right here next to me...

I'll also check out that thread.

Originally Posted by dentonmac

Ohhh the fun begins.

It really depends on what you are needing. For hardware, I look in the FS and vendors section here on RCC, Ebay, and local club. Electronics, ebay or RCC vendors.

I have purchased from C K R C before and had good results, but they have sold out of most of their Losi 1/10 stuff.

Not sure why it is censored out, but thats what i was seeing too. Not a whole lot of stuff left there.

Sounds like i have a good bit of reading to do!

[dentonmac]

Originally Posted by 94xjsport94

How do the tires come apart? Like normal beadlocks? Might as well look dumb now lol. I'll look at the shocks and mounting since its laying right here next to me...

I'll also check out that thread.


Not sure why it is censored out, but thats what i was seeing too. Not a whole lot of stuff left there.

Sounds like i have a good bit of reading to do!

Not being able to see the wheels real well. I am assuming they are bead locks, and yes they do.

It is sensored, because there was some very bad press about them on here so they just blocked it out. Others may give a different explanation.

Best thing is to get to reading. The threads I would spend time on, Del Montes LCC, EeePees Losi, ravencrs LNC all good technical reads on setup and mods. There are many others, but those are the ones I got the most out of.

[94xjsport94]

Originally Posted by dentonmac

Not being able to see the wheels real well. I am assuming they are bead locks, and yes they do.

It is sensored, because there was some very bad press about them on here so they just blocked it out. Others may give a different explanation.

Best thing is to get to reading. The threads I would spend time on, Del Montes LCC, EeePees Losi, ravencrs LNC all good technical reads on setup and mods. There are many others, but those are the ones I got the most out of.

How could you tell they were on backwards? The wheels are real beadlocks, as far as i can tell.

I figured it would have something to do with that.

Thank you for everything! Cant wait to get into this thing some more tomorrow!

[dentonmac]

Originally Posted by 94xjsport94

How could you tell they were on backwards?

The tread pattern. The long siped bar (5 segments) that runs horiz along the centerline of the tread has a little point on one side. The point is lined up with the mold like in the center of the tread. That is how I tell with the rovers. I think there are directional arrows on the side wall, but they have been sanded off.

Most (not all) of the crawler tires are directional. You get different characteristics in either direction.

Hope that makes sense.

[94xjsport94]

I currently have the black and red wires from the Deans connector to the BEC, then the output of red, black, and yellow. Yellow is not being used, red goes to the red of the steering servo, and black goes to the black of the steering servo. The steering servo connector that is supposed to go to the receiver is only using the yellow wire at the receiver, the red and black are not tied into anything.

I also only have a white and black wire running to the motor, as opposed to the white, black, and red, from the ESC.

I need to have mine look exactly like that one? Where does the steering servo come into that schematic? And how do i read the motor so i can add the red wire from the ESC?

[ghtpdm5]

wheels look like a mayhem bolt pattern. unscrew the bolts, remove the rings, then tug the tires out of the grooves. good wheels to learn with since they are heavy. lighter options are out there though.

beyond that, solid little truck to start in with. the motor is going to need attention or replacement, if you stay with a brushed style motor, you have a solid speed controller for it (castle sidewinder, older holmes torquemaster, or newer axial ae-2, they share the same case), been converted to lcc chassis (good to start with, i hated it and went another way), looks like a lower end hitec servo, probably a 645, with a good servo horn (bonus there). its has all the components to be a solid learner's rig, its nice to see that it has a castle bec (the wiring needs a redo though).

you're going to have to crack the axles open, check the gears and bearings, then put in grease (i use john deere hd moly, wouldn't think of anything else really) and then reassemble. a lot of us have done teardown sections in our threads, mine is buried somewhere deep in my old thread, but its a pretty straight forward affair. make sure to count the worm spacers (should be 3 on each side with the standard 25:1 gearset, 1 on each side for the 21:1 hd gearset) then check the wear patterns on the gears. the wear patterns can tell you a lot about how the truck was maintained and ran, if the wear is deep and in the center, it has been well used. if it is off to one side of the spool, it could be a number of reasons ranging from a spool spacer missing or a spool bearing failure that was ignored.

the motor will also tell you a lot. if the brushes are worn to nubs, the driver didn't take very good care of it. if you open it and find a ton of brush dust, again, didn't take very good care of it and just drove it. the commutator of the motor is going to tell a real story. deep, really worn in there grooves are going to be repaired by lathe or just replace the armature. i'd hit up the replacing the arm side anyway, integy is a bit of a bad word, the only decent thing they made was motors, and even those were low end. holmes hobbies or team brood racing are both great places to talk to about brushed motors.

other than that, the trans gears are beaten, new molded ones are cheap enough, then repair all of the wiring in there, after checking the motor and greasing the axles. should be a runner for ya



EDIT: found my maintenance post for the axles: http://www.rccrawler.com/forum/team-...ml#post3127862

[94xjsport94]

Originally Posted by dentonmac

The tread pattern. The long siped bar (5 segments) that runs horiz along the centerline of the tread has a little point on one side. The point is lined up with the mold like in the center of the tread. That is how I tell with the rovers. I think there are directional arrows on the side wall, but they have been sanded off.

Most (not all) of the crawler tires are directional. You get different characteristics in either direction.

Hope that makes sense.

I can kind of see it now. The front two feel heavier, but i will swap them around directionaly.

[dentonmac]

Originally Posted by 94xjsport94

I currently have the black and red wires from the Deans connector to the BEC, then the output of red, black, and yellow. Yellow is not being used, red goes to the red of the steering servo, and black goes to the black of the steering servo. The steering servo connector that is supposed to go to the receiver is only using the yellow wire at the receiver, the red and black are not tied into anything.

I also only have a white and black wire running to the motor, as opposed to the white, black, and red, from the ESC.

I need to have mine look exactly like that one? Where does the steering servo come into that schematic? And how do i read the motor so i can add the red wire from the ESC?

Sorry, that was confusing. The diagram I posted was for a brushless, which have three wires from ESC to motor.

It sounds like they have wired the servo directly. I have heard of people doing that, out of my league on that one. I have always run it setup like the diagram I posted. From the ESC pos and neg batt wires at the batt connect. Then to the RX, and remove the 'Center - red' power wire from the esc to RX connector. That is important, that is the power wire from the BEC on the ESC...you could mess things up or just run weird if there are two power sources going to the RX.

There may be a better way. Honestly, electronics are not my strong suit. So I just run it as the manufacturer states, and I have had very good success.

On my brushed motors, there are posts that are designated by color (black and red). But it is not as important with brushed motors, just switch wires if you need the motor to run opposite. But....you probably are way ahead of me.

Hope that makes sense.

[dentonmac]

Just read your screen name closely, and thought I'd add fuel to the fire.

My scaler, love this thing...



Sorry, dude, couldn't resist.

[94xjsport94]

Originally Posted by dentonmac

Just read your screen name closely, and thought I'd add fuel to the fire.

My scaler, love this thing...



Sorry, dude, couldn't resist.

I'll get into it tonight and tear it down. What would be some good tools to grab?

Here is my junk. I can't wait to get the pro line body for it and paint to match!

[ghtpdm5]

electronics, fun

for my rigs i direct wire the bec, bypassing the servo's power to the receiver. i cut the servo's negative and positive leads, then using mini deans, put the output power of the bec directly to the servo. this has proven to work for a long time, the only reason i ever fragged anything was a physical issue with the bec and the capacitor there.

to follow the through receiver way, leave the bec output leads intact. then make sure to pull the positive (center) wire from the esc to receiver plug. if you run it with the red lead intact (just not pulling it out of the plug), you risk a lot of failure.

motor leads are easy, id the positive and negative on both the motor and esc (the motor endbell usually have markings) and on the esc, looks like the white wire is your positive. i'd use bullet connectors to connect the motor to the esc, then just hook them up. bullets have a lower resistance than deans and probably the wire used for the install.

to connect the input of the bec to the mains (battery power) lead, solder them to the deans while you're soldering the mains wires in place. you can can also do this at the board level, but that's a far messier affair, i find it looks better and functions the same though. if its anything castle made (not sure on the holmes or the ae-2), this is not a beginner's job.

also, for the love of god and all things holy in this world and the next, do not wrap the wires in electrical tape again. it traps heat, makes a mess for pulling the system apart, and looks like hell. its bush league crap. zipties will do the job, i like expandable mesh sleeving more though.

some tips, the hitec servo uses an m2.5 screw to hold the horn on, but before you attach the horn, power up the system with all of the radio trims centered. place the horn on, then install the m2.5 screw that looks to be missing in the pictures. pretty much taking as much load off the servo there, its a free way to make sure you don't burn crap up. if it's a 645, that board cannot handle too much load anyway.

[94xjsport94]

Originally Posted by ghtpdm5

electronics, fun

for my rigs i direct wire the bec, bypassing the servo's power to the receiver. i cut the servo's negative and positive leads, then using mini deans, put the output power of the bec directly to the servo. this has proven to work for a long time, the only reason i ever fragged anything was a physical issue with the bec and the capacitor there.

to follow the through receiver way, leave the bec output leads intact. then make sure to pull the positive (center) wire from the esc to receiver plug. if you run it with the red lead intact (just not pulling it out of the plug), you risk a lot of failure.

motor leads are easy, id the positive and negative on both the motor and esc (the motor endbell usually have markings) and on the esc, looks like the white wire is your positive. i'd use bullet connectors to connect the motor to the esc, then just hook them up. bullets have a lower resistance than deans and probably the wire used for the install.

to connect the input of the bec to the mains (battery power) lead, solder them to the deans while you're soldering the mains wires in place. you can can also do this at the board level, but that's a far messier affair, i find it looks better and functions the same though. if its anything castle made (not sure on the holmes or the ae-2), this is not a beginner's job.

also, for the love of god and all things holy in this world and the next, do not wrap the wires in electrical tape again. it traps heat, makes a mess for pulling the system apart, and looks like hell. its bush league crap. zipties will do the job, i like expandable mesh sleeving more though.

some tips, the hitec servo uses an m2.5 screw to hold the horn on, but before you attach the horn, power up the system with all of the radio trims centered. place the horn on, then install the m2.5 screw that looks to be missing in the pictures. pretty much taking as much load off the servo there, its a free way to make sure you don't burn crap up. if it's a 645, that board cannot handle too much load anyway.

Bypassing the servo's power to the reciever?

Got this in a diagram or schematic? I'm just not seeing it in my head this way lol.

Is black neg, red pos, and yellow a signal or common?

I hate tape, it's not going back on this thing.

[ghtpdm5]

i could maybe draw a diagram, its a little hard to explain, kinda one of those things that i know too well to explain anymore lol. give me a few minutes, i'll see if i can do a circuit for you.

and thank god on the tape....you're already way ahead of some newer people lol.

[ghtpdm5]

there ya go, basic circuit of how mine is wired (exception being i run a brushless motor)

[dentonmac]

Originally Posted by 94xjsport94

I'll get into it tonight and tear it down. What would be some good tools to grab?

Here is my junk. I can't wait to get the pro line body for it and paint to match!

Dang dude, put a canoe on yours and I about nailed it! Ha!



Tools that I use predominately -

Hex wrenches - .050", 1/16", 5/64", and 3/32" - I bought the Losi's and flat wore then out - pounded on them for years, expensive, but great tools though. I just picked these up - not great, but good and cheap.

Turnigy Imperial Hex Driver Set (050, 1/16, 5/64 & 3/32) 4pc

Needle nose

Socket wrench - for the wheel nuts. I think its 7mm, but I have it color coded so I just know what to grab and that it will work...don't look at the sizes!

That will do pretty much everything you need to do mechanically...note: if PO stuck with imperial hardware.

Not necessary, but Handy -

One thing that I always find that I use regularly, is some kind of pick with a small pointy end. Fat fingers and small pieces don't mix well.

One thing I have fallen in love with is a screw gun.

Ryobi TEK4 4-Volt Screwdriver-HP53LK at The Home Depot

It makes tear down a breeze, I never use it for build up. You'll strip screws in the plastic. And works pretty fantastic for the wheel nuts.