Traxxas E-Maxx Cheap Basher...

[AK KRAWLER]

Cruising craigslist, one of my usual pastimes, I found a Traxxas E-Maxx for sale. The price was a bit higher than I wanted, so I sent the seller an offer. A little back and forth and we came to an agreement good enough for me to go look at it. I met the guy and looked at it today and the dang thing followed me home, like all the way there :lmao:

Got it home and it looks like the servo saver is missing parts, so the front wheels just flop around. Threw a few spacers in there and she’s at least good enough to to test things out and it didn’t work so well. It’s still not moving the front tires. I might solid mount it just for testing.

The batteries are so shot, at least I think so. 7 cell, 5000mah NIMH, that will only take a 500mah charge. It should be a fun little money pit...

 

[h22a4]

Huge money pit but fun get some rpm or aluminum bulkheads they break first. Try cycling the batteries a few times they may come back to life.

 

[AK KRAWLER]

Cycled the batteries a few times today and they only came up a few mah’s, nothing impressive.

I am either at the point of soldering different connectors on the Traxxas ESC to match my LiPo batteries, or replacing the dual Titan 550’s with a single Hobbywing Xerun AXE550 3300kv motor/ESC combo I already have.

My question is, will it run decently on the single brushless 550 motor, or an I better off running the stock dual 550 motors and ESC?

A couple other things it needs is either a new stock servo saver, or converting it to a better single servo.

 

[1fox2go]

I ran one with a Mamba Monster system. Which was too much on 6s, it ate the diff gears for lunch. 4s should be good.

If you just to run what you have and the ESC can support it keep the stock motor setup and let er rip tater chip on 4s and then replace stuff when it breaks. I think you'll end up replacing the ESC/Motor combo before you break anything serious really. Even the cheaper Brushless systems fair well with the Emaxx though getting someone in the current climate may prove challenging.

Looking forward to see how this pans out. 1/8 MT bashing is a lot of fun

 

[AK KRAWLER]

Thanks man, I’ll probably just get to soldering... though I’m hate it...:lmao:

It does need some new arm pins, as one is broken. We improvised for the last run tonight with a nail, yeppers, a nail cut to the be right length gave my boy another 10 minutes of run time and smiles, totally worth it!

 

[h22a4]

I would throw the brushless in it should be real easy swap just keep an eye on your temps. If that had an AM radio in it there is a good chance the esc does not have lvc anyway so it is not much use without a low voltage alarm anyway.

 

[AK KRAWLER]

Sounds like we'll give it a shot with the Hobbywing Xerun AXE550 3300kv motor/ESC combo that I have sitting on the shelf. Start it with 2S and go up to 3S if it looks like it's doing okay.

What would be a good pinion size to stare out with?

For the receiver, I plan to put in one of the FlySky FS-BS6 receivers and use the GT5 transmitter I bought as an extra for my son.
Fun seeing a Transmitter/Receiver with crystals in it - My son was like "What is that"... So spoiled

Oh, I ordered the aluminum bulkheads and new Ti Hinge Pins last night.

 

[h22a4]

I am no expert on hearing by any means. I would just use whatever is on there now and try it if motor gets to hot go down a few teeth if it is too slow to up a few. It is a tough call because thenbrushless version has a mamba monster so there is no real comparison.

 

[1fox2go]

Id start with 3s at a minimum. Youll kill the batteries trying 2s. This is a big heavy truck. Also make sure you get a 1/8 scale ESC/Motor combo. Traxxas can call it 1/10 all they want but its 1/8 size and heavy. Lower Kv would be better as well. 1800-2200 works well for Monster trucks.

The esc and motor combo you said you have is going to be too small. You will need at least an 80a. Just my recommendation of course

Someone makes titanium hinge pins for this. Lunsford or Lansford or something. I ran those and it definitely was an improvement from the stock ones breaking all the time.

 

[AK KRAWLER]

So, today's update and all with stuff I had here...

I installed the Hobbywing Xerun AXE550 3300kv motor/ESC combo, attached a 11 tooth pinion and ran it in 3S, what a blast!!! Because we are still on snow around her, as well as the temps are on the cooler side, the motor never got hot at all!
I'm sure that'll change in the summer.

For the future, I have a 1730kv HobbyStar 4092 motor that I will probably drop in with an appropriately sized ESC and pinion gear. I think the stock Traxxas pinion was a 17 tooth

I made a spacer that eliminated the servo saver for now, as I really wanted to get this thing out and play. I ordered an aluminum servo saver set-up for the long haul.

On the hinge pins, I ordered the Lunsford ones.

 

[AK KRAWLER]

Well, didn't take too long to start breaking parts :lmao:

And it was me, not my son... I ordered some pinion gears to see if I could get it a little faster, but not lose the off the line punch, mission accomplished. I was only running an 11 tooth pinion, because it is what I had on hand. I ordered a 14T, 17T (stock size) and a 20T. I installed the 17T and it definately got a little speed back, but that is probably as far as I would push the single 550 motor.
I did a few speed runs and it was noticibly faster with the 17T instead of the 11T. Well, it was right until I caught the right front suspension on some ice that was sticking up further than I thought.
It took out the front skid plate and right front bulkhead section. The LHS does not have the parts I need, so I had to order them in. Hopefully everything will be here in 7-10 days.





When we first brought it home, the steering was all jacked up and the front skid plate was not attached. Being that I never worked on one of these, I did not notice that the little metal brace was in the parts bag, nor would I have known it went with the skid plate. Not saying that it would have prevented the breakage, but there is a slight possibility it would have, if it was installed as intended. None the less, here is the little guy that "should" have been sandwiched between the bulkhead and the skid plate. Hey, but now I know...:lmao:

 

[AK KRAWLER]

Gave the boy a task of tearing the E-Maxx down and to get it ready for repairs.
Took of into the office (working from home...), come out an hour or so later to this.


He did a pretty good job.

Now for the parts to show up :lmao:

 

[1fox2go]

Stock bulkheads are brittle, definitely need the RPM plastics on this truck

 

[AK KRAWLER]

Stock bulkheads are brittle, definitely need the RPM plastics on this truck

I already ordered the aluminum ones, but the plastic RPM version probably would have been better to give a little flex in the system.

 

[AK KRAWLER]

So, while messing around and organizing parts yesterday, I noticed that both front rims have a significant crack that starts at the inside bead area and goes almost out the the outer bead lip.
Looks like I am now in the market for rims and tires...

If I am going to be changing them out, I would like to step away from the super low profile, 3.8" tires and wheels. For general basher duties, what have you all been happy with? Not looking to break the bank, but not looking for super cheap garbage either.

 

[AK KRAWLER]

Looks like between Mike Flea sending me a care package (THANKS MIKE!!! "thumbsup") and oddly meeting up with a local T-Maxx/E-Maxx builder via eBay, I should be set!
I met (electronically and via phone) a local SuperMaxx builder and he seems to be a great guy. He answered a question I had about some wheel adapters. Then I asked him basically the same question I asked here about tires & wheels. His response was " let me look in the shop to see what I have here that I can GIVE you to get you running again. Proceeded to box up the adapters, wheels & tires, before I even paid for them, just to get them out as quick as possible and to get us up and running again.

The R/C community never ceases to amaze me!!! "thumbsup"

 

[WhiskeyThrottle]

"It should be a fun little money pit" A buddy of mine just picked up a old Revo to beat around in and I told him the same thing.

 

[AK KRAWLER]

"It should be a fun little money pit" A buddy of mine just picked up a old Revo to beat around in and I told him the same thing.

It definitely is, on both accounts :lmao:

Money pit, but really fun when it’s running :lmao:"thumbsup"

 

[AK KRAWLER]

Yesterday some parts showed up. Our aluminum bulkheads, aluminum skid plates, as well as the 14mm to 17mm hex adapters and the new (used) wheels/tires

I spent some time last night getting her all back together. Looks pretty mean with the new wheels/tires.
One thing I don't care for is that with the thickness of the adapter and the washer that is required behind the wheel nut, there is not many threads for the wheel nuts to grab on the axle.
I am going to look into a different to adapt from 14mm to 17mm.

 

[Mike Flea]

I think there's an aluminum chassis plate in that parts box too. Whatever I find, you'll get.