My Stampede and Rustler return from the dust

[Dragon]

About 2 weeks ago I finally dug a box of old RC parts out of my garage and put together two running trucks, a Traxxas Stampede and Rustler. Unfortunately, they currently share the same transmitter and receiver. The Rustler is pretty quick, but I'd definitely like to see both trucks get going faster, especially since I have two brothers that have newer trucks, an E-Maxx and a Revo, that just tear up the ground. I've tried out some new batteries that my brother has, which seem to do a little better than the old ones that I had in the garage, but I'd like to get a lot more speed. Do you have any suggestions on the best place to start for upgrading my trucks?

[stan]

you can upgrade to a 3.3 rtr motor and get an easy start system. you most def need a high quality lipo battery

you can go here and ask questions or buy things or look at other ppls threads

http://www.rctech.net/forum/

[stan]

also get a steel driveshaft.  so you dont have to worry about it breaking from torque

[SavedONE]

-if you don't have em', get Bearings, huge difference, & the RPM hub carriers frt & rear, so you can run the big 5x11 BB's in them, & not tiny 5x8's that'll blow-out on hard landings.

[stan]

might as well get metal gears while your at it. and an updated esc.

make sure you have a lipo balancer.  keeps your battery in tip top shape and charges the cells evenly

[Dragon]

Yeah, I had read some stuff that you guys had mentioned about Lipo batteries. I'm not ready to put that much into it yet, just looking to get a little more out of these trucks... maybe just get them up to speed with what is current, not looking to go over the top yet. Basically, I have two beat up old trucks. I'm not planning to replace every part, just hoping to get a boost a little at a time and looking for the best place to start. If the old motor would do better with new bearings, then I'll look into bearings. If I would get more out of getting a new motor with all the other drivetrain being old, then I'll look into that. (The new motor is what I was thinking I should focus on, but I'm asking here because maybe I'm wrong.) Anyway, I guess what I'm asking for is probably impossibly... you know... the one perfect thing to replace.

[czstycor/c]

i have your solution, rid yourself of both of them and get a bandit! haha!

[stan]

that link i posted earlier, that site is basicly for traxxas and HPI an losi.   they buy and sell all the time there and they use paypal.

also you can find part lots on ebay for hella cheap.  sometimes you can almost build cars from some of the part lots they sell.

i seen a roller with a 3.3 sell for 60 bucks on ebay.    i also seen a tmaxx 3.3 4wd fully loaded sell for 175

[jeffescortlx]

For some cheap fun, just put like a 17 turn brushed motor in them. That is as long as the ESC can handle it.

Are you still running the 20 turn stinger motor? There pretty bad and making any power. A lot of aftermarket stock 27 turn's seem to have more power.

[Dragon]

I'm not sure what motors I have.  They were old when I got them, labels were scratched up, bodies were cracked, etc.

By the way, I just bought a new charger and battery (3000 mah) and it stripped the gears out of the Rustler. The Stampede seemed to be able to handle the power, but I did notice that both trucks were not as responsive to the full throttle as I had expected. Maybe this new battery was pushing so much power at the upper end of the throttle that it was some kind of overload.

[jeffescortlx]

I'm not sure what motors I have.  They were old when I got them, labels were scratched up, bodies were cracked, etc.

By the way, I just bought a new charger and battery (3000 mah) and it stripped the gears out of the Rustler. The Stampede seemed to be able to handle the power, but I did notice that both trucks were not as responsive to the full throttle as I had expected. Maybe this new battery was pushing so much power at the upper end of the throttle that it was some kind of overload.

Most Ruslers/Stampede's have an adjustable clutch on the spur gear to keep the gears in one piece. Only the really early ones did'nt have clutchs. You'd have to have a pretty hot motor to wreck the spur gear that fast. If it's not adjusted right it can strip easy.

High mah in battery's don't necessarily mean they have more power, they just run longer on one charge.

[Dragon]

I had heard that they run longer too, but compared to my old batteries this new one definitely seemed to give the trucks more power.

[jeffescortlx]

I had heard that they run longer too, but compared to my old batteries this new one definitely seemed to give the trucks more power.

If your old battery pack was an old Ni-cad, than yeah a new battery (no matter if it has a high mah) is going to give the car more power. Ni-cad's dont have a very good shelf life, and are picky on how they are cared for. So it's not so much that the new battery supply's more power, it's just that your old battery sucked that bad. lol

Oh, and I would like to add that the stampede is a awsome back yard basher! I love the long suspention travel, big tires and extra ground clearance. I can take those things off sweet jumps all day and not get board. The Rustler on the other hand is meh. lol

[Tyco Bandit King]

You need to buy the full steel vxl transmission. I radar my vxl stampede at 72mph and I can pancake the tires as much as I want without any chance of stripping the gears

[Dragon]

OK. Thanks for the tip. By the way, what do you have in your Stampede to get it running that fast?