Granite mega upgrades

[Mtmopar]

Hello all.

So just gt my son a granite mega. Already fried the first motor (kinda disappointing with only 10 run on it). However tower s sending me a new motor to replace it. Also bought the aluminum heat sink for it as I have purchased a 7 cell 4200 mah battery so he can drive it for more than 10 mins on the sad stock battery. Also have installed front and rear T-Bone racing bumpers for protection from 5 year old bashing. LOVE TBR by the way. Great customer service and parts. So my hope is that the brushed motor will hold up now.

I plan on "breaking it in" as I have read about to help with longevity and efficiency. I would like to continue with small upgrades on his truck mainly for reliability and strength as it is plenty fast enough for my son right now. I do fear the brushed motor not lasting long since the first failed so quickly. Could I get some advice on upgrades to go for next? I bought the granite because it seems very durable for him to bash around and have fun with while I drive my stampede bit there is definitely a quality difference. I do like his Arrma tho and he does love it so that's all that matters.

So. What's next? Is there a better brushed motor I need to look at if the stock one does not hold out again? Do I just buy an extra one and keep warrantying it out if it doesn't last long? He is very disappointed he has to wait a week to fix a truck that is less than a month old that he worked so hard to earn the money to buy himself. Is brushless a more reliable set up? And If so what would be the best cost effective reliable set up? I want it to be run able in the grass and dirt off roading as the trucks were intended not crazy on the speed. The brushed set up is about fast enough as is. Thanks for any advice.

 

[Darren Wes]

I would use the warrenty. Works well for me.... do it before brushless (but yeah its way more reliable)

I would not suggest the water method for bashing break in. I would get some motor cleaning spray, Undo the motor from the car, and turn it on. Then use the remote throttle trim and make it go ever so slowly to get a nice groove. Do that for 20 min. Then spray it clean. don't use much. Put it in the truck try to run full speed, and easy turns, a lot the first time "speed runs" (traxxas suggests that for their motors) then take it out spray it again. Youll have a broke in clean motor. Remove it every 3-5 packs depending on how hard you run and how dirty the surface is and clean it with rc motor cleaner. Break a few motors and enjoy learn and repair. If it is too bad send it back to arrma, i get mine in less than a week.

The brushless/w lipo route is somthing many like to do. i have found the cheap way works (hobbywing/power) for me 50+packs and still it goes. Hobbywing Motor/esc 45~50$ and 2s 7.4v 4000~5000mah 30c lipo 20~30$. (3s 11.1v maybe too much) that will give you runtimes of 25~35min (i have gone 1hour driving conservatively, few speed run, few jumps)

A couple suggestions on motor choice. I would go with hobbwings 4pole motors. They have a little more torque to them and are fixable. Unlike the 2pole motors they have. Pay mind to what surface you are driving on. Youll want a lower kv for grass so you don't overheat. And a little more kv on street for excitment. Keeping in mind its for a little guy.

a 4pole 540size 2800kv/grass~3400kv/street motor (i run a 2pole 39kv 2s lipo @29-31mph on streets) you wont see much of a speed difference but youll see an acceleration increase reliablity (if you waterproof the esc) increase and way longer runtime... not a nessicary upgrade but a really awesome one.

You also could leave your esc find a 540size 17.5turn brushed motor give a little speed away but keep the reliablity up.

Also, last thing i promise, you may want to buy a heat gun for like 10-20$ and make sure you are under AT MAX 180degrees i try to not drive longer then 15~17min on nihm or lipo on the stock brushed motor. They cant take long runs or multiple packs in a row.

Hope this gives you some inspiration

 

[slothkigg]

I upgraded my previous truck from brushed to brushless and it was way worth it! Keep in mind I was like 28 at the time so.i could handle an rc better then a little guy. It made the truck heaps more fun but I think brushless might be to much for a youngster. I'd stick with brushed for now if it's just for your son imo buuuut if your driving it too maybe it's a different story

Perhaps dad needs his own toy? Blx blx blx lol

 

[Unusual RC]

Many brushless systems have the ability to reduce the maximum rpm from 10-100%. Also the option to turn off reverse for example.

A programming card makes this even more simple.

This way a 35-40mph car can have a highly reduced top speed.

I did this to the Mega Mojave of 5 year old son. Started at 60% since he could ride well with the mega motor.

Today it is on 100% forward. I still have limited reverse, because this seem to give the most damage

 

[slothkigg]

Many brushless systems have the ability to reduce the maximum rpm from 10-100%. Also the option to turn off reverse for example.

A programming card makes this even more simple.

This way a 35-40mph car can have a highly reduced top speed.

I did this to the Mega Mojave of 5 year old son. Started at 60% since he could ride well with the mega motor.

Today it is on 100% forward. I still have limited reverse, because this seem to give the most damage

Now that you mention it I'm sure my 3800 kv castle system had that option on the program card. Going brushless would be costly up front but allow him to grow into it assuming the system you go with has the programmable power. Only question would be if the mega diff would hold full power? I'm pretty sure it plastic vs the blx's metal.

 

[Unusual RC]

Indeed the castle esc.'s have this great feature too. Only the cheapest and most RTR versions lack this option, as is the case with Arrma...

If it is a Mega 2013 model, no problem since it will have the metal diff (but could bring up the late models' diff problem, which is easily solvable)

But indeed if it is 2015 model (recognizable because the aluminum side plates are missing and red shock caps instead of black) the diff will fail. Some people over here already found out.
I find it amazing the BLS versions hold with this plastic diff...

 

[slothkigg]

I was going to ask about the bls diff. Thought for sure it'd be metal.

 

[Unusual RC]

I was going to ask about the bls diff. Thought for sure it'd be metal.

I have to admit that I was a bit shocked when I found out.
The BLS versions are around for more than 6 months already. I have no idea if they sell well. But if there were problems with the diff, I think we would have heard about it already...

But if you add a powerful (4-pole) brushless motor to this plastic drive-train, you will end up with shredded plastic quite soon...

 

[slothkigg]

I have to admit that I was a bit shocked when I found out.
The BLS versions are around for more than 6 months already. I have no idea if they sell well. But if there were problems with the diff, I think we would have heard about it already...

But if you add a powerful (4-pole) brushless motor to this plastic drive-train, you will end up with shredded plastic quite soon...

Yea I'm thinking so. Those 4 poles have some crazy torque!

 

[slothkigg]

speaking of crazy torque, there was a demo day at my lhs today and my granite was stealing the show everyone couldn't believe how easy it was to do long wheelies and nail massive backflips/frontflips with next to nill as far as damage! was giving the sct's a run for there money as far as huge air goes too haha people love a crazy monster truck! there was one guy there with a pretty crazy rival that had a lot of rpm parts on it, he tried a double backflip and snapped both body posts and trashed his body on i think only the second attempt hahaha poor guy... it hit the same ramp which was about 4-5 ft tall by 10 long (tabletop) that was in a paved parking lot at least 25-30 times with only a dogbone popping out once. that ramp claimed many cars the first or 2nd try let alone 25-30. all this to say people we flabbergasted at the beating my granite blx took and asking what it was. even the pro racers were impressed so your picking a good truck to upgrade if you choose that path

 

[Unusual RC]

I wish somebody shot some footage of that day! Sounds good!

 

[slothkigg]

That would have been a great idea! Doh!

 

[Aflan]

That would have been a great idea! Doh!

For some reason it seems we also have that same problem...Over and over again...Not taking any footage of great bashing sessions...
Must be the "one-thing-to-do-male-mode"...