Mojave Learning with the Mojave EXB

[Knightfall]

Update: M2C Extenders​

Sure enough, the EXB version of the Mojave may have a 1mm offset added, but this happened after 6 runs and two weeks of ownership.

This was on the front-right. The wheel will still work, but I'll be checking on it frequently.

So back to my LHS and picked up the M2C hex extenders for the Mojave.

As warned by many YouTube tutorials, some of those grub screws are tough to get out! I used my BBQ lighter to heat up the red hex which helped to break it loose.

 

[Sandracer_NL]

I never had issues after the M2C+2mm with dual wheel nuts upgrade. FYI I stopped using locktite on wheel grub screws quite some time ago.

 

[KnowAir]

Update: M2C Extenders​

Sure enough, the EXB version of the Mojave may have a 1mm offset added, but this happened after 6 runs and two weeks of ownership.

View attachment 229633

This was on the front-right. The wheel will still work, but I'll be checking on it frequently.

So back to my LHS and picked up the M2C hex extenders for the Mojave.

View attachment 229634

As warned by many YouTube tutorials, some of those grub screws are tough to get out! I used my BBQ lighter to heat up the red hex which helped to break it loose.

View attachment 229635

Sorry to see a wheel got wasted.. I wonder if this is from the torque of the "big block" motor or ? I know I've seen others have issues with mojave wheels as well. What does the M2C part improve upon? No sarcasm intended, I'm just not understanding what's different.

 

[Sandracer_NL]

with the 2mm extension the wheel hexes no longer rub the wheel hubs and with the dual wheel nuts the wheel can’t come loose by itself no longer resulting in stripping a wheel hex.

 

[KnowAir]

with the 2mm extension the wheel hexes no longer rub the wheel hubs and with the dual wheel nuts the wheel can’t come loose by itself no longer resulting in stripping a wheel hex.

I see. I just read the description over on M2C site. Thanks for clarifying .
So does 2mm really make the difference? I see the deep grooves worn into my mojave wheels and keep wondering how much longer before they split
I guess 2mm must be just enough because the wheel has an angle from center to the inner edge? The grooves in my wheels are more than 2mm inward from the inside edge of the wheel.
I don't run 6s in mine, maybe why I haven't stripped any wheels or lost any wheel nuts yet? I also use thread locker on all my wheel nuts. Lost wheel nut ruined the fun once, about 10 years ago..thread locker on every wheel nut since

 

[Sandracer_NL]

In the beginning I ran 4s no problem. Upgraded to max6 combo and on the first 6s run, a wheel came loose and hex was completely stripped (rounded). I switched the the M2C hexes and luckily I managed to revive the stripped wheel with the ‘grub screw trick’ and the wheel is still running without problems.
I also have those grooves in the middle of the wheels. There is only a small gap between the wheel and the wherl hub so it only takes a bit of sand or mud on the hub to grind the wheel. It seems OK after the M2C upgrade.

 

[Knightfall]

I see. I just read the description over on M2C site. Thanks for clarifying .
So does 2mm really make the difference? I see the deep grooves worn into my mojave wheels and keep wondering how much longer before they split
I guess 2mm must be just enough because the wheel has an angle from center to the inner edge? The grooves in my wheels are more than 2mm inward from the inside edge of the wheel.
I don't run 6s in mine, maybe why I haven't stripped any wheels or lost any wheel nuts yet? I also use thread locker on all my wheel nuts. Lost wheel nut ruined the fun once, about 10 years ago..thread locker on every wheel nut since

Just as the title of this says, I'm still learning. But from viewing far too many (or not enough) YouTube videos about the Mojave and Mojave EXB, nearly all of them mention these m2c extenders and go into it in detail. But I saw far more with non-EXB Mojaves since that's when the issue started and thought I may be okay. But... Nope.

And yes, I have a large 8s motor in here, but I've never once even pulled a wheelie, so I don't think the torque has been insane enough to cause that.

This fellow goes into amazing detail about the differences between the regular hexes and the m2cs. Worth the watch.

In the beginning I ran 4s no problem. Upgraded to max6 combo and on the first 6s run, a wheel came loose and hex was completely stripped (rounded). I switched the the M2C hexes and luckily I managed to revive the stripped wheel with the ‘grub screw trick’ and the wheel is still running without problems.
I also have those grooves in the middle of the wheels. There is only a small gap between the wheel and the wherl hub so it only takes a bit of sand or mud on the hub to grind the wheel. It seems OK after the M2C upgrade.

I don't know of this trick. I take it from the name you're adding grub screws to the gapped areas?

 

[KnowAir]

Just as the title of this says, I'm still learning. But from viewing far too many (or not enough) YouTube videos about the Mojave and Mojave EXB, nearly all of them mention these m2c extenders and go into it in detail. But I saw far more with non-EXB Mojaves since that's when the issue started and thought I may be okay. But... Nope.

And yes, I have a large 8s motor in here, but I've never once even pulled a wheelie, so I don't think the torque has been insane enough to cause that.

This fellow goes into amazing detail about the differences between the regular hexes and the m2cs. Worth the watch.

I don't know of this trick. I take it from the name you're adding grub screws to the gapped areas?

I think it's even stickied in the wheels/tires section?

 

[Sandracer_NL]

yeah I recently posted it with a picture, but can’t recall which thread it was.

 

[Knightfall]

I think it's even stickied in the wheels/tires section?

Found it, thank you. I've never visited that section yet.

 

[Moirae]

I think the spektrum motor hole spacing is 25mm. It actually really sucks, the way spektrum makes all this stuff nonstandard so it doesn't play nice with anything. Same with those dumb 23 spline servo horns. Spektrum is the like the only mainstream company who does 25mm hole spacing on their motors lol.

Glad it worked out for you though. =D

 

[Knightfall]

I think the spektrum motor hole spacing is 25mm. It actually really sucks, the way spektrum makes all this stuff nonstandard so it doesn't place nice with anything. Same with those dumb 23 spline servo horns. Spektrum is the like the only mainstream company who does 25mm hole spacing on their motors lol.

Glad it worked out for you though. =D

I have come to find that Spektrum is to the RC the same as Apple is to the mobile world. Both have their walled gardens.

Spektrum has its own batteries, program card, and now motor sizing. Frustrating indeed.

But can't seem to run from it. Arrma has 23t servo horns instead of the usual 25t. Traxxas wants everyone to use their own batteries. Etc.

Thanks for that info about the 25mm!

 

[SrC]

Or..you could run it on 8s. That will bring the speed up. I'm not familiar with fitting 8s into a mojave, but there's plenty here that have.

+1
was waiting for someone to bring up this point. That motor needs 8s. It is an 8s motor. It is way undergeared currently, or you can/should Volt up.
I think you've mismatched your electrics??? And/or Gearing.

I think the spektrum motor hole spacing is 25mm. It actually really sucks, the way spektrum makes all this stuff nonstandard so it doesn't place nice with anything. Same with those dumb 23 spline servo horns. Spektrum is the like the only mainstream company who does 25mm hole spacing on their motors lol.

Glad it worked out for you though. =D

+1
$Spektrum$....
And you DON'T even get what you pay for. Many jump in , all invested, then locked into that investment unfortunately.

 

[KevinC]

I run the stock K8 system in my Mojave and it kills.23t pinion. On 8 s it’s pretty hairy…..I run it 6s now.

I see that Arrma has beefed up the body mount system substantially from what mine are, …..cool.

 

[Knightfall]

+1
was waiting for someone to bring up this point. That motor needs 8s. It is an 8s motor. It is way undergeared currently, or you can/should Volt up.
I think you've mismatched your electrics??? And/or Gearing.

+1
$Spektrum$....
And you DON'T even get what you pay for. Many jump in , all invested, then locked into that investment unfortunately.

In hindsight, I kind of agree with you. But it depends on the person too.

Pros:

• Spektrum batteries are easy to use. Charge. Done.
• They will auto discharge after time. Some don't like this. I think it's fine. And I reduced the hours to 24 hrs from 72
• With their Program Card, it's very easy to change settings
• With their Program Card and software online, I can update the firmware on the ESC. (This has fixed my Firma 100a from an LVC issue)
• They're owned by Horizon Hobby and the warranty is very nice (One battery got killed by the bad ESC. Got a new battery-free replacement. Also have a Firma 100a being mailed to me as a replacement under warranty

Cons:

• Some of their stuff seems to be problematic. Firma 150s dying/on fire. Firma 100 LVC issue.
• Price as you said.
• G2 batteries don't have a balance plug so you have to use their chargers. (But you can charge regular LiPos with Spektrum chargers.)
• If you want a batter checker, you need one of their chargers with a screen or pay $60 CAD just for their LiPo checker.
  • Their own Program Card for $40 CAD has a LiPo checker, but only for regular LiPos! What the what?

 

[KnowAir]

In hindsight, I kind of agree with you. But it depends on the person too.

Pros:

• Spektrum batteries are easy to use. Charge. Done.
• They will auto discharge after time. Some don't like this. I think it's fine. And I reduced the hours to 24 hrs from 72
• With their Program Card, it's very easy to change settings
• With their Program Card and software online, I can update the firmware on the ESC. (This has fixed my Firma 100a from an LVC issue)
• They're owned by Horizon Hobby and the warranty is very nice (One battery got killed by the bad ESC. Got a new battery-free replacement. Also have a Firma 100a being mailed to me as a replacement under warranty

Cons:

• Some of their stuff seems to be problematic. Firma 150s dying/on fire. Firma 100 LVC issue.
• Price as you said.
• G2 batteries don't have a balance plug so you have to use their chargers. (But you can charge regular LiPos with Spektrum chargers.)
• If you want a batter checker, you need one of their chargers with a screen or pay $60 CAD just for their LiPo checker.
  • Their own Program Card for $40 CAD has a LiPo checker, but only for regular LiPos! What the what?

Assuming auto discharge would be with batteries left connected to charger? Not sure if I like leaving those items connected and turned on for that long? Just me. I'm imagining batteries plugged in, charger on and then after 72 hours it'll discharge those batteries? Sounds like about 4 days!?
Their warranty is kicka$$ tho

I think the spektrum motor hole spacing is 25mm. It actually really sucks, the way spektrum makes all this stuff nonstandard so it doesn't play nice with anything. Same with those dumb 23 spline servo horns. Spektrum is the like the only mainstream company who does 25mm hole spacing on their motors lol.

Glad it worked out for you though. =D

Sounds like another company I know of..

 

[Knightfall]

Assuming auto discharge would be with batteries left connected to charger? Not sure if I like leaving those items connected and turned on for that long? Just me. I'm imagining batteries plugged in, charger on and then after 72 hours it'll discharge those batteries? Sounds like about 4 days!?
Their warranty is kicka$$ tho

Sounds like another company I know of..

Actually, no. They auto discharge on their own not plugged into anything. You only use the charger to change the settings.

 

[KnowAir]

Actually, no. They auto discharge on their own not plugged into anything. You only use the charger to change the settings.

Oh snap! That's amazing, I had no idea! I don't own any, but my brother does. He's gonna be stoked! Thanks for sharing

 

[Knightfall]

I never had issues after the M2C+2mm with dual wheel nuts upgrade. FYI I stopped using locktite on wheel grub screws quite some time ago.

I recently had too much fun seeing my Mojave zip through the water and clearly didn't dry it off well enough with my air compressor. All four of the pins that hold on my M2Cs would not come out until I used a punch and hammer. And even then, I had to really wrench on them to get them off the axle! Applied heat, and used a flat-head screwdriver to pry them off.

I gave them a good clean-up, but I'm not looking forward to getting those off next time to run some maintenance on my bearings. And suffice to say, I didn't both with Loctite on my grub screws either.

And yes... I need to pick up a lighter torch. Although my wife's handle made the room smell lovely.

 

[Knightfall]

Update: Scorched Fenders​

My fenders finally arrived! With them in hand, I better understand their value. I also appreciate that scissors are included! I didn't own any special scissors for trimming RC shells yet.

Trimming was easy. As suggested by others, it is better to flip them upside down and see a better trimming line. Then keep Scorched RC's video handy for reference. I had no issues at all and the results look great. I haven't taken it out for a run yet because, at the time of this post, I'm still getting some things back together after too much fun in the water. I had several seized bearings which resulted in two unhappy diffs.

Update: A lesson learned.​

This looks fun, right?

Well, it is! (A friend owns the UDR.) But alas, it resulted in this:

5 bearings were seized. This resulted in this...

You can see how black the diff oil was in my rear diff, along with some of the gears missing pieces. My centre diff survived, but the oil was dark and I swapped out the oil to 50k. Curious to see how 50k will work in an LSD. The rear I left with a minimal effect setup and 10k. The front looked good and is still stock. I might go back in and change the oil anyway.

Circling back to the bearings, I bought some new replacements at my local hobby store along with bearing oil. I found two more bearings seized late last night, so I thought I'd try to fix them myself. Low and behold, I did! Getting the cover off was easy. Used Brake Cleaner. Toothbrush to get the grime out. Add bearing oil. Used plyers to gentlely break them loose. Worked better than expected and saved myself from having to get more.