Senton SENTON MEGA 550 Brushed, moving to Senton 4X4 3S BLX Brushless

[IrieMon69]

I joined the Arrma crowd here last year when my wife bought the Senton Mega 550 for me. I had purchased a decent (not super low end, not Arrma either) RC truck to see if I enjoyed it, which I did. My 6yo son has enjoyed it as well, and we've been having fun running them together all year. Unfortunately the entry level one is quick but has very little control so isn't much fun to drive; you spend more time going in circles and turning it right side up.

Here we are at this Christmas; as usual my wife asked "what do I buy for the man who has everything he wants already?" I said, a new more powerful RC truck!! That way my son can have my Mega 550 when we go out, and I can move up a bit. However, I had to agree with her that getting a "hand me down" on Christmas morning might be a bit of a let down for him (he has other presents, but this would be one of the big ones).

My thought was that I could possibly buy the 3S BLX and swap the internals, because he's really not ready to control a 50mph truck. From looking at both rigs online, it seems the pieces would all physically fit to be swapped out; I'm just wondering if there's anything I'm missing? I know the chargers would be different; I have a Turnigy balancing charger left over from an RC Heli stint (working out of town and don't have the model number avail).

Any feedback or thoughts are greatly appreciated!

https://www.horizonhobby.com/1-10-senton-mega-4x4-brushed-4wd-sc-blue-black-ara102715t2
https://www.horizonhobby.com/senton-4x4-3s-blx-1-10-4wd-sc--green-black-p-ara102721t1

 

[jondilly1974]

There are quite a few parts different between the Mega and BLX. You will need the following:

Motor
ESC
Pinion
Spur
Slipper
Diff HD input gears x2

Optional:
Adjustable links
Body
Fluid for diffs

 

[IrieMon69]

Thanks for the reply. Since the BLX is RTR, why would I need a Motor and ESC? Those come with the BLX, and I already have them in the 550. Fair warning I'm still quite a n00b at this so sorry if I'm missing something there. I see where the motor and ESC that comes with the BLX might not be a good match for lesser parts on the 550 though, hadn't thought about that.

I wonder if the bodies are interchangeable? If so it would be easier to just swap the bodies so he has a "new" green RC truck and I've got the "old blue one" with all the new internals inside. I'm not trying to steal from the kid, I originally asked my wife to buy a new truck for me as my present just so he could have my 550 and we could have more fun running them around together without either of us having to use the cheap one.

 

[jondilly1974]

I misunderstood. You’re buying a new truck and swapping insides? Why not just clean up the old one and swap bodies? It will seem new enough.

 

[Rocketzx1]

I agree with John, clean the 550 truck up really well, and just swap the bodies. That way you still get the new truck you want and he gets a new truck for himself. Everyone wins!

 

[IrieMon69]

That's where better/more experienced brains of internet forums come in handy... had never occurred to me to just swap the bodies which will be fine, he won't care what's inside (yet), just that he got a 'new' monster truck to run with daddy.

He and I go out to a huge open space where it use to be military housing on the barrier island we live on and launch rockets (model ones, another hobby) and run our trucks through whatever terrain we can find. Until last week my wife had never come along - but she finally did and she was amazed at how much fun he had and how good he was at controlling the trucks, and the funny tricks we've developed over the past year. I think I may have paved the way for getting some upgrades with less home friction and by next year I might have to buy her her own truck

 

[tonyhoff]

There are quite a few parts different between the Mega and BLX. You will need the following:

Motor
ESC
Pinion
Spur
Slipper
Diff HD input gears x2

Optional:
Adjustable links
Body
Fluid for diffs

Hello! This is the first time I've come across this info after searching for a couple of days. I have a Mega and am hoping I can slowly start to build it into a faster rig, which this leads me to believe is the case. The chassis and diff housings are the same it seems like. I'll need to swap out the diff internals, and then probably motor mount, add the "high speed" drive shaft support, and then swap the motor/esc/spur and pinion to finish it off. Should work... right?

 

[IrieMon69]

Hey @tonyhoff - from what I've seen with the two bodies and internal parts as bought straight of the shelf, yes you should be able to upgrade as you're mentioning.

For those those who commented - I bought the 3s BLX and cleaned up the old internal frame, swapped bodies and he's having a BLAST. We live less than half mile from the Atlantic ocean and I think our fav place so far to run is on the beach. We bring a small shovel and can make as many crazy jumps as we want (except during turtle nesting season). Only issue is once I was playing with mine at the tide line and a wave pulled it out some, and he dropped his controller to run after it to "save" it for me (he's that kind of kid, very helpful). Only prob was he dropped his TTX controller and it got a bit washed away by an even larger wave. Unfortunately unlike the truck components those aren't even close to waterproof. I had almost traded out the crappy STX2 controller that came with my BLX for the better TTX that came with my old Mega, but I didnt' want him to ask why he had a new controller. I immediately took the controller apart, blew the water out of it and let it dry completely before putting batteries back in. So far it's working but I'm sure we've drastically reduced it's lifespan given the salt water.
This might warrant a new thread, but since I have a Mega 550 and BLX 3s, with a TTX 300 and STX2 with a possible failure of the TTX 300 soon, what is a decent "next step" controller?