My daughter's Monster Mutt

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SchrodeMode

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I may as well start a little thread on this guy.

My daughter has been wanting this truck for about a year now and I realized that she was ready for her first RC truck when, after I launched my LST off of a dirt pile, she told "good jump Daddy" and gave me "knuckles" (proud father moment). Since that day I've been looking into getting one for her but, as any experienced RCer would do, I started weighing my options....should I buy new?...should I get a roller and then just get the Mutt body?...If I'm getting a roller, I may as well get the 4x4, if I get the 4x4, I may as well go brushless (daddy will want to drive it every now and then). As you can see, her truck kept going up in price, and I had my move to England, so her truck was on the back burner. Until last month, with her birthday at the end of this month the hunt was back on...until my wife heard about the price ($230ish), she never said no to it but she kept asking how much and making little "wife comments". After about a month of this I told her I would just get it another time and keep my eyes out for a used one ore look into building one. My LHS had a Traxxas Monster Mutt that they were unable to sell and decided to start using it as a parts truck. Naturally the first things to go were the ESC/motor and then the rear arms and that was it, everything else was there. I asked if they would be willing to sell the body and they said yeah, for £20 ($30), these go for $45-$50 on Ebay. After hearing the price for the body, I asked about the whole lot, £40 ($60), I'll take it lol. I came home and ordered RPM arms for all 4 corners, and found a used XL-5 ESC w/motor and a battery from a guy on another forum. It looks like I'll be right about $100 when it's all finished, not too bad for a slightly upgraded version on a $230 truck in new condition.

Truck - $60
Arms - $15
ESC/motor - $25
Trx/Rx - Already had them

Brought it home in the box,
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Even has the unopened accessories bag,
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It also came with a spare chassis and front clip,
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RPM on the corners, it's also got bearings now,
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Almost ready,
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Awesome bonding, my son watches me and knuckles me and hes 3! Good lookin truck almost looks like a pede platform


Also do they make those bodies clear? I want a clear grave digger one so I can make a street rod out of it
 
Awesome bonding, my son watches me and knuckles me and hes 3! Good lookin truck almost looks like a pede platform


Also do they make those bodies clear? I want a clear grave digger one so I can make a street rod out of it

My son likes to watch and "help", I normally tell him to just watch and make him put my tools down but I decided to give him a driver I wasn't using and now it is gone....I haven't been able to find it for about 2 weeks now lol. I don't think Traxxas does but I know Parma makes a clear Digger body. Have you seen the Rat Rod body that Proline makes for the Merv? It's pretty sweet.
 
I love telling my son to get away from my hobby table then seeing whats missing and then going on the hunt lol...

I have seen that rat body, merv bodies compatable with the gymkhanna rally? I was thinkin about the rat but would need to find some white walled tires and some classic wheels.
 
Good lookin truck almost looks like a pede platform

Yeah my buddy has one of the older brushed pedes and it is set up exactly like that one. There's probably some subtle differences but I would assume it's about the same.

Definitely jealous of the setup schrode. I want a spektrum tx/rx so bad its not even funny.
 
I love telling my son to get away from my hobby table then seeing whats missing and then going on the hunt lol...

I have seen that rat body, merv bodies compatable with the gymkhanna rally? I was thinkin about the rat but would need to find some white walled tires and some classic wheels.
Not sure man, time to look at some measurements lol.

Yeah my buddy has one of the older brushed pedes and it is set up exactly like that one. There's probably some subtle differences but I would assume it's about the same.

Definitely jealous of the setup schrode. I want a spektrum tx/rx so bad its not even funny.
Yeah, the Monster Jam models are on the Stampede platform. Each has their own little differences, mostly with the bumper and body mounts. The DX3C came with the Mini 8ight I picked up from here, I'm half tempted to give her my DX3S and take the C. You should get this one.
 
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I'm half tempted to give her my DX3S and take the C.

Why? I thought the dx3s was a higher end product than the c. I was looking at the dx3s a while ago, that's the radio I am planning on getting once the lobsters start rolling in and making me some dough!
 
Why? I thought the dx3s was a higher end product than the c. I was looking at the dx3s a while ago, that's the radio I am planning on getting once the lobsters start rolling in and making me some dough!

It would be after I stocked up on mr Rxs, the DX3C can hold 20 while the S can only hold 10. She'll be keeping the C, I think she's less likely to mess up the little screen.
 
I got it all together and tested it out today, my daughter actually drove it (has no idea that it's her "Puppy Truck"). I need some help from any electric guys, I've got an XL-5 with a Titan 12T and there's basically no brakes. I've already calibrated the esc with the Speky trx/rx and tried all three of the profiles (normal/training/race). Could it be the motor crapping out on me? I've already ordered an ElectriFly S-600 as a replacement motor, I've heard that they are 1000x better than the Titan.
 
Hey shcrode I found this explanation on another site.


Quote Originally Posted by orion



On a hunch, I looked at the EVX-2 specifications (the ESC for the Summit and brushed E-Maxx/E-Revo).

It has 180 amps for forward AND reverse, and braking has a whopping 360 amps. Twice the forward and reverse amps.

http://www.traxxas.com/products/acce...ories_evx2.htm


Compare this to how the XL-5 has just over half the braking/reverse amps (60 amps) as the forward amps (100 amps). EVX-2 is doubled for braking, XL-5 is almost halved.



This seems to make sense to me. The higher the amps the ESC can make for braking current/shorting, the harder it is for the motor to spin under braking. My E-Maxx will flip onto its lid if I brake too hard on the right surface all too often, granted it has front wheels braking along with rear wheels due to the 4x4.

END OF QUOTE


Makes sense to me, too.

My Summit does exactly what your Maxx does in the same situations. Of course, more braking amps are needed to haul those heavy rigs to a stop, but still, the XL-5 braking isn't proportional to the size truck it's in.

I'm totally spitballing here, but I'm wondering if the brakes are weak by design to extend the longevity of the motor/ESC. Higher amps to perform a task means more stress on both the motor and ESC, and more stress means less of a life span. Maybe that's not the reasoning, but I suppose it's possible. Also, by design, brushed motors are plagued by drag and don't produce blazing speeds anyway, so maybe they felt that more powerful braking wasn't necessary.

I know the XL-5 isn't exactly bleeding-edge technology, but they still should have given the brakes a bit of a boost, IMO.
 
Thanks man. I don't know, I've driven other Traxxas rigs with the XL-5 (I was the repair guy at my LHS) and I've never come across this. It will go forward and reverse just fine, it'll even flip on it's lid if you're reversing and then go forward, but if you're going forward and slam on the brakes it's basically as if it's just coasting to a stop. I even tried reversing the motor wires (red/black, black/red) and then reversed the throttle channel to make the directions right, still no brakes, it would just spin out and I had to tap the throttle twice to make it go forward. Hopefully my idea of the motor being worn is correct, if it is, I've already got the fix ordered lol. If not, I'll just have a better motor that still won't help the truck slow down.
 
Love the mutt. My daughter has two rc trucks. 1 electric and 1 nitro, electric is a cheap 1/10 but we hardly use as batteries are dead within 5 minutes.
Both her trucks are same style just electric one has a plastic chassis. She has seen this and now wants a scooby doo top for her trucks
 
Today was the day, she finally has her puppy truck and can run with mine. We took it out and she has already jumped it a couple times and hit a parked car's tire.

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Well, I cleaned out her Titan today......didn't last a whole pack after lol. I have a new motor to put in it (Electrifly S-600), I have to solder on the wires and then it can go in.
 
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