My new brushless conversion Losi LST 2

[gsbuickman]

Hiya Guys . I know it's been awhile but for the last several years I put my ground vehicles on the back burner and focused mainly on my fast electric offshore boats instead. The rc boating around here has come to a standstill and I got tired of running by myself so I let them go and picked things up with 3 new 8th scale rigs, of which this is one of them.

I've always been a fan of the Losi LST series and I've had them all from the Aftershock to the XXL. when it comes to a Basher it doesn't get much better than a Losi, their just built like a tank. I knew that Losi made a brushless conversion kit for these but I never looked into getting one, so when I found this in the local pawn shop I had to make a beeline over there and check it out.

the conversion kit that was on it was the genuine article from Losi and this is the power system that's on it as well.

https://www.amainhobbies.com/speed-...esc-motor-combo-2200kv-spa816801v2m22/p184036

It had a $350 price tag on it but apparently they never tested it out before they bought the damn thing from someone because the receiver that was in it was toast and one of the 2s lipos had a dead cell, so all it would do was power up and spin the wheels for about 10 seconds before going into low voltage shutdown. . I talked to the guy at the pawn shop and found out he was a clueless idiot when it came to anything RC, but he did tell me they had $200 into it, so I offered them $200 so they could break even take it or leave it. needless to say I was headed home with it five minutes later. I didn't have a radio for any of my new rigs that was worth a crap, because I got burnt and my airtronics M11 with Spektrum module and receivers was essentially stolen, so I bought a new dimension gt3x FlySky radio to run them with and it works beautifully.
I put a FlySky receiver in this and my Rev-Tech 6000mah lipos, in anticipation of the coming snow and now she's ready to rock and roll with some Losi sand razor paddle tires.

 

[olds97_lss]

Pick up some RC Raven dual rate springs. I really liked those on my aftershock. Also, RPM arms with lunsford turnbuckles in them. Don't even try and use the turnbuckles that come with the upper arms, they snap off then you have to mangle the arm to get the pieces out.

One other thing I'd do for big air is make a center skid that ties the front to the center. I broke many chassis rails on mine before I knuckled down and made an alloy skid. Then I drove it harder and higher than ever with out an issue. 4mm bolts for the upper shock mounts as well.

Anyway, looks like a fun rig. Without the two speed, you should be golden with the drive line. I didn't care for the two speed. Too much upkeep.

 

[gsbuickman]

Thanks, normally the first thing I do with one of these is replace the A-Arms with the RPM a arms as soon as possible, unfortunately they've basically been discontinued because they're not for sale anywhere including directly from RPM I've already checked with them. the last set of RPM A-Arms that I bought for one of these a few years ago cost me $65 because it was $16 per corner to do them. the one thing I am really disappointed with is the overall speed of it with the brushless system, in my opinion it's actually slow, especially compared to the stock .27 motor . On 6000mah 35c Rev-Tech 's @ 4s power, on a full charge I would be amazed if this thing actually hits 20-25 mph. my buddy Tony still has my old LST with the RPM a arms on it that he bought for his son, so after I play with this in the snow a little bit I was thinking about trading him LST's maybe maybe I'll hit Tony up tomorrow and ask him just to see what he thinks.

I was really hoping this brushless setup that Losi designed would have been faster than this, unfortunately it's not

 

[olds97_lss]

Can you fit a larger pinion? Any idea if the internal gear flip mod was done? That adds about +1 on the pinion.

 

[gsbuickman]

that's one of the things that is weird about this brushless conversion, there doesn't appear to be a pivot point that would allow the motor to swing in or out for pinion size or gear mesh adjustment that's on every electric motor mount I've ever seen whether brushed or brushless. I already swapped out the nylon spur gear that was on it for this team Losi still spur gear they specifically made for the LST, and it was a perfect fit.

 

[olds97_lss]

Does it slide as a whole like the nitro engine it replaced?

 

[gsbuickman]

that's a very good question I don't know why I didn't think about that. I guess I just didn't think about that possibility since it's not nitro big block. I completely forgot about the gear flip mod wish I never had to do because my LST's we're plenty fast with the big block .26 Mills in them. according to this when you install the brushless conversion kit you also install the transmission years that comes with it, that changes the transmission gear ratio :

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/los...vs-lst-xxl-transmission-gearing-question.html

 

[olds97_lss]

Yeah, looks like they reused the original engine mount holes, which are elongated for different gearing, so maybe you can add a couple teeth to that at least.

Looking at the install pdf: http://www.losi.com/ProdInfo/Files/LOSB0017_Manual.pdf
They did change the bevel gears, but the gear flip mod is different and would add another +1 to your pinion. Not sure if/how it can be done on a forward/revers trans though. Mine was an aftershock, so only had forward with the FOC already in it.

The two gears on the left are swapped and you grind out the case a little bit, so the top gear (bottom in the photo) doesn't rub the case:

 

[gsbuickman]

Thanks, I'll look into a larger pinion gear and a little bit smaller spur gear and if I get froggy enough I may look into that gear swap as well

the main reason I bought this other than I could is in preparation for the coming snow because I've been kicking myself in the proverbial but for letting my Traxxas Summit go and that thing was a blast in the snow. I was actually shopping around for a summit but there wasn't one to be had here locally and I ran across this during the hunt for one. I guess I'll wait and see how it does in the snow before I decide what I want to do with it after that