Smaxxin's 1/16 Slash, the journey begins

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I installed the new brushless set up and went for a test run on 2s. It's quick and has plenty of torque, wheelies are controllable but when I try to use the brakes it endo's instantly! Over the years I have gotten pretty good with throttle control and now I'll have to learn brake control. The bad news is that after about 10 minutes of running what I consider easy the rear diff is toast.
 
I installed the new brushless set up and went for a test run on 2s. It's quick and has plenty of torque, wheelies are controllable but when I try to use the brakes it endo's instantly! Over the years I have gotten pretty good with throttle control and now I'll have to learn brake control. The bad news is that after about 10 minutes of running what I consider easy the rear diff is toast.

What? :whhooo: That's just crazy, but I always wondered about that with the big block setups. I wonder if machined diff housings and bulks would help? That way there would be no flex under load and you could shim them and know that they'd be perfect.
 
I pulled the diff and the pinion is bad, I ran my old merv on 3s all the time and even on 4s for 15 minutes before the esc went up in smoke and never hurt a diff. I think this one was bad from the beginning but because it was brushed it lasted a while.

Here it is with the VXL3S installed, the esc is big and I wasn't sure what to do with it so I zip tied it to the motor.

Mervo540vxl_zps9da32537.gif
 
I wonder if machined diff housings and bulks would help? That way there would be no flex under load and you could shim them and know that they'd be perfect.

I'm not a fan of aluminum but I'm considering aluminum bulkheads at least for the rear. After cleaning everything the gears are not really bad, the plastic bulks are to blame! With the bulklhead buttoned up the diff has side to side play and it's enough to make the pinion skip teeth, aluminum bulkls and shims would cure this for sure.
 
Wow, I like the set up, I'm eventually going to go BB, just not sure what to go with yet!
When filling up my diffs, I noticed my caps at either end were plastic, I'm looking at a pair from www.thetoyz.com......also som alloy bulks
 
Do you still have the ESC that you burned up, the one you went 4s loco on? If yes then take the bottom half use your dremmel and grind it into a flat plastic plate with the tabs that still slide into the existing slot in the MERV chassis. Once you have you modified blue plastic plate, crazy glue the new/bigger ESC to it that way you can still secure it to the chassis, and be able to remove it. Or cut a piece of aluminum/steel that will fit the original ESC slot/groove, slide that into place then double stickie tape your bigger ESC to it.

Well that's what I plan to do anyway, so I don't have to mod a stock chassis.
 
Picked up a stock ring and pinion, stock bulkheads, and a shim set. I'm hoping by getting it shimmed properly it will hold up.
 
Everything is back together and it has survived a full run on two 2s packs, it's going to be scary on 3s! I plan on gearing up until I get some 3s packs.
 
Its been a rough couple of days for the merv! A few days ago the mevr stop responding during a speed test, luckily it just rolled into the ditch and stopped. It seems that it has landed on it's lid so many times that it shredded the rx antenna wire.

I popped in an old Airtronics fm radio and took it for a spin today, after about 2 minutes of wheelies in forward and reverse I herd the motor rev but it wasn't going anywhere. First thought was I killed the spur but that wasn't the problem

pinion_zps9ca4c4c4.jpg




The good news is that I got a new lid for it

bug_zps9c7b731e.jpg
 
Hamz I saw your bug and Raptor body in another thread and it made me want them both. I scored this new trimmed and painted bug for the price of the body and jumped on it, I hope to get the Raptor soon.
 
What lipos are you using?, I was just looking at the traxxas webpage and it says to get 70mph+ with the venlineon-3s, they recommend a 3c lipo with 6400mAh.....

I thought higher mAH equated to longer runtime and not motor potential
 
I have a coupe of nano tech 2s 1500's and a couple of Traxxas 3s 1400's. With the 1/10 vxl it's almost useless on 3s, the torque is just insane! I have a hard time getting it to half throttle without flipping it and it takes a lot of space just to get half. I don't think it would actually have much more top speed than a 1/16 vxl but it has A LOT more torque. I'm seriously thinking about scrapping the 1/10 set up for a 1/16 set up.

I'm not a lipo expert but with any type of battery you will see better performance with a higher mah.


I was just looking at the traxxas webpage and it says to get 70mph+ with the venlineon-3s, they recommend a 3c lipo with 6400mAh.....


I think your reading about 1/10 set ups to run a 6400 pack because you can't run a 6400 pack in a Traxxas 1/16...traxxas will not recommend or suggest something that is not meant to run on a stock set up.
 
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I never thought I'd say it, but now that we have a track, I think I'm going center diff in my MERV. I've been working on the mushy suspension, and I need some good track tires also, probably J Concepts. I love the bug lids guys!
 
A center diff might be my ticket to get a little fun out of this rig, that option had never entered my mind. I like the bug body and I stole Hams idea of putting the RCNT sticker on the sides which looks really good IMO.
 
Hamz turned me onto the center diff idea, and lots of other good tips. I still absolutely love my MERV, such a fun little rig. And it does very well on the track, jumps a lot like a mini 1/8 buggy and very responsive in the air. I've also been considering a Losi mini 8ight for the track to be honest. I'm trying to get a mini class going, but it's hard to convince 10 people to go out and buy new rigs just because you have one. LOL
 
I think your reading about 1/10 set ups to run a 6400 pack because you can't run a 6400 pack in a Traxxas 1/16...traxxas will not recommend or suggest something that is not meant to run on a stock set up.

You absolutely right thats what I was reading, that's what made me ask if not using the suggested mAh on the venlineon-3s while its mounted on a 1/16 revo, "cause there's no room" would mean I wasn't utilizing all the motor/ESC combos potential. Also by next week there's going to be no plastic in my driveline.

HPIguy what centre diff are you gonna use? I have this one but I haven't set it up yet.

http://www.thetoyz.com/Traxxas/Mini-1-16-Car-Series/Gears-Covers/Hot-Racing/14609/
 
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You absolutely right thats what I was reading, that's what made me ask if not using the suggested mAh on the venlineon-3s while its mounted on a 1/16 revo, "cause there's no room" would mean I wasn't utilizing all the motor/ESC combos

The math used to calculate the speed on the 1/10 will not work on the 1/16. Regardless of the battery your going to have a hard time utilizing all the motor/ESC potential, the merv is just too short and light to handle the torque.
 
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