Trx-6 brushless options

[BrandonZ55]

So I recently got hooked up with a brand new Traxxas trx-6 Mercedes-Benz g63. It's a lot of fun. And is ok on 3s. What are some good brushless options out there for it? Would prefer sensored. If I have seen and read correctly that is better correct? What other upgrades should I go with? Any help ideas any input would be appreciated.

 

[Jerold]

It depends on what you want to do with it. Crawling is pretty slow and methodical. Torque is more important than speed. I'm still running a Brushed Holmes Hobbies motor and a HobbyWing 1080 ESC in my TRX-4.

However, there are those that want their crawler to do wheelies and punch can be important if you need to bounce an obstacle. But with great power comes more broken parts. So use it wisely.

Yes, you want a sensored for crawling. Without it you will get cogging and it will suck.

One of the most popular options is the HobbyWing Fusion. It's a drop in 550 size motor with ESC integrated. Lots of control and lots of adjustments. I've also seen some good Castle options too. I have not run this, but the specs look decent.
https://www.castlecreations.com/en/...406-1900kv-sensored-crawler-combo-010-0155-08

Personally I would look at YT for similar vehicles and what people are running, the figure out if you like what you see.

Other mods? The sky is the limit here. It's back to what you want to do and how much $$ you want to spend.

What do you want to do with the truck? - Trail truck, crawling, scale mods, etc..

 

[nino]

A HW Fusion Pro system (the SE might be too weak for the 6 especially if geared so it can go fast).
Or if money is not an issue, a Mamba X with one of Holmes Hobbies sensored motors will kick major ass and still be smooth.

 

[BrandonZ55]

Well I want to be able to use it all around. I'm not looking for it to be a speed racer. But I wouldn't mind having some fun with it. Lots of trail and crawling with occasional speed. Just noticed the brushes motor getting really hot on 3s. And figured a decent sensored brushless system would cover all my bases. Its definitely too heavy so I know I need to get some brass for the axles and start with stuff like that. And what wheel and tire combo is a good one???

 

[Jerold]

Well I want to be able to use it all around. I'm not looking for it to be a speed racer. But I wouldn't mind having some fun with it. Lots of trail and crawling with occasional speed. Just noticed the brushes motor getting really hot on 3s. And figured a decent sensored brushless system would cover all my bases. Its definitely too heavy so I know I need to get some brass for the axles and start with stuff like that. And what wheel and tire combo is a good one???

It's a good rig.

The longer wheel base and the double rear axles makes it good for climbing. So I don't know that brass will help you much. The down fall is the tight spots require some extra turns.

No matter what motor you use it will get hot if you run it hard. Using 2nd gear heats it up pretty quick. The good thing with brushed motors is they are like $20, so if you burn one up, it's no big deal. The brushless will extend your battery life to forever. Literally, you will get tired before the truck does.

Wheels and tires is a bit of a personal choice. I run Injora bead locks and never had an issue with them. You can buy other SSD, Vanquish, etc and they are super nice, but about 2x the cost.

The tires depend on what you want to do and your driving style. I found the the Proline Hyrax Preditor compound are very good. I switched to the J Concepts Ruptures and they are also very good. Others like Proline Super Swamper or J Concepts Land Mines. But the tire choice depend on what terrain you drive on. If it's muddy you might want something more open or softer sticky for the rocks.

The foams make a difference too. Most people are running the Proline dual stage foams. There are a lot of other options and it depends on how much flex you want in the tire at what speeds, etc..

I watch RC review for a lot of information. He is local to me and I crawl in some of the same locations. Which makes it easy to see the difference because I know the lines he is running. He also has a video on modifying the stock TRX tires to make them better. It's a free mod.

 

[BrandonZ55]

It's a good rig.

The longer wheel base and the double rear axles makes it good for climbing. So I don't know that brass will help you much. The down fall is the tight spots require some extra turns.

No matter what motor you use it will get hot if you run it hard. Using 2nd gear heats it up pretty quick. The good thing with brushed motors is they are like $20, so if you burn one up, it's no big deal. The brushless will extend your battery life to forever. Literally, you will get tired before the truck does.

Wheels and tires is a bit of a personal choice. I run Injora bead locks and never had an issue with them. You can buy other SSD, Vanquish, etc and they are super nice, but about 2x the cost.

The tires depend on what you want to do and your driving style. I found the the Proline Hyrax Preditor compound are very good. I switched to the J Concepts Ruptures and they are also very good. Others like Proline Super Swamper or J Concepts Land Mines. But the tire choice depend on what terrain you drive on. If it's muddy you might want something more open or softer sticky for the rocks.

The foams make a difference too. Most people are running the Proline dual stage foams. There are a lot of other options and it depends on how much flex you want in the tire at what speeds, etc..

I watch RC review for a lot of information. He is local to me and I crawl in some of the same locations. Which makes it easy to see the difference because I know the lines he is running. He also has a video on modifying the stock TRX tires to make them better. It's a free mod.

I actually have the injora wheels in my Amazon cart now. I was gonna ask about them. Are those beedlocks easy to use on them? I've seen some videos where people struggle to put some beadlocks together.
I did see a lot people say about the foam makes a big difference with any tire.
A lot of what I'm gonna be doing is trail it seems. I want to do some rock climbing. But I don't have too many options where I'm at. And there is a lot of shallow streams that I can play it with rocks. So I definitely want to seal up everything as best as possible.
Do skid plates make a big difference?
I already broke a locker servo for the rear axles... I just bought another factory replacement for now. But later will be upgrading them to something with metal gears. It was having some issues locking in the rear axle. So I tried adjusting the cables a little bit and it was working fine for a little and then it stripped them out somehow.... Any decent but not crazy expensive steering servo ideas??

It depends on what you want to do with it. Crawling is pretty slow and methodical. Torque is more important than speed. I'm still running a Brushed Holmes Hobbies motor and a HobbyWing 1080 ESC in my TRX-4.

However, there are those that want their crawler to do wheelies and punch can be important if you need to bounce an obstacle. But with great power comes more broken parts. So use it wisely.

Yes, you want a sensored for crawling. Without it you will get cogging and it will suck.

One of the most popular options is the HobbyWing Fusion. It's a drop in 550 size motor with ESC integrated. Lots of control and lots of adjustments. I've also seen some good Castle options too. I have not run this, but the specs look decent.
https://www.castlecreations.com/en/...406-1900kv-sensored-crawler-combo-010-0155-08

Personally I would look at YT for similar vehicles and what people are running, the figure out if you like what you see.

Other mods? The sky is the limit here. It's back to what you want to do and how much $$ you want to spend.

What do you want to do with the truck? - Trail truck, crawling, scale mods, etc..

Being that these are reverse turn motors I'm assuming that most of these brushless set ups and esc can be programmed to run in reverse? I definitely need to get on yt more. I watched some Kevin Talbot videos. He's fun to watch be he usually just throws the biggest motor and ESC in. And I don't have his kind of money... I want some more speed but I have a road car that already is stupid fast. So I don't want that with this. That thing I cannot get above 80mph cuz it gets very unstable than... But yeah so this is my first off-road rc and it's sooo much more fun.

 

[Jerold]

I actually have the injora wheels in my Amazon cart now. I was gonna ask about them. Are those beedlocks easy to use on them? I've seen some videos where people struggle to put some beadlocks together.

I have the originals with a split 2 piece rim. It looks like the new ones are a one piece rim and they should be a bit easier. But no matter who makes them, any of the bead locks are going to be a pain to put together. It's a lot of little fiddly screws and it takes patients. I've seen some cases, on YT and Forums, where the tires and don't play well together, but I couldn't tell what that was. Just buy the tires from a source that you can return them to if they don't fit properly.

Do skid plates make a big difference?

I haven't used any skid plates. The plastic on the diffs and the center skid are plastic and seem to be very tough. The diff will hang you up on some stuff, but it's usually mitigated by picking the right line.

I already broke a locker servo for the rear axles... I just bought another factory replacement for now. But later will be upgrading them to something with metal gears. It was having some issues locking in the rear axle. So I tried adjusting the cables a little bit and it was working fine for a little and then it stripped them out somehow.... Any decent but not crazy expensive steering servo ideas??

The micro servo is a bit delicate. The main thing is to make sure you have your endpoints adjust right. If they are not limited you will overdrive the servo with limited travel and burn it out. The other issue is do not exceed 6V with the factory servos.

I'm still running the original micro servos and wired around them when I installed a BEC. Yeah racing makes a servo that is a bit cheaper than the Traxxas one.
https://www.amainhobbies.com/yeah-r...-traxxas-trx4-trx6-trx4m-yea-ye-0030/p1358519

Also, based purely on dimensions, the Eco 827 may fit?
https://www.hobbytown.com/ecopower-...ear-micro-servo-high-voltage-ecp-827/p1310408

There are also some videos on YT where people have installed other servos.

Being that these are reverse turn motors I'm assuming that most of these brushless set ups and esc can be programmed to run in reverse? I definitely need to get on yt more. I watched some Kevin Talbot videos. He's fun to watch be he usually just throws the biggest motor and ESC in. And I don't have his kind of money... I want some more speed but I have a road car that already is stupid fast. So I don't want that with this. That thing I cannot get above 80mph cuz it gets very unstable than... But yeah so this is my first off-road rc and it's sooo much more fun.

HobbyWings and Castle have the reverse motor feature, it's pretty standard. If you aren't sure I would contact the manufacture to verify it. The setup method might be a programming card, Bluetooth or some manufactures require that you use a Windows PC with a cable to setup the ESC.

Keep in mind that the TRX-4 is not a basher and it's good to keep the speed reasonable. Even at 10 mph it's a bit wiggly. You can run at the Castle system (above) on 4S, which will be a 33% boost from the 3S. It's only 1900 KV though and may not have top end you want. It's always a balance between low end torque and higher top end.

I pretty much watch everything Keven Talbot releases, but he's also a self admitted power nut. A lot of what he does is practical and some of it is just destroying the car to get views. It's fun to watch or occasionally do it, but I don't have KT money and have to make choices on what will really work for me and my wallet.

YouTube is a great resource to see what other's have upgraded to and see what it does. If you're like me you will spend 50 hrs researching a $100 purchase. I tend to over think and over engineer things a bit.

Here is a couple of my go-tos.

Joe on Exocaged is very good about product and honest about the performance.
https://www.youtube.com/@ExocagedRC

Likewise Francis from RC Review has a lot of details and breaks everything down.
https://www.youtube.com/@RCReviewChannel

 

[BrandonZ55]

Well the titan 21t 550 took its last run today..... Was letting my 5 yr old run it around and he was just going full throttle the whole time and it burnt out.... So I have to figure something out quickly....

 

[nino]

Getting another 21t would be quickest

 

[BrandonZ55]

Well I had a 12t titan sitting around from my 4tec project. So I put that in for now to run it around. And I know the 21t is cheap. But I think I'm gonna spend a little bit of money on a brushless set up. Has anyone actually used a foc system??? Or sky rc they have a sensored set up that seems decent?

 

[Jerold]

Well I had a 12t titan sitting around from my 4tec project. So I put that in for now to run it around. And I know the 21t is cheap. But I think I'm gonna spend a little bit of money on a brushless set up. Has anyone actually used a foc system??? Or sky rc they have a sensored set up that seems decent?

I've driven the Redcat Gen8 Axe Edition and it's good. Good low speed control and still has some top end. I would imagine the HW Fusion is similar.

 

[nino]

Haven't used it personally... A lot of people don't like FOC but you can disable it. Which Skyrc system would that be? I think they don't do crawler stuff. Usually it's Castle ESC + Holmes or Tekin motor for a good brushless setup. Or a Hobbywing Axe or Fusion.

 

[Jerold]

Haven't used it personally... A lot of people don't like FOC but you can disable it. Which Skyrc system would that be? I think they don't do crawler stuff. Usually it's Castle ESC + Holmes or Tekin motor for a good brushless setup. Or a Hobbywing Axe or Fusion.

I'm confused, these are FOC systems. Field Oriented Control - A fancy way of saying it controls the RPM by varying torque.

BTW you can always go with an outrunner motor. They are torquey and buttery smooth, but the can be very noisy. Supposedly HH had an ESC that eliminated the ear piercing whine, but I haven't seen it being sold lately.

You can hear the noise at 3:45. Eek, it's like getting stabbed in the face.

 

[nino]

FOC is a name that Hobbywing gave to their system. Apparently "field oriented control" is a thing in elecric motor control, but this is not really it acording to John Holmes. Anyway, it's supposed to hold constant RPM with varying load and it does, which some people don't like. But it can be turned off ("RPM/throttle matching" in the options).

Yeah, I forgot about outrunners, I thought they weren't suited for heavy rigs but apparently it's the opposite

 

[Jerold]

FOC is a name that Hobbywing gave to their system. Apparently "field oriented control" is a thing in elecric motor control, but this is not really it acording to John Holmes. Anyway, it's supposed to hold constant RPM with varying load and it does, which some people don't like. But it can be turned off ("RPM/throttle matching" in the options).

Yeah, I forgot about outrunners, I thought they weren't suited for heavy rigs but apparently it's the opposite

You are correct, Holmes doesn't recommend outrunners for heavy rigs.

 

[BrandonZ55]

Alright so what I did. I purchased the hobby wing 2n1 pro 2300kv and I bought the program card. So it should be here this week. That seems to be the easiest route to go. Give me more speed and more low end. Which is perfect. And it's much easier to program. My decision on that was I was going to buy the castle copperhead ESC and castle motor. But programming it seems to be more of a hassle then I can deal with. And it's much more expensive and than more expensive for program stuff to get a Bluetooth program cors. Sooo yeah... And amain hobbies had a 10$ off. So I went with the fusion pro. I hope I do not regret it. I hope I like it.


Next question is how do I power the light system now??? Anyone hook those up with after market ESC??? Any help on that will be sooo nice. Thanks for everything guys!!!!

 

[nino]

Which light system? They usually plug into your receiver, not much to do with the ESC... Well the BEC in the ESC powers them, but through the rx.

 

[BrandonZ55]

Which light system? They usually plug into your receiver, not much to do with the ESC... Well the BEC in the ESC powers them, but through the rx.

Well mine has the factory light kit and the power wire runs from the ESC over to another module that then runs the lights. I'll get a picture here for you in a few minutes

 

[Jerold]

Alright so what I did. I purchased the hobby wing 2n1 pro 2300kv and I bought the program card. So it should be here this week. That seems to be the easiest route to go. Give me more speed and more low end. Which is perfect. And it's much easier to program. My decision on that was I was going to buy the castle copperhead ESC and castle motor. But programming it seems to be more of a hassle then I can deal with. And it's much more expensive and than more expensive for program stuff to get a Bluetooth program cors. Sooo yeah... And amain hobbies had a 10$ off. So I went with the fusion pro. I hope I do not regret it. I hope I like it.


Next question is how do I power the light system now??? Anyone hook those up with after market ESC??? Any help on that will be sooo nice. Thanks for everything guys!!!!

The HW Pro 2300 has an internal BEC.

BEC Output: 6V/7.4V adjustable, 4A continuous (switch mode)​

The Traxxas XL5HV ESC

BEC Current: 1A​

​

So it's an upgrade in every way from your factory ESC. If the factory ESC works fine for your servo and lights and your happy with it, I wouldn't worry about it. However, if it doesn't and you want the easy route you can upgrade to the Traxxes BEC
https://traxxas.com/products/parts/2262

This will give you more Amps (6A), it's waterproof and plugs right in. However, it does not increase the voltage. The increased voltage is only good if you have a steering servo that can handle it. So this might be moot.

 

[BrandonZ55]

So it runs straight out of the ESC there