What are some Good Truggy motor options for racing 1/8 scale

[mhogan2287]

Ok so I've got an HB E8T Evo3 Truggy that I race off road on clay its a medium size track and has medium dust I have ran Tekin T8 Gen3 2250kv motor with a fan on a 17t pinion and 54T Spur for about a year but it seized up on me this past weekend and I'm curious as to what other good options would be other than Tekin now dont get me wrong I would happily go with another Tekin as I run one in mine and my sons Buggies also however I've not really raced for very long and have only ever ran Tekin so I would like to try other options to see and feel what I believe works best for me I'm running these with a HobbyWing XR8 Plus G2 Esc in all 3 cars so let me know what yall think and what you've had good or bad experiences with I'm looking for honest unbiased opinions

 

[9x19]

What do the folks you race with run? Any standouts from the pack?

 

[paytonimusrex]

the hobbywing xr8 esc and a hobbywing motor is the other popular option, I will be running hobbywing in everything I own. I don’t have a truggy yet but at my track that’s what people are running along with tekin

 

[Littlemotor]

Ok so I've got an HB E8T Evo3 Truggy that I race off road on clay its a medium size track and has medium dust I have ran Tekin T8 Gen3 2250kv motor with a fan on a 17t pinion and 54T Spur for about a year but it seized up on me this past weekend and I'm curious as to what other good options would be other than Tekin now dont get me wrong I would happily go with another Tekin as I run one in mine and my sons Buggies also however I've not really raced for very long and have only ever ran Tekin so I would like to try other options to see and feel what I believe works best for me I'm running these with a HobbyWing XR8 Plus G2 Esc in all 3 cars so let me know what yall think and what you've had good or bad experiences with in looking for honest unbiased opinions

Yikes… I’ve ran Tekin ESC’s exclusively since the late 1980’s, their motors exclusively shortly thereafter, and they’re still without question the best to this day as well. Hell even a lot of hardcore HW guys will run a HW ESC (because it’s cheaper) , but pair it with a Gen 3 T8 motor.. Phantom has some wicked fast motors, as does Trinity/Revtech, but they’re wiiiiiiiiiide open cans… You couldn’t pay me to run that in 1/8 off-road, even in an indoor only setting..

All that being said-these motors absolutely do require routine maintenance, and cleaning.. A year doesn’t seem very long to me before having a catastrophic failure tbh.. I’ve got two T8’s currently that have just under 2yrs on them, and have been eleventybillion% trouble free.. One just happens to be the 2250kv you’ve got. It’s an absolute ANIMAL, and the other is a 2050kv buggy can. That one shoves my girl’s ET48 2.0 effortlessly..

You said you run a fan on yours… A few dumb questions first.. Have you temped your motor fresh off a run? MOST folks tend to run a fan to bandaid being overgeared.. a 17t is HUGE imo as mine is such a MISSLE w/a 15t, that to many it would be undrivable.. Even if your track has long legs, you would likely be much better off with a 15t.. How are your solder joints? This can be a serious choke point on any circuit, especially a brushless off-road 1/8 truggy.. Have you added timing? What’s your driving style like? Many folks don’t take into consideration how much heat your BRAKING generates..

Personally I’d wanna know you’ve verified that your motor temps never exceeded 185deg, no crazy timing (2250 truggy can will almost never need it), solid solder joints/no crazy bottleneck or avoidable internal resistance within your circuit, drop that gear a couple teeth, look at how your brakes are setup in your Hotwire, and absoluuuuuuutely see that the motor sees routine/regular maintenance, and cleaning (also checking/replacing bearings as needed).. Dust can definitely be a killer for sure, but I believe there are a few other variables that can, and should be addressed to be vigilant with one of the best combo’s around imho.

 

[mhogan2287]

What do the folks you race with run? Any standouts from the pack?

Not really everyone pretty much runs either Tekin or Hobbywing at my local track(s) I'm in the faster group for Sportsman in Truggy and Buggy for our club Races and i do pretty well in bigger races especially considering I've only been racing for about a Year i just dont have experience with anything other than Tekin motors on the track so i dont know if thats what works best for me or not ya know now I will say I am very pleased and happy with Tekin motors and have nothing bad to say about them

 

[Littlemotor]

Not really everyone pretty much runs either Tekin or Hobbywing at my local track(s) I'm in the faster group for Sportsman in Truggy and Buggy for our club Races and i do pretty well in bigger races especially considering I've only been racing for about a Year i just dont have experience with anything other than Tekin motors on the track so i dont know if thats what works best for me or not ya know now I will say I am very pleased and happy with Tekin motors and have nothing bad to say about them

I’d give Jim, Ty, or J.D. a shout as well, and see what they have to say.. May very well be worth filling out the RMA, and getting Jim’s eyes on it. As I said-that’s far from typical with those motors.. And they without a doubt-have the best customer service in the industry.. HW is literally known for holding your bad part hostage unless you pay them to get it back.. -and you’ll never get them on the horn lol..

 

[mhogan2287]

Yikes… I’ve ran Tekin ESC’s exclusively since the late 1980’s, their motors exclusively shortly thereafter, and they’re still without question the best to this day as well. Hell even a lot of hardcore HW guys will run a HW ESC (because it’s cheaper) , but pair it with a Gen 3 T8 motor.. Phantom has some wicked fast motors, as does Trinity/Revtech, but they’re wiiiiiiiiiide open cans… You couldn’t pay me to run that in 1/8 off-road, even in an indoor only setting..

All that being said-these motors absolutely do require routine maintenance, and cleaning.. A year doesn’t seem very long to me before having a catastrophic failure tbh.. I’ve got two T8’s currently that have just under 2yrs on them, and have been eleventybillion% trouble free.. One just happens to be the 2250kv you’ve got. It’s an absolute ANIMAL, and the other is a 2050kv buggy can. That one shoves my girl’s ET48 2.0 effortlessly..

You said you run a fan on yours… A few dumb questions first.. Have you temped your motor fresh off a run? MOST folks tend to run a fan to bandaid being overgeared.. a 17t is HUGE imo as mine is such a MISSLE w/a 15t, that to many it would be undrivable.. Even if your track has long legs, you would likely be much better off with a 15t.. How are your solder joints? This can be a serious choke point on any circuit, especially a brushless off-road 1/8 truggy.. Have you added timing? What’s your driving style like? Many folks don’t take into consideration how much heat your BRAKING generates..

Personally I’d wanna know you’ve verified that your motor temps never exceeded 185deg, no crazy timing (2250 truggy can will almost never need it), solid solder joints/no crazy bottleneck or avoidable internal resistance within your circuit, drop that gear a couple teeth, look at how your brakes are setup in your Hotwire, and absoluuuuuuutely see that the motor sees routine/regular maintenance, and cleaning (also checking/replacing bearings as needed).. Dust can definitely be a killer for sure, but I believe there are a few other variables that can, and should be addressed to be vigilant with one of the best combo’s around imho.

I bought the Truggy used with the Motor and Esc in it from the owner of our Trackside Rc Shop it was his personal Truggy and I haven't changed his setup at all as he had it dialed in for our local Track and its got every upgrade imaginable on it also the Pinin may be a 16t not exactly positive on that tho so the motor wasn't brand new when I got it however it was sold to someone before me who didnt take car of it very well and then sold it back to the shop owner and he went thru it before he sold it to me to make sure it was in good working condition and I regularly Oil all my bearings on all the cars including the front and rear bearing on the Tekin Motors I'm not the best at keeping them immaculately clean but I'm not one who doesn't clean them at all either and I'm still learning the do's and dont's with race rig maintenance I've only been racing for about a year

I’d give Jim, Ty, or J.D. a shout as well, and see what they have to say.. May very well be worth filling out the RMA, and getting Jim’s eyes on it. As I said-that’s far from typical with those motors.. And they without a doubt-have the best customer service in the industry.. HW is literally known for holding your bad part hostage unless you pay them to get it back.. -and you’ll never get them on the horn lol..

I will say I bought the truggy used with the motor and esc and it was passed around between a couple people before I got it so id say the motor is a couple years old

I’d give Jim, Ty, or J.D. a shout as well, and see what they have to say.. May very well be worth filling out the RMA, and getting Jim’s eyes on it. As I said-that’s far from typical with those motors.. And they without a doubt-have the best customer service in the industry.. HW is literally known for holding your bad part hostage unless you pay them to get it back.. -and you’ll never get them on the horn lol..

 

[Littlemotor]

I see-that would for sure take some of the sting out for me.. -especially considering you mentioned that one owner wasn’t known for taking decent care of his stuff.

What you mentioned about your routine inspections, and lubricating bearings should be plenty. I don’t mean to come off like you should be able to eat off of them-just blow the dirt/dust out, check bearing runout, and verify they don’t feel terrible under slightly loaded rotation. It is 1/8 off-road after all..

So had you ever temped it fresh off the track by chance? I’m definitely curious-as that’s a big one.. anything over 185F, and it’s only a matter of time.

Also one more thing that gets by a fair amount of folks is endplay.. I don’t know exactly where the pinion rides in relation to surrounding surfaces on the D8 line, but on several other chassis/manufacturers out there, it is highly possible to not have enough endplay (especially when a pinion spacer/collar is involved), and would cause one or both bearings to seize over time due to excessive side load, as they’re not designed for it.

 

[mhogan2287]

I see-that would for sure take some of the sting out for me.. -especially considering you mentioned that one owner wasn’t known for taking decent care of his stuff.

What you mentioned about your routine inspections, and lubricating bearings should be plenty. I don’t mean to come off like you should be able to eat off of them-just blow the dirt/dust out, check bearing runout, and verify they don’t feel terrible under slightly loaded rotation. It is 1/8 off-road after all..

So had you ever temped it fresh off the track by chance? I’m definitely curious-as that’s a big one.. anything over 185F, and it’s only a matter of time.

Also one more thing that gets by a fair amount of folks is endplay.. I don’t know exactly where the pinion rides in relation to surrounding surfaces on the D8 line, but on several other chassis/manufacturers out there, it is highly possible to not have enough endplay (especially when a pinion spacer/collar is involved), and would cause one or both bearings to seize over time due to excessive side load, as they’re not designed for it.

I should probably rephrase what I said its not seized as in the motor shaft not moving however the Windings inside the can are shot I have not temped it right after a run in the track however it does get its fair amount of track time and I push it while I'm out there racing lol so I'm sure its gotten to and or above 180 185 as almost everyone at my local track doesn't run thermal cutoff and I'm a hard headed person who has to learn things the hard way lmao

 

[Littlemotor]

I should probably rephrase what I said its not seized as in the motor shaft not moving however the Windings inside the can are shot I have not temped it right after a run in the track however it does get its fair amount of track time and I push it while I'm out there racing lol so I'm sure its gotten to and or above 180 185 as almost everyone at my local track doesn't run thermal cutoff and I'm a hard headed person who has to learn things the hard way lmao

Ahhhhhh-I gotcha…

Wasn’t trying to just blindly steer responsibility away from Tekin by any means, was just thinking you were like myself-and would want to diag what caused the failure if possible so as not to have it happen again if I could help it. Based on what you’ve outlined in this case I’d lean toward excessive heat, as it will take out anything electrical, and Tekin motors in general are well known for being just about bulletproof. Man-it sucks to buy a new motor when you’ve had a really solid one, but sounds like you’re there regardless lol.. Personally if it treated me killer (as mine has), I’d likely just grab the same motor, but also have the piece of mind that nobody had a chance to abuse it before I got ahold of it. You’d also have the ability to send it in without any guff if you had any issues what so ever with it the first year, as you would have your proof of purchase to boot. But I’d invest in a gun and be vigilant on keeping it under 185.. I beat on mine like a red headed stepchild, and it has always stayed well below that number.. My truck is fairly light, and I don’t have the need to go bigger than a 15t even with my 180ft straightaway.. I also run out of the box timing, and make sure my brakes are dialed in where they need to be within my Hotwire. Good luck man-you’ll be back on the dirt soon!

 

[mhogan2287]

Thank

Ahhhhhh-I gotcha…

Wasn’t trying to just blindly steer responsibility away from Tekin by any means, was just thinking you were like myself-and would want to diag what caused the failure if possible so as not to have it happen again if I could help it. Based on what you’ve outlined in this case I’d lean toward excessive heat, as it will take out anything electrical, and Tekin motors in general are well known for being just about bulletproof. Man-it sucks to buy a new motor when you’ve had a really solid one, but sounds like you’re there regardless lol.. Personally if it treated me killer (as mine has), I’d likely just grab the same motor, but also have the piece of mind that nobody had a chance to abuse it before I got ahold of it. You’d also have the ability to send it in without any guff if you had any issues what so ever with it the first year, as you would have your proof of purchase to boot. But I’d invest in a gun and be vigilant on keeping it under 185.. I beat on mine like a red headed stepchild, and it has always stayed well below that number.. My truck is fairly light, and I don’t have the need to go bigger than a 15t even with my 180ft straightaway.. I also run out of the box timing, and make sure my brakes are dialed in where they need to be within my Hotwire. Good luck man-you’ll be back on the dirt soon!

Thank You your opinion and input are much appreciated I'm Definitely leaning more towards another Tekin as thats what I've ran and its been good for me i just figured why not possibly try another motor to see if i like it more or less than the Tekin since i need to replace the motor anyway if that makes sense

 

[paytonimusrex]

honestly for me i’d prefer to stay all one brand so if I was running train i’d stay two in and put tekin in my other cars as well

 

[mhogan2287]

I'm notmally l

honestly for me i’d prefer to stay all one brand so if I was running train i’d stay two in and put tekin in my other cars as well

Thats normally how I am myself as all 3 cars my 2 and my sons all have Tekin motors 1900kv in his and my buggies and the 2250kv in my truggy all paired with a HW XR8 plus g2 esc in each car but i figured I've never even tried any other brand motor for racing and I need to replace one bow regardless so why not maybe take this opportunity to try another one I do love the Tekin motor series tho i have no complaints with them

 

[paytonimusrex]

that’s fair I honestly don’t think there’s many people running anything other than tekin or hobbywing I think those 2 have probably at least 80% of the racer market with the remaining being split between all the others

ha I just saw your reddit post of this

 

[Cheez ‘n’ Quackers]

This works for me.
https://www.rctalk.com/forum/attachments/img_0658-webp.169670/
https://www.rctalk.com/forum/attachments/img_0687-webp.170901/

 

[mhogan2287]

This works for me.
https://www.rctalk.com/forum/attachments/img_0658-webp.169670/
https://www.rctalk.com/forum/attachments/img_0687-webp.170901/

I ended up going with the Hobbywing XERUN 2250kv