cummins driver

My Feedback: (31)

Well, I think I have decided to go electric with the savage.... Not brushless or LiPo though. I really like climbing hills, and playing on dirt piles with my savage, and i kind of miss my electric trucks for that kind of stuff. Plus, I wont have to buy as much fuel since ill only be running my buggy as nitro powered then. I thought about trading it off, but I love my savage, and i have had it since it was almost new and I know it hasnt been treated bad or abused. Plus, if i sold it and went with a used electric truck, im still going to come out basically the same as far as $$ goes, and then it would either be an e-maxx or an e-savage and neither is as durable as my nitro savage IMO. So, i figured instead of going through all that trouble, that I would just make a motor mount, a way to hold the battery(s), and a few other things to help with the conversion and that way it will be very easily converted back to nitro, and i dont have to give up my savage.

I already have my savage stripped of all the nitro stuff, and I went ahead and pulled the driveshafts, transmission, and drive cups because the cups are fairly worn after almost 7 gallons, and I am going to fix them back up with a welder and a grinder to smooth the driveline back out on the beast[8D] I should have that part done tomorrow i hope, and be able to reassemble it so i can start on the conversion.

For the conversion, its going to be simple and cheap at first. I have a couple of 550 sized motors out of various things that are very torquey and low speed. I will only be using one though, and for now, im going to be running 7.2v, and a duratrax ESC that i have. It will be slow, but it should have more than enough torque to climb anything really. For now, i will probably buy a Y-Harness and leave the throttle servo to activate the brakes since the transmission has a one way bearing. This is the main thing I would like to overcome because I would like to just be able to let the motor do the braking, and also more than anything, it would be really nice to have reverse. I may look into buying a used 2 speed transmission to modify for use with the electric setup. Basically id probably just have to lock it into first gear somehow, but i dont think it would be too hard to do.

I think future plans will be something along the lines of a traxxas 775 titan, and a 14.4 or 16.8v ESC. Those motors move the summit pretty good, and should do the same for the savage. This wont be a speed machine, but I would be very happy with 20mph out of it, and I think the 775 motor on 14.4 volts will probably do it while still allowing for plenty of torque down low. Plus, with a couple of 3000mah NiMh batteries, I should be able to get 15 minutes or better out of it for run time which wouldnt be bad at all really. This setup may be a little ways down the road though.

Anyways, I decided this was a better route than trading or selling my savage, and i will have the freedom of swapping right back to the nitro setup at any time. I will add pictures as soon as i have some progress on a motor mount(hopefully tomorrow), and until then im open to suggestions and ideas on the matter. Thanks

Eric

gixxernoob

Sounds like a good conversion... Good Luck and post pics when you're done

SyCo_VeNoM

http://204.186.93.64/Savage-DirectDrive.htm

Tranny replacement/motor mount so you get foward and reverse with ESC braking

found it in http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_9272375/tm.htm

cummins driver

My Feedback: (31)

Thanks for the links. That is interesting, but i think id like to stick with the stock style tranny, especially since im trying to get by fairly cheap here

Made a little progress. Ill post more info in a minute:

cummins driver

My Feedback: (31)

Alright, well as you guys can see, I got the motor mount made today. Its a little crude, and it has a little flex, but im going to fix that problem by adding a brace or 2 that goes from the back of the mount up to the top at the front, probably on each side of the motor. I cut everything out with a plasma cutter, and cutting wheel on a grinder, and then just drilled the holes where they needed to be and put bolts through it. It wasnt too bad of a job. When i got done, I mounted my motor, and then spun the spur by hand and it made some bad noise. I was wondering why it was like that since the mesh wasnt too tight. It was kind of a duh moment because then i realized my pinion is 32 pitch and the savage spur is 1m. So, it looks like that is my first hurdle in order to get this thing going. I either have to make a 32 pitch spur gear fit(I think the e-savage spur may fit with a little work), or buy a 1m pinion. The only 1m pinions i see have 5mm shaft sizes though, and i think my motor shaft is smaller than that. I also have to buy a new drive cup for the front driveshaft, so it isnt in the truck right now. I did run it just a little seeing as the gears do somewhat mesh, and it is pretty slow, so ill be wanting to upgrade the motor and batteries fairly soon if i keep the truck this way. Anyways, this is looking like its going to be a little more expensive than i thought to get it right(when isnt it though?), but if i spend a little extra now it will cost me less to run in the long run since i wont be buying fuel for it. Anyways, ill see what i can do about getting the parts i need for the gearing to mesh correctly, and while im waiting ill try and fix the motor mount so that it will be ready to go. The motor im using was originally a 12 volt unit so I think it may wake up some on 14.4 volts if i buy some batteries and a different ESC. [8D] You can see where one of my batteries will likely be going, and im not for sure where i would put the other one yet. I also have to find a spot to mount the ESC a little better, but that shouldnt be hard to do. Oh well, its just another project, but its definately made some progress. Im just getting into the money spending part of it now.

Eric

SyCo_VeNoM

yea mod1's are .5mm shafts.
I actually use a mod 1 with a 1/10th scale motor shaft. Bought a .5mm hollow tube from my LHS that i had to drill out a teeny tiny bit to allow my motor shaft to fit in it and drilled a hole for the screw to go and hit the shaft of the motor. works fine needed it when I converted my spare nitro MT1 to elec

or if you want I saw adapters once on a site but the tube ideas probably cheaper.

Ohh yea if you want reverse I'd look into a reverse module seeing your keeping the stock tranny.

cummins driver

My Feedback: (31)

Im starting to think this is more expensive than what i want to fool with. lol

Im definately going to finish the motor mount, but im not sure if its gonna be worth my $$ to mess with the rest of it.

Basically here is the cost im looking at:

$60- 14.4v ESC
$60-80- Decent batteries and charger
$10- Adapter for the gears
$20- Spare tranny to modify
$30- 775 titan motor
$10- Servo y-harness

So, im looking at, at least $210 just to have a mediocre performing electric truck if i want to do it half way right. Hmm, im gonna finish with the motor mount, and then i may just call it quits. The axial runs great still and i can buy a lot of fuel and other parts for $200 [X(]


Eric

HerrSavage

I started responding to this yesterday and to say don't bother it's not worth it.. But then I thought, naaa... he's got his mind made up...

There's no way to do a half-way decent elo on the cheap. You were looking at a lot of effort too, for what was clearly gonna be not a lot of performance.

I recently bought a Mini Revo VXL(well, getting one for X-mas..), and the costs just keep going up. Little stuff - bought a soldering iron, some more Traxxas plugs, batteries, etc...

RC in general is just a trap, and impossible to do completely on the cheap.

I would say scrap your whole project and just pick up a Dynamite Big Red from www.overdriverc.com for 130 bucks. That and a couple gallons of fuel and you'll be cheaper than your elo plan - and a hell of lot faster...

If you really want elo, I'd say suck it up and just hunt down a Traxxas VXL of some sort.. But you're still gonna need good batteries..

mousecritter

My Feedback: (3)

Neat project....

Are you willing to buy used? You could shave a lot off your costs. I have some stuff (ESC, motors, batts, charger) that I'd like to sell.

My two cents: a VXL can't compare to an electric savage. Savage >>>>> VXL

cummins driver

My Feedback: (31)

Yeah, when i started on it I hadnt really added up the costs. I havent spent any money at all on it yet, so its not too late to forget about it, which is what i think im gonna do. haha Like I said, its going to cost me over $200 just for a very tame electric setup. I have no problems tuning nitro, and I have 3 spare big block engines just sitting around so its not like i dont have any spares if something were to happen to it. Im still pretty happy with my Axial, but I have a Associated 4.6 that is pretty strong that I could put in. Its not a fire breathing dragon, but I had it in my MGT and its stronger than the Axial and seems to have a lot of top end.

I guess this all brought me back to why I went nitro in the first place... I traded my electric Traxxas Stampede for a Nitro Rustler because i didnt want to spend the $$ to upgrade my electric supplies, and the nitro rustler was so much more fun to drive for just the cost of fuel(which isnt cheap, but still... ).

Well, it gave me a chance to take my savage apart and do a little much needed cleaning. I ordered some drive cups that i need last night, so when i get those, ill put them in and put it back to nitro i believe

cummins driver

My Feedback: (31)

Thanks, I would have bought used, but I just dont think its going to be cost effective after adding it all up even though it would have been a neat conversion to mess with some. Thanks for the offer though

Eric

rclugnut10

My Feedback: (1)

i would look into some drill motor's they can be had pretty cheaply and are very powerful if you're having pinion gear conflicts

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXURT7&P=SM

the lug

HerrSavage

Cummins, not looking to get into some discussion about Axial engines.. But you really ought to consider trying something like an LRP Spec 3 or that Big Red. I'm not the Axial hater that some are, but I do think you'll get a big fat smile on your face if you see the difference in power an LRP will give you...

I liked my Axial and it treated me very well. But - and I have zero interest in talking trash about engines, an LRP will take you to a different level. And that difference would be worth the 200 bucks. That elo conversion would not - IMO.

cummins driver

My Feedback: (31)

Yeah, I know an LRP would really wake it up, but Im too tight to spend the $$ at the moment. Im getting married before long and i dont really need a new engine, so i better stick with what i have I imagine that I will look into something better one of these days when my axial gives up on me though. Im interested in seeing how far it will go before it gives out, and I really have been pleased with its performance. It always starts good, and tunes easily, and doesent mind keeping the front wheels off the ground, so it does fine for me. One day i may give something meaner a shot though. Thanks

Eric