Chad3000

Hi, ive had a few redcats in the past but lost interest before i got really into them, but now my son has a volcano-16 i just bought him and at some point soon i want to make it brushless and make it waterproof, so in guessing a waterproof Motor, ESC, and servo would do it, but im looking on Amazon and dont know what im looking at/for, i would think installing them would be straight forward enough but i dont know which ones to get, i prefer amazon but would probably order from other places if need be, please help my son and i with making this upgrade happen, i dont want to be ordering the wrong parts, thanks

LetItSnow7

I'm just getting into this for real myself, but have been scouring the web for some of these same answers. That's how I ended up here. There's not much out there on these trucks.

I bought a IMEX Ninja a month or so ago. The IMEX Ninja, Shogun, and Katana, as well as the Redcat Volcano-16, and a bunch of cars on Amazon with the number 16889 and 16890 are all the same car/truck, but with different bodies and other small differences (brushed/brushless, small suspension changes, accessories they come with). It seems like there are probably other companies putting their name on the same car too, but I can't think of them now.

Imex has a brushless version of their cars, which I decided to go with. When I was looking at their parts catalog, at least buying from Imex, it would be cheaper to buy another car and get the brushless version than to upgrade a brushed car to brushless, but it could be done. Now that I've found some other resources, it might not be as expensive, but it's still might be worth considering.

So there are all the parts from imexrc.com and redcatracing.com as well as the above mentioned variety on Amazon. If you prefer Amazon, there's a decent amount of parts available, but I haven't found as comprehensive of a list. And some parts are cheaper (axles), some parts are more expensive (motor heat sink) on amazon vs the other two sites.
You're right, as far as I know, that you can get a new motor, ESC, and servo, but I think you'll also need the brushless version of the radio/controller. Maybe it's not required, but there are both versions available, so for now I'm assuming there is a functional difference.

I've also found that some of the upgrade parts don't always work out of the box. I bought some of the metal axles and had to do some work with a dremel to make them fit. My other theory is that the upgraded axles only work with the upgraded diff cups. I bought the metal diff cups too, but don't have them yet to see. Then I wonder if the metal diff cups will only work with the upgraded metal diff gears and so on. I guess I'll find out.

Ominous_Nefarious

Volcano 16/ SG 1602 / HBX 16889, 16889a Pro, etc are all Shenzhen made trucks, the Shenzhen RC plant is MAAASASIIIVE!
And makes things under brands like Hobbywing, Surpass, WLToys, XK, HAIBOXING, HBX, and on and on.
The best write up I have found about these cars is by the now legendary QuadifyRC dot com.
I Ordered the differential outdrives and realized you must order the "metal gear diffrential upgrade" in order for your metal diffrential outdrives to fit. The stock plastic outdrives attach to the plastic gears inside the diffrential completely differently as do the metal rear dogbones amd metal front CVDs. So, to get your transmission "brushless ready" from a bone stock plastic model you must order:
1. metal spur gear (amazon super cheap)
2. Metal pinion gear w/grub screw (amazon cheap)?
3. Metal dogbonez & CVDs with wheel hub axles aka stub axles (ebay super cheap)
4. Two sets of metal diffrential gear upgrade kits (amazon expensive but definitely gonna get them, or Walmart online super cheap but may or may not receive them :-/ , if anyone finds a source for a pair at good price in the states please post)
5. Metal center driveshaft with bevel gears (although my HBX has a metal center driveshaft it is not compatible with the diffrentials after they have been upgraded with the meatal gear upgrade kit. Amazon fair price and fast shipping)
6. Wheelie bar (if your model doesn't have one you will need one after going brushless, Amazon cheap for Volcano 16 or HBX 16889 models)

I also grabbed the dark blue Aluminum parts upgrade kit off Walmart online for less than $30 and it includes the upper and lower A-arms as well as all 4 hubs and the front C-hubs and the steering parts including the Ackerman bar. Hellof a kit. I dont usually buy aluminum lower A-arms for any of my RCz but buying the parts in this kit separately is mega expensive so i just got the combo. I also ordered an HBX 16305 Red Truggy body because....well.....y not, its awesome looking!
Finally i got a set of Traxxas mini Erevo wheels and tires for it because they are much much better teaction and they last much longer.

I hope any of this helps someone, no one knows everything but together we can know almost all of it!
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