Bf3 & mb motors?

[Satvc]

I'm looking at upgrade motors for my black foot 3 and origial monster beetle.

I've seen sport tuned or dirt tuned???

Which is best for bashing fun and will it work ok with teu 104 esc's which will be run on both vehicles?

[Satvc]

Or is there any other better options? Don't want to go mad and kill the gears tho! Lol

Thanks

[tamiya monkey]

Why not go for a mild brushless like a 13t or a 17t, pretty much maintenance free, and more features and lipo compatible, so more future proof.

Ezrun's are a good solid system and cheap to boot. im steadily upgeading my tamiya collection to ezrun.

[ideal2k]

Sport tuned is allright, and you can get it cheap on evil bay.

Then if you want to run LiPo you can just get one of those hobbywing lipo protectors, which is basicly a cutoff thingy, that costs $10 shipped to anywhere.

[Saito]

If you want to stay with Tamiya and/or brushed motors the Sport Tuned or GT-Tuned are safe and good for the 104 esc. They'll work well with the Monster Beetle with somewhat less than durable gearbox. The BF3 has a bombproof gearbox but is also geared lower. It will require a bit more motor to make it seem quick. The Tamiya Super Stock BZ/TZ/RZ series of motors would fit the bill but may send the 104 into thermal shutdown. Alot of folks get away with running the SS motors with 101 and 104 escs, just know that the Sport Tuned is as hot a motor as Tamiya recommends.

[Satvc]

The sport motor sounds ideal for now then as I already have the 104 esc's

It's really only for some bashing about so it's not mega power I'm after just good reliable fun!

Please excuse my ignorance but what does 13t and 17t Stand for I think the stock is 27t but being new to this I have no idea what it means?

Also, the bf3 came with 8 metal wheel bearings where the mb has nylon installed, I've just bought a set of metal for the beetle and it came 8 wheel bearings and also two smaller bearings? Does anyone where these go? I'm guessing the gearbox?

Thanks for your help guys

[Saito]

The T in 27T stands for "turns" or the number of times the wire in the motor is wrapped around the armature. The lower the number of turns, the faster the motor. A 23T motor would be generally faster than a 27T motor with all other variables being equal. Lower turn motors however need to be geared down to take advantage of their increased "power" to avoid overheating them among other things. Any of the motors I listed (Sport-Tuned down to the Super Stocks) don't really need re-geared for use in your trucks however. This is all very generalized just to give you the basics. Stock motors are 27T FYI.

The Monster Beetle comes with metal bearings for the diff outdrives in the gearbox. However, The countergear inside the gearbox is only supported by two little bronze bushings. The two smaller bearings you mention go there to replace the bushings. The other 8 as you mentioned go in the front wheels and rear trailing arms. Hope this helps.

[Satvc]

That's fantastic thanks for your help!

I haven't started restoring the beetle yet as it only arrived yesterday, I'm getting all the hop ups i fancy before starting, everything looks pretty good on my new purchase but the body, I'm no good at spraying etc so a good artistic friend will get a call soon on that one! Lol

Do the sport tuned motors need heat sinks?? Or is that over the top?

[Saito]

Heat sinks won't hurt anything but the Sport-Tuned motors will be fine without them. Good luck restoring the Monster Beetle. It was the first used Tamiya I bought off of ebay to restore back around 2001 or so. Some things cross over from the Frog which is still kicking around in re-re form making restoration somewhat easier.

[Satvc]

That's worth knowing! I've just had a look around and found many have use the frog chassis!

Thanks for that info, well worth knowing

Anyone know where I can get original front spot lights?? Thought it was worth asking!

[Satvc]

I don't know what's happening but I'm getting abit carried away, I'm now the owner of 3 more monster beetles in various conditions!

I love eBay, but it's way to easy to spend!!

If all goes to plan I will make up 2 mint compleate mb's 1 original standard and 1 new school modified !!

I'll prob sell the left overs when I'm done!!

So far on the modified one I've stripped and replaced every screw with hex, metal bearings fitted allround, yeah shocks, as17 steering servo, teu104 esc, ansmann 23t clash motor ( ordered), need to get new gears for the gearbox as they've worn down the centre holes!

Really enjoy fiddling so things may change but it's a good start!

[GregM]

If you want to have fun with your Monster Beetle in the long run, I would either:

a) Stay with the 540 kit silvercan

or

Install a vintage aftermarket diff

or

c) Do the oldfrogshot's mod

or

d) Ditch the rear drivetrain in favour of the Super Blackfoot/Bush Devil/King Blackfoot drivetrains (but then you can't attach the old style rear bumper anymore, or you have to modify it to fit).

The old Blackfoot/Monster Beetle/Mud Blaster gearbox (easy to identify by its metallic sideplates) is not up to the task of being used with powerful motors.

[Satvc]

I'm not to worried about losing the rear bumper in the interest of fun!!

I thought the 23t motor wouldn't be to harsh once the gearbox had new gears?

What is the oldfrogshot mod??? Sounds interesting!!

[Percymon]

I've got the TZ motor in my King Blackfoot and its pretty good, plenty enough speed and will wheelie if you try hard enough. Fitting a Lexan body also drops the overall weight down a fair bit and lowers the centre of gravity for improved cornering (i've yet to roll mine)

[GregM]

@Satvc:

As far as I know, the metallic plates of the Frog/1st gen ORV gearbox tend to bend. This is not a problem with regular sized wheels (Frog) or with kit silvercan motors on a big wheels ORV. Due to the bending, the gears get more play and will wear. Also look out for worn plastic counter gears (between the motor pinion and the diff gear) and hex drive cups and shafts. Later 2nd and 3rd gen plastic case ORV gearboxes are not affected by these faults.

What is the oldfrogshot mod??? Sounds interesting!!

This is the mod tutorial:

http://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom_model.a...74&sid=3142

There are a lot of topics at Tamiyaclub's forums related to this mod, try searching for "site:tamiyaclub.com old frog shots mod" at the web search engine of your choice. It's mainly a modification to hold the gearbox internals in place.

Hex driveshafts and cups can be replaced with re-release Frog dogbone-type driveshafts. The internal metal gears to the drive cups should be compatible between Frog and Monster Beetle, but the plastic gears won't - so keep an eye on their condition.

See also Blackholesun's Off-roaders by Tamiya article (section: ORV platform) for additional information.

You may also find useful information for restoring a Monster Beetle on original chassis and on King Blackfoot-chassis on the same website.

[Saito]

I have quite an ORV graveyard of parts myself, Satvc. The folks here are right about the gearbox. Personally, I run the Oldfrogshot mod in conjunction with the new dogbone/drivecup conversion as seen in the re-release Frog.

[Satvc]

Thats good to know! Looks like a good idea!

I'm gonna defo look into it a bit more before trying it, truthfully is it just worth keeping the silver can in the mb and putting the 23t motor in the Blackfoot 3 as there seems to be no issue with them! (bullet proof I read?)

[GregM]

That's correct! for the BFIII, you might take a look a this build thread by B.M.T.:

_-_-%28applicable-to-Dual-Hunter%29'>http://www.pwrhouse.com/rcmt/showthread.ph...-Dual-Hunter%29

[Satvc]

What a good thread! 4x4 blackfoot3 ??? Hmm ideas

That's it then decided then silver can for beetle and upgrades for black foot! If mb gear parts were easily available i suppose it would be a different story but I want to enjoy the beetle for a fair while!! Ill defo do the frogshot mod as itll help make it stronger. Thanks for the great advice