RC10Talk - The Net's Largest Vintage R/C Community

Good morning all,
I am far from any expert on RC cars. I purchased this about a decade or so ago and i ran it a good bit. It sat for several years, the other day i got it back out and its got issues. 1. Battery chargers, steering works but car will not move front or reverse. The ESC LED light flashes red when you push the throttle to go. When you assist by pushing it to move the car just jerks. I would like to get it running again but I am not at all versed on what it needs. Any help on where to start would be great.

Appreciate any input.

Welcome to the forum! That'll be a great truck to get you into the wonderful world of vintage RC. Assuming that your battery, ESC and electrical connections are all good, it sounds like the brushed motor needs some TLC. You can get new brushed motors for really cheap these days. Or if you are so inclined, you can freshen up your motor with some cleaning spray, new brushes and maybe truing the commutator on a lathe. There is also the wonderful world of brushless technology that can be had for fairly inexpensively. They are just about maintenance free and if taken care of, can last indefinitely.

I would start with a new battery. I'm betting that one is dead.

Appreciate it, yea I am no expert my any means so that was my next question. Brush vs brushless. I wasn't sure if either worked with a certain ESC or that doesn't matter. I plan to order a new battery and a new motor at the very least.

RC10th wrote: ↑Wed Jun 03, 2020 8:30 am I would start with a new battery. I'm betting that one is dead.

So i assume even though the charger light turns green it does not necessarily mean the battery is charged? On another note, any batter recommendations would be great.

matt1ptkn wrote: ↑Wed Jun 03, 2020 8:23 am Welcome to the forum! That'll be a great truck to get you into the wonderful world of vintage RC. Assuming that your battery, ESC and electrical connections are all good, it sounds like the brushed motor needs some TLC. You can get new brushed motors for really cheap these days. Or if you are so inclined, you can freshen up your motor with some cleaning spray, new brushes and maybe truing the commutator on a lathe. There is also the wonderful world of brushless technology that can be had for fairly inexpensively. They are just about maintenance free and if taken care of, can last indefinitely.

Can you recommend a decent brushless motor for it? Anything else i need if i do that motor swap from brush to brushless?

To use a brushless motor, you will need an ESC also. There are many options to choose from, but for bashing and non-race fun, you won't need to go high dollar. You can get some descent motor and ESC combo sets on eBay for pretty cheap (~$40). Check out this thread for some info: https://www.rc10talk.com/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=43456&hilit=cheap+brushless. With brushless setups, you don't have to use a Lipo battery, but a Lipo battery will help to get the full performance out of it. NiMh batteries, like the one you have, will work fine; they just don't pack the extra punch of Lipos. However, you would then also need a charger that works with Lipos and there are additional safety precautions necessary when charging and/or using Lipos. If your battery is old and you want to switch to brushless, I'd suggest getting a cheap(ish) 1/10th scale motor and ESC combo set and a new 6-7 cell Nimh battery in the 4000+ mah range. That'll get you up and running and having fun pretty quickly and with minimal cost.

I totally appreciate the help with this, maybe one day I will get up to speed and learn more about these things. I just want it for bashing around the house/yard really. I will def look into the brushless motor and ESC combo and a new battery to start. I do have a few more uneducated questions....how do i know what connectors i have as i assume these sets and new battery come with connectors? (battery to ESC...ESC to motor).

rett73 wrote: ↑Wed Jun 03, 2020 12:55 pm

RC10th wrote: ↑Wed Jun 03, 2020 8:30 am I would start with a new battery. I'm betting that one is dead.

So i assume even though the charger light turns green it does not necessarily mean the battery is charged? On another note, any batter recommendations would be great.

Technically no, if you have a simple red light/green light charger it's time to upgrade it anyways, but, If you want to check that it is actually working for fun start charging your battery. Set your multimeter for DC voltage and slip the prongs in the back side of the plug. The voltage should slowly climb before peaking and starting to drop off. If the voltage doesn’t rise or the light says full without much rise in voltage the charger or battery is likely faulty. A warm battery is a sign that it's charged/charging.

Like said above you can go brushess and lipo if you like, it'll just cost you more and you'll have to understand the safety precautions that go along with them. However, if you do upgrade your charger I suggest geting one that will do both NiMh and LiPo so that if you do decide to upgrade to LiPo at a later date you don’t need to yet again buy another charger.

rett73 wrote: ↑Thu Jun 04, 2020 8:56 am I totally appreciate the help with this, maybe one day I will get up to speed and learn more about these things. I just want it for bashing around the house/yard really. I will def look into the brushless motor and ESC combo and a new battery to start. I do have a few more uneducated questions....how do i know what connectors i have as i assume these sets and new battery come with connectors? (battery to ESC...ESC to motor).

from what I'm seeing you currently have classical "tamiya" connectors on your car. These are widely available everywhere, but they are not that good and can generate significant issues as they wear out.

The current (pun intended!) gold standard for bashing Battery-to-ESCconnector is the "T-Plug" - Deans made the original one (and still sells them : https://www.amazon.com/WS-Deans-1300-Ultra-Plug/dp/B000BOTWW2), there are tons of clones of various quality out there:



This can also be used for ESC-to-motor, too, although not commonly used.


The new kid on the block, especially in asia, is the XT60 connector for battery-to-ESC:



This is typically not used for ESC-to-motor, but it could be if one wanted it.



Generally speaking, if you have a soldering iron and can use it, anyone would actually recommend you to solder your ESC-to-Motor wires directly ("direct wire") to the endbell tabs

Hope this helps - welcome aboard

Ok gents here is my shopping list....
Brushless motor and ESC...found one here that i may go with just for the trial to learn this thing period. https://www.ebay.com/itm/9T-4370KV-Brushless-Motor-with-60A-ESC-Speed-Controller-Combo-For-1-10-RC-Cars/383437531187

Battery and charger...I am sticking with the safer, non experienced battery version as i like to say for now.However will get the charger that can charge both.

And looking into the connectors as well.

As for soldering iron....well I will get that as well, I have never soldered but truly, if i can fix aircraft I am certain i can figure soldering out lol...doesn't look to difficult.

Really glad i joined this forum, you guys have been super helpful, even with my lack of actual RC knowledge.

I ordered all the above, now its tire time for this thing. These tires are pretty much dry rotted. Any cheap suggestions to get me rolling here? I guess really i need to know which truck i actually have, how do i figure that out?

If You can re-use the rims, any 2.2 truck tire would fit.

Ok gents, got the thing back together with a new battery (fully charged), ESC and motor....issue now is the thing will steer, but wont go fwd or rev. It rocks back and forth and the esc chirps on occasion. Pictures attached of the setup, I am by far an expert on these things so any pointers will be great.

speed control needs to plug into channel 2, not the battery slot. Nothing goes in the battery slot