LST2 E conversion battery help
 

I'm basically finished with my E conversion of my LST2 and it's fantastic. The only thing I'm stuck on is the battery tray or tie down. Can someone post a pic or give an idea of how to properly secure the battery with the New Era roll bar? Here are a couple pictures of it now and how I rigged the battery tie downs.

Do you have a welder or someone who can weld for you? Cutting the right side of the rollbar about an inch down from the top and rotating it counterclockwise 90 degrees will give you some more room for a battery tray. Some guys cut the right side bar and have it run to the rear of the truck, I think that's how the electric roll bar from New Era comes.

Either way I don't think your tray is going to fit on the main chassis. It's going to have to be mounted further forward and up higher over the steering servos a bit. So you'll have to make some spacers to go under the tray. If you go with an XXL chassis you will gain a little bit of room (about 1/4 - 1/2 inch) in front of the rollbar as it sits.

I do have someone that could do that actually. I'd like to not modify it but if that's the only way to get the battery safely in there then it'll do!

Any other ideas?

You could always purchase the Losi e-conversion kit for the XXL. It will situate your battery (or batteries) at the rear of the chassis, therefore not interfering with your roll-bar. In the future, if you decide to ditch the roll-bar, you can then cut the Losi battery trays in half, and mount them at the front of the chassis like many (myself included) have done.

I couldn't imagine not having the battery weight up front. It's so wheelie happy already, rear mounted batteries is out of the question for me lol. I really like having the roll bar actually. It's very sturdy and a great carrying point!

I've run my e-XXL with the battery in the back, and the front. I really can't say that I noticed a reduced amount of wheelie's with the battery in the front. It's just so powerful, that it's going to wheelie regardless of where the battery is. Just my $0.02.

Having the battery out back not only promotes wheelies but I find the truck just handles better with the weight up front. My truck is almost perfect 50/50 front/rear weight bias with the battery up front. My truck will still pull the wheels up even around 40mph, but I find I have to try harder (at those speeds) and its easier to keep the front end down when accelerating from slower speeds.

As I said, moving the tray further forward and up over the servos will get it in there without modifying the roll bar. But if you can modify the roll bar I think it's the best solution. Here's a couple pics of modified New Era roll bars.

This one obviously creates the most room up front, but it also requires the most work. Up at the top of the bar, you can see he reused a portion of the original bar with a bend in it to create the turn going rearward. The rest of the bar going rearward is all new material though.
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k3...ps42561ab1.jpg

This one almost doesn't look modified but if you look closely you can see it is. A portion of the original bar where it mounts to the chassis was reused and a new piece added in between to make it go straight down. You can find material to do this at Home Depot or Lowes for under $10, just need a welder and some time with a grinder to smooth it all out.
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k3...ps806c2b43.jpg

I really like that second one actually. I think that's the direction to go for me right there. Although if that's the XXL chassis, they are slightly longer, do you think that will affect this or should it still work? I'll have to do something checking when I get home.

The 1st pic is LST2, the 2nd pic is XXL. The XXL was lengthened equally in front of the transmission and behind so there's about 1/2" more room up front on the main chassis. Comparing the pics to my nephews LST1 (still working on his truck) it does make a difference. With the roll bar like the 2nd pic there's not enough room on a LST2's main chassis for the tray. The tray will have to be raised up to clear the steering servos as it will be over them. At least that's how it looks to me, I have an LST1 in front of me but not a roll bar so I can't be 100% sure.

Check the battery tray dimensions too. Looking those photos (overdriven), I would say my Losi battery tray (removed higher/2nd tray) is bigger than his.