Horatio

Great stuff! Can't wait to see how all this brushless stuff goes together. I know that feeling - "is that the delivery person I hear....."

Good luck with your build!

DARKWAV

Concur, it is good to see folks are still enthusiastic about the Baja 5B and it is nice to see new content on the forums about it. Likewise, this has me looking over my shoulder at my Baja 5B Flux that has been a shelf queen for several years and wanting to get it out running again. I've got some upgrades on it, and a box of upgrades that didn't make it onto the buggy before I had to step away from the hobby. I got back into the hobby this past summer enjoying some new 1/10 scale r/c's for me and the kids. I'm now starting to pull some of my older 1/8 scales off the shelf and getting them running to use when my kids would rather be on their tablets playing Minecraft LOL. I hope I can get to the 5B and dig out that box of upgrades once I've got my 1/8 scales back in order. I'm working up to it because the 5B is a bit intimidating to wrench on in comparison to the other R/Cs!

lsear2905

iTrader: (1)

Did you ever get it up and running again?

DARKWAV

Tested it and it runs fine, not anything wrong with it except for some torn axle boots. I just had a box of upgrade parts I wanted to install before getting it back in service. I finally got it on the workbench so it is my #1 RC priority now. I had forgotten that I had already installed a Futaba FASST receiver in it before putting it away for a few years, so that is one less thing for me to do. The upgrades to install include a Hitec digital servo, DDM servo arm, Full Force RC aluminum servo mount and clamps, Full Force RC 7075 lower front chassis brace, PhatDad RC Billet engine brace kit, DDM aluminum engine/chassis brace mounts, Turtle Racing quick diff transmission case, Turtle Racing billet diff saver case, new axle boots, and hinge pin shims where needed.

Horatio

DARKWAV This is great news! Please take some pictures and post them here.

DARKWAV

Here's the buggy 7 years ago in early 2015 probably not long before I stopped running it:





Finally back on the workbench in 2022! I have the front end apart and the chassis drilled. Here is the Full Force RC 4mm aluminum 7075-T6 front lower chassis brace fitted to the buggy.



Here is the Hitec HS-5765MH servo, DDM aluminum servo horn, Full Force RC aluminum steering servo mount and clamps assembled and ready to install.

Horatio

That's a fine looking machine right there. Must be a proper handful too!

DARKWAV

I would call it an armful LOL!

Next up I moved to the center of the chassis to install Team Phatdad engine/chassis braces and DDM engine/chassis brace mounts. The Phatdad brace kit is made for the gas Baja so I was not able to use the rear center chassis brace which would interfere with the battery box. I had no issues with the large right side brace. The small left side brace was machined with an integrated 7mm spacer. The flux doesn't use that spacer so I had to trim it off. Unfortunately that made the mounting point at that location thinner than the stock original brace. So, instead of replacing the stock brace, I doubled-up and used both the stock brace and the Phatdad brace. Since I doubled up on the left side, I just went ahead and doubled up on the right side as well.







Since I doubled up on those braces, and I stacked the front RPM bumper/skid, stock bumper/skid, and that lower chassis brace on the front of the buggy, I needed longer screws to get full thread engagement. I was somewhat prepared for this and had some of the longer screws on-hand, but not everything so I did have to pick up some additional M5 and M6 screws to finish it correctly.

A bit less interesting but needed, I decided to repair and reinforce my lower body panels. I do have a spare clear set but I think I can still get some life out of my original pieces. The tip was missing off one of the panels in front of the lower front mounting hole so I cut and bent up a bit of lexan to graft on. I also cut strips of lexan and drywall tape bonded with shoe goo to reinforce those lower mount holes, and some additional drywall tape and shoe goo around the front edges as well.

Horatio

Nice job! What motor and esc are you using?

In the last year, I've relented and joined in with the brushless crowd by getting a Kronos XTR - it's insanely quick, even on Corally ESC & Motor and 6S.


Driving a brushless baja5b isn't going to be for the faint of heart!

How does it hold up with your upgrades? It sure must be stiffer, perhaps a little heavier over stock?

DARKWAV

It is the original system that came with the buggy. Castle XL2 ESC and sensorless 2028 780KV motor. Even with the extra weight I have put on it, the motor has always been more than enough. Far more torque than needed; you are always modulating/blipping the throttle to avoid spinning tires, but if you do have a lot of traction then the front end is always wanting to come up. I've been lucky so far with the ESC as it hasn't burned up yet. I'm not running an external BEC or cap packs. It eats batteries though. On a pair of 4S 5000 mAh batteries I think I was only getting 15 minutes of run time, if that. Fortunately I'm sure there are a lot more battery options these days that I will have to look into.

One of my favorite upgrades is the rear chassis plate that replaces both the stock aluminum plate and plastic under guard. Rought terrain would beat up that plastic guard pretty quickly. Only thing i have broked so far has been a V1 Kraken arm. But again I think that is more from the rough terrain I was driving on and probably catching the arm on a large coble stone. I'm thinkng when I get it all back together I might just run this at a large grassy park instead of the natural terrain with all those cobbles near my house. I'm kinda space limited in by bash spot anyway.

I don't have any experience with gas or nitro. I got into the hobby right around the time brushless systems were becoming available in 1/10 RTRs so power and speed was never an issue. Though I also never did anything like spending a day out in the dunes where you might want longer run times from gas and nitro RCs.

Horatio

Well I appreciate your contribution to this thread, your 5B is very cool and I have a new love for brushless after swerving it for so many years! ​​​​​​

That being said, for anyone enjoying brushless that hasn't given nitro or petrol a go yet:

Give them a go - it's different, but in a really good way.

One thing that I still smile about with the 5B SS, despite being a handful to drive, is that sound. On the curly pipe. It's so damned loud! Like a crazy MX bike. Obviously not ideal if you have neighbours, but fine if you're out in the arse-end of nowhere like me!

Right - note to self. Build brushless Baja 5B to keep the XTR company....

What sort of chargers are the brushless crowd using these days?

I've quickly discovered that charging high capacity 6S packs is a very different ball game compared to charging smaller 4S and 6S for FPV drones.

My SkyRC Q200 struggles to charge my 6S Gensace 4500 at anything more than 2.4amps. This is a real shame, because I love this charger in most regards otherwise.

So, it looks like yet another charger (probably a dc one) and power supply will need to be purchased.

DARKWAV

It does seem like these larger high capacity 3S, 4S and 6S packs people like to run in their 1/8 - 1/5 scale bashers these days really demand something like a 200W per channel charger that can do 10A or higher charge rates if you want to get a battery done in an hour. I see Spektrum has one and two channel 200W AC chargers. I think options open up more if you have a power supply to run a DC charger. I see a lot of discussion around the iCharger brand because of the high power, high current, and other features that racers find useful.

I get by with a Hitec 80Wx4 channel DC charger which is mostly fine for me since by largest batteries are 3S and 4S 5000 mAh, and I tend to run dual battery setups in my cars anyway to make the higher voltages. Back when I got it Quad AC chargers were only 50W per channel so I had to get a power supply. Now I do see AC quad chargers that are 100W per channel. With the Baja it would be really nice to get into some higher capacity batteries and a higher power charger for it...at least I already have a good power supply though so it would open up options on chargers.

DARKWAV

Got the rear end apart to get at the tranmission. Figured this would be the most complicated part of this build. However, there were three things that really helped out.

1. HPI's manual has all the details step-by-step for the disassembly so it all went smoothly.

2. Plastic organizer bin that my wife didn't have a use for. I put all the fasteners and other small bits from each dissassembly step in their own compartment, plus the case has a lid to keep everything secure. I've had this for awhile now and have used it for other projects but taking apart the rear end of the Baja 5B was the first thing that came to mind when my wife offered it to me!

3. Ryobi electric screwdriver, MIP Speed Tips, and DDM driver bits makes it a breeze to quickly remove long screws. When more torque is needed I can put the speed tip or bit in a T-handle. I had been in the hobby for several years before finally picking up an electric screwdriver. Definately a time saver.

Horatio

It's good to be organised. Working on the Baja, you need a proper workshop sized bench, good lighting and space to put everything somewhere.

I use a magnetic dish, hudy hex drivers and a Dewalt XR cordless combi driver. Wouldn't be without it.

Glad to hear you're making progress. 👍

DARKWAV

The house already had a tired old full size workbench in the garage. I claimed it right away as my personal man-space so it is off-limits to use as a storage shelf. I'll allow stuff to be set on it very temporarily if like if prepping for a camping trip or something, but otherwise if there is no active project occupying it then it needs to have nothing on it! It is nice to have all that work space available for a single project.

I got a little three-section aluminum parts tray with magnetic inserts a few months ago for small repairs (or in this case for the current step) to drop the small parts into. It is amazing how easily a small part can get pushed off the bench or underneath something while working. Even using some old plastic Tupperware containers is better that nothing but I've accidently knocked into those things spilling the contents while trying to pull stuff apart.

Progress has slowed since the kids are out of school for the summer and I had to start prepping the deck for staining. Not a big deal it is kind of nice to have a fun project to take my time with and not rush through when there is a bit of down time here or there.