I'd go with a 17.5 and then pick up a used LRP sphere or SPX. They have a really smooth throttle profile. Gear it for a top speed of 20mph or so. As he gets better you can work the gearing up to a normal top speed.

The biggest mistake I see with the novice class around here is guys letting their kids drive cars that are faster than they can handle.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure I had read that adjusting the EPA down to slow down a brushless is a really bad idea. As it doesn't allow the motor to reach a high enough RPM to propperly cool, and then causes added stress on the ESC.

I maybe wrong but I believe I read this on Castle's webpage.

This mainly applies to airplane/heli/EDF where guys would overload/overprop a motor and then try to back the EPA down to keep it from melting.

It would be no different than driving an entire heat at half throttle. Would you be afraid to do that?

you could get an older elctric one i have a few they are still fun and not that fast or you could just get one at a hobby shop they usually come with realy bad batteries and go slow

+1 on the gearing.
Lower gearing makes life easy on everything else too.

the rtr esc and motor out of a b4.1, t4.1 or sc10 2wd would be good i think. not super powerfull, but gives you room to grow, and you can get them for cheap off ebay, or in the forsale section. i think they are like 110 bucks on amain aswell

i see that no one mentioned why he's trying out a 4wd rig. try out a 2wd stadium truck. they're the best to start out with for beginners. no matter what slow motor you throw in. and you won't be breaking parts on the bj4. which are a pain in the ass to find by the way.

That is what I am afraid of/trying to avoid. He has gotten to where he can drive well at the current top speed (under 8mph) of the brushed motor in his car. I think he is ready to go a BIT faster, but not to the speed that a regular brusless setup will offer. He tries to save up his allowance to buy his own RC stuff (of course I pitch in for some things) so I am looking at keeping the cost low for him.

Does anyone have a quick/quicker aftermarker brushed motor reccomandation for his B44? If you recommend a motor, please recommend a proper size pinion as well.

If your trying to help him save money then dont waste money on a slow system, period. Buy a good radio that he can use for years on other cars when hes ready and set the endpoint to the speed hes good with. Buying stuff twice does not save money.

Once again, buy a quicker motor, and then limit the top speed by sticking something behind the trigger so he can't pull it all the way back. This is the poor man's EPA. It is the cheapest solution anyone could possibly come up with.

the reedy radon 17t brushed motor is a great one. its rebuildable, and around the $20 mark.

http://www.amainhobbies.com/product_...-Brushed-Motor

I have a losi sc10 with venom brushless all ready to go bought it for my boy but he lost interest everything you need to run nothing to spend . Pm me if your interested .

Dumb question here, but what "on-road stock motor" are you running that only has a top speed of 8mph? And what gearing are you currently running?

It's been quite some time since I've run a brushed motor in a buggy, but I'm thinking you should be able to get more than 8mph out of any stock motor. If memory serves me correctly, I'm thinking a box stock traxxas was 14-18mph years ago.

Im not sure of the exact top speed, so 8mph was more of a guess as it might be closer to 10-12mph. The motor is out of a RTR Tamiya TT-01, 540 size. The gearing for the pinion is 18t, and the spur is 74t.

I've got a Slash 4x4 that my 7 year old has been driving most of the time and I am a firm believer in the "Training Mode" feature they have on them. It is fast enough that he is learning how to drive the truck but not enough that he is breaking parts and when I get to drive it is easy to turn off.

Every now and then when he complains that he wants to go faster I'll turn it on normal mode, let him flip it a few times, bounce it off a couple things and turn it back to training mode.

Another option is upgrading batteries. I'm not familiar with the layout on your truck but with the Slash we can run 7 cells or 6 cells and there is a noticable difference in the speed between the two. I know budget is a concern but maybe stepping up to LiPos would give the speed he is looking for without upgrading hardware and they can be looked at as a long term investment in the toys.