I upgrades my ol' '99 Rustler XL-1 with the XL-5's motor, ESC, and servo parts. Now I want to upgrade it with a brushless system. I am low on budget so I was looking at the EZRun by Hobby Wing. What do you think would be a good one for budget and for speed.

I've got a question though. Do I need to get a metal transmission, because right now, it is plastic gears, besides the pinion. Thanks for reading.


P.S. I want it to stay under $100 for all of the vital components (including new transmission if that is necessary)

-Radiatordude

You'll need all the newer transmission parts. But, you could get a Ezrun 60A + 9T/4300KV system or if you have the money, I'd recommend the 60A ESC with the 10.5T/4000KV motor combo. But yes, you definitely will need to upgrade the transmission first.

Thank you for your reply.

What would you reccomend for the transmission upgrade? And does the slipper clutch/spur gear need to be replaced with a metal one, or can it be the plastic type?

Is the lower the turn better? Because I replaced my 20T XL-1 motro with a 12T motor and I didn't notice a difference because the 20T was shot so I wasn't able to use it for 4/5 years/

I'm not 100% sure what parts in the transmission need to be replaced, I just know that the older Rustler's can't handle the power of brushless. You can get complete transmissions off Ebay. I'd just replace all the gears inside the tranny. Eg- idler shaft, diff, etc... You should be fine with the same spur gear/slipper.

Lower turn/higher KV = More top end power but not as much torque
Higher turn/lower KV = More torque but not as much top end

But generally, it's better to get a bit higher turn motor and gear up as it'll run cooler (to an extent). Sometimes you won't notice a difference with a better motor if you run the same gearing. I would've thought you'd notice a difference between the 20T and 12T though.

Well, if you are confused why I didn't see a difference, is because I hadn't used it in 4 or 5 years so I'd forgot how it runs. I just got into this hobby over the past month, so I replaced the broken XL-1 motor and ESC.

FLM or Robinson Racing make good parts for your upgrade... Doing the same thing and it's getting PRICEY! ProLine makes one all ready to go, but they don't recommend going above 2S

I have run an EZ Run 60 amp/4000 combo on 2s in my Rusty for over 3 years and love it.The only thing I have done to the original trans. is replace the idler gear with the metal one and use the diff. with the metal ring gear.It has held up very well with the EZ Run as well as a Castle Sidewinder 4600.

If you set the Slipper properly the tranny should hold up. Alot of the cheaper trucks have plastic gears in there and they hold up just fine as long as the slipper is set right. I am referring the the ECX(electrix) vehicles off the top of my head

My tlr 22 and xxx cars have plastic gear transmissions, as do most race kits.
If your putting the largest motor possible, to do wheelies and jump your house steel gears are a good idea. If your going to race it with a noob friendly motor ( 17.5-13.5) you'll be just fine with plastic. The stock diff isn't very good, hence why pro-line makes there's.