1st Hobby Grade RC, ECX Barrage 1.9 Build

[220shaun]

Wassup guys first time poster here and first hobby grade rc truck. Co-worker of mine had a RGT Rock Cruiser and I really enjoyed driving it around the Little Rock pile we made at work so I was eying up the ECX Barrage. Then I lucked out was able to snag one off Amazon on Prime Day for $68! By then I had also read just about every forum thread on this site and others and very YouTube video on the Barrage and had compiled a parts/to do list for this little truck.

So far I have done:
- Flipped crossmember mounts for battery and electronics
- Removed shock limiters
- Raised body posts and cut off extra (I'm mounted on the 4th hole from top, it's rather high but that's the lowest I could go without having rubbing issues with fender and tire)
- threadlocked the set screw in cvd's (I think that's the right term)
- Trimmed rear driveshaft (roughly 1/2", make sure you smooth edges after cut)
- Moved front bumper one out (I DO NOT RECOMMEND) Made front bumper very flimsy and ended up snapping it off. Mounted front bumper as close as possible, and cut everything off outside of the shackle mounts on both sides. This eliminated the tire rub in the front.
- removed decals
- removed leds (This gave me tons of more run time on the stock battery it was ridiculous)
- rewired to deans to use my 7.4v Airsoft batteries
- The Outboard shock mod isn't a great mod imho because you lose a lot of flex in the front and it's not even close. Even if properly spaced out so the shocks are straight up and down and not at a V, the tire will still hit the Outboarded shock fairly quickly and be prone to tipovers. Perhaps if you are doing mostly trail driving and not rock crawling this will be fine for you but so far I have been doing mostly technical rock crawling and the limited flex up front with oitboarded shocks was unexceptable. I have since inboarded the shocks again and moved the upper mount point to the lowest hole on all 4 shocks. This give me good clearance and the most amount of flex, astronomically more than stock. You will not be able to run a full size Servo however but I have found a low profile high Torque Servo on rcmart.com that I have coming in the mail to test. $69 and not as much Torque as the $25 Power HD LW20MG I was going to use but oh well.

Parts I have ordered and recieved but not installed yet:
- Traxxas Titan 380 Motor (no longer using as I have found and ordered the Axial 380 40t motor out of the yeti Jr)
- Brass 13 and 14t Pinion Gear (No longer using as I found and ordered a hot Racing steel 12t one)
- Traxxas Mini E-Revo front pinion for overdrive mod
- Redcat Aluminum lockers front and rear

Parts ordered and on the way:
- RC4WD Steel Beadlock Wagon 1.9 wheels
- RC4WD Interco Super Swamper 1.9 tires
- RC4WD 80mm Ultimate Scale Internal Spring Shocks
- Punisher Steel 100-130mm Center drive shafts 5mm output
- Hot Racing 12t steel 48p 1/8 pinion gear
- Hot Racing Aluminum 61t spur gear
- Hot Racing Aluminum Center gear set
- Hobbywing 1080 ESC
- Bluebird Low Profile Brushless High Torque Servo
- Axial 380 40t Motor

Parts I still need:
- RC4WD Mojave Front Cab etc
- Custom Flatbed
- Scalerfab Steel front and rear bumpers and rock sliders
- ECX Aluminum Rear Hub Carrier
- other possible upgrade parts from new ECX Doomsday
- aluminum Servo horn
- Looking at Hot Racing Aluminum front knuckles for Losi MRC

Trucks runs great with all stock parts and just DIY free mods. I would love to add some Wheel weights in the stock wheels but don't feel like messing with glue on tires. Posting from my phone at work will try to upload pics later

 

[hillbillyrc]

Sounds like you have been doing your homework.
One note you might want to get an another small spacer and a longer screw for outboarding the bottom of the shock or it will look like \ / with the shocks.

 

[220shaun]

Thanks for the advice hillbillyrc your posts were a great inspiration to my current build. I actually bought 2 of the Outboard kits because they seem to be hard to come by. Also what are your thoughts on the hot Racing Losi MRC spur and center gear set? Do you think they will fit in the stock trans housing? And suggestion for shocks? Or softer spring for stock shocks?

 

[220shaun]

Also I'm looking into a brushless setup. The Traxxas Velineon VX3LM (I think that's what it's called) 380 brushless motor setup with esc, esc cooling fan, and motor heat sink would be perfect if only it was a sensored motor. Looks like tazer made a sensored 380 brushless motor but is discontinued and I can't find one anywhere new or used. Anyone know if the Castle Creation Mamba Micro 0808 4100kv sensored brushless motor for 1/18 scale would fit? It was says it's a inrunner motor as opposed to outrunner motor and I'm unfamiliar with these terms. Bit pricey considering the cost of the truck but I'd like to squeeze the most performance out of this truck with bolt on parts that need no modification or dremeling etc to fit. Eventually I hope to clean this thread up when completed to be an easy upgrade Guide for new Barrage owners.

 

[clm]

Inrunner and Outrunner indicates what part of the motor turns, Inrunner has a narrow magnetic armature inside the motor that turns and tends to be a fairly compact setup well suited to RC cars. Outrunner motors has the magnets spaced around the outside of the motor in a bell shaped casing, and this bell shaped casing spins. These tend to be much wider motors and are usually found in RC airplane applications, using them in cars you have to be careful as you have a large rotating case ready to tangle or abrade through wiring and other pieces...

It is highly recommended to go with an inrunner unless you wish to make life difficult on yourself

As for which setup to buy.. eh, I am using a TImbuk2 and Three-80 novak setup in my Minicrawler and unfortunately Novak folded. The Traxxas setup is not sensored and more for speed, you are likely to experience cogging with sensorless setups.

I just went and did a bit of googling, I am not sure where to get a mini sized sensored crawler motor now days. That castle one is just a sensored esc with a sensorless motor... The Novak Thee-80 motors were the only one I knew about and with Novak going out of business they are not available any more.

You may want to stick with brushed?

 

[220shaun]

Thanks for the great info clm. Well looks like I'll stick with brushed for now. I have also found the motor out of the Axial Yeti Jr is a 380 size and is a 40t. Will be ordering that and trying it out. Only $13 on Amazon. Also ordering a stainless steel universal center Driveshaft set on Amazon. $20, will be trying out to see if that length works, test it out, then sell it to a coworker and order some Punisher shafts 8)

 

[220shaun]

Got my Outboard kit installed today while at work. Shocks weren't at too bad of an extreme, also had to move the upper shock ball Mount to the lowest position. I'm not getting nearly as much flex as I was with shocks inboard and am now much more prome to tipping over. Even if I space out the bottom Mount further out the wheel would still rub badly. It doesn't seem to have any more space to space the wheel out further either seeing as it has a 12mm spacer already. Perhaps with an internal spring shock I can inboard the shocks again and still fit my new Servo.

 

[220shaun]

Was just looking at that new ECX Doomsday which is based off of the Barrage. Says it now uses a 390 22t motor, actual 4 link (can't tell for sure from the pics though), different Servo Mount that uses a standard size Servo, and appears to have a aluminum front steering drag Link. Also has a Metal rear bumper that might not look horrible with the Barrage body. Possibly will try and grab some of these parts when replacement ones are available on horizon hobby. In the mean time though...it's pay day today!
So I made a big order:
- Hot Racing Aluminum 61t Spur Gear
- Hot Racing Aluminum Center Gear Set
- Hot Racing Steel 12t 48p 1/8 Pinion Gear
- Axial 380 40t Motor
- Hobbywing 1080 ESC
- Punisher Steel Center Driveshafts 100-130mm
- RC4WD Black Steel Beadlock Wagon 1.9 Rims
- RC4WD Interco Super Swamper 1.9 Tires
- RC4WD 80mm Ultimate Scale Internal Spring Shocks
And following the failed Outboard shock mod
- Bluebird Brushless High Torque Low Profile Servo

I've also decided to hold off on a new TX/RX as I do like the stock one and it's a 4 channel and good enough for my current uses. Next order will Be my RC4WD Mojave front Cab set, fab up a flat bed for it and possible roll cage for a Axial Honcho look, then order some custom sized Scalerfab steel bumpers and rock sliders to fit

 

[220shaun]

Forgot to update, canceled my RC4WD and picked up some stuff locally. Axial 1.9 Beadlocks, RC4WD Mudlsinger XL Tires, and Hot Racing Steel Center Driveshafts. The new wheel setup made a ton of difference with grip and the design of the hot Racing shafts seem to be much better than the u joint style. I do need to get set screws for them though as they are made to fit stock Axial ones which are different than the stock ECX ones. Axial motor came in the mail and so did the Hot Racing Gears. Just waiting for the hobbywing 1080 and we'll be good to go.

 

[220shaun]

Realized I wasn't sure if the bluebird Servo was waterproof or not so I sold it to a friend for his drift car and will be ordering the reccomended spectrum Servo from horizon hobby. Also was looking around and found a complete unpainted hard body Tamiya Subaru Brat body with all the accessories on eBay for a good price so I grabbed that as well. By my reasearch online it looks to be the right wheelbase. Also ordered some Punisher shafts since the hot Racing ones didn't work.

 

[clm]

It sounds like it is moving right along, hope to see some nice build pics here eventually! "thumbsup"

Chris

 

[jsarwar469]

Good stuff, I just got my first scale rig - Axial Deadbolt which I'm looking to build a jeep JKU out of. 1/10 replica of my jeep.

GL!

 

[220shaun]

Update! Sorry I will get on an actual computer one of these days and get some pics. So the Overdrive mod will not work. The Traxxas pinion gear will not mesh with the lockers. The Redcat aluminum lockers dropped right in through and with some white lithium grease they work great. Also got the ECX Aluminum Hub carriers on no problem. The Spectrum S6230 Digital High Torque Servo also fits great as it's the same dimensions as the stock. However I don't have a Servo arm for it yet to try it out. Heading to the hobby store today after work to see if they have an aluminum one that'll fit. I believe it's a 23t. Unfortunately the Hot Racing Losi MRC Aluminum Spur and Center gear sets didn't fit. The inner long pinion gear looks to be replaceable with for example a hot Racing steel one. The 2 stepped center gear also fits. However the other flat gear does not fit the outputs. You could change them I think but you would have to get different drive shafts. Also the traxxas Titan 380 and axial Yeti jr 380 motor both wouldn't fit without modifying the motor plate and the hot Racing pinion gear I ordered didn't fit lol. I ordered the axial 10t pinion gear for the Yeti jr and will try to modify the plate later to get it to fit. I also got the hot Racing steel cv center Driveshafts to work with the hot Racing spacer kit. I used the medium sized ones for the back and the smallest ones for the front upper links to change the angle of the pumpkin. Works great now no binding or vibrations.

 

[220shaun]

Oh and the Tamiya brat body came in. Fits great just need to get screws to assemble it as it didn't come with any. My plan for mounting it is the grind/sand the top of the mounting posts flush to the shock tower, super glue magnets to that, and super glue a metal bar or magnets to the underside of the body. Scalerfab front bumpers and rock sliders will work great as I can get custom width and offset. For the rear though I'm gunna have one of the guys at work weld me a simple double bar bumper. I wish this body had lightbuckets or at least clear lenses for the head and tail lights but I'm trying to see if they have small enough square and/or rectangle LED's to put in their place instead. Then I will primer the body and send it off to the guy who does our body and paint guy. I think I'll also order the lexan Tamiya brat body for bashing and keep this nice hard plastic one in pristine condition haha

 

[hillbillyrc]

Update! Sorry I will get on an actual computer one of these days and get some pics. So the Overdrive mod will not work. The Traxxas pinion gear will not mesh with the lockers. The Redcat aluminum lockers dropped right in through and with some white lithium grease they work great. Also got the ECX Aluminum Hub carriers on no problem. The Spectrum S6230 Digital High Torque Servo also fits great as it's the same dimensions as the stock. However I don't have a Servo arm for it yet to try it out. Heading to the hobby store today after work to see if they have an aluminum one that'll fit. I believe it's a 23t. Unfortunately the Hot Racing Losi MRC Aluminum Spur and Center gear sets didn't fit. The inner long pinion gear looks to be replaceable with for example a hot Racing steel one. The 2 stepped center gear also fits. However the other flat gear does not fit the outputs. You could change them I think but you would have to get different drive shafts. Also the traxxas Titan 380 and axial Yeti jr 380 motor both wouldn't fit without modifying the motor plate and the hot Racing pinion gear I ordered didn't fit lol. I ordered the axial 10t pinion gear for the Yeti jr and will try to modify the plate later to get it to fit. I also got the hot Racing steel cv center Driveshafts to work with the hot Racing spacer kit. I used the medium sized ones for the back and the smallest ones for the front upper links to change the angle of the pumpkin. Works great now no binding or vibrations.

Did you try shiming the gears? When this mod is done in the losi mini crawler it requires some shining.

 

[220shaun]

Tried shimming but the teeth/pitch were not the same. Also since I spaced out the upper links today I got some longer threaded rods, traxxas rod ends, longer m3 bolts, more spacers out of the hot Racing kit, and re used the m3 nuts stock. Also browsing through the Redcat website under parts for the Everest 16 I found they have aluminum bodied shocks that look identical to the stock Barrage ones (aluminum aside) and aluminum axle housings. Shocks were about $20 a pair and the housings were like $100+ per. I am considering getting the shocks if like the Barrage the top mount is m3 and the bottom is m2. I was going to try a pair of internal spring rc4wd ultimate Scale shocks from the local hobby store but the bottom mount is m3 so either I use the m2 hardware and the bottom mount will be loose, or try to drill out the mounts on the axle to 3mm but being that there isn't a lot of material to work with I'm not so comfortable with that.

 

[Shinchu]

try a sleeve over the m2? not sure where to find that but it could be an option. my son wants a brat body on his barrage too, but I want ot make it look less monster truckish. considering stepping down to 1.7 wheels/tires and removing the axle wideners. that said I doubt I can outboard the shocks with narrow axles, even with smaller wheels and the internal spring shocks.

kudos on finding that brat hardbody though! I think I was watching that one on ebay too lol

 

[220shaun]

Yeah I think I'm going to step down to 1.55's actually or 1.7's with stretched 1.55 tires for a more Scale look. Btw for those of you who go the brat hardbody route, the rc4wd Mojave hardware set has almost everything you need. Only thing needed extra is a couple more nuts for the window portions. also with the way the wheel wells are on the Brat body I can't really flex the front wheels as much. So outboarding the shocks may be back in the picture. We will try out a set of 1.55 and 1.7 wheels first though to see what I have to work with.