Losi NC-Running Hot & Smoking motors

[Davey]

Any advice is much appreciated.

I'm on my third motor with the LNC. Rooster Crawler ESC and a 45t Novak Expert Series crawling motor. 21 tooth pinion. Stock everything else when it comes to gearing. When I get it stuck...even barely stuck in rock crevices and the motor quickly goes from cool to the touch to almost too hot to touch...or it just smokes itself. To be fair, i didn't have this issue with the stock motor or setup, only the aftermarket motors. The second motor i had in it was a handwound 35t crawling motor with the same 21t pinion. I do NOT have a BEC connected...LHS said it wasn't a necessity??? I'm running a 2S 2100 maH LiPo.

I have not re greased the axles once since owning the rig. After reading quite a few posts relating to the LNC and LCC, I'm def going to get this done ASAP for starters. LHS is saying just don't get it stuck in rock crevices....OK to an extent I can do that, but I think its performance is sub par. Any suggestions? Should i be considering dig? An new motor ESC combo? Perhaps a Timbuk2? Simply a gearing issue?

Mark

 

[GrimJeeper91]

Hi Mark. Are you by chance new to LNC's? You stated that you have never greased the axles. Did you buy it new? How many hours do you have on it? I'm relatively new to the Losi crawler seen (just under a year) but one thing that I have learned is worm gears need grease. Lots of it! Often! On a couple of occasions now what I thought was a motor or speed control issue ended up being a grease issue (lack of it that is). When you break the axles down you will find that the worms are by no means dry but what's remaining is not enough. Break down those axles, drill your grease ports, grease them up good and throw it back together. I would be surprised if this doesn't solve your problem. Also, you would be better posting LNC specific questions in the Team Losi Comp Crawler section. Both Night Crawler and Comp Crawler are covered here. Good luck...

 

[Davey]

Ok, thanks for the info, i appreciate it. Yes the LNC is my first crawler. I've had it for a couple years now but have not gotten to drive it as much as I would have liked. Greasing the worm gears is top of my priority list now, just bought the grease, so I'll have a go at it and see how it runs then. I think I have about 10 hours of total drive time over two years. So not very much....

Mark

 

[Charlie-III]

Additionally, the Losi wormdrive rigs are known to eat brushed motors, even good ones.
These rigs are one of the few that usually do better with a brushless system, at least in terms of motor life.
The worm drive adds drag when off the throttle (which is good) which some complain about in other rigs running brushless.

The other suggestions are good ones, especially the looking over the Losi specific forums.

 

[GiJoe]

Deffinitly check out the Losi Comp crawler forums. Ive owned the LNC / LCC since released and love them, but they do require maintenance. Especially the worms. Some here refute me, but I keep my axles PACKED FULL of Lucas Red & Tacky grease and have no problems.

A 21T pinion is awful high for a brushed motor. Brushless is best as posted above. If you go brushless in your rig, do it right the first time... go 13.5 sensored with a 12T pinion.

If your worms are shot due to no grease, buy the Losi HD worm gears to replace them.

Other thing to check for smoked motors...Wheels overtightened? Driveshafts and axle CV's oiled and not binding?

A few simple maintenance tips will get you back out-crawling Axials in no time!:mrgreen:

 

[bigjeff1313]

Something I did when I had one is drill a small hole in the axle housing where the gears meet. Get you a small grease gun with a needle tip to squrt grease in the axles. You can screw a small screw into the hole to close it up & keep dirt & water out. That's alot easer than taking the axles apart everytime to grease them. Also, check the worm gears. See if the line up correctly. They had a problem when they first came out with the LCC. You might chech if you have to many or not enough bushings. Good luck.