TRX4 Tow Rig advice needed

[high plains drifter]

It pulls the front left wheel on carpet with the 6 year old. Rear is under driven, HH crawl master 13 turn and HW1080. Think I’m running a 8t pinion though, only does like 6mph wot. Everything has held up ok though, gotten warm but not extreme.


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Good to know. I hope that the HH Trailmaster will do okay. I'll definitely keep an eye on temps.

Exact reason I chose mine too...I started outfitting a sport, but the WB convinced me to switch. Glad I did, my truck so far doesn't show any wheeling tendencies. I think it's also the tongue load as well, if your trailer puts a lot of weight on the hitch, you'll pull the front wheels. My trailer sits level w/o being hooked up when loaded, so I think that helps.

I appreciate your experience with this. I'm going to make sure to try and keep the weight as far rearward as I can... still balanced as possible but more rear-biased.

 

[high plains drifter]

Finalizing this project I just want to go over [again] the motor/ pinion.

I don't have funds for a serious motor upgrade although if I need to purchase a different Trailmaster Sport and/ or pinion I'm okay with that.

Right now I have the Trailmaster Sport 550 21t that I'm planning to use with the stock 45t spur/ 11t pinion. Is that going to be okay?

If not... Should I be replacing the 11t pinion with a 10 or 9 tooth? Again, as I've seen discussed elsewhere, seems not ideal in terms of keeping temps down.

Or should I be looking at a different Trailmaster Sport 550 motor? Which one?

I'm not trying to complicate things and believe me, I'm listening to everything that y'all are saying. I just want to make sure that I'm on the right page here before buying anything else and digging into these mods.

 

[austin-92]

Finalizing this project I just want to go over [again] the motor/ pinion.

I don't have funds for a serious motor upgrade although if I need to purchase a different Trailmaster Sport and/ or pinion I'm okay with that.

Right now I have the Trailmaster Sport 550 21t that I'm planning to use with the stock 45t spur/ 11t pinion. Is that going to be okay?

If not... Should I be replacing the 11t pinion with a 10 or 9 tooth? Again, as I've seen discussed elsewhere, seems not ideal in terms of keeping temps down.

Or should I be looking at a different Trailmaster Sport 550 motor? Which one?

I'm not trying to complicate things and believe me, I'm listening to everything that y'all are saying. I just want to make sure that I'm on the right page here before buying anything else and digging into these mods.

I would just run what you have and keep an eye on motor temps. You can get those inferred temp guns for 20$, if it’s getting a little over 160*F I’d start with a heat sink/fan. If that’s not doing it, then I would start to worry about the things you mentioned. I’d probably drop a tooth and go to 3s if you haven’t already first. Are the trail masters 3 of 5 slot motors?


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[high plains drifter]

I would just run what you have and keep an eye on motor temps. You can get those inferred temp guns for 20$, if it’s getting a little over 160*F I’d start with a heat sink/fan. If that’s not doing it, then I would start to worry about the things you mentioned. I’d probably drop a tooth and go to 3s if you haven’t already first. Are the trail masters 3 of 5 slot motors?


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The TM Sport 550 is a 3 slot. It's been in the rig for a while and I like it for a crawl/ trail motor. And I know that OSRC already said to just run it. Just making sure that this will or should be the most optimal budget route to go. I don't mind buying a different turn Trailmaster Sport or a 9 or 10t pinion but as mentioned I'm afraid that running that high of a gear will bring too much heat. It's why I was wondering if a Trailmaster 27t might be better ( although if I'm understanding the basics, a 21t/ 1800kv will be better for trailing speed than a 27t/ 1400kv. I don't want this tow rig to be a complete pig.

Funny you mention the fan. I was already planning on doing that. I've got one that I pulled off of a slash.

 

[Goro Majima]

I can relate to a point. I recently used my 8.4lb TRX4 2spd to tow said 4lb trailer with my Interceptor build which is 6.1lbs. It towed it pretty well, better than I expected on the trails. But I'm running a 12t Hackmoto with a 1080 so not stock but still brushed. I really didn't want to add more weight to the rig but I pulled the trigger on a bit more brass and a front servo winch which now brings the weight to 9.95lbs.

 

[high plains drifter]

I can relate to a point. I recently used my 8.4lb TRX4 2spd to tow said 4lb trailer with my Interceptor build which is 6.1lbs. It towed it pretty well, better than I expected on the trails. But I'm running a 12t Hackmoto with a 1080 so not stock but still brushed. I really didn't want to add more weight to the rig but I pulled the trigger on a bit more brass and a front servo winch which now brings the weight to 9.95lbs.

Yeah, this is a pretty heavy rig just on it's own so the motor will definitely be pushing pretty hard.

Since starting this thread I've researched/ read a good deal and educated myself quite a bit more about motors than I ever had in all my years of RC... slots, turns, kv's, gear ratios, etc. So I think I'm good on my plans moving fwd. Apologies for kinda beating a dead horse but again... continuing to digest all this stuff I never really used to think too much about. And sometimes asking questions and discussing things helps me make sense of things more solidly. Thanks for all the replies here.

 

[austin-92]

The TM Sport 550 is a 3 slot. It's been in the rig for a while and I like it for a crawl/ trail motor. And I know that OSRC already said to just run it. Just making sure that this will or should be the most optimal budget route to go. I don't mind buying a different turn Trailmaster Sport or a 9 or 10t pinion but as mentioned I'm afraid that running that high of a gear will bring too much heat. It's why I was wondering if a Trailmaster 27t might be better ( although if I'm understanding the basics, a 21t/ 1800kv will be better for trailing speed than a 27t/ 1400kv. I don't want this tow rig to be a complete pig.

Funny you mention the fan. I was already planning on doing that. I've got one that I pulled off of a slash.

Honestly I’ve always been the kind to upgrade the motor one time from stock and have a huge array of gearing choices. Obviously the 27 turn will tow better than the 21 turn and a 10t pinion will tow better than the 11t, depends what you want to spend, what’s the lowest top speed you’re ok with, and what temps you’re seeing. Gearing down will not increase temps though. What batteries are you running, 2s/3s?


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[high plains drifter]

3S. I'll pick up a 27t and 10 tooth pinion I guess. I know that a 27t will give me more torque but I don't want to sacrifice the speed. Time to just experiment around and see how things go.