DRW-FJ40
07-02-2009, 06:21 AM
I built my FJ40 CR-01 stock at first with intentions of upgrading. A recent “incident” which resulted in a fried ESC & servo forced me to upgrade sooner rather than later.
I went with a Novak 55T & Rooster Crawler. The lower speed of the 55T really helps in low speed control when crawling. I miss the speed when just playing around in the driveway. The set up required soldering which I had not done before. If you are in this boat as well, my advice is get directions from Novak’s site & practice first. It required more skill than I anticipated. Although the motor has more torque than stock, I didn’t notice it that much due to tires slipping. I’m thinking to really realize the added torque, wheel weights might be necessary and/or foam insert changes. That said, the lower range of speed really helped with control in the rocks.
When taking the original motor out, I noticed the drive shafts had begun to twist. I went with Junfac drive shafts. They have worked well so far & seemed very reasonable for the money. Interestingly, I paid less in shipping from Korea than I have on similar ebay items from the next state over. The weight of the stainless is not significant. Also, make sure the lock screw is actually seated in the hole of the shaft. as they don’t go all the way through the shafts like the Tamiya ones and they will come off if not seated properly.
Finally, I upgraded to a high torque metal gear servo with an aluminum arm. It is snappier than the cheapo that came with my radio especially turning in the rocks at a dead standstill. A worthwhile upgrade. I went through both my cheap plastic ones pretty quickly and am hoping this one will last a lot longer. Time will tell.
I went with a Novak 55T & Rooster Crawler. The lower speed of the 55T really helps in low speed control when crawling. I miss the speed when just playing around in the driveway. The set up required soldering which I had not done before. If you are in this boat as well, my advice is get directions from Novak’s site & practice first. It required more skill than I anticipated. Although the motor has more torque than stock, I didn’t notice it that much due to tires slipping. I’m thinking to really realize the added torque, wheel weights might be necessary and/or foam insert changes. That said, the lower range of speed really helped with control in the rocks.
When taking the original motor out, I noticed the drive shafts had begun to twist. I went with Junfac drive shafts. They have worked well so far & seemed very reasonable for the money. Interestingly, I paid less in shipping from Korea than I have on similar ebay items from the next state over. The weight of the stainless is not significant. Also, make sure the lock screw is actually seated in the hole of the shaft. as they don’t go all the way through the shafts like the Tamiya ones and they will come off if not seated properly.
Finally, I upgraded to a high torque metal gear servo with an aluminum arm. It is snappier than the cheapo that came with my radio especially turning in the rocks at a dead standstill. A worthwhile upgrade. I went through both my cheap plastic ones pretty quickly and am hoping this one will last a lot longer. Time will tell.