Tony
Staff member
I honestly can't remember when Matt brought his T-Maxx down here to my house, but it has been at least a few years. I just did some searching, and the earliest I can find of me talking about that truck was way back on May 18 2013!! So over 5.5 years. Yup, I didn't think I could feel any worse about this truck, and now that I found that date, I feel worse... I didn't think he brought it to my old house... Anyway, here is the story on this truck since this story (for me anyway) is coming to an end this week.
Matt (@callsign4223) purchased a used T-Maxx 2.5 on ebay or craigslist (can't remember which, he can clarify) and it didn't run. I think he knew the starter was out so we ended up replacing the electric starter motor. Well, the battery that the starter came with just wasn't worth anything and kept going dead so I said screw it and stuffed a lipo in there lol. Well, this ate up the starter motor (but cranked MUCH FASTER!!) and destroyed it and we (he) ended up getting another starter motor.
After destroying the second starter motor, Matt decided to say screw it and do an electric conversion on this truck. I started planning out everything and we even had a piece of metal bent up to mount the motor to. Well, that was as far as it went and the truck sat out in the garage for quite some time.
Somehow I was able to talk him into putting a tiger drive on the nitro engine which uses a drill to start the engine rather than that wimpy little electric 540 size motor. He agreed and ordered it, and I put it on. I was going to put it on video, not sure what happened, but it never made it to video... Sorry about that. It was not that impressive anyway. Take engine out, remove electric starter, install TigerDrive, reinstall engine. I did have to make a starter shaft out of an allen driver though. It had to be a ball end driver (7/32") though because you had to go around the tire and shock to get to it. And I had to extend it so it would reach that distance. So I welded on an extension to the allen driver. Still didn't start and I gave up on it...
One day I went out there and found it and decided I was not going to let that truck beat me so I put everything back on, engine and all and started working on it. I can't remember if it was before the electric motor idea or after, but we had found that the carb was cracked and Matt ordered a new carb body. I was thinking that was the reason we couldn't get it to run so I put the new carb body on the engine. Guess what? Yup, still didn't friggin run....
I pretty much gave up on it at this point as did Matt and it sat here at my house under an end table in my living room for quite some time. A few weeks ago I was thinking about the truck and thought that I should do something to get it running and finally, after all this time, give it back to Matt so that he could at least have a little fun with it. So with two broke carbs, I decided to just order a brand new, complete carb for the engine. Brand new carb, TigerDrive, surely this thing would start.
I was waiting until I was able to get my office/studio done before working on it, but today (12/19/18) Matt decided to hit me up. He wanted his truck back, and only a few weeks before I was going to give it back to him. Dammit.
This forced me to rush on the truck and try to finally get this thing finished. So I installed the brand new carb and started looking for everything to get it started. Found some fuel, but I could not find that starter shaft that I made to save my life. Wait, the Align starter for the helicopter uses the same style starter shaft. I look all over for it, finally find it (an hour later...) and it has a larger hex head so it will not work. Go figure. I find something else that will work then I have to find my Tx/Rx for it. Another hour and I'm putting this thing together.
I get everything done and take it outside and try to fire it up. I know it's going to be gummy inside the engine so I pretty much flood it to try to break down the oils inside the engine and after about 10 minutes of trying to start this friggin thing, it fires. I had already turned everything off so that I could hold the carb at WOT just by turning the servo to keep the carb open. So because it was at WOT, I put my finger over the carb and killed it and turned everything back on. Guess what... That was the last form of life this engine showed. I was not able to get it to start again no matter what I tried.
Matt and I had already determined the piston and sleeve were toast and neither one of us had the money to replace them. Well, I guess Matt found a new engine on ebay for a really good price and after jacking around with this thing for a while today, I think a new engine is what this truck needs to FINALLY get it running!
so the truck is sitting back under the table where it has been for so long now waiting on Matt to get the engine to put it in. Sadly though, it will be going back to his place for the transplant so there will be no video (unless he shoots some). It was fun and challenging while it lasted and if either of us had more money to play with it would have been running long ago. But we both could see that this truck was going to be a money pit which is why things never really progressed like they should have. Either way, it will be running strong in just a couple weeks.
Matt, if you have anything to add to this, please do. I'm sure I forgot something in here. Now though, I can start planning out all of the work that I need to do on my brother in law's T-Maxx.... It never ends with these trucks....
Matt (@callsign4223) purchased a used T-Maxx 2.5 on ebay or craigslist (can't remember which, he can clarify) and it didn't run. I think he knew the starter was out so we ended up replacing the electric starter motor. Well, the battery that the starter came with just wasn't worth anything and kept going dead so I said screw it and stuffed a lipo in there lol. Well, this ate up the starter motor (but cranked MUCH FASTER!!) and destroyed it and we (he) ended up getting another starter motor.
After destroying the second starter motor, Matt decided to say screw it and do an electric conversion on this truck. I started planning out everything and we even had a piece of metal bent up to mount the motor to. Well, that was as far as it went and the truck sat out in the garage for quite some time.
Somehow I was able to talk him into putting a tiger drive on the nitro engine which uses a drill to start the engine rather than that wimpy little electric 540 size motor. He agreed and ordered it, and I put it on. I was going to put it on video, not sure what happened, but it never made it to video... Sorry about that. It was not that impressive anyway. Take engine out, remove electric starter, install TigerDrive, reinstall engine. I did have to make a starter shaft out of an allen driver though. It had to be a ball end driver (7/32") though because you had to go around the tire and shock to get to it. And I had to extend it so it would reach that distance. So I welded on an extension to the allen driver. Still didn't start and I gave up on it...
One day I went out there and found it and decided I was not going to let that truck beat me so I put everything back on, engine and all and started working on it. I can't remember if it was before the electric motor idea or after, but we had found that the carb was cracked and Matt ordered a new carb body. I was thinking that was the reason we couldn't get it to run so I put the new carb body on the engine. Guess what? Yup, still didn't friggin run....
I pretty much gave up on it at this point as did Matt and it sat here at my house under an end table in my living room for quite some time. A few weeks ago I was thinking about the truck and thought that I should do something to get it running and finally, after all this time, give it back to Matt so that he could at least have a little fun with it. So with two broke carbs, I decided to just order a brand new, complete carb for the engine. Brand new carb, TigerDrive, surely this thing would start.
I was waiting until I was able to get my office/studio done before working on it, but today (12/19/18) Matt decided to hit me up. He wanted his truck back, and only a few weeks before I was going to give it back to him. Dammit.
This forced me to rush on the truck and try to finally get this thing finished. So I installed the brand new carb and started looking for everything to get it started. Found some fuel, but I could not find that starter shaft that I made to save my life. Wait, the Align starter for the helicopter uses the same style starter shaft. I look all over for it, finally find it (an hour later...) and it has a larger hex head so it will not work. Go figure. I find something else that will work then I have to find my Tx/Rx for it. Another hour and I'm putting this thing together.
I get everything done and take it outside and try to fire it up. I know it's going to be gummy inside the engine so I pretty much flood it to try to break down the oils inside the engine and after about 10 minutes of trying to start this friggin thing, it fires. I had already turned everything off so that I could hold the carb at WOT just by turning the servo to keep the carb open. So because it was at WOT, I put my finger over the carb and killed it and turned everything back on. Guess what... That was the last form of life this engine showed. I was not able to get it to start again no matter what I tried.
Matt and I had already determined the piston and sleeve were toast and neither one of us had the money to replace them. Well, I guess Matt found a new engine on ebay for a really good price and after jacking around with this thing for a while today, I think a new engine is what this truck needs to FINALLY get it running!
so the truck is sitting back under the table where it has been for so long now waiting on Matt to get the engine to put it in. Sadly though, it will be going back to his place for the transplant so there will be no video (unless he shoots some). It was fun and challenging while it lasted and if either of us had more money to play with it would have been running long ago. But we both could see that this truck was going to be a money pit which is why things never really progressed like they should have. Either way, it will be running strong in just a couple weeks.
Matt, if you have anything to add to this, please do. I'm sure I forgot something in here. Now though, I can start planning out all of the work that I need to do on my brother in law's T-Maxx.... It never ends with these trucks....
