What type of electric motor can I use with my Traxxas electric car or truck?
Traxxas cars and trucks accept most aftermarket 05 hobby-class motors. There are two different types of aftermarket motor which can be purchased for your electric model, stock and modified. Stock motors all have the same wire thickness and number of turns of wire around the armature as governed by sanctioned racing organizations. They are inexpensive, widely available, and more powerful than standard 540-size motors. Modified motors are more expensive and may feature ball bearings. They come in a wide variety of wire thicknesses and number of turns around the armature. The fewer the number of turns of wire on the armature, the more powerful the motor will be. Keep in mind that the more powerful the motor, the less run time you will have from your batteries.
High performance motors may be used, as long as they are geared correctly for your model. Modified motors (fewer number of turns) should be geared lower (smaller pinion gear) than stock motors, because they reach their maximum power at higher RPMs. A fast modified motor, which is geared at an incorrect ratio (too high), may actually be slower than a correctly geared stock motor. Because of the extreme variations in intended usages and motors, it is impossible to give exact recommendations for motor and gear ratio selection. Keep in mind this general rule of thumb: Modified motors should be geared 3-5 teeth (48-pitch) lower on the pinion gear than stock motors.Aftermarket stock motors should perform well with the pinion gear that came with your model, or perhaps with a gear that is 1-3 teeth larger.
If you are worried that you might be under or overgeared, check the temperature of the batteries and the motor. If the batteries are extremely hot, and/or the motor is too hot to touch, your model is probably overgeared. If you are not able to run your model for at least five minutes before the batteries die, then you should switch to a lower gear ratio (smaller pinion gear or larger spur gear). On the other hand, if the motor and batteries are just slightly warm, you may be able to increase the gear ratio slightly (larger pinion gear). This temperature test assumes that the model is close to factory stock weight and operates freely with no excessive friction, dragging, or binding (these things also affect motor and battery temperature). All high-quality, aftermarket stock motors will work well in all Traxxas electric models. For modified motors, we recommend limiting the number of turns to 16 in buggies and 17 in trucks. This provides a good balance of run time and speed. More radical motors can be used however, proper gearing becomes very critical, and high-quality batteries will be required for long run times.
