Losi LST Sell or Modify?

[Redback]

Hello, I have an original 2006 LST that im thinking of converting to brushless.

http://www.rc-trucks.org/team-losi-lst.htm



Before i start drilling this amazing truck i wanted to ask, is it worth it or would it be worth more sold as a roller / nitro?

I have the manual, body, electronics / fm 3 chan controller, a non running mach 28 nitro and working hyper 21 engine, the spur is pretty chunky but still works.
One owner its come all the way from Australia with me, Its been run well and never been bashed hard, all original parts nothing broken (besides engine roto start plate)

What would one of these sell for, or any details on converting these to brushless?
I've seen this but it doesnt show it running and rather than using a plate of metal i have a hpi 1/8th brushless motor mount ready to be tapped into the chassis.
https://www.rc-monster.com/forum/showthread.php?t=19289
 

Advice please! Thank you.

Edited August 18, 2020 by Redback

[namastebuzz]

Can't really give you an answer.

I saw a few around Europe on ebay for around £350-400 or best offer, so hard to know what they'd make.

Depends how much you love the truck and want to keep it I guess. If you sink money and time into a brushless conversion you'll never recover it in monetary value but you can balance that against the enjoyment of doing the work and keeping the truck going in a modernised fashion.

Personally I'd keep it as original or sell it as original and buy a different brushless truck.

Sent from my MIX2 using Tapatalk

[Redback]

Thank you, that's given me some food for thought.
 

I'm worried about breaking it on brushless, and it seems hard to find parts for this nowdays / Not sure about part compatibility, availability of parts from other losi lst models.
 

I don't have the space to run it nitro and its been shelved for 4 years, I kind of feel it needs a new home where some one will enjoy the truck and give it the attention it deserves.

 

Edited August 18, 2020 by Redback

[Ninetiesbeard]

Id say keep nitro, theres a lot of newer brushless trucks out there, and while brushless lsts are awesome i think it would be cooler as a nitro IMO. Spares are difficult, i believe the first and second gen share most parts so theres that. I think the muggy also shares some parts

[GorillaZilla]

Yeah,  best keeping that nitro,  Put  a nice engine quality engine in there,  one that's a pleasure to work with and you'll have a nice time.

 

And have a something else brushless,  It's nice to have both,  sometimes you want the convience of brushless,  sometimes you will want to tinker with nitro.    

 

If I was to go brushless now,  it would have to be a Corally,  AJ's having a great experience with his,  great chap running that company and it shows,  they even gave him the option of a free selection of V2 parts or like 77% off all the improved V2 parts,  like they are doing for everyone who already owns one. 

 

Edited August 18, 2020 by GorillaZilla

[Redback]

Appreciate the replies, I already bought a Hobbywing Max 8 and converted my Hyper to brushless and for me its much more fun as i don't have to worry about the nitro, the noise.

The setup has plenty of power it peels the tires on 6s and cant go full throttle without something flying off, its a rocket!

I bought the max 8 motor with the intention of using it also in the LST , however on further thoughts maybe its too much instant power for the weight and size of the truck? The drive train looks very beefy but i worry about the high / low transmission taking a beating.
I'm leaning towards selling it as a roller, that way people can do with it what they like, either put the nitro parts back in or use the mount I've fabricated for the brushless motor, (mount bolts onto the the chassis via a plate) so i didn't need to drill the chassis.

Edited August 18, 2020 by Redback

[GorillaZilla]

Brushless buggy and Nitro monster truck is a good combo,   but nitro isn't for you anymore,   you could always sell the LST as a roller and use the money from that to go towards a brushless ready roller of somekind.

[Crazy L]

I had the same dilemma many years ago.  

 

I had it up for sale on the now defunct Maxbashing forum,  I had a ton of spares with it and only one guy was interested, and he offered me £50 for the lot.  Insulted, I kept it and converted it to brushless.  I made some of the parts myself as I'm in the engineering game.  In fact, I used it only this last sunday (6th sept')

 

I use a Leopard 2000kv motor and a Hobbywing 150 amp ESC, with a single speed hub and only  single steering servo. 

[Redback]

Intresting thank you for the info, i was to sell it i think i would want atleast +300£ as a roller (with nitro / controller gear etc) is that unreasonable?, 50£ is insulting as these are rare nowdays. Ive seen brushless conversions on ebay for 800/1000£.

[m4inbrain]

I don't want to come off rude, but i'm not entirely certain where you got the £300 from, or the other guy who mentioned even £400. When was that, a decade ago?

 

That's more than a 3XLe sells for (3XLe, £320 ebay). Seeing random numbers on ebay doesn't mean anything, you've got to look at the "sold listings". Running LSTs sell for around £140-£150. These listings where someone asks £800 for a Tamiya TT02 (not made up) aren't a measure of price. 

 

Yes, it's worth more than £50, of course. I'd be insulted too, it's unrealistic. But so is £300 - and you stated the reason for it yourself, too. You can't do anything with them, really. You can run a tired, old RC until it inevitably breaks (with the high potential of not being able to find spares), that's it. You can't really convert it, because again, spares are hard to come by. And of course, most importantly, £300 buys you modern RCs that are just leagues above an original LST. Including things like Kratons, 3XLes, XXL2es, Savage XL Flux etc pp. And i know, because i've sold an immaculate (not a scratch) XXL2e somewhat recently. Hell, four weeks ago someone offered my a X-Maxx with broken bulkhead (£25 part) for £450. 

 

You're asking modern brushless money for a tired, 15 year old nitro. The best thing you could do, if you want to make some money off of it, is break it and sell parts for spares. Or of course, accept that it's not worth more than £150. Don't just believe me, check sold listings on ebay. 

Edited September 10, 2020 by m4inbrain

[Redback]

Totally fair and reasonable, I agree i'm probably thinking to much as the truck to me still worth something to me so i'm overvaluing it when really they are toys not collectors items.
With a realistic figure i can now decide what to do, thank you!

[Redback]

Hello I'm back and decided to lightly modify it to brushless, nothing fancy right now just testing the water so to speak, dont want to break the truck so being realistic this is just for fun and to allow me to run it around the house, etc...
Thanks for looking maybe it will go up for sale if so you can see whats been done to it before you buy.
As I refuse to drill this chassis I started by prototyping a mount that fits with no new holes needed.
Its also belt driven right now as i had issues getting this bodge mount to mesh with any pinion, thus a very odd solution that seems to work for now,
I'm hoping to make a neater mount plate that adjusts along with keeping the belt drive system as its sounds very cool.

 

Battery trays affixed to the motor mount cooling plate right now, esc fits snugly were the fuel tank used to go.

 

 

Current pinion & spur setup a 14t pinion driving bike innertube tire belt onto a 1.9 wheel. 🤔

 

 

Bodgy belt drive testing.

 

 

Obligatory testing video.
 

 

 

Edited May 14, 2021 by Redback

[Redback]

Belt drive kept failing so easy option for now was a big pinion and move the motor mount that really was the wrong choice.
Will look into another solution that gives me some options.

 

Esc fits snugly behind.

 

Cant mount battery sideways due to shocks, on the motor mount again.

 

 

Sounds horrible due to the heavily worn spur, should bed in and smoothen out pretty quick.
Testing 34t pinion. Things going to shift!

 

 

Thanks for reading.

 

[tomr]

Top work mate

Just watched your running vid 👍 it looks great on 3s , I really  liked it in low gear Traxxas summit stylee 👌I’m a big fan of the lst/lst2 XXL so for me yours is a keeper 

[Redback]

Thank you very much Tom, sure is a keeper now, as its running the nitro transmission, it has the manual servo reverse and the manual breaks mixed in. So still drives and feels like its nitro, with far more punch and low end control.
Its a very heavy truck so amazed with how it shifts. Surpised me for the size of the pinion, motor ran cool and got about 15min run time from 5000mha 3s,

Running video.
 

Good fun, loads of power can pop a wheelie at 50%, nitro couldnt wheelie, just loved to roll onto its face.
Not going to fiddle with it any more for now, runs like a dream for how its put together, wont be run or bashed much due to rarity of spares. Just nice to have her running again.
Motor/Esc can be dropped out easily as its home is usally the hyper 7.

[tomr]

Loads of spares and upgrades for these on eBay mate if you didn’t know already 👍

[Redback]

1 hour ago, tomr said:

Loads of spares and upgrades for these on eBay mate if you didn’t know already 👍

Ah thats re assuring, makes me want to take it out a bit more atleast, seems a shame now its running not to get a good bit of use from her.
Guess i better start using ebay then, I've managed to avoid it for 20 years.
The low range has some serious pulling power, I wonder if it will pull me or the lad along on a skateboard lol.

[Lone-wolf]

Drives nice, better than some nitro

[Redback]

  

4 hours ago, Jack Reacher said:

Drives nice, better than some nitro

Moar power than the nitro, torque for miles.
 

 

[Crazy L]

Well done on the conversion.  I'm just giving my LST a full strip, clean and service after a very long time.  

[vimto2000]

If you guys are still after parts, look at my thread in the for sale section. 

Lots of new parts and a custom made motor mount. 

 

Cheers