How Good is This Traxxas Bandit Mid Motor Setup?

The rare mid-motor Traxxas Bandit was featured in the 2023 Insanity Off-Road Championship 2WD Buggy R/C finale race and RRLRC's Cam Cullen caught up with proud owner Braden Dommel to discuss it's key features before taking it for a spin.
Watch our full a-main race video here: • 2WD Buggy Race ft. Sam...
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2023 RRLRC Insanity R/C Off-Road Championship | 1:10 R/C car sports action racing
This video is intended for R/C car and racing fans 13+
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Originally Recorded November 26, 2023
Produced by Cam Cullen
Time Codes
00:00 - Show & Tell
02:05 - Race Footage
#rc #racing #rcracing

[@GeddyRC]

Very cool breakdown! Love to see some ingenuity in the racing world. Never owned a Bandit but came close a few times (to run at this track specifically), they're cheap enough and plenty durable.

[@buggyworld7723]

They definitely are. I rarely break anything with this car

[@buggyworld7723]

For added details. I’m running a light amount of hi pressure black grease in the rear diff. Where I race at locally, people are moving away from ball diffs because of how bindy they are and gear diffs are more consistent. It handles much better with the gear diff. I’m running a plastic idler gear and plastic diff gear for more punch. Top gear is the stock steel one. Another reason the car generates so much grip is due to the heavy 4 pole 540 size motor I’m running. It’s a Duratrax Castle knockoff motor. It’s a DTX 3900 motor that has a 2s lipo limit so it did get hot running in the Stampede 4x4 Shapeshifter truggy I made 10 years ago. The only upside to that motor is that it has strong brakes. Since it got hot in the Shapeshifter truggy it’s a natural application to be ran in a 2wd vehicle. The reason there’s a hole in the top plate is because I dremeled too much material off to run a servo horn a few years ago when I raced it on clay. Since the top plate cracked by itself just from being ran it added more flex to the chassis so it makes more grip that way too. I’m running a Savox 1256TG servo. You saw the VXL esc in there. I had to cut the ears off to make it fit. I’m running 23/76 gearing with that motor. I’m running stock springs with the stock 30wt shock oil and that’s it. That’s the OG Mid Motor Traxxas Bandit

[@abruptlyblunt]

you gave a lot of details everything except how you mid mounted the motor...

[@TEHOMGZlul]

​@abruptlyblunt MxAcres has a video where you can see how he does it. Removes some material in the chassis, removes the rxtra plastic around the motor mount and...literally just turns it around.

[@TastierBackInThe80s]

MX Acres has started a conversion project like this. Its good to see it works and the driver of this car is having success with it.

[@buggyworld7723]

I just watched a little of it. He’s up to full on Jangification status on that car. I’m actually making another one for this outdoor season

[@mikebianco7854]

How did u reverse the motor direction?

[@buggyworld7723]

I switched the wires because I was running a sensorless combo.

[@fastydave]

Or.....just buy a purpose built race kit...traxxas is for bashing.

[@alphawlff]

Not back in the day. They could have a top tier racer today if they had stuck with it. Take a look at the Traxxas Radicator.