Review - New RC4WD / Eagle 4200XL Brushless Track Upgrade Kit

[JDToumanian]

Hey Guys,

A few weeks ago I ordered the brushless track upgrade for my 4200XL from Eagle on AliExpress. I got an email saying that the older kit was no longer available, but they could ship me their new kit instead if that was okay... I said sure! The original brushed motors are under-powered and slow, the old brushless upgrade kit was supposedly too fast and hard to control. This new kit is supposed to be more durable, more detailed, and move at a more correct 48 rpm. The package arrived today and I immediately took one of the motors apart for pictures... Here's some thoughts before I install them.

As before, the new kit includes two geared motor assemblies, two brushless ESCs, and a new slip ring unit. There are no instructions.

The motor units are indeed more detailed with a better scale appearance. I think it will be easier to pass off the 4200XL as a 1/14 scale model instead of 1/12... Indeed, Eagle's press release for the new 4200XL version 2.0 excavator calls it a 1/14 scale model now.

The brushless motors themselves are an outrunner style, you can get a little peek of a chrome rotor in the third pic below, where the wires enter the casing. This may be a bit of a concern, since it seems to me that dirt could enter there. I may not use silicone, but I think I'll seal those openings up with something before I install the motor units.

The motor housing, drive sprocket, and gear case are a bright die-cast aluminium. Only the mounting arm is machined from solid and anodized black. I don't have any problem with parts being die cast, they can be quite strong, depending on the alloy. Time will tell if these parts wear better or worse than previous components or competing products. I do, however, wish that the bright die cast parts had been anodized or painted.

One of the features touted about the new kit is that the wires have gold-plated mini banana plugs pre-installed so 'no buyer welding' (soldering) is needed. Well, my motor units have plugs installed and the ESCs have sockets, but the slip ring unit has nothing. The pictures on their website do show plugs and sockets on the slip ring unit, so this was an oversight on my kit. I haven't decided if I'll fire off an email to get some plugs and sockets sent to me or cut them off and solder it up... I'll probably send the email.

The planetary gear assemblies seem nicely made and strong enough, but I don't have a basis for comparison as I have not opened up my brushed motors or seen the innards of the older brushless kit. One thing I noticed is that I am unable to drive the motor in reverse by trying to twist the sprocket, so unwanted rolling or tricky adjustment of the ESC 'drag brake' is unlikely to be an issue with this kit.

It may be a little while before I get this kit installed, but when I do I'll update this thread with a performance report.

Regards,
Jon

[Northern Farmer]

Nice of you to take the time to do a review, well done.

[Lil Giants]

It'll be interesting to see how long that diecast sprocket lasts ...my experience with anything made from diecast aluminum has been very weak to brittle.

Great job on the write up.

[61pete]

Have you had a chance to install this? I just started mine today. I just can't figure out how to remove the old slip ring from the house. Also I have no clue on how to wire up the new brushless ESCs. Hopefully you have finished your install. I'd love some guidance!