The WL Toys 144002 is a fantastic handling 1/14 scale monster truck that I reviewed here in full. It is really let down by the powertrain though - although it has a large brushed motor, the gearing is way to tall with the big wheels and suffers with terrible acceleration, poor torque and poor battery life, none of which is a good match for a monster truck and offroad conditions. In this article I will present an easy to install brushless upgrade which is inexpensive and performs great with double the battery life Let's get straight into it: Brushless motors are much more powerful than their brushed counterparts and so simply choosing one with the same dimensions as the stock motor is a poor choice. It will remain heavy and you still have not solved the issue of tall gearing since you are stuck with these same pinion gear on these large motors. Even with a low KV option this will still make for poor acceleration but will now add cogging into the equation similar to what we saw on the Eachine EAT14 (reviewed here) Below are the components I've chosen for this setup, the whys and alternative options. Components Brushless Motor
Brushless ESC
3-wire Servo
Radio Gear
Pinion Gear
The last part you will need is a pair of countersunk M2.5 x 8mm screws like these ones. These will fit the new smaller motor to the stock motor mount. Installation Guide Installation is very easy, I've taken lots of pics to guide you through the process below.
Performance Review
The only downside I found from this upgrade was that this particular ESC I chose has a bit of a delay from throttle input to motor acceleration. Decreasing the throttle dead zone could using the programming card may help a little but will not be a complete fix. I can confirm that this is the ESC because swapping the radio to a DUMBORC set made no difference. This is consistent to what I found in my WL Toys 144010 review although not as pronounced with this car due to the shorter gearing. For this reason I'd recommend the Surpass KK 35a esc or the hobbywing if you had more to spend, Recommendations I can't recommend this upgrade enough if you have this car, It really does fulfil the ultimate potential with big improvements over practically every characterstic of this car. Being able to reuse the radio through use of the 124017 reciever makes this upgrade quite cost effective and as such is one I strongly recommend for the WL Toys 144002. The little 3600kv motor is a great match for the 15t pinion and large wheels on the 144002 with great torque for offroad bashing without the issue of overheating. If you are looking for a discount on this car, I will post any coupon codes or flash sales for it over here on my coupons and discounts page. Remember buying from any of these links supports my page without any cost to you and is appreciated especially since I don't ask for money via patreon and the like. If you want to get involved in this discussion, feel free to join the QuadifyRC Facebook Group Here or like my page below.
18 Comments
Ian
11/6/2022 08:51:36 am
I have this exact setup and agree that it's made the largest difference to the performance of all the Wltoys brushless upgrades I've done (124018 & 124019). The 144002 is transformed.
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QuadifyRC
29/6/2022 05:10:17 pm
Glad it's worked out for you too! I get frustrated when people always go for super high kv motors and find they don't actually run that well when low KV is sersiously underrated. Have fun
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James
4/8/2022 06:53:25 am
Thanks for sharing all this info, I am working on these upgrades myself. Have you tested the top speed with a 3S battery?
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QuadifyRC
4/8/2022 09:33:49 am
My pleasure James and good - it's a nice little project. I haven't tested yet myself but would expect to see around 75kph depending on the battery.
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James
5/8/2022 04:40:17 am
Sounds good. Do you think a 50c 3s battery would be too much when using a 60A ESC?
Jamie
5/9/2022 06:22:11 pm
Would this upgrade work with the 104009? Inc. 15t pinon?
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QuadifyRC
5/9/2022 09:50:06 pm
Sorry, I'm afraid that is an entirely different setup, you'd need a 3650 sized motor for that car.
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Ian
20/10/2022 04:55:34 am
I'm struggling to find a 3s lipo that will fit my modified 144002. Does anyone have any recommendations on where I can buy one at a reasonable price?
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QuadifyRC
21/10/2022 10:34:17 pm
This would be one of the few that could fit without modding the top tray: https://chinahobbyline.com/products/cnhl-black-series-1300mah-11-1v-3s-100c-lipo-battery-with-xt60-plug
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Isaac
2/11/2022 03:01:38 pm
Hey Quad, my JX1181MG servo I have in my brushless converted 144001 just stopped working recently. I have absolutely no idea why, no crashes, big or small, I didn't short it out, submerge it in water (or even get it wet, for that matter), take a big impact from a landing or such, no steering binding, properly set endpoints, the whole nine yards, so to speak.
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QuadifyRC
28/11/2022 11:11:43 am
Hi Issac. Yeah I've had a few of them die too. In general I find the surpass servo to be the best fr durability and speed and yes, directly bolt on fit like the JX 1181MG. Can't remember the wire length specifically but it is long, I like to cut and resolder but it is easy to tie down too.
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Isaac
30/11/2022 04:58:42 pm
Thanks for your wise words again, Quad, as usual!
Kyle
30/11/2022 09:11:29 am
Hey Quad,
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Isaac
30/11/2022 04:47:38 pm
Hey Kyle, welcome to the wonderful world of RCs! Not Quad here, just me, but I'll offer my insight, as this question is within my capabilities of explain.
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Kyle
1/12/2022 02:13:49 am
Can't thank you enough, Isaac! That's exactly what I was looking for. I may be emailing you in the future as I'm still interested in doing this mod. Thanks again!
QuadifyRC
1/12/2022 05:49:15 pm
Hi Kyle. Looks like Isaac has done a good job of answering but yes, in short you'll need all of these parts at a minimum. I've put this guide here to include all the parts that I know work really well together.
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Kyle
2/12/2022 02:43:39 am
Very much appreciated! :)
Isaac
3/12/2022 04:58:41 pm
Hey Kyle, glad I could be of help! I'm always up to try and help a fellow RCer! Yes, please feel free to email me during this build. I also have Discord and RC Talk (an RC forum) if you would prefer that. While Quad is the expert on this, I like to think that I know a little bit about these Wltoys rigs too, not as much as Quad, but good enough.
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