Honey Badger Upgrades

[StarLord]

I am looking to upgrade the internalls on my Ares Honey Badger AM-014 but do not know what parts to use. What parts do every one upgrade on the Honey Badger and what parts do you use? If you can give me specifics that would be great.

 

Thanks

[Hangtight]

First and most important question... Why do you think you need to upgrade?

[StarLord]

The motor over heats after putting 2 mags through and just cuts out till its cooled down. I bought the rif preowned so I think it needs replacing and what I have read there not the best motors to start with.

[Hangtight]

OK fair enough. Next question... are you planning on doing the work yourself and have you got any experience working on an AEG? Apologies if this sounds patronising, but theres no point going to any great length with a list of things you can do if you're not sure that you can sort it out properly. If you aren't then the best thing you can do is give it to someone who can (usually in exchange for money).

[StarLord]

It's ok...No I wont be doing the work myself. I know a little bit myself like servicing and cleaning but I will be passing it to my tech to do the work just want to get all the parts together for him to save sometime.

[Hangtight]

Depends what you're after in performance. My goto is SHS Hi torque, or if you're feeling flush ASG CNC 30k, SHS 13:1 gears, piston with a half metal rack and a cylinder properly ported for the barrel length and ammo weight. With the angle of engagement and shimming properly done you get...

 

 

And that was on a nearly flat battery. 7.4v lipo and a basic Mosfet.

 

[Hangtight]

Hopefully someone else will chip in with their favourite builds so you get a feel for what other combinations can do.

[Katana]

Correct if I'm wrong but aren't Ares gearboxes proprietary in some areas? 

 

If you run a 7.4v LiPo, 13:1 SHS gears will do just fine on standard spring but on an 11.1v LiPo you start running into problems on that ratio. If you go inside the gearbox, you'll want to check for perfect compression which you should look up guides for if you are doing all of this yourself. If you run 11.1v LiPo's consider SHS 16:1 or make the switch to 7.4v. Shimming guides, AOE correction, make sure that if you pick up an SHS motor that you match the pinion gear brand which is the gear on the top of your motor to your gearset or at least your bevel gear or your shimming will just not cut it no matter what. 

 

A good place to start is a new High Torque motor by Lonex, SHS, ZCI, ASG etc and then a decent mosfet. Your motor is gonna get hot no matter what but if I was you, unless you are planning on doing some serious upgrading on the gearbox and willing to either get someone to do it or put in HOURS of learning and work, I would change the motor to a torquier one, do the shimming and then leave it at that. If you are comfortable with how the gun performs, take it from me, leave it alone. It's not worth it for the most part. Poor shimming can put increased stress on the motor and become very inefficient battery wise.

 

TL;DR (Basically..)

Get a new motor, preferably High Torque by the good brands like SHS or Lonex that are out there

Learn to shim your gearbox and make it as perfect as possible

Whilst inside the gearbox, clean EVERYTHING that is mechanical including the actual shell itself and reapply some fresh silicone lubricant

Check your compression parts and look up guides on testing compression to make sure it's nice and proppA because you might as well whilst you are in there

If the build is particularly low stress and you aren't getting over 30rps, I would say leave AOE unless it is seriously off, if you are willing to put in the time though...it will only help your piston live a lot longer

[Georgeturner2001]

The stock piston has a full metal rack and isn't worth replacing. 

 

The sector gear has a little magnet in one of the holes to tell the EFCU when the gun has completed a cycle, if you want a new gear set you'll need to put a magnet in the same place. 

The stock gears are 18:1 and are fine anyway so no need for an upgrade unless you want a better ROF.

i recommend just getting a new motor, sorting out the compression parts, and having your tech correct the AOE and making sure it's shimmed nicely.

maybe the gears are shimmed too tight which could be why the motor heats up, or it could be just the active breaking. 

 

[Hangtight]

There you go. Good reasons why you should never take one persons opinion as gospel. I wasn't aware of the magnet on the sector gear to trigger the ECU sensor. That would complicate things.

Decent motor and a proper service/setup would be the sensible choice.

[ImTriggerHappy]

If you are taking it to a tech then the most sensible thing is just to let him do his job. The ARES motors are not the best but unless its faulty or has been overstrained that probably isn't the problem. Main issue is probably the shimming is a bit tight and the motor is too high.

Ignore the people saying mosfet because it has the efcu in built. The gear ratio is fine but the gears are prone to wear you can upgrade but you either need to lose the ecu and just fit a standard v2 which is kind of pointless or use a Sector gear where the counterbore holes are in the same position as the ARES sector gear holes. Then the magnet can be removed from your old gear and fitted to the new one. Your tech should no which ones fit the only ones I know are some ICS and G&P, probably doesn't need it though. If the motor is shot then the ASG ultimate are about as good as it gets. Also replacing the piston o-ring and nozzle are worth it as the stock ones are not great.