Toyota Hilux 4WD build w/Trail Finder Chassis
 

Got home from work today and had some new D40 axles and and a new chassis and some other parts sitting on my doorstep. Thanks RC4WD!!!! Anyway I had a Toyota body sitting around primed and ready for painting for some time now, and had these wheels that I wanted to use for a build too. I figured I would try out the Trail Finder chassis. Seems to be a product of great quality. I really wasnt a huge fan of the Toyota Hilux but man it has really grown on me and I can not wait to build this one. I have been keeping up with a lot of the Toyota builds going on here and have grown to really enjoy how each one comes to life. This will be my FIRST shot at a Toyota Hilux pick up truck"thumbsup" I also am gathering parts for a Yota/hybrid Bruiser chassis build for down the road. I have not even started this one and I am already collecting parts for my next one! OK here we go. Starter pics for now and I hope to get this build going soon.

wow. looks like you will be having alot of fun. thats going to be one sick yota when its done. you doing a build thread? if so i will definitly be watching this one. awsome.:flipoff:

:shock:you have my attention:shock:

Those axles look bad azz!:twisted: It's going to be an awsome build!"thumbsup"

I can't wait to see this awesome build.

:shock:awesome selection of parts this is the chassis i wanted to see built up "thumbsup"

Thanks guys. Got started a bit this morning but headed to Dad's now. I just have a leaf spring tech question since this is my first attempt at a leafed rig. From the axles up I have the smallest leaf, then the main then the medium leaf. see pics. Any other suggestions on how to set this up or will this be ok? Thanks. It is a bit stiff now and as far as dampers going with turned down TLT with internal springs. Maybe I should just use the main leaf only? Any help would be great.

Thanks again a Happy Father's day to all the Dad's out there"thumbsup"

When I ran my rig I just ran the main leaf only. But I did bend it when I ran just the main leaf.

Awesome build Man I would love to build something like this!

Small progress this morning. I wanted to get the body mounted to make sure ride height was ok and and wheelbase matched up. It is coming along nicely and this chassis is great to work with. Stock Trail Finder Body mounts are WACK!!! Dont match up at all with the Hilux body. They should have put one rear mount for the front (taller) and two front mounts for the rear (shorter) and moved the front mount a bit more towards the front. It still would sit a bit too high with that setup but al least would have matched up a little better. But with some slight tweaking it all worked out.

Still curious if anyone else has suggestions about the leafs that I mentioned in the earlier post? Again this is my first time using leafs and dont want to mangle them up but do want to get some good flex.

Thanks in advance for your help.

What you really want to do is ditch the high lift jugg springs and shell out the $$$ for Bruiser leafs. If you want to work with the jugg springs you can, what I would do is run the main leaf and the medium leaf under it and see if you can work in a track bar system to help with axle wrap (thats usually why the bend). The most *important* thing to do is, is to "chino mod" the leaf spring eyelets. That will make a huge a difference"thumbsup"

Keep up the good work

-Mike

Thanks Mike. I have a few more questions for you.

I have already spent a bunch of $$$ collecting parts for builds so why not a few more on Bruiser leafs. Should I go for OG Bruiser leafs or the ones RC4wd makes that state they are Heavy Duty Bruiser leafs? Also with the Bruiser leafs will I still need a track bar system or are they strong enough not to wrap? I never owned a Bruiser but I am pretty sure they have the rear track bars. I could be wrong...

And either way I WILL be doing the Chino Mod"thumbsup"

Thanks again for your help.

Worked a bit more on this and did the Chino Mod to the leafs. Thanks Mike"thumbsup" I am still waiting on a few more parts from RC4WD including the rear drive shaft. Hope to get this running soon. Motor and electronics are in. Going with a 45t integy, and an R2 single speed tranny. Added some dampers for now with no springs. Hope these leafs soften up a bit while I try to track down some Bruiser leafs. Anyway Chassis was real easy to work with and the D40 axles are great. Hope the performance is just as good. More updates and paint to come.

at nats i ran F350 springs:
front:
main leaf
four inch leaf on bottom
rear:
3 inch or so leaf on top
main leaf
four inch leaf on bottom


flexed like hell. never bent one.
however if i were you i would move the front shackle to the rear eye of the spring and have the fixed mounting point at the front of the frame. it looks doable, but shimming for caster may be needed or something.

Eddie

Dont get me wrong, the jugg springs can be made to flex like Matt has said, but they need to Break in for sure. The Bruiser ones may need to as well depending on the set you get. The ones in my Brown yota clone are broken in so much now that it flexes just about as well as it did when it was 4 linked.

The reason I like the Bruiser ones is mainly because of the less arch which gives the truck a lower a ride height which will make it more stable.

OG Bruisers did have track bars... although they really didnt do much other then hinder GC :lol: I ran my clone the entire scale nats with Bruiser leafs and didnt have a track bar and had no problems. I chino mod them and run the main leaf and the 2nd large leaf (leave out the little one).

Mike

Thanks obijuan and 1badjeepfufubruiserberry

Right now I am running the Chino Mod springs with main and medium under that. Obviously they are BRAND new and need to be broken in which I will do until I can find some OG Bruiser springs.

Mike, I just revisited your Clone build thread and saw what you meant about the difference in the two springs. Bruisers sit a lot lower. I guess I would just drill out the Bruiser leafs like the f350 leafs.

obijuan, I will try to set up the fixed point in the front. I think with drilling one hole on each side of the chassis it can be done. Just curious, what is the advantage to doing so?

Thanks again to the both you, and for everyone else's suggestions too.

youve got a big rock right in front of your front shackle under the bumper, try to go forward without bending that leaf. swap em around your spring will "slide" over the obstruction.

Ahhhh I see. Sweet. Thanks obijuan.

its a jeep thing:roll:

Is the "Chino eyelet mod" angling the eyelet of the leaf spring inwards? That is what it looks like from the picture. Is the reasoning behind the mod to the leaf spring eyelet, from square to angled, to allow more flex?

yes, its angling the eyelet so that it alllows the spring to be able to twist some inside the shackle/hanger, much like how a real leaf spring would with its rubber or poly bushings in then eyelets. You also elminate the bushing that goes inside them on the Bruiser ones.

in what post does it show a better pic of this mob .....thanks

I'm wondering if you are supposed to use the mount piece that sits in the rear well in the box, maybe that would explain the kits tall rear mounts. Tryin to do some leg work on fitting the body since I've been waiting for my Trail Finder for over a month now...

Mounts match up great for the F350 body. Just not so great for the Hilux body.

Anyway I filled some holes in the body and made some "locking hubs". Still waiting on my rear drive shaft and I did find some OG Bruiser leafs so as soon as they get here I will "chino" them and put them on to replace these stiff ones. Gonna use these leafs on another project so I am going to need to break them in sometime"thumbsup"

sweet truck dude"thumbsup"8):shock::):-P:lol::ror:

Hey Eddie what type of body mounts are those that you used on the rear of your truck? They look like they work good. Also if you wouldnt mind telling me how tall your rear mounts are and how tall your front mount spacer is. I like the ride height you have and any help would be appreciated. Thanks

Rear mount is from a Touareg (XC) and are cut to 3/4" high. front mount has home made spacers and is 2" high.

Electrical Problems
 

OK I am totally going nuts because this truck is a runner(well should be) but I am getting some crazy interference when I try to drive it. I am ok at painting and maybe even building different things but electronics is where i get stumped!!

I tried new batteries in the transmitter. I took all electronics off and tested each one individually and they all work great. I tried changing the location of the receiver and even the esc. I am still getting interference. (interference is mostly when I attempt to go forward, and sometimes reverse. Turning isnt much of a problem) All electronics in this build were used in my ax10 and worked flawlessly. Could it be all the metal components in this truck? (chassis axles etc..) The only time it works fine is when I hold the antennae and drive it at the same time (picture walking a dog on a SHORT leash). Could this be a grounding issue? I am really confused because I have built so many rc cars and trucks and such and never ran into this issue.

Any suggestions???

I know I sound like I dont know what I am talking about and that is because, well I dont really know what I am talking about.

just to make it easier on you, just send the yota body over to me, then you can work with the ford,:lol: its a nice looking build"thumbsup"

what type of reciever are you running? maybe try getting the antenna off of any metal parts or if you have one maybe a ferrite ring.(hope thats how you spell it) i sometimes get glitches in my helicopters cause the antenna/reciever wires are touching too much carbon fiber so i assume thats your problem.

i usually re route them or insulate them to keep them from glitching. also you dont want the antenna running back and fourth on top of eachother touching itsself either. alot of people take a small peice of plastic and drill holes in 2 rows and run the antena back and fourth into that and use some double sticky tape to mount it keep it from touching anything else.

you might try the double sided tape on the rx back/bottom too depending how you have it mounted to seperate it from the metal frame.


- tre

Thanks for the input. I have actually tried all of that stuff that you mentioned. Would wrapping electrical tape around the antennae wire insulate it?? I am still stuck here.

Trans/rx are just a regular futaba attack radio and 2 ch am rx. not the greatest but it worked great on my ax10.

It has been a little while since the last update but I did manage to get some work done this past week. I sorted out the electrical problems by countless minutes of trial and error moving/replacing components. Anyway I got the windows/windshield done, interior is about half way there and driver is sporting an RC4WD t-shirt. Color is flat black bed slightly textured and Tamiya Dull Red for the rest. Still needs some detailing but I thought I would post some progress pics. Body and interior are only mocked up for now. Hope to be done soon.

looks good; crawlers look nice on there"thumbsup"

Great Paintjob!
 

Dude Looks Awesome! almost what ive imagined for my truck mines the same color as yours! lol just mines gloss...

got to love the look of the 80 yotas...

heres mine check out the thread

Project Alaskan Scaler:

http://www.rccrawler.com/forum/attac...1&d=1215667006


- tre

Thanks guys-

Slither, I tried so many differnt tires on and the Crazy Crawlers really stood out to me. I just hope they perform well. So far on some small test runs they seem great.

akguanja, Your truck is coming along pretty sweet. Love the wheels!

OK a few more hours of detailing and here are pics before I retire for this evening. interior is not done so is not in for these shots.

Still unsure if I want to rock the roll bar... It is in for now but who knows how long.
The pic of the emblem isnt to good but thanks to Stephan and his magic over at Scaleoffroad, I got hooked up with the sweet Hilux 4WD emblems"thumbsup"

Still so much more to be done. Wheel wells, front and rear bumpers and sliders, some scale items and of course finishing the interior/driver, and probably more after that... I am not really a big fan of the huge mirrors so I may make some smaller ones.

This was my first leafed rig and first Toyota and I love the detail on this body"thumbsup" Very cool. Already gathering more parts for my next Toyota build. From trades and stuff I actually now have 3 new Hilux bodies and one original Bruiser body so I definitely will be building a few more of them!

looks good; i like it w/out the roll bar"thumbsup"

Love the paint on that Badboy, I'd lose the roll bar if it were mine in fact send it to me and i'll take it off for you :-)

lookin good bro! maybe one of theses days i will get a trailfinder. i guess you are hooked on the yota's now huh! lol. i got one bruiser hybrid and a k2-5 hilux and want more hilux's:ror:

Looking good! I am actually partial to roll bars these days, no light bar though. I actually have a new hilux bed from RPP that I am going to swap into the clone in place of the one with the tool box. Dustin ruined my out look in Moab last year when he told me the proportions arent correct, now everytime I look at it, it bugs the shit out of me:lol:

BTW Ill have a Heep Wrangler ready to rock by this weekend, maybe we can get together somewhere and run these things.

-Mike

Your Yota looks great! I think the roll bar looks very good and breaks up the look of the long bed. Very nice"thumbsup"

Nice build, I really like the paint job with the interior and rolled down window"thumbsup"

where can a guy find that chassis in black? I found the silver version on RC4WD but it says "coming soon"