RPM's Traxxas TRX4 JK Wrangler Build

[rpm]

Hey guys, As the owner of a pretty well built JK Wrangler, I thought the TRX4 was the perfect base for a new build with my 1:1 JK HEXICON as the inspiration. My JK is named HEXICON as I've had custom hex diff housing fabbed up for it.









I picked up a trx4 a few months ago and was impressed with the capability straight out of the box.



I had some 1.9 KLR's so i thought I'd throw them on. It was a huge improvement over the stock tires.




I went for one crawl in this guise at my local spot and was so over the stock bumpers hitting on everything that I decided that the TRX4 needed a new body with high clearance bumpers.

[rpm]

I thought the TRX4 could be improved upon with a little bit more forward biased weight. I ordered the full catalogue of MFR parts and that kicked off a bit of a gold bling theme with the build.




Some gold limited edition 100mm King shocks, 2.2 beadlocks with gold rings were also installed. I thought i'd try and stretch some 1.9 KLR's on 2.2 rims. It was alot easier than I thought.




A comparison shot of a 1.9 KLR on a 1.9 rim Vs a 1.9 KLR on a 2.2 rim. I had to modify the 1.9 Crawler Innovations foams to suit the 2.2 wheel cans. After that it's just a matter a stretching the tires over the 2.2 rims and seating the bead correctly.



I'll also be running the stock TRX4 wheelbase with inner fenders attached to the chassis. Some RC4WD front and rear bars were attached and I'm also running the RC4WD Warn 8274 Highmount winch which matches the winch on my 1:1 rig.



I managed to retain the stock plastic sliders as they work really well with the Axial JK body. I installed some spacers to lift the sliders up and got it right first go.

[rpm]

I was never really into the Defender body and being a JK owner, well there was really only one choice in the body replacement department...

Here's some pics of the progress so far with the Axial JK shell.







It's not finished yet, but a lick of black paint, some wiring and fitting stuff like flares etc, i'll be ready for the tracks.

I've also been building a JK Bomber aswell -Black of course

But i'll save those details for the Bomber section.




Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed the pics.

[rpm]

It was RC parts day today... My RPP order finally arrived after being held up in customs. It took about 4 weeks for the order to arrive from RPP to Australia. The quickest I've ever received an order from RPP was 4 days. Anyway I'm happy the parts finally arrived. The biggest thing is receiving the body reamer, so I can finish off the JK shell so I can paint it.

[rpm]

I fitted the MIP Wide Track Kit and I'm pretty happy with the stance so far.

I threw on an old Axial JK shell as it has the flares on it so that I could gauge the width of the tire sticking past the flare. I can go even wider with some Vanquish SLW hubs, But I'm pretty happy with the progress so far.

[rpm]

I also had time to install the new MIP driveshafts. What a nice piece of kit... Very smooth...



Next I'm planning on reaming all the holes in the shell for the flares, cage, mirrors, etc so then I can blow on some paint.

[rpm]

I finally got it all together. All that's left to do is mount the body with magnets and I've ordered a Vanquish light bar and "A" pillar mount.

Considering this was my first body I've ever painted I think it came out pretty good. It was only one color so it was pretty easy not to stuff it up. After I sprayed a couple of coats of black gloss, I followed it up with a couple of coats of black plastidip to protect the paint job.

Here's some posing flex shots. It won't stay this shiny and clean for long







I just couldn't help myself with this shot

[rpm]

I shoogooed the ring magnets last night and waited overnight for the shoegoo to cure. I think it will be successful. I will put some clear packing tape over the the shoogooed ring magnets so that the magnets don't glue themselves together while out on the trail.

[MAC FAB]

Nice, clean looking rig. Let's see some more of that Bomber as well.

[JatoTheRipper]

Great looking JK! This JK is cool as well. I think this build should be called Brass Out The Ass. The brass works great with your black and gold color scheme though. I really like the way it turned out.

Which wheels are on the left side? (Black with silver rings)

Originally Posted by rpm

[rpm]

Originally Posted by JatoTheRipper

Great looking JK! This JK is cool as well. I think this build should be called Brass Out The Ass. The brass works great with your black and gold color scheme though. I really like the way it turned out.

Which wheels are on the left side? (Black with silver rings)

Thanks for the comments guys.

Those 1.9 black beadlocks with the silver rings were bought off Ebay. They may even be available through Ali Express.

We went for a crawl on the Saturday with the TRX4 JK and pretty much crawled all day at 2 different spots. I didn't have one single issue running on 3s on the stock electrics. The thing is a beast and made everything look easy with the super low gearing and sticky gold KLR's. It's my favorite truck with the selectable lockers and high/low range. It just does everything.

I've also had the Bomber out for a play and the thing is psycho on 3s with the ROC412 and Tekin Gen2 RX8 combo. It's more of a race truck than a crawler, which is not really my thing, but I guess I'll get used to it.





I have more parts coming for the JK Bomber, so when they arrive I will do a full build thread in the Bomber and 2.2 scale section for those that are interested.

[rpm]

It was RC parts day again today... I can finally finish off the TRX4

[rpm]

Originally Posted by NightJeep

Looks great! I like the black on gold combo!

Thanks Nightjeep. I wanted to introduce a bit of gold bling into my 1:1 Jeep, but who can be bothered striping down real beadlocks to paint the rings gold, only to scratch them up in 5 seconds while out on the trail. Waste of time...

[rpm]

I finally got around to fitting up the Vanquish light bar which is running directly off the 3s lipo. Bright is an understatement... I'm very impressed with the quality of light.

A new Hitec steering servo was installed and a new Castle waterproof BEC aswell.

I also installed the JK hardtop. After pondering whether or not I cut the hardtop to expose the interior details, I decided to go for it. I think it look pretty good.

[Nfd538]

Very cool build.

[rpm]

A little video I put together of my 8 year old son wheeling the Jeep at our local crawling spot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=de...&v=wRBYrej8q48

[Kalel]

I know this is an old post, but I'm new on here and have a couple questions. First, does the wide axle kit only come in one width? If not, what width are you running? Also, I'm looking to stretch some 1.9 tires onto some 2.2 rims. What width are the rims you're running, and what height and width are those 1.9 tires? Last, did you do any kind of lift, longer shocks, etc.?