Another Honcho build by a newb

[odomandr]

Current Rig Build Sheet:
XR narrow mod axle housings
Axial XR10 universals
Overdriven front gears
VP knuckles *wraith
VP C Hubs *wraith
VP lockouts
VP links
VP Trans housing with metal gears
VP Hurtz dig v2
56t 32p spur
12t pinion
Holmes Torquemaster Expert 550 21t
Ae2 esc
Castle Bec
Crawlspace battery tray
Hitec 7954sh servo
DX4C Radio system
Powershift RC road runner winch
Scaler Fab front bumper
Rc4wd sliders
VP shock hoops
TRX4 shocks
Chanquish beadlock wheels
Pitbull rockbeast 1.9 4.55 tires
Crawlers innovations dual stage 4.5 foams
Honcho body
Brazin Flip kit
Dinky interior
Random scale stuff


This build began on 12/6/15 when I ordered the truck and went to my LHS for info and necessary stuff.


Backstory: I've seen Scale crawlers on the trails come out during lunch breaks for some time. They always looked cool, and when I won a gift card to buy a suspension setup that I already run on my full size truck, I had to find something else to use it on.
Luckily they also carry axial trucks through corporate partnerships between full size and the scale RC truck companies.
Axial also had a silver tacoma esque truck that reminded me of my fullsize tacoma and so it felt right to grab the honcho to match.

So it begins:
The truck on the LHS pile

The Fullsize inspiration


The Arrival:
A few days ago I dropped into see a local hobby shop and get some info as well as the neccessary things like a charger and batteries. I'm lucky because the shop was great, shout out to The Crawl Space here.

So to start this out I have
Axial RTR Honcho
Hitec x1 AC plus charger
(2x) Magnum Energy 2s 3300mah batteries
Set of 4 drivers to repair things
And of course my Aoyue solder set up

The truck is supposed to get here tomorrow or the next day and I am super excited. I have not driven any RC cars in 15 years and I am sure to be in for a learning experience. If you have any advice on anything at all, I am all ears. I've been browsing here for a few months and really enjoy seeing how similar this all is to the full size realm, incredible. Thanks for welcoming a newb


12/8/15
It came in today and after a moment of freaking out I figured out how to plug in the battery. I enjoyed it all afternoon setting up rocks and crawling onto the porch then bombing the grassy area covered in leaves. It is not a tight turner by any means but I need to learn it's limits a bit more.


The Journey:
12/11/15: So I went to my first friendly local comp last night. Holy hell that's fun. Lots of modified rigs there last night, lots of wraith based vehicles. All tricked out. It was a ton of fun with a stock box and I snagged some weights for the front and regear to a smaller tooth. I've been practicing in a retention ditch at work that is totally different with larger loose boulders. The comp course was rocks of all sizes and instead of a ditch it was like a hillside of stones with some valleys and other features. Now to research and see what my first replacement will be. I did break a slider, maybe some metal sliders will be first.

12/12/15: After an intro to competition last night I woke up this morning wanting to modify. First up was relocating the top shock mount to the rear most position in the front and the front most position in the rear.



I also added weights to the front tires and the rear cross member and raised the rear body mount 3 positions to give it some rake


Finally I trimmed the front bumper for more approach angle.

Need a new broad tip for the soldering iron to put a deans connector on the truck side, so we are headed to a hobby shop on our errands today. I also will be replacing the double sided tape holding the ESC(it's already unstuck).

12/13/15: So no one local had tips for my iron. I had already attempted to get a good connection on the fine point but I'm piss poor soldering. Instead I bit the bullet and took it to the crawl space and got a new connector put on. I also removed the bump stops from the rtr coils and now I need to get some velcro or double sided tape.

12/15/15: Lucked out with a free vacation/snow day. And my favorite local spot had a free crawling day. I dealt with the snow and made it up there to drive for about 3 and a half hours hours. I also had to scrap the tape in favor of a zip tie to hold the ESC out of the way. I got my dragbrake set to 100 at the shop thanks to Ikaika and I also put in a 14 tooth pinion and he helped me set the motor. I think the weight was a nice addition up front but I need to stay focused instead of just whipping around and up and over.

I also snagged a few things:
A 1/16 driver for the pinion to add to the kit
A battery equalizer/charge reader
Some slime to seal the leaky shocks

On the list:
7mm nut driver
Some non plastic suspension components

12/17/15: I originally bought a bunch of AA batteries at a batteriesplus (some rayovac); After about 15 hours they stopped working and started to sulfur in my radio. Stopped in and they gave me baking soda and a refund toward a couple brands of rechargeable AA (nuon and powerex). Cleaned up the radio and got them charging again. Gonna look into a new radio anyway as I need more control

1/3/16: SSD RC titanium steering links. Started to buy a VP 4 link setup but need to wait for a paycheck. Instead I grabbed the steering upgrade to give me something to work on. Not long after I got home it was installed. Nice kit glad I went this route.

1/8/16: Went to the class 2 scale comp last night and had a great time despite not completing any courses. Grabbed some scale accessories to add to the truck to help me with points and give me something to do. Pick and extinguisher added

1/12/16: Had a shitty morning and decided to take a day off work to clear my head and process a few life decisions. What better way to relax and unwind than playing on the rocks and tinkering on the truck. I ended up putting all my accessories in the tool box minus the pick which I may toss in there as well. Ikaika had a few battery relocation trays so I snagged one and got it put on. Centering/lowering the weight of everything made a noticeable difference immediately. I also got a longer screw for the spare tire mount. It is no longer resting in the bed free to bounce out. I do feel the need to waterproof thing now that they are closer to the ground. I do not like plasti-dip myself but if that's the key then I'll do it.


1/19/16:Went to my first outdoor comp last sunday. Had a blast did well in some areas and not so well in others.


Got to messing with it this afternoon and decided to do the 4 link from the rtr parts kit instead of the 3 link up front.


I also noticed how the leaky shocks had gotten filthy to the point of rough compression so I disassembled cleaned and began the process of reassembly while I save for some others

1/20/16: Today I refilled the shocks. So far no leaks. I also got the front 4 link truss harware and a set of VP 4 links for a day in the future when I'm fed up with the flex. I also snagged a set of hardware for the truck to do a complete teardown in the future too

1/23/16: I was satisified with the change to 4 link and theshock rebuild at the comp last night. On the way out I grabbed a pair of RC4wd sliders and today I snagged some foams and a set of tires. I also ordered some beadlocks and got to work, made a bit of progress. Sliders went on without any issue and make it feel so much more solid as that has been my handle to carry it. I guess either the battery tray or some hardware rusted so I hit it with an emery and some black spare paint I had laying around, black truck bed so it matches. I also ordered a interior build kit to get that underway. I have also been thinking of some other future things I want to do on the exterior. For now the sliders on along with the battery tray with a fresh coat of paint. Tires will go on when new wheels arrive

1/28/15: Took a day to play and pick up some mods yesterday. Got my bumpers front and rear. Still need to finish the rear but it's perfect for what I wanted. And the lights all stayed, just a slight reposition.


I also noticed that the links are pretty shot, so I installed the Vanquish 4 link today


Still waiting on wheels in the mail to mount the tires and foams I grabbed. Gonna get a servo winch and pull pal next and then my rig should be pretty well outfitted, scale point wise and ability wise. While my comp score sheet isn't as reflective I do feel my driving is getting better too. I am sure enjoying it all that's for sure.

1/31/16: I went to the Friday night comp and then to the class today on course design and scoring/judging. My interior kit came in so I grabbed it while I was there but the servo winch may be next week. I am beginning to gather everything to build a body in place of the rtr basher body while on out on the counter.

2/4/16: I got my mail today and the package from China contained the wheels which shall go unnamed . The infamous banned thread wheels aka ebay 1.9 alloy beadlocks. I went with the all aluminum 8 holes. I also got my Pitbulls and CI foams on. they were not terribly frustrating for a first timer. I love the look and hope the performance matches.


2/12/16:Friday night comp and I snagged a Hitec 7954 for future use.

2/21/16: So I got home Thursday night and my girl had gone to get me the servo winch from Ikaika. It's one he specs out from Powershift RC Lab for his shops comp spec items. I didn't get it installed because my drill is old and weak and breaking bits sucks. I went to the comp Friday the 19th and finished a course for the first time. Had a blast. It was a bonus roadkill comp event. On my way put I grabbed the pull pal Ikaika specs for the winch/towstrap. Then today we went to the outdoor series. I'll get the winch done up soon as I can get a new drill. I also got my decals from BadRC. Grill looks great on the truck.




9/29/16:After setting my honcho aside for a few months I picked it up and realized I had a battery drop a cell, things felt loose and the motor was on the fritz. My servo winch was yet to be operational and I felt overwhelmed. I took the truck to Ikaika at my LHS The Crawl Space. He got me all hooked up with a new Spektrum DX4C radio to control the servo winch he mounted. He also tightened up loose end's and set up a new Holmes 21t torque master expert. It's a nice setup now to remember how to drive again.

[odomandr]

10/2/16:Went to Red Rocks for the CO outdoor Scale Comp Series. Signed up for the series. Did decent on a few courses and struggled on others. Had a great time. Good to see familiar faces that I had not seen in a few months. Discovered some deficiencies I need to take care of.

11/5/16: During the October Outdoor Scale Comp Series event 1 at Red Rocks I noticed a weak servo on the truck. I swapped in a Hitec 7954HS on Friday and had Ikaika solder it in on Saturday. I was hoping to make it to the second event in the series Sunday Nov 6th. Unfortunately I could not keep track of time when the change occurred. I missed the event and will need to make it to the next one and try to get by The Crawl Space on a Friday before it happens as i need some practice. I also finished up trimming and assembling the Dinky interior kit. I only assembled it and shoved it in to score the scale points. I added another to my shopping list to do up right with the spare Honcho body I bought.

[Brake Weight]

Judging by your 'yota, get ready to spend more money on a new addiction.


And welcome.

[ruinx]

Your gonna have a blast with this hobby. Just like in full size wheeling throttle control and steering are your friends

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[Terrible1]

Great choice with the Honcho. I just started a new build with the same platform myself. There's a ton of option parts and vendor support for this platform out there. Have fun with it!

[odomandr]

Came back to Alabama for the Holidays. Found out that the local outdoor spot is just up the road from my mom's house. Stopped into OakMt Hobbies just to look around and drop hints on a new radio and aluminum links etc. Hoping to drop by Moss Rock if the weather ever dries up and see the area tlfrom an RC p.o.v. instead of the typical hiking p.o.v.

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[odomandr]

Down from my mom's house is a nice area called Moss Rock Preserve. Trails to hike, some creeks, climbing and bouldering. We explored the place this morning and the rainfall brought some nice small waterfalls. The RC was a bunch of fun out there.

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[odomandr]

Got back to Denver last week. All holiday weekend was free crawl but I only made it up there today for a few hours in the afternoon. Rochelle came with me. I have been itching to upgrade and ssd rc titanium steering links was the choice. Came home and got them on while a frozen pizza cooked. Nice product that needs knuckles and c hubs

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[Brake Weight]

Look for some 12.5x60mm Yeti springs on fleaBay. For mine, the spacer for the 'dual rate' springs would snag up and aggravate me. The 60mm is the same as the set that comes on the Dodge, I think.

[odomandr]

Did not finish any of the courses last night. Enjoyed my time and snagged a few scale accessories. Got home and added them to the bed rack. Need to save some pennies so I can buy some things I want.

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[odomandr]

Saw this last night and decided it was next also cut a length of paracord. Now I need some hooks for a complete strap, some glue to secure things and a longer stud for the wheel mount

[GMCSierra2500HD]

Looks good! Just got a used Honcho this week and have been doing a bunch of modifications!

[odomandr]

Thanks I really have enjoyed this during the few months I've had it

[bvrc]

damn... it's like a tacomaworld party in this place.... howdy dudes!

[odomandr]

So I was not happy with the tire on the fuel cell. I've been messing with different things to see how I like it best. I think this is how I'm gonna go just need to glue it all. I cut the bed to set the tire lower to the frame with less tilt, then rearranged some things.

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[odomandr]

I am also planning to go to my first comp outdoors this weekend in the springs.

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[bvrc]

I'm working tomorrow... Or else I'd be there too! Good luck!


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[odomandr]

Had a blast Sunday. We ended up visiting some breweries and then dinner in CO Springs and enjoyed the MLK holiday. Today I swapped the 3 link to a four link minus 1 nut and screw on the truss it is all together. I also noticed how dirty it got and thus I decided to rebuild the shocks. They were leaking in the box but I decided to run it for a bit then see how to proceed. I've decided that while I save for other things I'll keep myself occupied with regular rebuilds. Tonight was the first. I'll grab a bottle of oil and a stand hopefully tomorrow and get them reinstalled maybe the green slime will keep the oil in the shock from passing the seal again.

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[DrewHammer]

Originally Posted by odomandr

Had a blast Sunday. We ended up visiting some breweries and then dinner in CO Springs and enjoyed the MLK holiday. Today I swapped the 3 link to a four link minus 1 nut and screw on the truss it is all together. I also noticed how dirty it got and thus I decided to rebuild the shocks. They were leaking in the box but I decided to run it for a bit then see how to proceed. I've decided that while I save for other things I'll keep myself occupied with regular rebuilds. Tonight was the first. I'll grab a bottle of oil and a stand hopefully tomorrow and get them reinstalled maybe the green slime will keep the oil in the shock from passing the seal again.

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Welcome to the eternal struggle of leaking shocks...

Good luck with the build and welcome to the hobby, it's a ton of fun as I'm sure you've already figured out.

[odomandr]

So I got it all ready to take with me today. Gonna go play and hopefully get the shocks squared away. May buy a thing or two as well

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