B-MOW's IFS Trailwalker

[B-MOW71]

Tiny update! Last night I got the inner fenders installed and did some trimming on the body.

I painted both sides Tamiya PS-5 Black and topped with Tamiya PS-55 Flat Clear on both sides.




I added a 62mm link to go between the rear shock towers to stiffen them up a little. At this point I do not plan on buying alum shock towers, so I'm hoping this works for now.

Also added o-rings to the body post. These help take up the gap between the body and the body clip. It really helps to quiet the body rattle.




Next 3 pics are the body trimming I did. I squared off and trimmed as much as I could of the wheel opening and still left a little lip at the top of the wheel arch. I'm really wanting to make this body look similar to the early 80's Chevy pickup. I think it is as close as I can get. It still has tall "billboard" look above the wheel opening, but I'm hoping with some paint and weathering, it won't be as noticeable.

[NCRon]

Looks good the way you have it now. I was able to bring my front bumper in a little by trimming the bottom around the posts and it helped some, not sure if you have done that or not. Looking forward to see what else you do.

[rkj__]

Nice progress b-mow. I'm enjoying watching this one come together.

[B-MOW71]

Originally Posted by NCRon

Looks good the way you have it now. I was able to bring my front bumper in a little by trimming the bottom around the posts and it helped some, not sure if you have done that or not. Looking forward to see what else you do.

I'll have to try trimming the bottom of the bumper. It would like it to go in a little further. Thanks for the tip!

Originally Posted by rkj__

Nice progress b-mow. I'm enjoying watching this one come together.

Hey thanks rkj!

[soze]

Nice job on the rear trim. I'm planning to do the same.

[B-MOW71]

Originally Posted by soze

Nice job on the rear trim. I'm planning to do the same.

Thanks soze!

I'm hoping once I figure out which rear bumper to use, it will hide the "kick out" at the bottom. I didn't want to trim that off because I didn't want the body lines in the rear to be too high.

[NCRon]

I like it so much better than the way I cut mine. Looking forward to your updates.

[Topher Builds]

Off to a great start, that cut is a solid improvement. Even makes it look faster.

[alexleblanc]

I think slightly larger tires and a Comp cut on the wheel wells would look really good on it.

[B-MOW71]

Originally Posted by NCRon

I like it so much better than the way I cut mine. Looking forward to your updates.

I'm hoping to have some updates soon. Body prep and painting is the part of the build I dread! Electronics is a close second!

Originally Posted by Topher Builds

Off to a great start, that cut is a solid improvement. Even makes it look faster.

Thanks TB! Yeah, I think it looks better this way than how it was cut from the factory.

Originally Posted by alexleblanc

I think slightly larger tires and a Comp cut on the wheel wells would look really good on it.

Yeah I agree and normally that is what I would do. Since all of my other rigs are 1.9's and are heavily modded for performance, I though I would keep this rig at the 1.55" tire size and keep the body fairly scale looking. I think having the smaller tire size would be a nice change and make it more challenging.

[B-MOW71]

I took the Trailwalker out for a short run today to see how it does with the IFS. The "bodyman" (me) still doesn't have the body painted yet, so I fitted on my Sendero body for today's testing. I had to remove the front bumper because the Trailwalker's nose is a bit shorter than the Sendero. I had already cut off the bumper post on the stock bumper to clear the IFS and wasn't able to slide it out far enough to attach it.

I gotta say, this rig with the IFS and the little 1.55's is a lot of fun to wheel! It was very stable and performed very well on my little "backyard" rock pile! The stock General Grabber tires gripped the rocks better than I expected. Even with the smaller 1.55 tires, the Trailwalker seemed unstoppable and climbed and crawled as well as some of my 1.9 rigs! The only downside I found was the IFS front skid plate getting caught up on rocks, but the more I drove it and learned how to work around the skid plate the better the truck got. I just had to watch tire placement a little more to keep the skid from hanging up.

The more I take these Element RC Enduro's out, the more I am falling in love with them! They perform so well with the smooth suspension and nearly silent driveline!

Here is are the pics from today. I didn't get too many, but I did try to show off the IFS from different angles sitting in the same position.
















And here is a "selfie" I took! Camera didn't want to focus right!
If any of you's are on IG, check out #tinytruckselfiechallenge. It's cool to see some of the pics people are posting of their "selfies"!

[kincer]

That's really good to know! I've been so busy messing with my 1:1 toys I haven't touched my scalers in weeks. My Trailrunner showed up a couple weeks ago and all I did was unbox it. I do have to say all I did to my Trailwalker was change the TX/RX to my hacked Flysky and I was very impressed with the truck basically all stock, I really like the tires, the worked great for RTR tires, especially the size. And you're right it's so smooth and quiet!

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[B-MOW71]

Originally Posted by kincer

That's really good to know! I've been so busy messing with my 1:1 toys I haven't touched my scalers in weeks. My Trailrunner showed up a couple weeks ago and all I did was unbox it. I do have to say all I did to my Trailwalker was change the TX/RX to my hacked Flysky and I was very impressed with the truck basically all stock, I really like the tires, the worked great for RTR tires, especially the size. And you're right it's so smooth and quiet!

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

I hear ya! This is the first time I have had a chance to get my rigs out since May. The withdrawls were killing me!

I do like these little 1.55 tires. The size looks great with these bodies and it makes trailing/crawling a bit more challenging. They feel really good and the foams in them seem pretty good. I'm sure they will get even better the more I run them.

[soze]

Originally Posted by B-MOW71

The more I take these Element RC Enduro's out, the more I am falling in love with them! They perform so well with the smooth suspension and nearly silent driveline!

This right here is why I've become such a fan of the platform. They're so easy to drive, and the silent transmission is fantastic.

I took my Trailwalker out on Friday, but unfortunately I didn't get around to painting it beforehand like you're planning to. I just had to get it out for a wheel, and man... it was a whole different challenge with IFS and class 1 4.19" tires. Despite that, I felt it ran great, except for the tires I was running. I was running the older version x2ss of the RC4WD Dick Cepek Extreme Country, and not the one that they just released in x2s3.

I'll run the stock general grabbers as soon as I get some wheels for them. djr01974 has been running them and they work great after a few runs to break in.

[Topher Builds]

Nice Brian! Happy to see you got to some wheeling, especially with this rig. Nice suspension shots there. I agree the IFS capabilities surprised me as well, it’s different for sure but ain’t no slouch.

[B-MOW71]

Originally Posted by soze

This right here is why I've become such a fan of the platform. They're so easy to drive, and the silent transmission is fantastic.

I took my Trailwalker out on Friday, but unfortunately I didn't get around to painting it beforehand like you're planning to. I just had to get it out for a wheel, and man... it was a whole different challenge with IFS and class 1 4.19" tires. Despite that, I felt it ran great, except for the tires I was running. I was running the older version x2ss of the RC4WD Dick Cepek Extreme Country, and not the one that they just released in x2s3.

I'll run the stock general grabbers as soon as I get some wheels for them. djr01974 has been running them and they work great after a few runs to break in.

I completely agree! These Enduro's are great rigs! I can't wait to get my body painted. The more I look at it, the more I'm liking it! I just need to get off my lazy butt and get it taped and painted!

Can't wait to see some running video of you Trailwalker!

Originally Posted by Topher Builds

Nice Brian! Happy to see you got to some wheeling, especially with this rig. Nice suspension shots there. I agree the IFS capabilities surprised me as well, it’s different for sure but ain’t no slouch.

Thanks TB!

It felt good to finally get it out for a quick shakedown! The IFS really did surprise me and it was a lot of fun to drive. I can't wait to get it out on some real terrain to see how it does!

[B-MOW71]

Rolled the Trailwalker in the shop today to get the body prepped for paint. Got the body scuffed up, windows masked and laid down a coat of primer.

Going to let the primer dry overnight and shot the base color tomorrow.

[BrickBait]

Why are you using FT Shock Bushing - Short #1781 instead of FT Shock Bushing - Steel #42055?

[B-MOW71]

Originally Posted by BrickBait

Why are you using FT Shock Bushing - Short #1781 instead of FT Shock Bushing - Steel #42055?

Good question! When I bought the bleeder caps, the #1781 bushings were the only ones that I knew of that fit the caps. I didn’t know or realize there were others that fit. These bleeder caps have a smaller mounting hole than all of my other shocks.


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[BrickBait]

Originally Posted by B-MOW71

Good question! When I bought the bleeder caps, the #1781 bushings were the only ones that I knew of that fit the caps. I didn’t know or realize there were others that fit. These bleeder caps have a smaller mounting hole than all of my other shocks.


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Okay

Im running a builders kit with the kit shocks. And i really dont like those plastic bushings. So i am looking into replacing them with Steel instead. Didnt know there was a size difference?
Are those bleeder caps made to fit another car?

I got a plan to convert the kit shocks caps into Bleeder caps.