Pete's Trailwalker (first crawler)

[PeteN95]

So I am an old time racer, started in the 80's. Quit in the 90's to go race motorcycles and other stuff. Came back last year and been getting hooked again. Got a Slash from a friend, which lead to a small fleet of off road racers. But Covid stopped the local racing, so got an SMT10. Pretty cool, reminds me of my old Scout and muscle cars. Built a drag car too, but been looking at crawlers, they are so slow, but...

So I finally got a Trailwalker and almost immediately started modding. Here is how it sits now, SOR EPX suspension kit, Club 5 hi clearance links, 25kg servo, hard shock mounts, relocated ESC and receiver to second battery tray and removed side trays to mount Jconcepts Creep body, Axial CMC bumpers, and "Chirax" tires on Sendero wheels.

[MaX-D]

Good-looking truck. I dig the paint color. So are you running no side rock sliders at all?

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[B-MOW71]

Welcome back to the hobby!

Nice looking Trailwalker and nice upgrades!

I too was a RC racer back in the 80's and early 90's. I quit completely and jumped back into the scale tiny trucking about 4 years ago! I find that going slow over rocks is a lot less stressful than going fast around a track!

[soze]

Nice start! Get it out for a run!

[MaX-D]

What color is the paint?

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[PeteN95]

The paint is Tamiya PS-14 Copper. And I am not currently running side rock sliders, the Creep body is too narrow. I might cut the stock side trays down and use them, maybe with a rail glued on, but the body is narrower than the holes where the stock slider rails bolt on. I need to post more pics as I added a rear CRC bumper, but had to narrow it about 30mm. I also blacked out the bed. I'll post chassis pics as well.

[PeteN95]

Here is the Axial CRC rear bumper which I narrowed 30mm to fit the Creep body. I cut a section out of each side, then glued the ends back on with 5 minute epoxy and some scrap plastic reinforcement. I also painted the bed satin black, didn't have any flat.

[PeteN95]

Here are some shots of the chassis. The SOR EPX Pro suspension kit includes the upper shock mounts, upper rear link mounts that raise the links and allow adjustability, an aluminum battery tray that lowers the battery, and shock spacers. Club 5 makes the hi-clearance links with ends and steel ball pivots, and the "Rhinoshield" diff skid plates. I only used the lower Club 5 links in back because I couldn't see and advantage and they were heavier than the stock ones. I did move the front mounting point of the links back to tilt the driveshaft up slightly.

In front the single upper hi-clearance link interfered with things except when rotated so the bend was to the side? I eventually straightened it out, since the bend wasn't doing anything, which lengthened the link slightly tilting the diff up slightly. I also added Element FT steel pivot balls to the steering links and panhard bar. I also added a second battery tray to mount the receiver box and ESC using the stock battery tray crossmember mounted to the back of the chassis. Both battery trays were ground away for driveshaft and link clearance. I am now thinking about modifying the side rock sliders to fit this body...

[PeteN95]

So I decided to trim the side trays and sliders and re-install them. Then ditched the second battery tray and receiver box (don't really like water) and mount the ESC and receiver back on the side trays. Then I took it for a spin.