Spicy Big Taco with xtra beef ( Upgraded Stampede project)

[high plains drifter]

Picked this one up last year and have been having a lot of fun with it ever since. It's on it's 4th body now which is either a testament to Traxxas durability or to my heavy trigger-finger.

Anyway... Started out with the classic Bigfoot body but I just didn't have the heart to damage such an iconic beauty so I modified some rear body mounts and instead mounted up a Toyota FJ body from my old T-Maxx. That was fine for a while but I felt that the handling was a bit sketchy as opposed to my buddy's Stampede with Bigfoot body. I decided at that point to go back to stock rear body mounts and find a pickup-style body. So with reamer in hand I went ahead and bored some new holes in another old T-Maxx body that I had laying around... a Ford F250. But after building a couple of ramps, the Ford body began getting thrashed pretty badly.

That brings me to the current body... another Proline Ford SD, but with a twist! Back when I had a full-size 2004 Toyota Tacoma and was heavy into the nitro scene, I wanted a T-Maxx body that looked like my beloved Taco. Although not very accurate, I did what I could to match it to my full-size Toyota and with some little modifications and details, it actually matched the full-size Taco adequately. That body was another appropriate donor for my Stampede since I no longer run my T-Maxx ( and sadly no longer have the full size Tacoma). So that's where it's at now... a Bigfoot Stampede with a Ford-turned-Toyota shell originally on a T-Maxx lol! Anyway... enough about the body... onto the other mods and upgrades!

Traxxas- hardened steel differential output yokes & u-joints
Traxxas- bearing conversion kit
Traxxas- chrome suspension pins 44m
Traxxas- front camber links 39mm
Traxxas- front toe-links 59mm
Traxxas- rear turnbuckles 96mm
Traxxas- front caster-block king pins
STRC- front & rear aluminum shock caps
STRC- aluminum front caster blocks
STRC- aluminum rear hub-carriers
RRP- aluminum upper & lower spring retainers front/ rear
RC Trix- stiff ( 20%?) rear springs
RC Screwz- stainless hex-head screw conversion kit
Exceed RC- aluminum rear wheel hex's






















Custom front body mount- I utilized an old T-Maxx rear body-post mount, flipped upside-down and modified to use as front body mounting posts. Also fabricated an elliptical-shaped "brace" that fits snugly between the bumper and chassis ( not visible)... providing more rigidity and strength to the front bumper and body-post mount.





Custom rear double body mount- Jumping high and landing hard was causing the rear of my flimsy nitro cut-out bodies to twist and subsequently rip. So I scavenged some old HPI and Associated body-mounting parts and came up with this rear double mounting-post setup. The truck now utilizes six posts instead of four ( 2 front/ 4 rear) and is noticeably more rigid... holding the body onto the chassis much more securely.







Custom front shock brace- Because I no longer needed the stock front body mount piece, I decided to clean things up by removing it. It was pretty flimsy anyway so I decided to cut up an old Associated graphite-composite shock-tower in order for the front shocks to mount to a more rigid brace . The light-weight and minimalist design ties the shocks together for a much stiffer mount than the original.





Custom rear shock/ body-mount brace- The Stampede rear shock tower is also quite flexible so in order to strengthen and minimize flex, I fabricated a 1/4" thick aluminum bar that ties into the existing shock tower. Definitely a noticeable improvement, minimal weight, and along with the double rear body mounts... shocks and body feel much more secure.



So anyway... Thanks for checking out my Stampede/ Bigfoot project. It's been a lot of fun and I'm not sure if it's over yet but I'll post any additional mods/ upgrades/ breakage here. So far I've only managed to kill one spur gear and blow-out two rear shocks. I believe that the spur got chewed due to a hard hit that widened the gap just enough to chew it up. The weakness in the shocks I believe, were the stock plastic caps. Other than that, everything has held up quite well despite a seriously bashed-up Ford body, some missing body clips, and a couple long lost e-clips.

Comments/ questions always welcomed.

[high plains drifter]

Sigh... If someone could let me know if images are showing? I'm not seeing them from my end... same as in some other threads. Idk what the issue is with post-image hosting site but no need to keep posting pics if no one can see them lol. Ugh. Thanks.

[Zukiiholic]

Not seeing any pics on my end.

[high plains drifter]

Thanks, man.

dunno why this is happening ... postimage .org.

[Mike Flea]

Originally Posted by high plains drifter

Sigh... If someone could let me know if images are showing? I'm not seeing them from my end... same as in some other threads. Idk what the issue is with post-image hosting site but no need to keep posting pics if no one can see them lol. Ugh. Thanks.

No pics

[high plains drifter]

Thanks, Mike. Will get it figured out.

[high plains drifter]

Finally... fixed images. Bump!

When I first got this Stampede, I was using a couple of 3000mah NiMH packs back-to-back but after only a few months, the run time began to decrease and the packs were getting pretty hot after charging as well as after running. The weight of these things is fairly heavy too. So now I've switched to lipo and I couldn't be happier... performance and run time are much improved. Using a Turnigy 2S 4.0 exclusively in this truck now... much lighter at about 233g compared to the <450g of the NiMH. Had to modify the battery tray a bit as this pack is little longer than the Traxxas hump pack but nothing major.



Also... This is what the [now retired] Proline Ford body looks like since switching to lipo lol...

[OSRC]

Carnage!!

Despite it's simple design, the Stampede is a ton of fun. Used to beat the holy out of mine and it just kept coming back for more.

[high plains drifter]

Indeed... design and durability make these trucks beg for abuse! I had debated going with the 4wd version but for a basher that sees a lot of air-time, it seemed pointless to have more weight and extra moving parts. Like you said... "simplicity". I'm really happy with this one and still haven't even needed to change out the crappy Traxxas steering servo! Thanks for checking it out!

[durok]

Cool Stampede, been through hell and still kickin'!

I just found some old digital pics on my computer, from before my apartment fire - these must be at least 10 years old!

My old Stampede with Dahms body, RPM wheels (RIT-dyed a deep purple color) and Pro-line tires, all stuff that was popular back then (we've come a long way!) - all the shiny silver is sticky chrome Mylar tape - mostly applied on the inside of the body after it was painted:

[high plains drifter]

Killer Stampede! I just saw that other thread and thought the T2 with KTM fender-body was insane!! So I'm guessing that you too had one or more vehicles featured in the Reader's Rides pages of RC Car Action?

I found these asst rags the other day with my various RC10GT's in them. I used to think it was so cool seeing my own projects in between the pages of my favorite RC publications! I also remember that I had put some Xtreme R/C Cars stickers on one of the bodies before sending that pic in to Radio Control Car Action magazine, where they printed it but understandably edited out the sticker lol.

The good ol' days of my Associated nitro obsession...

[durok]

I never sent in a Reader's Ride, even when the RC10T2 was in better shape and had the bright green 1/8th scale buggy wing topping it off, and a early Novak brushless system in it.

I called it the Atomic Carrot, it was fast, heavy, and indestructible - except for the wing, which kept breaking clean off the rear body posts - even though it was made of molded flexible nylon.

[high plains drifter]

Anyone familiar with the Stampede knows that the chassis/ battery-tray area is a little unrefined and that the exposed antenna-wire and servo wire are somewhat vulnerable. I decided that it was time to clean things up now that I'm running lipo and have recently extended the length of the battery-tray.

So I went ahead and fabbed two plastic "rails" to run along the sides of the battery-tray on top of the chassis. This required the elimination of the plastic disks that the battery hold-down studs go into. It also meant that some of the antenna mount and battery hold-down mounts had to be ground down flush with the top of the chassis. I also had to Dremel some slots along the inside of the chassis in order to run the servo wire and antenna wire under the new rails. Drilled three holes total... two on the left rail/ three on the right rail. Holes are for the battery hold-down/ front rail mounting studs (2), the rear rail mounting screws (2), and one hole for the antenna-tube to pass through. Fortunately, the Stampede already has [unused] holes molded into the top of the chassis towards the rear which was the perfect place for the new rear-rail screws to tap into.

So that's about it but it looks a ton better, hides/ secures the vulnerable antenna & servo wires, and makes it easier to insert & remove the battery. The weight is also very minimal which was critical to keep in mind throughout the planning and fabricating process.