Trail Trekker Build

[pattyv12]

Hi everyone, I recently recieved my trail trekker in the mail and It has not been smooth sailing but at least this little machine is fun. I'll start by sharing some of my experiences thus far. To begin with, I received the trail trekker on time and all was well. I was enjoying it for about 2 packs and then about halfway through the third back the truck started making this awful jerking and surging motion. my first thought was ohh no the esc of doom already went. I hopped on the phone with Horizon and told them my problem and they're sending a new esc for free. No questions asked which was good. Being anxious I couldn't help but tear into and and find the exact problem. I started by removing the front then rear drive shaft to eliminate the axles as problems and sure enough when i removed the rear drive shaft the surging went away. Next I tore the axle apart down to the gears. Everything looked fine so I re greased it and reassembled it and it was still doing the same thing. Now irritated, I took it all apart again and wire brushed the axle gears.... haha Reassembled and boom problem solved. Sooo thats good, but I'm not done, in the process i've stripped almost every brass ball stud on the thing and the only way to get them off after is to take the link off and unscrew it will pliers... Not fun. If anyone has any advice on why these dumb things keep stripping i'd love it. i would like to add i'm quite mechanically inclined and I take a few engineering courses so im no dummy with a screw driver. For whatever reason I can't not strip these... Moving on, I finally got the truck to a driveable state and it is very fun. I changed the body which i will post pics of later and made a scale course which I can also post if wanted. Its a very fun truck, if it wasnt for the **** ball studs id be very happy. One more thing I'm just adding.. I ordered micro super swampers from rpp and it says delivered and they are not here.... ughh just one more problem. Ohh well I love upgrading and using the truck I just wish it would be a little easier. Sorry for the long post i'm just sharing my experience. Any and all advice and comments are welcomed. Pics and build coming soon. Thanks

Pattyv12

Heres some pics of the truck with the new body. The body is a trimmed shell from the old style maisto crawler and I must say I love it. It has a good stance. The front sags a bit because of the added weight of the card retracting winch haha. New shocks are on the way to double up the springs and try and counter the extra weight. Next upgrade will be the super swampers if they ever show up from rpp....





Some pics of the scale crawling course... This is very fun




Playing with the idea of a scale snowplow. It looks pretty good imo. I've tried some beta designs of a plow and they actually work really well. Got to get something permanent first though before I post it. I'm in connecticut and we're currently getting about 16inches of snow tonight. We have about 2-3 inches of powder right now and honestly the trail trekker goes through it pretty good

Plow coming soon???



Just ordered 30 of the dumb brass ball studs so when I strip them I dont even care. They are such a bad design I think.

New Super swampers.. broke all the shocks trying to get them off without removing the striped ball studs haha. Whatever. All new needed parts on the way shes gonna be a rippa

[crawler will]

cool little course you could try rearranging your fire wood and chucking a tarp over it then you'd have a little mountain to crawl on also i would look into changing that body, it looks kind of low and might get ripped up by those tires when it turns.

[pattyv12]

hey man thanks for the comment. Im definitely going to try the tarp. You are definitely right it gets hung up all the time it just looks good haha. I've already cut the stock body and put it on instead

[Ghost]

get yourself a good quality allen driver, it will help to not strip out the brass had mine off probably a hundred times and not one is stripped, using integy wrenches, but there are a bunch of quality driver sets out there, losi,associated,dynamite... ect all make good ones, and welcome to the addiction

[pattyv12]

Thanks man and yeah I actually found a craftsman allen key that fit perfect and haven't stripped on yet. Also I don't think I was pushing it in far enough because now it goes in much farther and I haven't had a problem. It most certainly is an addiction I love it

Got some mail today


Ball studs shocks and worm gear because the one that came on mine was chipped

Finally got my shocks mounted back on. I run no stoppers and dual springs on every shock. Works good and still has plenty of articulation


sorry it is a little blurry




with dual springs

Improved clearance and better looks imo with the other body


Stayed up all night trying to get a plow set up and this is what I came up with. Dont judge because they are connects haha. I might paint it. The set up actually works really good and can go up down and pivot in 3 positions by hand. It can plow about an inch of fluffy snow as were getting a storm here in CT right now. If anyone would like to see a video of it I could probably do that.





Also moved around some electronics for room for some big lipos coming. i cant wait. Now I just need a charger. Recommendations on a cheaper one would be great


Turnigy 500mah lipo. Fits and looks good. Should give me some decent run times. Its killing me that I can't try it without a charger


Revised and upgraded the scale course. Those are wood pellets and they do a great job simulating mud


Snow Mountain first run

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucko...ature=youtu.be

Snow Trail

Can't wait for the snow to melt to do some real trail and crawling vids but for now this is ok. If only it wasn't so damn cold haha

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9adw...ature=youtu.be

[MikeChino]

Looks like you're having fun with it i don't know much about that white stuff on the ground, here in calif we only look at it on the tops of the mountains about twice a year,

[pattyv12]

Haha hey man thanks for the comment. I am having a blast this little machine is so much fun. Cali sounds good rn we have about 3 feet of snow haha. The trekker does ok in about and inch or so or packed snow. Id love to get a 1/10 machine soon maybe an scx10. More videos are coming stay tuned

[pattyv12]

Well everyone we have a bit of a problem. I was out enjoying my trekker and shooting a bunch of video footage and all was great. I brought it inside and was driving it and it randomly stopped and i lost all control. No matter what I did on the remote it wouldn't move turn drive... noting shes completely dead. The only thing I see is a single constant red light on the esc. No idea what that is and some help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Pattyv12

[Slambaam]

rebind it?

[MikeChino]

It might have something to do with that white stuff on the ground also, I hear it turns into water...serious tho i would check and try to rebind, did you waterproof it at all? most likely you got some moisture in the speed control/receiver, it doesn't take much. good luck.

[pattyv12]

Ok so its been a while but the trekker has seen some big updates and upgrades. First off, I waterproofed the esc entirely by completely covering it with hot glue haha. I was too cheap to by plasti dip so i used hot glue and it works really well. Next, the most obvious which is the big motor. I made a custom motor plate out of some cheap sheet steel. The motor used is from a micro rs4. I used the biggest pinion that came with the trekker and drilled it out to fit the motor and it works perfectly. The motor has SO MUCH TORQUE. I have the slipper turned way down or it will snap drive shafts on command. I snaked the motor in between the rear shock mounts and inverted the rear shocks to clear the motor. I love the current setup and it works great. Any questions or comments let me know. Patty12