B-MOW's TRX-4m Mini Blue Bronco

[B-MOW71]

Originally Posted by Short_Bus_Kustoms

Yeah Dayton Oh, not sure why it says AZ! Lol i have been to KNK TTC the last few years. Cool deal always looking for more locals to wheel with.

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Cool! I thought I recognized your name!

I won't be making this years KNK due to family vacation being the same time, but hoping to make it to Beat The Creek in May '23. BTC is always a good time!

[B-MOW71]

The light kits finally arrived at my LHS. I stopped in this past Thursday just to see if any of the Traxxas upgrade parts had arrived and sure enough, a light kit for each of the Bronco and Defender was on the counter being checked in. I instantly grabbed both and checked out.




This is what is included in the Bronco light kit. Front and rear light and rear light buckets, screws and zip ties.

There are 5 different modes that are activated by pressing the EZ-set button on the ESC. I chose #1 setting which is default.

Description in manual of light settings:

1. Headlights, daytime running lights, and taillights on; brake lights on when braking; reverse lights on when reversing.
2. Headlights off; daytime running lights and taillights on; brake lights on when braking; reverse lights on when reversing.
3. Headlights, daytime running lights, and taillights off; brake lights on when braking; reverse lights on when reversing.
4. Hazard lights on; headlights, daytime running lights and taillights off; brake lights on when braking; reverse lights on when reversing.
5. LED lights display (demo mode, sequence of all lighting) Truck will not drive in the mode.






The stock front faux light panels and the rear light buckets must be removed.




A look installed. I used a drop of black hot glue to attach the wires under the hood.




I tried to capture the brake, tail and reverse lights in the following pic, but it is hard to tell.

- First pic is with headlights and running lights on.
- Second pic is with brake lights on. (Brake lights are always on when rig is not moving)
- Third pic is reverse lights when triggered to go in reverse.
- Fourth pic is rear running lights when rig is going forward.

[CosmoM3]

Good call on changing the tires to the Canyon Trails.

[B-MOW71]

Originally Posted by CosmoM3

Good call on changing the tires to the Canyon Trails.

Yes. I love my 1.9 Canyon Trails on my GK-Ecto build! My favorite stock tire by far!

I figured these little CT’s would be great too!


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[Short_Bus_Kustoms]

Looking good! We joined the club as well.


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[B-MOW71]

Originally Posted by Short_Bus_Kustoms

Looking good! We joined the club as well.

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Nice, congrats!



Ordered a set of brass hexes with rotors. I saw someone on YT mention these so I thought I'd give them a try. These are designed for the SCX24's, so the axle shaft hole in these needs to be drilled out to fit the TRX-4m axles.

I used a 9/64 bit to ream out the holes. Fit the axles good, but ran into another problem. Since I'm using the Traxxas beadlock wheels, the brass hex/rotor hits the screws on the back side of the wheels. Won't allow for the wheel to be tightened down. It does look like these hexes do work with Treal and possibly other wheels, so I'll have to get a set and try them out.

[2471:24]

Those lights made it look so much better! A really good light kit, other manufacturers should make these for their trucks also. Gotta say that the trx4m got a lot of boxes checked right.

[B-MOW71]

Originally Posted by 2471:24

Those lights made it look so much better! A really good light kit, other manufacturers should make these for their trucks also. Gotta say that the trx4m got a lot of boxes checked right.

I agree! The light kit adds a great look to it!

Traxxas did do a great job on this rig! It's surprising how good this little rig really is! One of my favorites to date!

[B-MOW71]

Took the Bronco out for a drive and had an odd issue happen to it. And it not only happened to mine, but my grandson’s red Defender also. He came over last night and we took our mini rigs for a spin around the living room. We hit the exact same obstacle and had the exact same malfunction happen. The front driveshafts in both rigs popped out. We didn’t realize it happened until later in the drive we noticed we only had rear wheel drive. Went back and backtracked our path and found both shafts laying together. Luckily the pins were also laying there.

I did do the heat shrink mod to the driveshafts on both rigs. But yet somehow the pin slipped out (with the heat shrink still attached) causing the front half to fall out.




Cut the old heat shrink off, replaced the pin and shaft and added a new piece of heat shrink. This time I pressed the heat shrink into the o-ring slot while it was still hot in hopes that it will keep the pin from sliding.

I gotta feeling this will happen again so the plan is to find a good metal driveshaft replacement in the future.



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Edit: Fixed the ginormous pics!

[Gramps]

Haven't tried it but on reddit I saw some one who too a small key ring and replaced the o-ring. No measurements were given. Guess a fellow could remove the o-ring and measure the diameter of the slot. Wonder how removing the o-ring and filling the slot with hot glue would work?

[AK KRAWLER]

That's interesting how the pin would even come out with the heat shrink still intact.
The pic with he heat shrink formed into the groove looks pretty good.

Gramps - Filling the groove with hot glue, cutting it down smooth, then applying the heat shrink sounds pretty solid.

Here is the thread that someone on this site did the key ring mod, but it doesn't list the size of the key ring... TRX4M drive shaft rubber ring fix.

[B-MOW71]

Fixed the ginormous pics in my last post. Tapatalk got me again!

Originally Posted by Gramps

Haven't tried it but on reddit I saw some one who too a small key ring and replaced the o-ring. No measurements were given. Guess a fellow could remove the o-ring and measure the diameter of the slot. Wonder how removing the o-ring and filling the slot with hot glue would work?

I did see that mod someone did with the tiny key ring. I don't have any rings that small on hand at the moment.

You know, that is a great idea! Hot glue in the pin hole and then heat shrink may just work. I'm gonna give that a try. Thanks for the tip!

Originally Posted by AK KRAWLER

That's interesting how the pin would even come out with the heat shrink still intact.
The pic with he heat shrink formed into the groove looks pretty good.

Gramps - Filling the groove with hot glue, cutting it down smooth, then applying the heat shrink sounds pretty solid.

Here is the thread that someone on this site did the key ring mod, but it doesn't list the size of the key ring... TRX4M drive shaft rubber ring fix.

I think the pin was sliding and pushing the heat shrink just enough to pop out. I'm guessing, but it is the only way I can see how it would come out. I think Gramps idea using the hot glue would help the pin from sliding with the heat shrink on as well.

Thanks for the link! I'll give that a look and see what I can do. I am though going to get a good set of metal axles eventually so this never happens again!



UPDATE:

After fixing my grandson's driveshaft with a new piece of heat shrink, less than 2 minutes into his next drive the pin came out again. I went ahead and put the o-ring back on his before he went home. I'm hoping the o-ring will last long enough so that I can get another set of driveshafts ordered.

[kincer]

9mm key ring is what I read somewhere, haven't got any yet but Amazon has em.

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[Digital]

Great thread! I put my esc into the "crawler" mode (3 flashing lights) and the control is waaay better than the factory mode (2 flashing lights). It's still a little too fast for me so maybe someone is working on some gears for this thing. But out of the box, it's great fun!

[Gramps]

Originally Posted by Digital

Great thread! I put my esc into the "crawler" mode (3 flashing lights) and the control is waaay better than the factory mode (2 flashing lights). It's still a little too fast for me so maybe someone is working on some gears for this thing. But out of the box, it's great fun!

Traxxas has low speed gears (crawler)

[Digital]

Originally Posted by Gramps

Traxxas has low speed gears (crawler)

Good lookin' out! Just found the p/n - Model# 9776R in case anyone is looking.

[B-MOW71]

Originally Posted by kincer

9mm key ring is what I read somewhere, haven't got any yet but Amazon has em.

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Just found the 9mm on Amazon. 300 pack for $7.99! I'll have plenty of spares!

Thanks for posting the size!

Originally Posted by Digital

Great thread! I put my esc into the "crawler" mode (3 flashing lights) and the control is waaay better than the factory mode (2 flashing lights). It's still a little too fast for me so maybe someone is working on some gears for this thing. But out of the box, it's great fun!

Thanks Digital!

I run my in mode 3 too. I didn't like how reverse had to be double tapped to go backwards. So far I'm OK with the speed. From what I read and heard, the "slower" gear set was too slow for most. But the gear sets are cheap to buy so may be worth picking up a set to try out. Probably best to just buy the slower transmission and do a full swap.

[DirtMerchant]

For as cheap as the gears are, it's not bad, but I have to agree on the slowness of the slower gear set. There are times where you want to get that extra grunt up a hill, but the power just isn't there. You know the little guy would make it if only it had a bit more juice.

[Gramps]

IT will be interesting to see how the 130 motor for the TRX4m that Holmes Hobby is working on will work with the slow gears.

[Digital]

Originally Posted by B-MOW71

From what I read and heard, the "slower" gear set was too slow for most. But the gear sets are cheap to buy so may be worth picking up a set to try out. Probably best to just buy the slower transmission and do a full swap.

Thanks for the tip!

Originally Posted by DirtMerchant

For as cheap as the gears are, it's not bad, but I have to agree on the slowness of the slower gear set. There are times where you want to get that extra grunt up a hill, but the power just isn't there. You know the little guy would make it if only it had a bit more juice.

Good to know as well.

Originally Posted by Gramps

IT will be interesting to see how the 130 motor for the TRX4m that Holmes Hobby is working on will work with the slow gears.

I'd be interested in a more quiet motor, the esc really gets this stock motor whining in low speed and for such a small scale it's pretty loud especially when using indoors, for me anyways, lol.