The "Little White Bronco " Story.

[JimK]

Well, I wanted one of these TRX4M Broncos since I first caught wind of them but they took a little while to start showing up here in my neck of the woods. Once they showed up in stock on the Great Hobbies web site I snatched one up quick as could be! I ordered the Pro Scale light kit at the same time so I could see where I'm going.

As with my SCX24 Gladiator thread I've already made a few changes to the Bronco. I'll use this thread to get you up to date on those mods and keep you posted on any changes going forward. Thanks for looking.



They had all of the colours in stock but it was the white one that caught my eye.



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[JimK]

I installed the light kit right away. The kit was well thought out and installed quickly without any issues.

Headlights.



Tailights.



I tossed it on the scale after installing the lights to get a base weight. I should have weighed it before installing the lights but my excitement got the best of me.



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[B-MOW71]

Nice buy! These little Bronco's are nice and fun to wheel!

I was amazed at how well the light kits for these were made and the features they pack in such a small package. The kit is definitely worth the dollars!

[JimK]

Well, it didn't take long for parts to start showing up and changes to start happening.

Got a Fast Eddy bearing kit, metal diff gears, steel suspension link (pricey!!). I also bought a set of wheels so I can put a real spare tire on the back.



Got a spare battery, an grey aluminum steering link and shock bodies. I got grey aluminum drive shaft tubes too but it turns out these don't work on the stock driveshafts. Some different spring sets too so I can do a little suspension tuning.



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[JimK]

Originally Posted by B-MOW71

Nice buy! These little Bronco's are nice and fun to wheel!

I was amazed at how well the light kits for these were made and the features they pack in such a small package. The kit is definitely worth the dollars!

I couldn't agree more!! These little Traxxas Broncos are really well done for the money!!

[JimK]

Shortly thereafter the teardown began. I got the bearing kit installed and built it back up with all the new aluminum parts. When I rebuilt the shocks I went with 25 weight oil front and rear. I left the stock springs on the front and put the .155 rate springs on the rear with one spacer on each rear shock. So far that set up has been working just fine.

I'm using one of my wife's good dish towels as a work mat here. That didn't go over very well when she saw it!!



Not long after I got it all back together an aluminum skid plate, new tires and a metal roof rack showed up. I wish the skid plate would have shown up earlier so I wouldn't have to tear it all apart again...oh well!



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[JimK]

So, I disassembled what I needed to and got the new Injora skid plate installed. Fit and finish on this aluminum skid was excellent and it installed quite nicely. You can see here that I also added some heat shrink to the lower drive shaft connections.



I got the 52mm Chyrax tires mounted to a set of white spoke Injora wheels. Should look okay on the little white Bronco. Nice tires but the rubber compound is a little stiff. We'll see how these work out?



Here's the new wheels and tires mounted on the Bronco and the new Injora metal roof rack. The roof rack has mounting holes in it to screw to the roof but for now I just used small black zip ties to secure it in place. I want to make sure I like it before I start drilling holes all over the place. The zip ties are actually keeping it in place pretty securely.

I'm using an old grubby towel to work on now....wifey is much happier about that!!



Ready for the night trails now! I removed the bumper led's as I thought they were a little redundant with all the other lights now.



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[JimK]

Once I removed the bumper led's I decided to trim the front bumper a bit to give the front tires better "approach" to obstacles. I also added some nice red tow shackles to the front bumper. The holes to mount the shackles are recessed in the bumper so I wasn't able to use the provided screws. I used a couple pieces of sturdy wire to make some pins to hold them in place instead. I may trim the bumpers in a bit more and eliminate the unused led holes?



I also removed the plastic spare tire cover and installed a real spare tire in it's place. It is a little bit heavier but it looks better to me and I was willing to make that sacrifice.



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[Logan’s RCAdventures]

That looks seriously sweet. I am loving the white on white wheels and body. The lights look really cool too! How much is the total for all the parts?

[JimK]

Originally Posted by Logan’s RCAdventures

That looks seriously sweet. I am loving the white on white wheels and body. The lights look really cool too! How much is the total for all the parts?

Thanks for the kind words...I really like this little truck!!
I haven't kept track exactly but I've probably spent $300-$350 Canadian dollars so far on upgrades to this rig?

[2471:24]

Those lights make it look so good! I like those tires, massage the foams a bit to get them to soften up.

[JimK]

Originally Posted by 2471:24

Those lights make it look so good! I like those tires, massage the foams a bit to get them to soften up.

Thank you. The roof rack/lights are actually for the SCX24 Jeep Wrangler but they fit on the Bronco quite nicely. Although the tires are a little stiff they still seem to work ok.

[JimK]

A few more changes have been made. I swapped out the stock chassis for a carbon fiber Furitek Grasshopper chassis. Not only is it a thing of beauty but it allows for better shock mounting locations which provides a fair bit more articulation. Installation was pretty straight forward and all the stock Traxxas parts bolted up without any issues.

I forgot to take a picture of the chassis before I installed it so I poached one from their website.



While I had the truck all torn down again I also installed a Holmes Hobbies Mini Tourquemaster 66T motor and put the Traxxas low speed crawler gear set in the transmission. Much better drag brake and low speed control now! You can also see all the different shock locations in this picture.



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[JimK]

Despite being a bit stiff he new tires are working just fine but I wanted something a bit bigger. I stole the wheels off my Gladiator and mounted a set of 64mm Injora Rock Terrain Crawler tires. These have a tread pattern very similar to the Proline Hyrax tires. You can see how much bigger this set of tires is.



These wheels look really good on the Bronco. I like how they fill up the wheel wells and they also provide a bit more ground clearance. I have another set of 62mm tires coming that I'll put on the white spoke wheels and I'll be able to swap back and forth between the two sets of tires.



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[Gramps]

The black wheels look better on the Bronco, the white wagon wheels are just to 70's for a modern Bronco. The Injora frame looks very interesting.

[JimK]

Originally Posted by Gramps

The black wheels look better on the Bronco, the white wagon wheels are just to 70's for a modern Bronco. The Injora frame looks very interesting.

I didn't mind the white wheels but they are retro for sure. That being said I much prefer the look of the new wheels as well.

[Maxxamillion]

My Blue Bronco is just three days old! Following your build-up closely...
From 52mm to 64mm tires is a fairly big change from smaller to larger tires. I estimate my stock tires are about 57-58mm (2.25/2 1/4") diameter). Stock size looks & works very well IMO. What size are you liking most?
I just received Injora wheels, but the stock Traxxas tire beads are too thick to mount to them - So I am ordering some Injora tires now. Two sets, 57 & 58mm in sizes.
Fun little rig that performs very well! I will stay very stock based to keep my cost down (Lighting next).
Nice mods on yours Jim, and some nice courses you are building. Cheers

[JimK]

Originally Posted by Maxxamillion

My Blue Bronco is just three days old! Following your build-up closely...
From 52mm to 64mm tires is a fairly big change from smaller to larger tires. I estimate my stock tires are about 57-58mm (2.25/2 1/4") diameter). Stock size looks & works very well IMO. What size are you liking most?
I just received Injora wheels, but the stock Traxxas tire beads are too thick to mount to them - So I am ordering some Injora tires now. Two sets, 57 & 58mm in sizes.
Fun little rig that performs very well! I will stay very stock based to keep my cost down (Lighting next).
Nice mods on yours Jim, and some nice courses you are building. Cheers

Thanks for the kind words. These are definitely fun little trucks and quite capable right out of the box. They don't really need to by highly modded to have fun with them but I just happen to be one of those guys who can't leave well enough alone and I like tinkering with my trucks just as much as I like driving them. As for the tires, I like the larger tires on my Bronco and I feel they perform better than the smaller tires. I get a noticeably better approach and departure angle which helps in the chunky rock sections and better ground clearance as well. Good luck with your new Bronco and I hope you have lots of fun with it!!

[Natedog]

Very nice, I like the white wagon wheels with the white body and they are quite capable.

[JimK]

Originally Posted by Natedog

Very nice, I like the white wagon wheels with the white body and they are quite capable.

Thanks! These are great little trucks for sure.