The "Little Green Defender" Story.

[JimK]

Not long after getting my TRX4M Bronco I decided to pick a a Defender to keep it company. The hobby shop had all the colours in stock but it was the green one that caught my eye.

I really like the details on this Defender hard body....Traxxas did a great job on this one too. I do however think the wheels and tires look a bit small.





I don't plan on leaving this truck stock but I'm not going to mod it as much as I did the Bronco.....maybe?
Tossed it on the scale to get a base weight.



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[JimK]

I made a couple simple changes right away.

I added some nice red tow shackles front and rear for a little scale goodness.



I also deleted the jerry cans, jack and spare tire cover from the back of the Defender.



I used a stock Bronco tire for a spare tire. To me the spare tire looks better than the plastic tire cover and it looks much cleaner out back with the jack and gas cans gone.



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[JimK]

I put the new wheels from of my Bronco on to get a perspective on how bigger tires would look on this thing. These wheels look great on here and I like the size too.



I also tried the white spoke wheels and I think they look pretty good too. Decisions, decisions!!
The light bar is just sitting in place...not sure what I think of it?



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[JimK]

When I got the Defender I also got the Pro Scale light kit so I popped that in. I really like the light kits for the TRX4M's!





I also installed a Holmes Hobbies 87T Mini Torquemaster that I had laying around.



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[JimK]

One last thing that I did right away was to install Injora brass steering knuckles and front diff cover. I stole the knuckles and the rear diff cover off of the Bronco to put on here. I'll replace the knuckles on the Bronco later.





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[Gramps]

Nice looking truck Jim, personally I think the white spoke wheels look better on it. The real spare tire looks better than the tire cover that is not exactly scale.

[JimK]

Originally Posted by Gramps

Nice looking truck Jim, personally I think the white spoke wheels look better on it. The real spare tire looks better than the tire cover that is not exactly scale.

Thanks Gramps. I'm leaning towards the white spoke wheels also. They fit the "look" of the Defender quite nicely.

[high plains drifter]

I know we all have different tastes but those white spokes look 100% perfect on that rig... especially given the green body color. Good looking d-rings too.. So many out there are either too long, too large, anodized, have a squared/ cnc appearance, or require you to buy a bumper to get em. I like those a lot.. they look great. Awesome looking d110.

[OSRC]

Just got mine this week finally, after months of backorder. They are nice little rigs!

My only beef is lack of torque. How is the Holmes motor? I ordered the lower turn one, I was torn between the two but thought the faster one might work out better with the non existent low speed gear set when I eventually find one.

[JimK]

Originally Posted by high plains drifter

I know we all have different tastes but those white spokes look 100% perfect on that rig... especially given the green body color. Good looking d-rings too.. So many out there are either too long, too large, anodized, have a squared/ cnc appearance, or require you to buy a bumper to get em. I like those a lot.. they look great. Awesome looking d110.

Thanks! I quite like the white rims too. I'd still like a little bit bigger tire though. I'll snoop around and see what I can come up with. I'm contemplating painting the roof white too at some point? The tow shackles are from Injora and they're just right for this rig. I did have to open up the holes in the bumpers a little bit for the shackles to fit nicely.

[JimK]

Originally Posted by OSRC

Just got mine this week finally, after months of backorder. They are nice little rigs!

My only beef is lack of torque. How is the Holmes motor? I ordered the lower turn one, I was torn between the two but thought the faster one might work out better with the non existent low speed gear set when I eventually find one.

Nice little rigs for sure! The HH 87T definitely has more torque than the stock motor but the drag brake isn't fantastic with the stock gearing. I have a HH 66T to put in this eventually but I too am waiting for a set of crawling gears. I was finally able to track down a set of crawler gears and should have them some time next week. I have the 66T/crawling gear combo in my Bronco and I'm very happy with it.

[OSRC]

Excellent - thank you for the feedback!

[Ynad]

Nice choice on the color. I got green one too :-) White roof would look good with those steelies. Crawl gears with some faster motor are the great combo for these rigs.

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[JimK]

Originally Posted by OSRC

Excellent - thank you for the feedback!

You're very welcome!!

Originally Posted by Ynad

Nice choice on the color. I got green one too :-) White roof would look good with those steelies. Crawl gears with some faster motor are the great combo for these rigs.

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Thanks!! I'm pretty sure that's the direction I going to head in.

[JimK]

I had my soldering iron and heat gun out to solder a plug on an SCX24 motor for a friend at work so I took a minute and did the heat shrink fix on the lower driveshaft o-rings. More upgrades to follow soon, I've got some bearings, brass links, steering link and some other goodies due to show up in the next few days.



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[JimK]

A bunch of parts showed up and I managed to get some of them installed today.

I started by tearing out the axles and replacing the bushings with RC Lions sealed bearings. I'll do the tranny bushings later when I install the low speed gears.



Got the back end all back together with JKA Hobby straight brass links and RC Lions 7mm x 5mm brass wheel hexes. These add 1mm off offset for a slightly wider stance.



Here's the front end all done up with the same links and hexes and an RC Lions aluminum steering link installed as well.



I decided to permanently install the Injora light bar up top. Still not sure I like how it looks up there but this thing throws a ridiculous amount of light. I tossed a set of Injora recovery boards up on the roof rack too while I was messing around.



Here she sit's all back together for now ready for some night time trail runs.



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[JimK]

I've got a few more upgrades and changes planned in the next couple weeks as time permits. One of which would be to get these low range gears and HH 66T motor installed. Likely a wheel/tire swap in the mix too.



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[JimK]

Well I had a little spare time tonight so I was able to get the crawler gears and HH 66T motor installed. Installation is pretty straightforward and the entire swap took about 30 minutes.

Popped out the tranny and we're ready to get after it.



Tranny all back together and ready to be put back in the Defender. I put a very light coat of grease on the gears. I know they're plastic but I still prefer not to run them dry.



Tranny and battery tray back where they belong. I can't wait to try this thing out tomorrow. It was fine on the trail before but really just to fast and unpredictable for slow precise crawling over obstacles.



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[JimK]

I forgot to mention that the brass links I installed came with a bunch of 1mm plastic spacers. I added one to each end to m
ake each link 2mm longer and increase the wheel base by 4mm all together.



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[Natedog]

Originally Posted by JimK

Well I had a little spare time tonight so I was able to get the crawler gears and HH 66T motor installed. Installation is pretty straightforward and the entire swap took about 30 minutes.

Tranny and battery tray back where they belong. I can't wait to try this thing out tomorrow. It was fine on the trail before but really just to fast and unpredictable for slow precise crawling over obstacles.

Been loving mine, your whitespoke wheels and roof painted white is how I like it, looking great! Agreed on a real spare tire looks nice.



Running mine all stock, the gearing is little too high for real crawling. Swapped for the crawl gears, now it crawls great but really needs more top end wheel speed for dirt, sand and when a little rock ledge needs a bump to climb up! Hoping the CrawlMaster 66T motor with the crawl gears is the ticket!


Traxxas should have made it 2-3S compatible ESC from the factory like they almost every other RC they make. I don't want to swap everything or go brushless on this little guy, so I'm making do with stock electronics and the crawl gear set. I'll try this motor next, maybe Traxxas or Hobbywing will make an esc that retains all the stock stuff like light ports and nice bolt in between the frame rails. Furitek BL setup is nice, but then again I'm not going swap crazy on this little guy.