Thloftus’ TF2 build

[GR8 PMKN]

Your build looks great. I have been building mine the same time..not as nice. I had trouble with the paint on the body in a couple spots so have sanded it down to repaint but the weather is not cooperating.

How do you like the driving characteristics after doing the O-ring mod? Steering, stability in corners, etc?

[Thloftus]

Originally Posted by GR8 PMKN

Your build looks great. I have been building mine the same time..not as nice. I had trouble with the paint on the body in a couple spots so have sanded it down to repaint but the weather is not cooperating.



How do you like the driving characteristics after doing the O-ring mod? Steering, stability in corners, etc?

The weather’s not cooperating with me either, so I can’t say too much about driving with the O-ring mod. We have around 5” of snow on the ground, so the truck’s been marooned on my bench, Lol! The suspension is still pretty stiff, so I’d guess that it’s not any more likely to roll over, but we’ll see.

One of the best parts about the O-ring mod is the cost; just a few dollars and some time to try it out. You also don’t need any other tools and the difference is pretty dramatic (on the bench, at least). Here’s where I got my O-rings: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00NQ...o_pop_mb_pd_t2

No worries about the painting, it’s a challenge for all of us. The first body I painted was a disaster: botched the masking, looked pretty bad, hobby shop sold me the wrong paint, so most of it chipped off later ... sits in the corner now like a trophy, Lol!




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[Thloftus]

Lights and a roll bar!

I went with the RC4WD options for the TF2.
https://store.rc4wd.com/LED-Basic-Li...dy_p_2345.html
https://store.rc4wd.com/Steel-Roll-B...-2_p_2712.html

Both are easy to install. The roll bar doesn’t quite line up with the supplied guide, but it’s compliant enough that you can bolt it in even if you match the hole diameters to the fastener OD (as I did) rather than oversizing the holes. It looks sweet on the truck. Should be included in the kit ...



The light kit takes more patience & fiddling. The tail lights are probably the most challenging. Works best if you push the LEDs into their holes on the truck body with lots of slack in the wires relative to the back plates and the slide the plates into place. It’s also important to install the LEDs without stress on the wires; e.g., remove the front grill to install the amber lights on the front - one of my amber lights quit after mild nudging with the grill on. I also replaced the servo plug wire union; stock connectors were super flakey.

The LEDs are bright, the truck definitely looks sweet with the lights, and the price is decent.



Fairly sure it’s enough light for nighttime driving, although could be fun to add some more.



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[Thloftus]

It’s been a while, didn’t realize how much time had gone by ...

Swapped out the stock skid plate for the RC4WD low profile Delrin skid. I’ve seen several descriptions of the stock skid getting hung up / shoveling and decided to switch it before living the dream, lol!

Part number for the Delrin skid:



It’s a nicely made part and designed to hug the transfer case; after installing it, I honestly don’t understand why it doesn’t come stock with the kit. It’s definitely shorter and should slide over rocks more easily; stock on the left, low profile on the right



Here’s a view under the truck with the stock skid:


And the barely visible low-profile skid:


It all went together pretty easily. I disconnected the transfer case from the transmission, but left the rest installed.

From the top, it’s a snug fit around the transfer case:


Two more under the truck:



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[Thloftus]

Added a winch!

RC4WD warn 9.5cti with a LockedUp Commando motor (burned out the stock motor some time ago), Crawl Space winch line, and a RC4WD Z-S0469 King Kong hook. The Commando motor is awesome. The hook is a little out of scale, but so it goes, Lol!




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[Thloftus]

Mounted up some 1.9” RC4WD Rock Crushers on RC4WD steel deep dish beadlocks. The tires are impressively sticky and I’m really happy with how it all looks on the truck; way more aggressive than stock. There may be slight body rub on the front when the wheels are turned all the way, but it looks pretty minor so far.

Before:


And after:


Rock crushers on the right and stock on the left:


The tire beads are fairly thick, which along with the sticky compound makes it a challenge to mount them on the deep dish wheels. I ended up installing the face plate, then the center ring, and finally the back plate. I also put a small amount of oil (very little) on the sidewalls of the back beed so I could draw the two halves of the wheel together with extra-long screws; two much grip from the sticky compound otherwise.


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[Thloftus]

It’s been a while since the last update. We ended up using the deep dish wheels on another truck and I swapped in a set of Incision KMC Grenades. The wheels are sweet and easy to assemble, as discussed elsewhere. They were also much easier to use with the Rock Crusher tires and are a better match to the truck, IMHO! I’d definitely recommend them to anyone whose considering a set!




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[Thloftus]

First run with the truck outside yesterday. Seemed about time since I started the build a year ago, Lol!

I also added the RC4WD rear Toyota emblem, along with the RC4WD Hilux emblems:
https://store.rc4wd.com/Metal-Rear-E...ck_p_5345.html
https://store.rc4wd.com/110-Metal-Em...ux_p_3299.html
The scale emblems are pretty sweet. The rear ones are easy to apply since they come with a clear overlay sticker that you remove after placing the letters. I didn’t understand the removal part at first and couldn’t figure out why mine looked so bad compared to the pictures, Doh!

The Hilux emblems are a little tricky since you have to glue them on. I haven’t figured out how to attach the emblem for the grill, doesn’t quite fit in the space ...

Nice fall day, around 60 outside. Good that we took advantage of the pleasant weather since it snowed four inches last night and through today! Not sure I’ll ever get used to the crazy CO weather.





The truck is a lot of fun to drive and crawls really well (for me), much better than I expected. There’s slight body rub in the front from the 1.9 rock crushers when the wheels are turned all the way. I’m going to try the RC4WD Superlift suspension lift bock set as a fix:
https://store.rc4wd.com/RC4WD-Superl...et_p_2825.html
I’ll probably need longer rod ends on the front shocks to compensate - seems worth the $10 to give it a try!

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[Levi]

The build is looking good. Yes the decals and embels can be a little tricky. Good luck with the blocks, hope they work. If not your not out that much. Understand the weather, it sucks for me too. Its bitter cold lately and warms up enough to go outside for awhile. I haven't been outside with the trucks for a while and working on a rc project area.

[Thloftus]

Originally Posted by Levi

The build is looking good. Yes the decals and embels can be a little tricky. Good luck with the blocks, hope they work. If not your not out that much. Understand the weather, it sucks for me too. Its bitter cold lately and warms up enough to go outside for awhile. I haven't been outside with the trucks for a while and working on a rc project area.

I know exactly how you feel!


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[Thloftus]

I finally installed the Superlift blocks on the front last weekend. The blocks come with some nice stickers and three heights, 2 mm, 4 mm, and 6 mm. I started with the 6 mm thick blocks; we’ll see if it’s too much or too little next time I take the truck out.

The blocks are easy to install. Just need longer screws. I kept the o-rings on either side of the leaf springs that I installed earlier and moved the shocks one hole down on the Gelande hoops to keep the overall travel roughly the same. The body lift looks pretty good. Looking forward to trying it out on the trails!





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[Thloftus]

RPP had a sale a couple weeks ago and I couldn’t resist picking up the Marlin Crawler front bumper
https://store.rc4wd.com/RC4WD-Marlin...-2_p_5782.html

I wasn’t sure if it would fit the standard Mojave II body since the description only lists the Marlin Mojave body and I don’t know how the dimensions differ aside from the bobbed bed. But the price for the Marlin bumper was great (even before the sale), so it seemed worth a try; such a risk taker, Lol!

I also picked up the Warn Fairlead

https://store.rc4wd.com/RC4WD-110-Wa...ck_p_4357.html

I’m happy to say that it fits great and I really like the way it looks on the truck. It’s as well made as other RC4WD bumpers I’ve tried - not sure why it’s less expensive. The approach angle looks similar to stock. The fairlead is pretty sweet; comes with some stickers for the top that improve the scale appearance - partially blocked by the bumper, but nice anyway.





The plastic bumper mount is not quite up to the task. The bumper leans forward slightly and is fairly easy to tip back and forth. No worries, though, I ordered the aluminum version this weekend, !



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[Natedog]

The aluminum front cross brace is much nicer than the stock plastic, I replaced front and rear on mine! Time to cut off stock bumper and all, then push the front bumper back a bit.

[Levi]

Never understood why they had those cross braces plastic. I did the same and put something upgrade, aluminum, metal something I just don't remember at the moment, lol. I love the color gray on this truck, fits it good. The truck looks like a good crawler/trail truck.

[Thloftus]

Originally Posted by Natedog

The aluminum front cross brace is much nicer than the stock plastic, I replaced front and rear on mine! Time to cut off stock bumper and all, then push the front bumper back a bit.

I’m looking forward to getting it installed, might even have some time during Thanksgiving!


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[Thloftus]

Originally Posted by Levi

Never understood why they had those cross braces plastic. I did the same and put something upgrade, aluminum, metal something I just don't remember at the moment, lol. I love the color gray on this truck, fits it good. The truck looks like a good crawler/trail truck.

Thank you, it’s a great truck and a lot of fun to drive. The gray / black combination is definitely a favorite for me.

It’s a good question about the plastic braces. They’re way too flexible.


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[Thloftus]

The aluminum front bumper mount arrived. Here’s the part number for reference; should help you avoid mistakenly ordering the wrong one, as I did initially, Lol. I wasn’t paying enough attention and ordered #1, described as “gift” in the kit manual, which probably explains my behavior. The correct one is #3. Many thanks to Amain’s easy order updates!

New aluminum bumper (front) compared to the plastic original. No surprise they’re the same aside from material, but I wanted an excuse to include a scale pallet in one of my pictures.

Here’s the aluminum mount on the front of the truck. It’s a joy to work on this kit, the parts go together so well!

Better fit for the bumper now and it sits square relative to the front of the truck rather than drooping forward.

My only complaint is the mount and the bumper are both threaded, which made the set screws bind slightly. Probably could have avoided this problem with pin screws, but I didn’t have any.

I put a second pallet in the back bed, along with a land anchor.

Need to add more scale parts or maybe a full interior next. This RC4WD option looks reasonable, should only take me the rest of my life to get it close how it looks in their pictures, Lol!
https://store.rc4wd.com/RC4WD-Mojave...ls_p_7079.html
Also looking at replacing the back bed with the bobbed version.
https://store.rc4wd.com/RC4WD-Mojave...ed_p_7061.html
Do any of you know if it’s a direct fit? The RC4WD website only lists compatibility with the Marlin Crawler Mojave body. I’ve read that bobbing the TF2 body is easy, but I don’t have the right tools and the cost for the pre-bobbed bed is about the same as a good hack saw / guides.

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[Natedog]

I swapped the screws out for some screwpins I had, makes no sense threading into crossmember and bumper. Much easier to work on with the pins too, they come in and out easier.

Yep, I need an interior too, looked at that one it's pretty complete and nice.

Yes, the bobbed Marlin bed will bolt right on, but you'll need to drill bed mount holes farther back (if you use them). I ended up swapping frames for a new take off Marlin frame. Bobbing is pretty easy, did mine using acetone/styrene mix. Just take your time.

[Thloftus]

Originally Posted by Natedog

I swapped the screws out for some screwpins I had, makes no sense threading into crossmember and bumper. Much easier to work on with the pins too, they come in and out easier.

Yep, I need an interior too, looked at that one it's pretty complete and nice.

Yes, the bobbed Marlin bed will bolt right on, but you'll need to drill bed mount holes farther back (if you use them). I ended up swapping frames for a new take off Marlin frame. Bobbing is pretty easy, did mine using acetone/styrene mix. Just take your time.

Awesome, thank you! I wish I’d had some screw pins, feeling some regrets now for pushing ahead. Great to hear the Marlin bed will bolt on; no problems with drilling the extra holes. Maybe my issue is lack of courage bobbing the bed myself, Lol! Hard to think about putting it under the knife after all that work! The idea of building a full interior is getting more appealing all the time. This one seems like a nice balance of cost / detail, especially since I haven’t done one before.


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[Thloftus]

Happy Thanksgiving crawling!

Nice temps outside today for driving the truck. Almost all of the body rub is gone now with the 6 mm Superlift blocks in the front. There’s a small amount at full steer on one side; I may add the 2 mm blocks and see if that takes care of it.

I also filled the shocks with 2k diff fluid. I removed the springs a while ago, but never filled the shocks, mostly due to a dread for building shocks (ok probably just lack of patience). The ride was bouncy last time, much better today, !

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