RC4WD 4Runner build

[Bananaclip]

Everything looks fantastic.... IMHO the TRD decals need to go... They seem to not do it...

[ternandbern]

Originally Posted by Bananaclip

Everything looks fantastic.... IMHO the TRD decals need to go... They seem to not do it...

Thanks, no worries, one thing about opinions, everyone’s got one!

[BIGW0RM]

Awesome job man! Very well done!

[ternandbern]

Originally Posted by BIGW0RM

Awesome job man! Very well done!

Thanks, I appreciate it!

[ternandbern]

Had some fun with it today, great driving rig!! The body chop and rear wheel well cut was perfect. A great rig. watching it bash around was too fun!!
I will also say that the rock stompers might be the worst traction tire i've ever tried. I quickly switched back to the proline tsl.


















I would also just like to recognize R4WD for the kit which makes all of this possible. Now go build your own!

[ternandbern]

With the trans mount plate as small as it is I can get the battery in and out without taking the body off. Works out great.





Also, if you like to keep your tires clean the best thing i've found to do is spin them in water in a mixing bowl or similar.

[jokersinsanity]

Those gds drivshafts are pretty decent just make sure u solder the metal holding the pins in theyll last forever

Sent from my LG-M703 using Tapatalk

[1BadJeepBruiser]

Looks fantastic dude, paint came out really nice. Good job on dropping the floor properly too

[Natedog]

Originally Posted by ternandbern

Love me them 4runners!! Time to start putting together my first rc4wd 4runner kit.

Installed angle shims to help with the driveline angles for the GDS driveshafts. I really like these drive shafts over anything else. The spline on these shafts slides really well with the six tooth geometry vs shafts like the JunFac spline, which seem to bind really bad and don't slide under load. Realistically probably not a noticeable difference but it gives me a warm fuzzy feeling.

Great start, but seems the body is molded with too much of a raised ridge around the rear most windows, should be about 1/3 of that thickness.

Good to know about the driveshafts, never really like the Junfac's 'D' drive shape on the slip joints, proper designed splines should be much better.

Originally Posted by 80Yota

Body looks great man! Good job on the bob. That t case is begging to be positioned to overdrive the front and line the drive shafts up!

Yes, awesome bob job! Good idea, but way too much overdrive, that's why I've not done my tcase flip with OD, unrealistic OD and parts breakage.

Originally Posted by ternandbern

With the trans mount plate as small as it is I can get the battery in and out without taking the body off. Works out great.

Looks great, what size battery is that and is it friction fit or? Anymore pics?

[ternandbern]

Originally Posted by jokersinsanity

Those gds drivshafts are pretty decent just make sure u solder the metal holding the pins in theyll last forever

Sent from my LG-M703 using Tapatalk

Funny you should say that, I actually lost a drive pin yesterday on the front drive shaft after the retainer got pushed out of place on a rock! Found a random wheel hex pin that fit and put it back together and then put a couple coats of paint around the retainer rings to help hold them in place. We'll see how that works for a while. Thanks for tip!

[ternandbern]

Originally Posted by 1BadJeepBruiser

Looks fantastic dude, paint came out really nice. Good job on dropping the floor properly too

Thanks, the paint turned out pretty decent, a little orange peel on the sides of the body but its gonna get a few scratches anyways! The drop floor pan is definitely worth the bit of work.

[ternandbern]

Originally Posted by Natedog

Great start, but seems the body is molded with too much of a raised ridge around the rear most windows, should be about 1/3 of that thickness.

Yes, there are a few scale oddities with this body, but pretty good overall.

Good to know about the driveshafts, never really like the Junfac's 'D' drive shape on the slip joints, proper designed splines should be much better.



Yes, awesome bob job! Good idea, but way too much overdrive, that's why I've not done my tcase flip with OD, unrealistic OD and parts breakage.

good to know, I'll leave it as is for now.



Looks great, what size battery is that and is it friction fit or? Anymore pics?

Its a gens ace 4000 35c soft pack. I just used a velcro strap to hold it in place that is just underneath the where the plug is. I'll see if i can get a better pic.

[B-MOW71]

Great looking build ternandbern! Nice color and great looking interior with the floor pans.

Subscribed!

[ternandbern]

So I wanted to find some good 1.55 tires to go on the 1.55 Mickey Thompson wheels that I have so I have some nice looking wheels to run on the truck every now and then. I purchased a pair of the new goodyear wrangler duratrac 1.55 tires and mounted them up with the stock foams. Size wise they are the exact same height as the 1.55 rock stompers so they have a good OD. They are pretty soft and sticky and they don't have much for sidewalls so they have a pretty stiff foam.
My initial impressions were that the tires folded over a little easy (as the large 1.55 tires do) but the foams were so stiff that they were not getting enough traction to be as good as something like the proline tsl's.
Btw, not to get too side tracked, but the stock foams for the proline tsl's are way too soft so when i got them i swapped foams with my 1.9 proline hirax tires that are on my vaterra bronco and now they seem to be perfect. As well the hirax's were then much softer which seems to be perfect for them since they are so wide. I also had to glue the proline tsl's to the 1.9 wagons because I could not get them together with the inner beadlock ring. Just so you know my 4runner weighs in at 6.75 lbs with battery.
So first thoughts thoughts on the duratracs was OK..









So then I thought it might help to remove the foams and cut them down just a bit and try them again. I removed about an 1/8" of an inch off the outside of the foams and bolted everything back up and went and tried them again.
Big mistake! The tires were folding over and walking all over the place and became worthless!
Then I really started thinking that the 1.55 rims look a bit small to be 15" rims anyways, however 1.9s are just a bit too big for even 16" rims. Then I decided to do a bit of math.
Wheel base of the full size 4runner is 103" and the rc4wd drive 4runner 11.3", which 103/11.3 =9.1. I know many of you guys already know that the trucks are 1/9 scale but to make a short story long.. I decided to measure some of the wheels. The 1.7 wheel sizes have a outer edge of 1 - 13/16" or 1.8125". A 15" wheel has an outer edge of just over 16". 1.8125 x 9.1 = 16.5" which is almost exact scale to a 15" wheel.
Again many of you may know this and I'm sure there are lengthy discussions elsewhere about this, but I never actually took the time to measure wheels. However I do think its ironic most of the RC4wd wheels and tires are sized for 1/10 scale.
Nonetheless I decided to pick up some of the 1.7 Mickey Thompsons. They have a good look and are a bit deeper dish than the 1.55 mt's.
So then I thought i might be able to put the 1.55 duratracs on the 1.7 mt with some different foams but that did not work at all..
Now to eat some crow, I had pulled the 1.55 rock stompers off the 1.55 wheels and thought I would see how they fit on the 1.7 mt's. With the cutdown foams that i had from the duratracs and the 1.7 wheels they seem to have just the right amount give. I decided to throw a few bolts in the beadlock rings and test them out, and even though I was not able to use the inner beadlock rings the didn't really seem to need them. Went and tested them out they did surprisingly well, in everthing! They are not quite as big on the OD as the proline tsl's but I was completely surprised. I may have found a good little combo that looks perfectly scale and performs and looks good too! The cog on this machine is pretty good too. With the drivetrain being so low I've been impressed with how much it will lean before it rolls, and yes its rolled a couple times now!

[ternandbern]

Originally Posted by B-MOW71

Great looking build ternandbern! Nice color and great looking interior with the floor pans.

Subscribed!

Thank you!

[ternandbern]

I redid the foams on my 1.55 duratracs with some custom foam that i cut up.
Foams are wider and medium soft. They make the tires rounder and give a much better footprint, look better too. I tried them out on the dry rocks and dirt last weekend and they did OK. Tire knobs are too tall and soft for rocks, but they are OK for dirt.
We got a bit of snow last night and so I had a chance to try them in snow. They performed very well. The new foams definitely helped and all those little knobs catch good snow traction. Then took a run with the rock stompers and then the proline tsl's. The rock stompers are pretty horrible in snow but tsl's did pretty good, but not quite as good as the duratracs. Good times.

[ternandbern]

After quite a few runs it was time to make some changes to get this rig where I wanted it. I changed the servo to a Hitec 7954mg for more steering torque. Also softened up the rear helper springs for a bit more flex in the rear.
The chrome bumper was a bit too much so I painted the front bumper black. Added some other details and custom license plates and dual exhaust.. braappp!

[mthomson]

Awesome build!!

[ternandbern]

Thanks. Although its a great driver I still cringe every time it gets a scratch.

Originally Posted by mthomson

Awesome build!!

[mthomson]

Beautiful build!! What are those driveshafts?