Telluride?

[mwe-maxxowner]

Hey guys! I don't like to put my vehicles in water much because of the extra problems it can cause. I've been thinking of getting one vehicle to be designated as my water playing truck. I am thinking of a telluride, because the rollers can go for so cheap.

I'd wanna do some crawling with it a fair bit too. How do you guys feel about it crawling vs the summit? Would wider arms not help it side hill better? I would probably run a 21 turn titan on a mamba max on 4s, or on a velineon on 3s. 500K in the diffs and whatever crawler tires are recommended. Possibly a little weight in the front tires. Would that perform anything like a "real" crawler? I own a losi mrc and that little thing amazes me. I'd love to buy it a big brother, but a telluride could be so cheap, and could be more multipurpose if I grow bored with this idea, or don't find terrain often enough to justify it.

I'd like a summit, but they are so expensive, and I have a revo 2.5 that is converted electric with a 3906 tranny, and dual titans that is sort of a summit. The 1st and 2nd gear are too close together for it to be very fast, though.

Anyway an all purpose water running rig that can crawl would be a lot of fun.


I'm reading a lot of good things about the tellurides abilities when set up well. What are the pros and cons of the narrow track vs a wider track, from a crawling perspective? And for those of you who have chosen to weight your wheels, how much do you like on each half?

[mwe-maxxowner]

Anybody trail a telly?

[BJoe]

I've built one, but have yet to trail it much other than over the curbs at work. Look a couple threads down for one called "Blasphamy" for a build thread.

[mwe-maxxowner]

Did you weight the wheels?

[Bajacaat]

I have one. Put a 2 door jk Rubicon body and its a tough little truck. Just use it on rainy days like you mentioned. Stock wheels with no weights.

[mwe-maxxowner]

I like the idea that it can be a go fast platform too if I ever want. I'm thinking of throwing a 21t titan in out of the parts box, and go for a 35 turn later.

[jrkilburn]

I built one, very fun trail truck to be honest. Took a lot of abuse without breaking anything. Here is a link to my build Telluride scale rig (attempt 1)

Proline makes swampers in 2.2/3.0 that would look great. Axial exo front wheels provide great off set. I would put 750K in the difs for real crawling, true lockers kill the turning radius.

Good luck and happy trails


Sent from Apple headquarters

[mwe-maxxowner]

I was going to silly putty them, but if you guys suggest otherwise I'll certainly do so. I know the axles in my losi mrc are locked. I was thinking about the swampers, but on the 2.2 crawler rims from rpm. They have a massive offset, though, and I'm not sure what that will do for me. I know the pro line pro Trac rims are almost no offset. As in they suck the tire as far inward as possible.


In the end, I want the best performing tires, I'm not so concerned with look. If there is a crawler tire that will perform better I would go for them. YouTube videos make it look like it can do better with larger tires. I'm not sure where larger will be too large though.

[BJoe]

I didn't weight the wheels, figuring that the weight of the rim would be plenty, but I might do it once I get the chance to trail it and see how it performs as it is. Nice part about running the Proline beadlocks is that the inner portion is a cone shape and it should be easy to put lead in them between the inner and outter sections instead of inside the rim where it can contact the suspension or on the outside where it has to have the foam wrapped around it.

I've got 500k in the diffs right now and have contemplated silly putty too once I get it out and use it. I do with there were proper lockers in steel or at least sintered metal for them though.

The tires on mine are Proline M3 compound Trenchers and the foams are HPI's soft SCT foams. If Proline were to to offer a taller, SCT style Trencher or Swamper in G8 with Memory Foam, I'd be all over them!

[mwe-maxxowner]

I'm looking for a basic roller as close to 100$ as I can get. Once I do I think I will start a build! I think first will just be tossing in a motor I have, wheels and tires, brushed pede diffs, silly putty but only about half full on front diff, and go from there! One video I was watching highly recommended the trencher xs with the soft hpi foams for a crawling telluride.

[mwe-maxxowner]

Also, thanks a lot everybody!

I'm sort of between the 2.2 chisels, the 2.2 swampers, or the 2.2 flat irons. The chisels and swampers are available in g8 compound, the flat irons only in m3. I'm not sure how much of a difference there is there between the compounds. I've never experienced a g8 tire (new to the crawling/trailing world).

It appears that the chisels, especially if siped, will be the better rock crawling option. It sounds like if doing some mud and crawling they don't transition well out of the mud. With the swampers, well, I owned a 77 1500 chevy with 40" swampers and lockers for a little while. It was ugly as sin, but it was hard to stick . I wonder if the swampers might be the better option if I plan to do some mud, water, trailing, and crawling with it. Plus they could do double duty looking cool and performing great on my slash 4x4 monster truck.

G made big horns sound promising too. Lol.

[mwe-maxxowner]

I've been checking out sensored motors on hobbyking in the ~2000Kv range. Anybody have any experience with any of them? I'm inclined to go with one of the 1/8 motors for obvious reasons, but the smaller, 1/10 motors would save some weight. I know some, if not all, of the smaller motors are 2 pole also. I still can't help but think they'd be sufficient at such a low Kv. Maybe not.

Of course the 1/8 motors would be more versatile if I ever found myself wanting to use it to go fast in the future.

[microcrawlers]

ive got a telly and love it! its my only dependable truck. ive never broken anything accept the stock steering links and burnt out the titan like everyone else. IF YOU WANT TO GO FAST YOU WILL NEED TO GET A CENTER DIFF INSTEAD OF THE SLIPPER BECAUSE IT WILL NOT STAY TIGHT UNDER BRUSHLESS POWER.

[OhioGuy82]

I've been kicking around the idea of having just a water/mud rig. Granted, my Honcho can and does handle water and mud just fine. There are some streams that are way too deep for my Honcho. I looked at several different Traxxas trucks. Telluride being one, the size has made me look elsewhere. Not saying a Telluride can't be tailored for that particular function. I'm dead set on a brushed Emaxx. It's a goliath compared to everything besides a Summit.

If you decide on a Telluride. Get a cheap sensored motor with the lowest KV you can find. A good all around tire would be a Ripsaw, cheap, sticky and easy to find along with Axial Walker Evans wheels. Axial makes perimeter wheel weights to keep the front end down.

[mwe-maxxowner]

Just an update, I decided to build one. I built a telly off dollarhobbyz for 100$ish. I traded for some 1.9 ripsaws, and ran a 21t titan on 3s. Boy is this more capable than I thought!

I have since upgraded to 2.2 ripsaws on short course beadlocks, and a 2250 kV 4 pole sensored 1/8 motor.

I'm not convinced yet that the 2.2 ripsaws are actually better. These seem to deform less to obstacles. I think I need to scallop my foams and add weight inside the rims. I'm open to all advice! The crawling world is new to me. I'll load a few videos later. My first iteration performed much better than I thought.


Brushed pede diffs, 21t titan on 3s, 1.9 ripsaws in stock trim on stock axial rims, a little weight in the nose behind the bumper.

Now I have 2.2 ripsaws on pro line short course beadlocks, and a g force 2250 4 pole sensored motor. Trying to get this setup dialed in.

Honestly, while crawling, the 21t titan was nice.

[BJoe]

What did you for the lockers? I tried the 500k and it was still "too open" so I packed the diffs with silly putty for now, but JB Weld or a Revo spool with Revo/Slash 4X4 MIP CVD hybrids.

[mwe-maxxowner]

I used silly putty. I love it. They act locked until I get a wheel bound up, then it can slip. There has been a time or two where I'm sure I would have had to quit, or break something, if I had full on lockers.

[mwe-maxxowner]

Originally Posted by mwe-maxxowner

Some videos!






















I still have a lot to learn about driving in these conditions, but the telluride can do it!

I would like to merge these into one video that I cam embed, but I have no idea how to do that. I'd love some pointers on it!

This is quoted from my thread in trx.

[mwe-maxxowner]

Some pictures!

Just the truck getting ready to go


Front end weight. It's a dewalt bit container full of lead sand from an ankle weight.





When it warms up, I'll kayak out there for some real fun,















I was able to carefully maneuver my way all the way down and around this trail I'm showing. That was fun!




I almost think traxxas should have made this come stock with the velineon esc, and the 21t titan motor. This thing is right at home with the titan and 3s power. I guess they wanted to put 30 mph on the box. Or they could have given us the mxl 6s and the 21t. Ha! Then it would be waterproof, and we could run 4s and they could still advertise the 30 mph!

[mwe-maxxowner]

Now I have some 2.2 ripsaws on it, and a sensored gForce 2250kv 1/8 motor in it. I wanted a little speed and some crawlability. I still need to weight the wheels a little.