The Summit Project

[OSRC]

Time for another money pit project.

I keep an eye on CL and FBM for used trucks...I really can't afford new, and frankly aside from that shiny new BBX on my bench there's not much that's caching my eye lately. Fixing up an old beater up rig can be almost as fun as building new, so that's what I've been doing lately. Always wanted a Summit to tinker with, but for nearly $600, not that much. I found this used one pop up 20 minutes away for all of $200, so what the hell. Figured it's like a huge TRX4 with independent suspension. So I snatched it up last weekend, and let the fun begin!

It was listed as complete, but not working. Wouldn't bind to the transmitter... hence the price. However, it bound right up to my radio and everything was working as it should. All the diff lock/2 speed mini servos seem to be working fine, steering was still plenty strong, and I drove it around a bit in the backyard using an odd 2S/3S combo just trying it out. The 775 is tired, or maybe it doesn't like 3S, I don't know - looks like it's seen a lot of water. Not to mention the extra pounds of mud caked everywhere. It lumbered around, and clearly needs quite a bit of work.

As it came.. a bit of a basket case, but complete other than the radio box cover. Had some huge 40 series RC4WD wheels and tires, rear chassis brace, and to my surprise it has the hard anodized shocks. Nice!



Front suspension took a shot. Pushrod link is bent and the knuckle has pulled out of the pivot balls somewhat so the front wheel wobbles all over. I tightened everything back up for now though I think I'll need a knuckle as the threads for the pivot ball retainers looks like they've stripped a bit.


First thing's first - I hate a muddy truck. Cleaned it up a bit, and swapped out the EVX/775 combo for a simple Trailmaster 21t for now. The driveline is a bit crunchy, I'll have to get in there and do some cleaning/regreasing.


Took off the 17mm hubs, swapped over to standard Maxx 14mm hexes I had left over from the Maxx money pits, and added my crawling tires off the C-Maxx. Also shortened the WB a bit using the secondary mounts in the rear arms for better steering and breakover, such as it is. Liking the stance, thinking it's definitely worthy of being built up for trail duty. I'm loving the locking diffs, I like messing with them on the trail with my TRX's, so it should be interesting putting them to use on this beast.



So of course, I ordered some new goodies:

• WP1080G2, I'll configure the drag brake to shut off in high gear. Pretty nifty.
• LEM transmission dog: it's supposed to help the slop in the transmission, of which there is a ton. Might look into an E-revo single gear setup if I can't tighten up the trans.
• Replacement front knuckles and a full set of takeoff links and pushrods to replace the bent ones.
• New body - no way I'm running that Summit POS body. It's in good shape, it's just fairly ugly and heavy. Something lighter and more sleek is en-route.
• Couple of odds and ends to play with - new pinion, bumpers, etc.

Unfortunately, I sold my Slayer suspension parts with all my E-Revo parts long ago. :( Might have been interesting to play with, but that's for another day.

Thankfully since it's been on the market forever, parts are pretty cheap and all over the place. Definitely one of the benefits of fixing up old TRX trucks. I've given up on restoring old Tamiya's and Kyoshos, it's just gotten too expensive.

Parts en-route!

[MaX-D]

I've always wanted a Summit as well. I just don't have a good place to drive it. I'll live vicariously through you.

Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk

[OSRC]

This will get the trail treatment, just like the C-maxx. I have no urge to drive it at speed. First gear should be a creeper, and 2nd is just for light trail running. In theory.

Let the teardown begin! Definitely have some binding in the drivetrain, so I started out back which is where I figured it was most likely. Tore it all down..

Holy mud! I hate mud, and never drive through it. I'm that wuss who carries his trucks across anything deeper than wheel nuts. This is why...it was in every nook and cranny, and there's lots of crannies. Not as many nooks though, so I got that going for me which is nice.


Lost a few ounces...


Everything looked to be in good shape. I took all the plastic parts and gave them a bath, and all screws, pins, bearings, and metal parts get an overnight bath in WD40. I don't have an ultrasonic cleaner, so I just put them in a watertight container, cover them with WD and give them a vigourous shake. Done!

Gears look ok, but it was turning a bit stiff. Pulled the seals on all the bearings and gave them a good cleaning. I only leave the seals on the outer faces on any bearing that sees dirt. TRX bearings have a lot of drag, and leaving the faces off frees things up a ton. Re-oiled the bearings, gleaned off the much and gave a light coat of red and tacky and the rear diff spins 100% better.


Tore down the CVD's while I was at it. They were a mess, not really moving free at all. Cleaned off any surface rust I found on everything, and found 2 of the CVD joints were flared a bit from contact with the pin, which is why they weren't spinning smooth. Ground them down flat again, a light coat of moly, and reassembled. Spinning nice and smooth again. I flipped the shafts so the sliding point is closer to the chassis. Hopefully it stays cleaner that way. I ditched the blue seals, they were rotted away.


Just waiting for the plastics to dry and I'll reassemble and move to the front. Won't be pretty, but it'll be mud free and spinning smooth. Glad I tore it down, it needed it.

Turns out the binding is either in the trans or front. Though the rear wasn't exactly smooth, it can still feel it catching through the spur with the rear torn apart, so haven't found it yet.

[Gula]

I like where this is going. I think we once had a transaction with summit parts.

[OSRC]

Possibly, I had most of one, but never got it assembled. I tried to piecemeal it using a nitro Revo as a base, and never did. It ended up being an E-revo. I still have the nitro chassis here somewhere, but everything else is long gone.

I do that a lot - kinda come full circle. Buy something, then sell it, then regret it and spend more money and buy it again. Now I just don't sell anything.

[B-MOW71]

Following along. I've never owned a Summit, but always thought they looked cool!


I agree with the following statements!

Originally Posted by OSRC

Holy mud! I hate mud, and never drive through it. I'm that wuss who carries his trucks across anything deeper than wheel nuts.

Originally Posted by OSRC

I do that a lot - kinda come full circle. Buy something, then sell it, then regret it and spend more money and buy it again. Now I just don't sell anything.

[OSRC]

Found the bind in the drivetrain.. one of the pads on the slipper disintegrated and was chewing up the transmission housing. Housing will be fine, and ordered some HD aluminum pads. Rear re-assembled and spinning smooth and free, just waiting on parts!

[MAC FAB]

I have one of these in pieces in a box, getting motivated to follow suit, however, I picked up some SCX 6 takeoff’s that I will probably run. You will love being able to lock/unlock the front diff to help steering. Keep the pics flowing.

[OSRC]

Do it! SCX6 takeoffs would be killer on here.

Got the Summit pretty much buttoned up. Mini parts haul - didn't need much, just a couple of things.


Ran through and cleaned/greased/rebuilt the front the same way as the back and everything is nice and smooth again - suspension, gears, driveline - all like butter.



Started throwing the new parts on it quick - bumpers, pushrods, etc. and got it back on 4 tires. Definitely digging it!


Holmes 21t with a 1080 and a 12t pinion. First gear is a fairly low crawler gear, and second is a bit more zippy. I have more room to gear down, but this felt like a good start just tooling around the basement. Might even look into a Crawlmaster, it works great on the C-maxx. The LEM shift dog really does take a lot of slop out of the transmission, it makes a huge difference. I haven't looked into disabling the drag brake in 2nd gear yet, but I think I can do it with the G2, I just need a splitter. The only part I missed was the top of the receiver box, I'll have to order one.


Picked up some cheap Amazon rockers, I just like the look. They match the brace perfectly! Personally, I think the suspension is the star of the show for me on this truck, it's such a cool design. I'd like to work it into the body somehow.


RPM bumpers with the front bracket flipped, Savage tires on beadlocks donated from the CMaxx and went with the Revo Rat Rod body. I had to mod the front mounts a bit, but I got it to sit pretty low. I think it'll look decent when its painted. I have a Yeti bug body here too which fits perfect if I change my mind.

[OSRC]

Charged up a few packs and brought my 6x6's out to play, but the leaves were so thick I left them in the truck. Summit time! Since I brought this along for a test run, figured I'd go stretch its legs a little bit.

Got the body painted up - nothing too fancy, just a simple scheme. I ghosted the engine parts with gunmetal so they pop out a bit and hopefully add some 3D effect.

Received the channel reverser and got it all wired up so now I have drag brake in low gear, and none in second gear. Pretty slick. I couldn't fit all the extra wiring in the radio box, so I cut up some foam and made a nest for it in the battery tray. Works perfect and well protected in there - makes for a nice clean chassis too. Made some foam spacers so I could run my normal 2200 3S packs on the other side....and away we go!



Could not have picked a better rig to go out and play with today. The leaves are coming down fast and furious and have created a thick carpet on the trail. 1.9 trucks are buried up over their wheels in most spots, so until these leaves pack down a bit, it's 2.2 size and up. The Summit handled it no problem.



Testing the lack of drag brake in second...worked perfectly! I got pretty good air here, but unfortunately this is the best pic I got.


Dropping down into first, locking up the diffs and onto the test rock. The Summit handled it just fine - in fact, it crawled very well - way better than I expected. Getting rid of the heavy (ugly) body, that huge 775 motor and running a single pack really lowers the weight up top. It climbs pretty decent, and just like the C-maxx it sidehills amazing.


A few more random rock pics. The steering is...well, awful. I switchbacked my way down a few lines as it was easier than trying to turn. Chassis has good balance thankfully - it's not front heavy so it's very capable in reverse which helped. As long as you plan your lines with the steering in mind, it's not too bad once you get used to it.



Love this pic...


Since this was the only rig I was driving today, I meandered around to a few locations I don't normally get to. This is down by the swimming hole, there are some excellent rocks to play on down there, and the scenery was amazing yesterday. Powerwise, the 1080/Trailmaster did fine. Plenty of tractable torque in low gear and just enough speed to throw up some good roost in high gear. Power-wise, it was fine - I don't miss the 775 at all.



Finding the limits...they were a lot higher than expected


Proof that I do...once in a while...every blue moon... tackle water. It was maybe 2" deep at the deepest spot, I figured I could chance it. And it left cool tire tracks on the way out.


Crossing the creek again...only a handful of rigs make this line, the Summit had enough approach angle to make it work. Very impressive!


A nice silty exit from the creek bed. Left the diffs locked, put it in 2nd gear and U4'd it up out of there. It was way more rock bouncer than finesse, but no problem for the Summit.


This truck is geared very similar to my TRX4's, and with the locking diffs it drove like one too. Well, a really big, wide one that kind of steers like a boat. Locking the diffs make a huge difference in turning - it just wants to push forward when locked...so I was unlocking diffs quite a bit to make turnd, and just locking up as I needed them - just like with the TRX's. It made for a very satisfying drive I have to say. I got the hang of unlocking the rear to re-place it on a tough climb, letting it shift left or right as needed and then re-locking when it's in the right position and watching it grab and go up and over. Nice little party trick, and made up for the craptastic steering in a lot of ways.


I didn't go easy on this truck, by the end I was beating on it pretty good, and trying some harder lines.... I found that with the width, I could straddle all kinds of stuff and all of a sudden new lines were everywhere.


Battery check - I thought this big beast would chew up the batteries, but it's pretty frugal. Averaging about 900mah per hour, which isn't bad at all. Motor and esc were nice and cool.


Only one of two trucks to make this climb. Pretty impressive!


So what's next? Well, I need to see if I can get some more steering. The servos seem fine, it's just the throw is not that great. Shift servo is acting a little wonky, it needs some adjustment or replacement. I need to do some programming on the ESC too, clearly my old 1080 card is not on the same page, and I had way too much drag brake. Maybe just a little more front weight? I'm not sure. Some scale details? Very happy with it overall.

[350TacoZilla]

Glad its working man! you always have cool projects lol

Crazy idea but will the front arms work on rear? Like driver side front as passenger side rear type of deal, then run a bellcrank like the tamiya hilux used or second steering servo?

[OSRC]

I don't see how, it's a complicated chassis... I think I'd have to take 2 chassis, cut them in 1/2 and glue the fronts together. Not sure I want to do that though, I can live with the front steering only - it's not a comp machine or anything. I'll dremel out the knuckles a bit and call it good. Already have a single servo here ready to go when the stockers crap out.

I'm having fun with these IS crawlers. It's something different, that's for sure and they crawl pretty damn good. Keeping my eyes open on FBM for the next project.

[OSRC]

Put this truck though the paces this weekend. Last time out was kind of a test run, this was an official beat down. I didn't go easy on it, and it held up like a boss.


Hard road ahead... The Summit chewed through it. It felt extremely nimble after driving the SCX6 for 2 hours.


Leaves? No problems!


Beauty pic before it tumbled off the rock, smacking into a tree on the way down. Added a few nice scratches to the body but nothing broken. This truck is tough!


After getting home and giving it a once-over, I took the wheels off the SCX6 and put them on the Summit. Man, that looks good! Interesting.... The axles are a bit too short for the thickness of the wheels, but the option is there.

[MAC FAB]

Loving those SCX 6s on there. Time to address my box full of parts for reassembly. "thumb sup"

[Gula]

I'm thinking of cutting the inner bead on a set on JConcepts 2.2 scorpios for my summit LT xl build. Slayer wheels and arrma makes 14mm sc wheels. Didn't you have a set of 40s roc locks?

[OSRC]

The Arrma wheels work out great - this is a set of PL U4 tires. They bolt right up to either the Maxx or Summit.





I chose not to use them as I thought it looked odd since they are so much more narrow. Would work perfect with the Slayer suspension!

I do have 40 series Roc Lox, on my 1/5 Maxx. And 40 series mudslingers which came on the Summit. Haven't done anything with them yet though.