Codyboy Rebuilds His TRX4 "BULLDOG"

[CODYBOY]

Ok, I thought I wanted to rebuild my TRX4 a little so decides to document it with a thread.
I had originally pre ordered my truck from Tower Hobbies the 4 of May, but a little family trip to Southern Oregon changed my mind on that one!
We headed to Medford This last Thursday to visit famly and watch our granddaughters play some softball. Their games were Thursday and Saturday so we had all day Friday to do some second handing and repurpose shopping. After a few Goodwill stores and others I decided I wanted to go to a local hobby shop I like to visit when in town. " RC Addiction" a shop that has been providing this area with RC parts for over 30 years!!!
When we pulled up to the building the shop was gone. So I did a google search and found another address for it, I thought "oh good".
We made our way to the address and it was Gene and Bettys residents. So there in the garage window was a open sign flashing so I rang the bell. Sure enough Betty answered the door, and we went into the single bay garage. As I was surveying the stock inside Betty asked, " how can I help you", and I pointed to a TRX4 box and said "I came for that" in amazement that this little shop even had one.
To make a long story a little shorter, in visiting with Betty she said they couldn't afford the store front and maintenance so they moved to their garage. In chatting with her I guess most all her distributors stop selling to her because she was in residential zoning and yes I understand why but it sucks that they would cut them off after 30 years of buying from them. I say BS to the distributors!!!! And you did notice that I said MOST all of the distributors stop selling to them, but one didn't, Traxxas, and that was why she had TRX4s in stock. The truck was $40 more than the one I had pre ordered from Tower, but I paid that with a smile, because Betty had told me that the shop helps pay for the groceries. Mom and Pop, now I have a better understanding of Traxxas thoughts on their scheme for distribution of these trucks and why. To helped Mom and Pop pay for the Groceries!!!

So now onto the rebuild start!
The body still needs some trimming, and a little work on the chassis and shocks to lower the body a little more, but I like it for a different, lighter body.









Had to patch a couple tears in the soft top.






Some plans for the truck in between building Codyboy axles, is building front and rear high clearance bumpers, new sliders, servo winches, all new electronics, new tires and wheels and figure out how to get some SORRCA legal weight on the axles.
That's all for now, and thanks for lookin!
Ernie

[KMS]

MOM and POP store,,, I like them the best. You get the best help and service,, Good for you and don't have to wait a few more weeks to get one.. I have been in RC for over 30 years and remember when Traxxas first started ,,,You came a long way ,,,,

[JSterrett]

That's funny as hell. I drove to Redding CA to get mine, didn't even think to check RC Addiction since they closed up their last storefront and moved it into their garage... Good find, lol.

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[CODYBOY]

Originally Posted by JSterrett

That's funny as hell. I drove to Redding CA to get mine, didn't even think to check RC Addiction since they closed up their last storefront and moved it into their garage... Good find, lol.

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I thought about you when I picked it up LOL.

[OldNTired]

and so it begins! Can't wait to see the journey you have planned for this rig.

[rag6]

Did I hear there will be Codyboy axles for the trx 4? Lol I might have to sell my ascender!
Lookin sweet Ernie

[CODYBOY]

[QUOTE=OldNTired;5717887]and so it begins! Can't wait to see the journey you have planned for this rig.[/QUOTE

Hopefully I won't disappoint you!

[QUOTE=Natedog;5717905]Good to know small shops still survive and provide good service, great that Traxxas hasn't cut them off. Off to a great start Ernie, that body fits like a glove and the duct tape soft top patch is hilarious (and very well done), I love it! [/QUOTE
Thanks Nate, They are really great people, so hope they make it back to a store front. I worked a little more on body fitment today, more on that later.

Originally Posted by rag6

Did I hear there will be Codyboy axles for the trx 4? Lol I might have to sell my ascender!
Lookin sweet Ernie

Hey Rich, I said I would take a look at what I could do, but for the time being I'm just going to enjoy the truck and take baby steps on that idea.

Todays progress:

I wanted to shorten the wheel base to 12.5 so thought I would use some Lunsford Titanium for rear links to do that.



I was amazed at the weight when I took the stock links off.



Compared to the ti links.





So I replaced 80 grams of stock links with 32 grams of Lunsford links!
More tomorrow, thanks for looking!
Ernie

[CODYBOY]

Some photos of my inspiration truck and front bumper build.



The start of my bumper, in front is the square tubing I cut the bumper from.





Next is soldering on the square slides that go into the bumper mount.





Next I built the brush rack and headlight protector.



I want to make the stinger square to fit the theme of the body.



The bottom side of the bumper.





I fitted the brush rack to the body.



Next I pitted the bumper to get it ready for paint and rusting.



Rusted and mounted.







Body fitment, I shortened the wheel base to 12.5 and added PitBull XL tires and SSD wheels.





The body fits right into the groves in the sliders perfect!





Rear bumper is next, along with lights.
Thanks for looking! Any suggestions are welcome for the rebuild.
Ernie

[Ascender'nMN84]

Impressive as always Ernie. That pitting and rusting of that bumper is amazing.

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[LSXGMC]

You, sir, are awesome.

[avengernut]

Looks good .How is the performance of the Traxxas compared to the Ascended?

[CODYBOY]

Originally Posted by Ascender'nMN84

Impressive as always Ernie. That pitting and rusting of that bumper is amazing.


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Thank you young man, The more I play with the rust, the more I learn!

Originally Posted by LSXGMC

You, sir, are awesome.

Thank you for the kind words! I like this aspect of crawling as much as I like driving them.

Originally Posted by avengernut

Looks good .How is the performance of the Traxxas compared to the Ascended?

Right now my K10 build is better on the rocks, but it is kind of a apple or orange thing. I have all the Codyboy up grades on the ascender, so between the front and rear axles I have over 15 oz of weight at the centerline of them. So COG and traction are way better. I'm working on some ideas as we speak to get some of the TRX4 weight lower and get some axle weight closer to the ground. We'll see how it works out.
Ernie

[solo1]

[QUOTE =



Right now my K10 build is better on the rocks, but it is kind of a apple or orange thing. I have all the Codyboy up grades on the ascender, so between the front and rear axles I have over 15 oz of weight at the centerline of them. So COG and traction are way better. I'm working on some ideas as we speak to get some of the TRX4 weight lower and get some axle weight closer to the ground. We'll see how it works out.
Ernie[/QUOTE]

Would you mind shareing how much your k10 weighs? Im just wondering cause my trx seems to work well the way i have it set up but is getting pretty heavy

[CODYBOY]

Originally Posted by solo1

[QUOTE =



Right now my K10 build is better on the rocks, but it is kind of a apple or orange thing. I have all the Codyboy up grades on the ascender, so between the front and rear axles I have over 15 oz of weight at the centerline of them. So COG and traction are way better. I'm working on some ideas as we speak to get some of the TRX4 weight lower and get some axle weight closer to the ground. We'll see how it works out.
Ernie

Would you mind shareing how much your k10 weighs? Im just wondering cause my trx seems to work well the way i have it set up but is getting pretty heavy[/QUOTE]

Hey solo1, my K10 is right at 8.7 lbs.
My TRX4 is around 7.8lbs with 7oz of brass added to the front. I'm using the lighter body.
Ernie

[snowman13]

Cody boy I love your builds and am very jealous of your talents in building and your locale for wheeling... now that I've laid it on smooth what do you think about the Tex axles being used in other applications? I would love to put them under my ascender but would hate to know there would be a fatal flaw that would require the traxxas set up to be used. Your abilities and talent I'm sure will allow you to look at the axles and imagine the possibilities. I'll treasure your input for my next money pit!

[CODYBOY]

Originally Posted by snowman13

Cody boy I love your builds and am very jealous of your talents in building and your locale for wheeling... now that I've laid it on smooth what do you think about the Tex axles being used in other applications? I would love to put them under my ascender but would hate to know there would be a fatal flaw that would require the traxxas set up to be used. Your abilities and talent I'm sure will allow you to look at the axles and imagine the possibilities. I'll treasure your input for my next money pit!

Hey snowman, thanks for the kind words. I'm not a figure out gearing kind of guy, so I think the biggest problem you would run into is gearing. With the reduction the portals have I'm not sure if you could gear your Ascender tranny to make it work. With the pumpkin on the ascender axles being some of the smallest out there I'm not sure how much advantage you would be gaining with TRX4 axles. Having said that I'm sure you aren't the first on here to be planning a build around them!!! Just my thoughts.
I'm sure your question will stir some input from others on here so sit back and watch!
Ernie.

[snowman13]

See that's what I needed I never considered the gearing in the tranny...guess I'll have to buy a Tex to go along with my axles

[new2rocks]

Great job so far with this one, Ernie. The body and front bumper are spot on. But I have to laugh at the comparison between the RB XLs and the tires in your inspiration pic.

[OldNTired]

That front bumper is a thing of beauty. Nice work!

[CODYBOY]

Originally Posted by snowman13

See that's what I needed I never considered the gearing in the tranny...guess I'll have to buy a Tex to go along with my axles

Good luck with your quest!

Originally Posted by new2rocks

Great job so far with this one, Ernie. The body and front bumper are spot on. But I have to laugh at the comparison between the RB XLs and the tires in your inspiration pic.

Thanks for taking a look, yes, the xls are right at 4.75" so they fill the wheel wells pretty good.

Originally Posted by OldNTired

That front bumper is a thing of beauty. Nice work!

Thanks Mr Tired, I'm very happy with how the rust came out! I will post up some rear bumper photos later today.
Ernie