SVT's TRX4 - A tale of tiny trucking

[AggressorBLUE]

Originally Posted by svt923

If I die from radiation, that will prevent me from dying from a much more manly death like a failed attempt at jumping a motorcycle over the world's largest tire fire or fighting a polar bear with my bare hands.

Not mutually exclusive: jousting a polar bear on a 56 cell powered motorcycle inside a nuclear reactor is generally how I answer the job interview question of "where do you see yourself dieing in 5 years?". It's important to have goals.

[svt923]

Originally Posted by AggressorBLUE

Not mutually exclusive: jousting a polar bear on a 56 cell powered motorcycle inside a nuclear reactor is generally how I answer the job interview question of "where do you see yourself dieing in 5 years?". It's important to have goals.

Congratulations, you're hired as my assistant.

In addition to RC related fun and shenanigans, you will earn competitive market rate slave pay and receive the benefit of a very large life insurance policy payable to the employer upon death. I will afford you all the time off you want to pursue any nuclear, motorcycle, and polar bear related activities.

[svt923]

The fun never stops at the SVT garage so I'm back with new and exciting updates!

Actually, the fun does stop.

Frequently even.

In fact, the work done in the garage is minimal compared to the time spent asking my kids what they did with my parts and tools then looking for said parts and tools because what 4 year old has ever remembered where they put anything.

Anyway, there is an update and it involves bumpers.

Can we agree the stock bumper is large and clunky? People have trimmed it up, cut it down, raised it up, and every other possible thing to try and make it better. Ultimately, it is still a thin, flexy piece of plastic: these are terrible qualities when you are looking to improve crashing performance. If only some company made a quality metal bumper for the TRX4......

Wait. What?

Dozens of companies already do?

Dammit, I was trying to do something new and cool and now its ruined.

Fine. Its whatever. I'll do the post anyway.

Here is the new front bumper. It is from SSD. It is very Land Rovery.



I didn't take pictures of the actual bumper coming out of the package. This post has already been tanked so I'm phoning it in with a stock photo.

Who remembers this bad boy?



Anyone see a problem? Do I have to spell it out for you?

Servo winch + solid bumper = no bueno

I carefully measured and marked then proceeded to hack the crap out of the bumper until I got here. Much filing and sanding was done to smooth out the hole for the servo line. So, so much sanding.



Getting better.

The mounting holes were tapped for M2 screws and I bolted up this RC4WD fairlead with some Locked Up scale hardware.



Why this generic RC4WD fairlead and not one of the cool, licensed ones? Good question my fellow work avoider. Well, this fairlead is cheap (cost me like $6), it was already in my parts bin, and it is narrower than other fairleads. The SSD bumper is milled out on the back side and the mounting holes on this fairlead are just narrow enough to fit within the pocket between the mounting posts. This means if a mounting hole ever strips out, the screw can be secured with a nut from the back side. A wider fairlead (like those that fit the Warn winches) require mounting holes that are wider than the milled out recess in the bumper and the holes start encroaching on the screws that secure the bumper mounting posts.

The whole point of this:

Stock bumper


SSD bumper


Anyone notice a difference?

Strictly for looks, no performance gained.



All buttoned up and looking dapper.



There you have it, a SSD bumper mangled for servo winch compatibility.

Now time for the audience participation portion of today's events. Should the next update be:

-Installing SSD wheel hexes

or

-Driving with the new bumper

Vote now and I will take your input under consideration then do whatever I want. Its like this TRX4 belongs to everyone but only I get to work on it and drive it.

Fun for all.

[AggressorBLUE]

I'll take door number 3: Install the hexes and drive the truck.

I'm keen to see how said bumper treats the grill and headlights, given that there's no bull-bar to protect them.

[svt923]

Originally Posted by AggressorBLUE

I'll take door number 3: Install the hexes and drive the truck.

Not a valid option, vote not counted.

Originally Posted by AggressorBLUE

I'm keen to see how said bumper treats the grill and headlights, given that there's no bull-bar to protect them.

Spend a lot of time dropping your truck onto its front end huh? I would suggest driving better as a substitute for a bull bar.

This is my well traveled Ascender.



You can see the bumper does not provide much protection for the grill. I have hit stuff hard enough to bend the bumper and the grill is still in nearly perfect condition. I'm not too worried about the TRX4's front end getting too beat up.

[JatoTheRipper]

Nice winch. Any problems with it falling off or not winding back onto on the spool?

[svt923]

Originally Posted by JatoTheRipper

Nice winch. Any problems with it falling off or not winding back onto on the spool?

No problems so far but I think I will be adding an additional guide to keep the line centered on the spool.

[AggressorBLUE]

Originally Posted by svt923

I would suggest driving better as a substitute for a bull bar.

Not a valid option.

[HumboldtEF]

I love the SSD bumper with the added fairlead, If I hadn't made my own bumper I be doing the same, but tossing it would only be admitting defeat.

[svt923]

Originally Posted by AggressorBLUE

Not a valid option.

Your commitment to futility is impressive.

Being from the Philly area and having a resistance to getting better, I will have to assume you are a Sixers fan.

Originally Posted by HumboldtEF

I love the SSD bumper with the added fairlead, If I hadn't made my own bumper I be doing the same, but tossing it would only be admitting defeat.

You can have your very own SSD winch bumper, all it takes is $15 and the willingness to take a perfectly good part out of the package then ruin it.

All junk in RC has a purpose, you just might not know what it is yet. A build 3 years from now may require a bumper and that one you made for your TRX4 could be perfect. I go digging through my parts bins some times and it is like Xmas with all the cool stuff I buy, don't use immediately, forget about/lose, then find.

[imthatguy]

I like bumper. Very stock, very accurate. Nicely done. I opted to go for Knight's new 3D printed metal Defender bumper, but went with SSD's for the rear.

[svt923]

Originally Posted by imthatguy

I like bumper. Very stock, very accurate. Nicely done. I opted to go for Knight's new 3D printed metal Defender bumper, but went with SSD's for the rear.

I plan on getting the SSD rear bumper as well, unfortunately only the front was in stock when my order was placed with the good folks at Amain.

Additional thanks to you Mr. Guy for the compliments and convenient segue into 3D printed parts (the Knight Customs bumper is incredible sweet and I know he has done many metal bumpers at this point but 3D printed stainless is still mind-bendingly cool).

I picked up one of these:



A Bowhouse low CG battery tray.

One of the things on the TRX4 that definitely could have been improved is the battery placement. I get why it is the way it is: there is only so many places that a giant 5000+ mah pack will fit and that is the common battery size across much of surface RC. Can we acknowledge that Traxxas is pretty good at getting new people into different areas of RC? We can? Great.

There is plenty of room to drop the battery if you aren't running giant packs. Here is an audience participation activity for everyone: flip your truck over and look at how much room there is between the battery tray and the upper links. This was something that I discussed with the Chief Talker at Bowhouse immediately upon opening the box then, shortly afterwards, the low CG battery tray came out. Now I'm not going to say the battery tray was my idea but I'm not not going to say it was my idea.

If you are wondering why my tray looks different from the one you may have already received from Shapeways, this one came directly from the printers at the Bowhouse R&D lab. It is done in a very cool carbon nylon blend that has much flex and durability to it; this should serve me well when I manage to crash the battery tray directly into something.

The old tray gots to go. Technically, the tray is removed with 4 screws but it makes life much easier if you remove the rear chassis brace and bumper mount screws (at least on one side) so the chassis can spread apart more.



New tray next to the stock tray. Much less bulk, much more sleek. Will it make my truck faster? I can't see how it wouldn't.



Install the new tray with the stock hardware and you're done.

Great job team!

Does it really make a difference? See for yourself.

Mounted with a fat 2600mah 3S pack:



Let's get even lower with a 1300mah 3S pack.



Pretty not bad if I do say so myself, especially for something that took less than 10 minutes.

You may recall from my last update that I said something about SSD hexes. Why should you care about replacing your wheel hexes? Well, if you are running any wheel with a SLW or SLW-like hub, you probably have some substantial wheel wobble. This is because many popular wheels are meant to fit Wraith hexes that have a nub that fills in an oversized axle hole. The flat faced Traxxas hex clearly do not fit the wheels the same way.

You know that old saying "a picture is worth however many words I just typed"? I never really paid attention because there was no picture to go with it. Anyway, here is a picture:



You can see how these will key much better into Vanquish, Incision, Locked Up, Gearhead, SSD, Motoworx, knockoff Chinese wheels, etc, etc. The list of wheels that these aren't better for would have been shorter.

After much struggling and extraordinary levels of effort, I was able to install the new hexes.



I've wasted much of your time already, allow me to make up for it with some actual tech. This is something I saw this weekend and I totally decided to appropriate it for myself.

Have a problem with the nuts coming out of your scale hubs? Hit the outer edge of the hub with a center punch to hold the nut in.



See, useful information. That makes 2 useful things in 50ish posts.



All back together. Boy those SSD hexes look really good. You would have to be an idiot to not immediately notice the visual difference they make.

I sincerely hope someone feels dumb now.

The real difference is no more wheel slop. The precise reduction in slop is 7048% as calculated by my full spectrum slopometer. I told you, there is very serious things going on around here. Wait, I've never said that. Ehhh.

What's that by the truck? Good question astute reader. Oh, its just the prototype charger I'm testing for a friend.

That's right. I'm a product tester. When you are a total RC bigshot like me, you get to test new products. If you're not a product tester, try to be more awesome and one day it could happen to you.

Live your dreams kids and stay in school.

[calcagno45]

Originally Posted by svt923

Have a problem with the nuts coming out of your scale hubs? Hit the outer edge of the hub with a center punch to hold the nut in.

Ah, staking your nuts. Appropriate in many scenarios, much like AR15 BCG's.

Originally Posted by svt923

What's that by the truck? Good question astute reader. Oh, its just the prototype charger I'm testing for a friend.

That's right. I'm a product tester. When you are a total RC bigshot like me, you get to test new products. If you're not a product tester, try to be more awesome and one day it could happen to you.

Showoff... I was going to say your truck is looking great and this has been informational but nah.

[svt923]

Originally Posted by calcagno45

Showoff... I was going to say your truck is looking great and this has been informational but nah.

Sorry, want to hear about my wealth and success instead?

[calcagno45]

Always up for a good fable.


That front bumper mod,

[svt923]

Originally Posted by calcagno45

Always up for a good fable.


That front bumper mod,

A fable is a story, usually featuring animals as characters, that teaches a moral lesson. As I am not a woodland creature and do not teach any lessons of value, the story would not be considered a fable. Possibly it would be considered a tall tale where historical figures or events are exaggerated.

With that literature lesson, another chapter has been added to the smartest TRX4 thread in existence.

And yes, the bumper turned out very . Very much looking forward to driving it again.

[HumboldtEF]

Originally Posted by svt923

Have a problem with the nuts coming out of your scale hubs? Hit the outer edge of the hub with a center punch to hold the nut in.

Nice

I've had issues using wheels that were drilled for a slw wraith hex (on trucks not using the slw hex) and they would pull the nuts loose, I had used a washer to keep it from pulling out but staking it sounds much better, thanks for passing on the tip!

[svt923]

Yesterday was a good day.

I found the possibly last bag of coffee nut M&Ms at the store on the way home from work and a delivery was waiting for me upon my return. Before I get into any tiny truck stuff, I'm throwing down the gauntlet and declaring coffee nut as the absolute, undisputed, king of M&M flavors.

Here is the definitive ranking of M&Ms:

#1: Coffee nut - All hail the king
#2: Peanut butter - So much more peanut butter than Reese's Pieces
#3: Dark chocolate peanut - Everything great about the regular peanut M&Ms with better chocolate
#4: Peanut - Classic, crunchy, delicious. I horde them in my desk at work
#5: Pretzel - Salty, sweet, and tasty but can barely crack the top 5 due to strong competition
#6: Crispy - M&Ms with stuff inside of them are inherently better than those with nothing inside
#7: Dark - Empty M&M but at least they used the good chocolate
#8: Plain - Go ahead, eat 1,000 of them, they still won't be as good as those higher up on this list
#9: Mint - An acceptable substitute for breath mints or brushing your teeth
.
.
.
#DFL: Pumpkin spice or any other seasonal flavor - Everything that is pumpkin spice flavored (except for the pumpkin spice donut from Krispy Kreme) is garbage. If people don't like it enough to eat it year round, it is a terrible flavor.

That is the list, I'll fight anyone who doesn't agree.

Anyway, what was I talking about? Doesn't matter.

I did a little soldering.



What could a JST plug tapped off the battery power be for? Could it be for a Traxxas light kit? Could it?

It could.

But its not.

The answer is a Holmes SHV500 servo.



You may remember this:

Originally Posted by svt923

The Power HD servo again showed several times it couldn't always point the tires in the desired direction, it's days in this truck are likely coming to a close.

Yes, the Power HD experiment has officially ended and yes, I did quote myself.

The Holmes servo was perfect for several reasons:

#1: It tacks on 150+ more oz of torque than the Power HD's alleged 320 oz. Power HD is totally lying about that servo's rating, I have a 12 year old Hitec that puts out 333 oz and it is way stronger than this Power HD.
#2: Stronger servos these days usually require more voltage and with 4 other servos rated for 6V, feeding the steering servo through it's own BEC would be a hassle and defeat half the purpose of running a Mamba X. No BEC needed for the SHV500. Remember kids, you always need a BEC, except when you don't.
#3: With the SHV500V2 just being released, Holmes has the original versions on sale for $50 off. The V2's big improvements are to durability in fast, big tire, hard use, U4-type applications, life is much easier in my TRX4 so the V1 is more than strong enough.

So fast, so strong, so quiet. The Power HD groaned non-stop as it searched for center, smashing it with a hammer for a moment of peace had crossed my mind more than once. I may have occasional rage issues but anyone who has driven for hours with a servo that won't shut up knows the struggle.

While I popped in the new servo, I had a moment of inspiration. We draw inspiration from many places in our lives, mine came from the garage floor. It was staring at me from the floor; a tiny eye hook. Perfect for winch line routing control.



There should be no problems with the winch line now.

And that makes 3 updates in a row with no driving. To be fair, most of these have come during the week. Who has time to spend hours driving during the week? Really, I would like to know so we can trade places. You can do my work, I can go drive: it would be fun for all!

If anyone needs me, I'll be waiting for that message about trading lives.

[Dman07]

Originally Posted by svt923

Who has time to spend hours driving during the week? Really, I would like to know so we can trade places. You can do my work, I can go drive: it would be fun for all!

If anyone needs me, I'll be waiting for that message about trading lives.

Well, I've got time to drive during the week. Unfortunately I'm laid off from work, and my wife is due to have our first child... well, today actually.

Still want to trade?

[svt923]

Originally Posted by Dman07

Well, I've got time to drive during the week. Unfortunately I'm laid off from work, and my wife is due to have our first child... well, today actually.

Still want to trade?

Baby coming?

As a father of a 4 and 2 year old, I'm going to have to take a hard pass on that offer.

Sleep deprivation, getting peed on, getting pooped on, and spit up on every formerly clean shirt you own: I've met my lifetime quota there.

Children are a treasure, you will love every minute.