bilinvic's TRX4

[bilinvic]

Last night I spent quite a bit of time trying to get the stock TRX4 running boards / rock sliders to work with the P-L '66 C10 body and with perseverance, I was able to accomplish this goal!

I had to raise the running boards height a fair bit. I sandwiched a Traxxas hollow ball (the type with a wider flare on one side)between the outer mounting holes and floor boards. I left the inner side with a gap and used longer screws and washers. This allowed me to adjust the angle of the running boards by tilting them up or down using the inner screws.

I had to trim the underside of the body a bit (the rear of the cab and front of the bed) to provide enough clearance. This trimming cannot be seen unless the body is removed.

I'm going to add "Duck tape" to the lower edges of the body so that the section of the body that sits in the running board groove is a tighter fit and therefore has less of a chance of being unseated when the going gets rough!

After a quick test session on my backyard rocks, I am extremely happy with the MAJOR improvement in the TRX4's crawling performance without that 2lb lump of a stock body!

[bilinvic]

One more piece to the puzzle for this body. The rear of the bed isn't supported by anything rearward of the bed body posts and sits about an inch and a half above the frame. In a roll-over, the potential for damage (tearing / ripping) to the body is likely very high. I used some spare Axial body posts and screwed them to the rear bumper mount/frame cross-member. I cut the nubs off that would normally protrude thru the body, but I left enough for half a rubber grommet to fit over; I glued these to the posts with Shoe Goo. I also added a piece of duct tape to the location where the grommets would contact the underside of the bed floor so that the paint would not rub off over time.

When I get some testing time in, I will be able to determine whether or not these posts/supports will stay upright or not. If they do tend to swing away from vertical, I will use new body posts that do protrude thru the body. It's only in the bed, so it's not a big deal to me if there's an extra two holes.

Now the body is 100% supported and should take a fair amount of abuse from all sides. It's almost time to get 'er all scratched up.

[Lanky]

Love the body Bill! Truck is killer as all your builds. I'm so pleased with my trx4, it's now become my go to source for fun... I never used the stock body, so when I would read some comments about the trx4 not crawling well, I'd scratch my head..

If you didn't already grab a "traxxas link". And reverse channel 5... this allows the locker dip switch to act proper... rear position is rear locker, middle is full locked, and forward is front locker.

[bilinvic]

I playing around with the reversed channel 5 now. I guess the rig cannot run with open front and rear diffs in this mode eh?

[Lanky]

Originally Posted by bilinvic

I playing around with the reversed channel 5 now. I guess the rig cannot run with open front and rear diffs in this mode eh?

It can not unfortunately... I have mine setup on 1.9 boggers with proline 2 stage foams (super flexy sidewall). I can leave the rear locked and hand the controller to my son and he has a blast on our monster truck course sliding it around. It is more fun to drive rear locked IMO vs fully open. from a functionally standpoint rear locker is more "usable", easier on the steering gear/ dont have to run hydro assist All joking aside, I don't miss open front and rear diffs as much as I thought. Only time I miss it now is after being in water. It was really nice being able to put the truck on its side and holding it full throttle to drain the tires of water without getting soaked.

[bilinvic]

The new rear bumper...a SSD TRX4 front bumper! I swear these bumpers were made for this '66 C10 body.

Also received SSD's new TRX4 12mm hexes. Now my wheels are fully supported and are not going to wiggle.

SSD is on top of their game these days...well done lads.

[calcagno45]

Very nice combo! The bumpers fit that body nicely.

[SSD]

Thanks Bill, we got more coming.

You bought the wrong portal weights ;)

[bilinvic]

Originally Posted by SSD

Thanks Bill, we got more coming.

You bought the wrong portal weights ;)

I always love seeing your new products SSD. I know, I was pissed when I saw your portal weights AFTER I bought mine.

[magic_yeti]

Originally Posted by bilinvic

I always love seeing your new products SSD. I know, I was pissed when I saw your portal weights AFTER I bought mine.

me too but weight is on the max now waiting for an ssd drive shaft option

[dpcardoza]

Originally Posted by bilinvic

Last night I spent quite a bit of time trying to get the stock TRX4 running boards / rock sliders to work with the P-L '66 C10 body and with perseverance, I was able to accomplish this goal!



I had to raise the running boards height a fair bit. I sandwiched a Traxxas hollow ball (the type with a wider flare on one side)between the outer mounting holes and floor boards. I left the inner side with a gap and used longer screws and washers. This allowed me to adjust the angle of the running boards by tilting them up or down using the inner screws.



I had to trim the underside of the body a bit (the rear of the cab and front of the bed) to provide enough clearance. This trimming cannot be seen unless the body is removed.



I'm going to add "Duck tape" to the lower edges of the body so that the section of the body that sits in the running board groove is a tighter fit and therefore has less of a chance of being unseated when the going gets rough!



After a quick test session on my backyard rocks, I am extremely happy with the MAJOR improvement in the TRX4's crawling performance without that 2lb lump of a stock body!

Can you snap a few pics of your slider mounting. I can’t envision exactly how you did this


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[Tossedman]

Looks great Bil! How's is drive compared to your SCX10 II? At one point I believe you said that was the best yet.

Cheers,

Todd

[bilinvic]

If I get pics there's really nothing to see, the spacer is under the slider mounts. It mounts exactly the same as stock, just sits higher with the spacers.

I don't think that was me saying that Tossedman, I haven't driven it yet in this latest configuration....it was far from the best compared to my 10.2 rig! I'm going out tomorrow on big crawling run so I will have more info coming on my TRX4 experiences! My son is driving my SR5 10.2 rig so their will be some good comparisons out on the rocks.

[bilinvic]

Took the TRX4 out for a 4 hour crawl session with a bunch of guys today...there were at least 12 rigs out and four of them were TRX4s. Right from the get-go, I knew that my TRX4 was going to be very strong on the technical crawls since all the changes. The difference from stock to it's current configuration is like having two different trucks; the improvement is 100 times better and I didn't feel like chucking the TRX4 over a cliff!!!

While there is some trailing, it's only for short distances between technical crawling sections.

The balance is drastically improved now. I have some brass ballast on the front frame but I want this gone, it's too high IMHO. My friend Mike (Exile RC) machined some brass front lower front links for me this morning prior to meeting up. I got them mounted prior to hitting the rocks. I now have brass front outer portal covers, brass SLW hub weights and the new brass links. I'm going to get some brass inner portal covers and this will replace the brass ballast I have on the front frame. I won't be getting brass C-Hubs because this section of the front axle is "out there" and regularly rubs the rocks and with brass, that would be like throwing out an anchor. I have a spare set of plastic C-Hubs in my tool bag if they ever fail.

The SSD bumpers took some serious abuse today and other than being scratched, they are perfect. The approach and departure angles are essential a non-issue now.

There were a few instances today where the use of the locking axles was helpful in conquering a line; it was extremely satisfying using diff lock on the fly (mostly just unlocking the rear) in the midst of a highly technical crawl. It changes the dynamics of crawling vs. having full time 4-wheel drive on every other rig I own; it's nice to change things up and adds a different dimension to crawling.

All in all, I am VERY happy with how the TRX4 performed today. It's still not as capable as my Axial 10.2 rig, but at least it's not spending three quarters of its time laying on its roof!

My 10 year old son drove my SR5 10.2 truck today, it was good to have a rig that I know is absolutely dialed in to compare with.

Here's the pics.

[Tossedman]

Originally Posted by bilinvic

I don't think that was me saying that Tossedman, I haven't driven it yet in this latest configuration....it was far from the best compared to my 10.2 rig! I'm going out tomorrow on big crawling run so I will have more info coming on my TRX4 experiences! My son is driving my SR5 10.2 rig so their will be some good comparisons out on the rocks.

Sorry, I wasn’t very clear. I mean how’d it compare to your best dialled in rig, your SCX10 II. You clearly answered that question in your last post.

Cheers,

Todd

[bilinvic]

I'm going to to try out some new rubber....this time it's the tried and true Proline Super Swamper TSL SX tires. I didn't go with XL tires because I felt the Flat Iron XL tires I was using were too large. Plus, with the extra ground clearance provided with the Portal axles, a smaller tire shouldn't hinder performance. I stuffed them with Team Ottsix KLR 2-stage foams (under 10 lbs). I originally tried CI Lil Nova 4.25 foams (soft outers) but they were too large.

I think I might try some 85mm shocks to get the chassis a little lower, there's just a bit too much space between the tires and the wheel arches. I can't lower the body using the posts.

[yellow1000]

Very nice !


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[bilinvic]

Went downtown to my LHS today to look for some 85mm shocks....unfortunately they had 80mm and 90mm only. I will have to get some ordered from RPP soon.

[B-MOW71]

Good looking Chevy! I do like the looks with the smaller size tires.


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[dpcardoza]

Originally Posted by bilinvic

Went downtown to my LHS today to look for some 85mm shocks....unfortunately they had 80mm and 90mm only. I will have to get some ordered from RPP soon.

I looked around locally too but didn’t find a 85mm available except Gmade xd’s which aren’t very scale looking.


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