OSRC's TRX-4 Defender "Greybeard"

[Natedog]

Originally Posted by OSRC

On further inspection, the front shaft has a major wobble to it. Female end is off center somehow. I've read a few other comments along these lines. Not sure If want to contact SSD or not. Seems to run fine, but that vibration can't be good for stress levels.

That's too bad, would not be satisfied, out of phase and off center...I'd contact SSD. Bearings will go much quicker, good luck.

Nice trail run pics, new Redcat Swampers look great!

[OSRC]

A nice 2+ hour trail run yesterday with the Beard. It's getting a lot of use since it's one of the few trucks I have set up for wet conditions, and brother, it's been wet here.

Some changes to the truck since the last post - swapped in a single speed trans and re-geared with a 15t pinion. Brings the FDR to around 47:1 - much more inline with my other trucks. Also swapped out the wheels - from a cleaning standpoint, it's much easier to tear down the wheels with 5 screws ilo 12.

Also I contacted SSD, sent them a video and they agreed the shaft is out of spec and are sending a replacement. Excellent customer service! I'm driving with the bent one for now, though not particularly happy out it. Don't really notice it while driving, but I am concerned about additional wear and tear.

Tried to take some pics farther back to get the background in perspective. This has been typical trail conditions this year - these spots are normally dry.



Showing off in the morning sun! Let's go get muddy.



50 degrees yesterday, and had the place to myself at 9 am. Just the sounds of nature and some electric whirring. Absolute bliss. After the chaos of the holidays, nice to get some time outdoors in.


Thought this was a cool spot. Had to come down the left side of the rock and cross up and over. This is where the unlocked rear diff really works well - lets the front almost drag the truck around. Would have been a 3 point turn with most of my trucks, though the Beard swung it in one.


Followed the creek for quite a while. Got some great shots with the morning sun low on the horizon.


Came across this creekside. What the hell is it? About 10" long, and a whole lot of teeth. Way too big for a muskrat...doesn't look like a beaver though the size is right.



Another "test rock" I try and hit with every truck. Can climb up the backside usually, and straddle the rock up and over. Carefully.


But not so much today...with the wet and muddy conditions, couldn't even get up on the rock. :(


Rolling down the old railroad bed between crawling areas. Whoever thought up the cruise control is a freaking genius. I kinda scoffed at it at first, but after using it I've totally come around.


And just a few more pics of picking my way through the woods. Perfect time of year for exploring - all the weeds are gone, and with the trees bare you can see areas that might have been missed over the summer. This truck continues to amaze me with how it chews through terrain. Mud, woods, doesn't matter. The clearance from the portals and agressive tires lets it dig in. Made short work of some pretty aggressive woods.



This truck is flat awesome. It just goes places it shouldn't be able to go, tall tippy body and all. I'm debating adding a Sport to the collection as well.

[yotadude77]

Almost sounds like you turned it into a sport, single speed transmission and you locked the front axle with a spool...but you still have the option to go back so that’s cool...I just ordered a TRX-4 sport...can’t wait to upgrade and bash it

[OSRC]

True, but I never let logic get in the way of RC purchases!

[DBJr]

Like the white roof on it!!

[OSRC]

Mini update... don't have to change much since it's been running like clockwork. Got it dialed in where I want it, so it's just maintainence really.

Just to follow up I received my replacement front shaft from SSD. I applaud their customer service as it was a pleasant experience, but the replacement shaft has the exact same "wobble" to it the first one did. Something in the male end seems off. Can't say I recommend it which is a shame since it seems nice and strong. (The rear shaft is perfectly fine BTW). I replaced it with a modified Wild Boar for now - looking for other options.

Last time I was on the trail, got a bunch of compliments on the body - seems everyone removed and sold the stock body. Out of the 5 TRX4's out that day, mine was the only one still running a stock (ish) body. There was 1 more Defender, but it was chopped into a minimalist pickup of sorts. Anyway, I've embraced the suck and very happy with how it handles now that I've got it sorted. Looks a lot more tippy than it drives, that's for sure.

Going with a kinda sorta rally truck theme, added some rally lights up top. Also picked up a second set of closed cell foams (which I really don't like) so I have some tire options for muddy/snowy/goopy conditions. Stuffed them in some cut up Falkens. Little less aggressive look than the Swampers.


Debating picking up a clear body and getting some more appropriate decals ilo the leftover Tamiya's and a new paint scheme going. I like the stock charcoal color personally, but think I could do better.

[Landy TRX 4]

Still also stock body. Got some inspiration from yours! Tx


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[OSRC]

Looks great! A super fine black sharpie in the door lines will really make the details pop.

[Landy TRX 4]

Good idea. You mean to accentuate the door ‘shadows’?

PS, talking scale: no straight lines on a 1/1 Defender

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[OSRC]

After running the Bronco for 90 minutes, I swapped over to my Defender for a 3 hour tour... Interesting running them back to back..whereas the Bronco wants to lift the front wheels on steep inclines, the Defender is much more planted. It is top heavy though, so it gives up a bit on sidhilling. Alo the Bronco was running TSL's and DS foams so it had grip for days. I had single stage foams and a set of cut Wildpeaks on the Defender today (I expected some mud) and the difference in grip was very noticeable. But once I got in the zone, it wheeled great as always.

Started out at my usual big test rock. Grip was not nearly as good, and the weight of the body was definitely noticeable, but finessed it up there.



I like single stage foams for mud running, but on rocks I prefer dual stages by far.


No grip? lol. Had to throttle over this one. C'mon! Now that winter is over almost, time for a tire and foam change for spring running for sure.


Still, it was warming up and the sheer weight of this truck allowed me to get everywhere I wanted to go. Sometimes took a bit more wheelspeed, but I got there.


I took the path less traveled this time. I detoured off my usual route to do some exploring. Always wondered where "that path" went...time to find out!

I've got some bad news about Fred. Yes, the rumors are true...


Such a cool place to wheel - huge rocks are just random and everywhere.


One of the benefits of portals is how they rip through the woods like no one's business. All that clearance underneath means it can churn though just about anything. Came off the backside of the huge rock in the previous pic and just bulled my way out of the leaves.


Back on the trail....let's see what'd down here.


Whoa! Found a nice little area someone had made. Pretty cool!


And a hippie hangout. Far back of the pic is a rock area with some sticks made into a homemade shelter. Fire pit, lots of garbage graffiti (Sorry, "art") and of course, penty of cool stuff to drive over.


Moving on...lots of trees down from the winter. Under the big one and over the small ones. No problems!


Found this 20 foot rock spine poking out of the ground...had to of course drive up on it and go back and forth a few times.


Enough playtime, back on the trail!! Just enough room to squeeze though.


Came to the creekbed and surprised to find it mostly dry. Last time I was here, this was a swamp.


A little further down, the mountain springs kicked in and I found the creek. Glad I ran those foams after all - slogged my way down through the mud and muck and back to the parking lot..



Great day of wheeling. nearly 5 hours between 2 trucks, zero breakage or problems.

[JatoTheRipper]

Cool photos on both threads. It looks soupy. That's why I'm hesitant to punch holes in my tires.

I'm anxious to get out! This new area looks pretty cool as well.

[AnimalHippie]

Looks like a great time out there! Allot of fun looking spots to play! If those were real hippies out there they would have never sprayed a paint can much less spraying it all over nature. I hate seeing spray paint all over our mother's beautiful landscape. One day maybe I'll make it up to PA for some crawling. Keep up the awesome work brother!

[OSRC]

Originally Posted by JatoTheRipper

Cool photos on both threads. It looks soupy. That's why I'm hesitant to punch holes in my tires.

Just the creek area on the main trail where the spring crosses. Wan't soupy at all anywhere else. Thought it would be with all the snow runoff, but the snow is gone and the trails were dry.

Originally Posted by AnimalHippie

If those were real hippies out there they would have never sprayed a paint can much less spraying it all over nature. I hate seeing spray paint all over our mother's beautiful landscape.

I can't stand it either. Some of it is pretty creative, but still, go to art class. Don't screw up mother nature!

[OSRC]

Made a few changes to the Defender.. Since I have three TRX-4's now, I'm trying to make each one a bit different underneath to change up the driving experience. The Sport is for hardcore trails, the Bronco is stock with all the functionality intact, and the Defender is somewhere in the middle.

The stock motor/WP1080 with the single speed was ok for trail running, but I'm looking to experiment a bit. Had this large outrunner sitting around and decided to drop it in to see how it did. The Defender is the pig of the group, just under 9lbs. I was looking for more torque, but was concerned about the overall wheelspeed so I put the 2 speed back in as well.

I picked up this outrunner here and have no idea of the specs. I think it's a KD motor, but no idea what KV. It is large though, bigger in diameter than my Holmes outrunner. It fits fine in the Defender, though I needed a spacer between the motor and mount to fit the pinion in properly.


Putting in the 2 speed again. The trans is somewhat complicated, so I printed out the exploded view to make sure I got all the spacers and what not back in the right spots.


My original Traxxas receiver wiped itself out on update. I was trying to bind it to my Bronco's radio (which has bluetooth installed) and when it went to update the receiver, it failed 1/2 way through, and now shows version 0.0.0. Great. I put my GT3B receiver in since I was only running rear diff lock and it worked fine, but now that I'm putting my 2 speed back in, I need more channels. I found an older Traxxas receiver in my parts box - it's a non TSM TQi - and decided to see if it would work with the radio. It bound right to the receiver and updated perfectly! Yahoo! All the functionality works as well with the exception of the gyro/inclometer since it's a non TSM. S'ok, I'll take it! Downloaded the stock TRX4 profile and all the servos are already trimmed up and ready to go. Good deal!


A bit of a rat's nest. Since I tend to swap electronics a lot, I just zip tied everything out of the way. Using a cheapo 60A Hobbyking ESC for now. I need to find the programming card to dial in some drag brake, but it's a surprisingly smooth pairing with the outrunner.


Did some basement testing on 2S. After a somewhat abrupt start up, the motor is very smooth, and has LOADS of torque. Exactly what I was looking for. Started with a 15t pinion and first gear is just above walking pace. Outrunners are not known for high RPMs, so that's where second gear comes in. Perfect for rolling down the trail without the throttle pinned constantly. So far, it seems like a good match. We'll see how it does hopefully this weekend. If more power is needed, I may swap to 3S and gear down a bit, we'll see.

[durok]

Too cool!

Love seeing something different than what everyone else is using...

[OSRC]

Well, that didn't last long. The ESC I originally installed browns out the BEC under load. Now I remember why I wasn't using it in the first place... I didn't have an external BEC handy, so I swapped out a 45A ESC of the same make. Hope it can handle the motor, but after an hour of testing, it was plenty cool so fingers crossed.


I don't have the programming card, so I'm stuck with no drag brake and 50% reverse. The outrunner is an excellent drag brake just by design, so it's not the worst thing in the world. Very happy with the motor swap - plenty of power and super smooth all around. I'll eventually do something about the ESC but for now I'm happy with it.

So what to do on a sunny spring afternoon? Tire test! Wasn't sure which set I wanted to run, and since I have a test course out back, figured I'd experiment a bit and see which tires worked best on the Beard.

Today's contestants:
Redcat Iroc's on Axial 8-holes.
Vaterra TSL's on Vaterra wheels
PL Hyrax on Gearheads
Cut Traxxas tires on Chinalocs
Cut Axial Falkens on Boom wheels

All have dual stage foams of some variety, and are unweighted. All are broken in with a few trail runs with the exception of the Hyrax which are brand spanking new.



First up - Redcats. Surprisingly good tire, and the only ones to get up the 60 degree ramp. Gripped great on my wood ramps, but struggled on the rock a bit. Excellent in the loose dirt and stones.


Vaterra TSL's climbing the rock steps. Very tricky climb though it's not tall. Really have to put the tire in the right spot and manage the weight balance. They got up it the easiest of the 5. Struggled on the ramps a bit though. Great all around really.


Traxxas tires did very well, surprised me. They were very good when I ran them stock, but opening up the tread really lets them grab the rocks. Excellent on the ramps and in the loose stuff. Great performance from a OEM tire. Strangely, they rubbed the fenders quite a bit. Nothing a little more preload won't handle, but I like my truck where it is.


and the Hyrax. I thought they would be "THE tire" but they let me down a bit. Struggled on the ramps, though good in the rocks and loose stuff. Maybe they just need some break in time. Also rubbed the fenders quite a bit, and looked a bit big in the fenders to my eyes.


Forgot to get a pic of the Falkens, but they are decent. Probably the worst of the lot on the ramps, but surprisingly good on the rocks and loose stuff. Great trail tire and looked the best under the truck IMHO.

So which won my little comparison? After an hour of driving, I settled on the Vaterras. Excellent all around grip, plus a good feel on the rocks. The Redcats had great grip, but tended to bounce/hop. These were much smoother overall. Not to mention they tuck into the fenders perfectly. Not a fan of the wheels, but I am a fan of the tires themselves.


Climbed "the bitch" with an open rear diff. No mean feat considering some of my locked diff trucks won't make it. There's very little traction on the wood, yet somehow it got up and over.

[JatoTheRipper]

Nice, fun looking playground you built there.

I'm not shocked that the Hyrax struggled on the wood ramp. But that's nothing you really see in the wild too often.

[OSRC]

True, the wood ramp is about the grip level of wet rock. Especially now, winter was not too kind on the finish. Got some work to do this spring. However, it sucked equally for all tires so it worked OK for a comparison run.

All of the tires had a hard time with the 60 degree ramp - most never make it, even my rigs built for performance have a hard time with it. I was stunned when my top heavy Defender porker scaled it with the Redcat Tires. Did it twice to be sure it wasn't a fluke. I started each with a standing start at the bottom, and it took some wheelspeed, but it got there. None of the other tires were even close. Sometimes you think you know what the results are going to be, and sometimes they surprise you.

[OSRC]

The Defender has always been my test truck of sorts... Even though it's running like a champ and pretty much dialed in right where I want it, I can't help but tinker some more....

Before turning any wrenches, it's time for a little refreshment. I freaking LOVE teaberry ice cream. It's way hard to find around here, but my local supermarket apparently got some in. I bought all 4 pints they had. 4 servings per pint. Right.


(5 minutes later)

One pint later and thoroughly refreshed, it's time to get down to business. RC mart had the GRC front motor kit knocked down to $70 during their last crawler sale. Decided to pick one up - purely in the name of science mind you - and check it out. 8 days later, it arrived at my door.


Never bought a GRC part before so I wasn't sure what to expect. Quality was very nice all around. Everything is well machined and the tolerances are perfect. The carbon battery tray is a work of art.


Wasted no time getting my outrunner over onto the front transmission with the included 15t pinion. Everything went together perfectly and spins nice and smooth. Greased up with red and tacky on the gears.


Mounted up in the chassis.


Mini driveshaft is all steel with stainless pins. Since there's almost no reduction in the front box, this little guy will really be spinning. Hopefully it's nice and true. Guess I'll find out.


Top cover installed, and drivehsaft in place. Comes together pretty quickly, only took about 15 minutes to build up and install.


Not a problem with a stock can motor, but the outrunner has wires coming out the side right where the body posts are. I trimmed off the low hanging posts for clearance.



Decided not to use the gorgeous carbon battery tray. First pic is where the battery sits now, and second is where it would roughly sit on the tray. Think having it lower and in the rear will give me better balance overall.



Right about here, I realized there was no provision for the steering servo....I need a bumper mount with the steering servo mount built in. Whoops. Kinda BS that it didn't come with the transmission conversion since it's shown in the pics. Oh well, should have read the description and I would have ordered it at the same time. Off to Ebay..


(3 Days and 2 more pints of teaberry later)

RC Mart was sold out of the GRC piece, plus I didn't want to wait about week or so, so I picked up a servo mount on Ebay. Only options I found were brass. NOT a fan of brass on the chassis at all. Just too much weight up high. But to get it finished, I bit the bullet and ordered one. Cheap unbranded mount, it fit fine and got the servo mounted. Had to reverse the servo channel and re-do the endpoints but it seems fine in it's new location with little bump steer.


Complete and ready to roll!


Before doing the swap, I was as a 50.9/49.1 F/R balance. With the motor up front and the godawful heavy front bumper mount, I'm now at 52.5/47.5 which is good. I'm also up to 9.3 lbs, which is not so good. Truck is getting a bit fat and needs to go on a diet. Plus, the Vatarra DS foams are just not up to the task of supporting a heavy truck so I'll have to find something a bit stiffer. Some weight loss and new foams are next on the list!

[Tmaxxed]

Looking good, is it just the benefit of more weight up front with this? Looks like the motor sits up higher. High CG? Or not really?

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