Jato Got a Bronco

[SMFtwstdHICK]

Originally Posted by JatoTheRipper

I was born in 77 so the heyday of the 78 and 79 Broncos were early in my life. Wagon wheels were everywhere when I was a kid. The hole wheels with rivets, from what I remember, were crazy popular in the 90's. My 95 S-10 came with them from the factory.

72' here, and yep, they were. lol

My 88 FullSize came with the wheel like on the 90's. Not as chromed out though, they were a little frosted. Can't find the greatest pic though..





Broncos that I remember seeing in the 70's had either Winston, Firestone or Cepek tires, lol, and Crager mags or the wagon wheels. Hell, ,my Brother in law's 68 still has the OG wagon wheels ..

Or, can't forget the killer moonbeam wheels either!!!!

[JatoTheRipper]

I got more upgrade parts for the never driven Bronco. Thanks for the eBay 15% off sale of which there is another happening today.

[JatoTheRipper]

This update is going to be a lot of photos. 56K warning! Remember those days? I seriously hope nobody has to suffer with 56K anymore, but I know some countries outside of America pay way too much for high speed internet.

It's been snowing quite often here in PA and yesterday it was finally nice enough to go for my first trail run with this truck. I'm so impressed. I trail with diffs unlocked and it climbs a lot of obstacles that way. It just boggles my mind that it can crawl with open diffs. It certainly needs more front weight bias and the body gives it a fairly high center of gravity, but the truck works so well in stock form.

The stock servo is a little weak for my liking. It's not as bad as some people would lead you to believe. I'm not sure if I'm going to put a BEC on it and try again or if I'm just going to switch out the servo. I'm leaning towards a Savox 1210SG waterproof servo, but I'm open to other recommendations. If I go with the Savox I'm not sure if the stock ESC will be able to push it without browning out so I might just switch over to the Mamba X and avoid the external BEC. I absolutely loathe external BECs.

I had these Voodoo KLRs on my Sawback and they weren't great. The tire carcass and foams were too stiff for my light weight Sawback. They work much better on the heavier TRX-4. I was happy with their performance except for side hilling. They tend to slide down hills. There is very little side grip in my experience on this run. I will say it was cold outside though so I'm not giving up on the tires yet.

The body is new and unscathed at this point. That will soon change.



Here's the hitch and ball I 3D printed the night before. It should have been printed in black, but I already had silver PETG in my printer and I was too lazy to change it.

[JatoTheRipper]

Who doesn't love wheel porn?

[Topher Builds]

New body looks new! Both of mine definitely have some battle scars now, wishing they were still clean like yours. Wheels look bad ass, good update on the hubs.

I have a 1256tg in my modded Rex. It’s a heavy truck and the 1256tg does just fine. Same specs as the 1210, just not waterproof so I think you’ll be okay. What volts are you going to have the mamba x bec at? I’m guessing you already know this but anything higher than 6 could fry your micro servos from what I gather. If you’re not stuck on waterproof maybe check out the 1230sg. That one is my wishlist but haven’t gotten one myself yet.

[JatoTheRipper]

Originally Posted by Pant Danza

New body looks new! Both of mine definitely have some battle scars now, wishing they were still clean like yours. Wheels look bad ass, good update on the hubs.

I have a 1256tg in my modded Rex. It’s a heavy truck and the 1256tg does just fine. Same specs as the 1210, just not waterproof so I think you’ll be okay. What volts are you going to have the mamba x bec at? I’m guessing you already know this but anything higher than 6 could fry your micro servos from what I gather. If you’re not stuck on waterproof maybe check out the 1230sg. That one is my wishlist but haven’t gotten one myself yet.

Thanks!

I'm not the easiest on my equipment so the body probably won't stay pretty for long. I like to use my trucks.

Thanks for the tip. I actually didn't know the micro servos could only handle 6 volts.

[2mtech]

You really nailed pic 3 in the first post today for the "Is that a 1:1 truck?!" factor

Glad you could finally get it dirty.

[JatoTheRipper]

Originally Posted by 2mtech

You really nailed pic 3 in the first post today for the "Is that a 1:1 truck?!" factor

Glad you could finally get it dirty.

Thank you! I really appreciate that.

I think I need scale hardware for the wheels for the "final" touch. We know the next mod is never the final touch though.

[2mtech]

Originally Posted by JatoTheRipper

...We know the next mod is never the final touch though.

Perish the thought!!

[Adama]

Originally Posted by JatoTheRipper

I think I need scale hardware for the wheels for the "final" touch. We know the next mod is never the final touch though.

The LURC 2-56 Acorn Nut kit looks great on the wheels (I have the same rims as you), but the 1/4" set screws that they sell are too short as I only was able to get a couple threads into the adapter. I bought some 3/8" ones on ebay and worked perfect. I'm also running LURC scale hubs.

Btw: I had to grind down the brake rotor adapter as I was not able to see the drilled rotors and red calipers that I have on all 4 wheels.

[high plains drifter]

Holy ... !!! ^^^ Absolutely nailing it with those wheels and that bar! We need chrome side-view mirrors.

[Topher Builds]

Originally Posted by JatoTheRipper

Thanks!

I'm not the easiest on my equipment so the body probably won't stay pretty for long. I like to use my trucks.

Thanks for the tip. I actually didn't know the micro servos could only handle 6 volts.

Welp the stock rex must have heard me typing about servos. Took it out this afternoon for the pup to chase it around and the servo crapped out on me. Sounds like bad gears, the horn is fine, but I’m not going to bother tearing it down. In case you’re still looking at options, I’m also trying to avoid a bec, and I landed on the savox 1231sg, impressive specs at 6v, and got a hw1080 to pair with it. Grabbed the bowhouse servo mount too, as the stock one fits a little off with savox servos but it’s workable.

[Shape_Shifter]

Originally Posted by Pant Danza

Welp the stock rex must have heard me typing about servos. Took it out this afternoon for the pup to chase it around and the servo crapped out on me. Sounds like bad gears, the horn is fine, but I’m not going to bother tearing it down. In case you’re still looking at options, I’m trhing to avoid a bec so I landed on the savox 1231sg, impressive specs at 6v, and got a hw1080 to pair with it. Grabbed the bowhouse servo mount too, as the stock one fits a little off with savox servos but it’s workable.

You will be happy with the 1231SG servo. It is in virtually all of my 1/10 trucks. They are unmatched for 6v torque. You can waterproof them easy.

[JatoTheRipper]

Besides the servo, which I'm still not certain which direction I'm going, I knew I wanted to get weight up front. I chose the SSD portal weights because they add the most weight and because they have a nice, dark finish on them instead of a gaudy brass color.

This is what we're starting with. Stock portals and the portal weights about to go on. Notice the shade tree cement block jack stands when you can't afford real jack stands.



The SSD weight on the right is nicely finished. The weight on the left has severe tool marks from machining. I've never received such an unfinished part from SSD. Function is fine, but they missed the aesthetics on this one piece.



Well, what are we waiting for? Let's tear it open! It's not drowning in grease, but I can't complain. I did add some marine grease to the gears.



All finished. Lots of screws for such a simple mod. That's fine with me though. All those screws add extra strength to a potential weak spot and these shouldn't have to come off more than once a year for cleaning and regreasing.

[Shape_Shifter]

Forget the weights. Those little CMU blocks are awesome!

[JatoTheRipper]

Originally Posted by Shape_Shifter

Forget the weights. Those little CMU blocks are awesome!

They're a little out of scale for a truck as large as the TRX-4, but I agree that they're cool.

[Inspector86]

Looking forward to your thoughts now that you have portal weights installed. I think you will be even more impressed with the performance.

[JatoTheRipper]

Originally Posted by Inspector86

Looking forward to your thoughts now that you have portal weights installed. I think you will be even more impressed with the performance.

I think I will too! I am worried about downhills. I'm thinking it might flip ass over tea kettle with the back being so light. Time will tell.

[Shape_Shifter]

There's always the old lead in the wheels trick.

[JatoTheRipper]

Originally Posted by Shape_Shifter

There's always the old lead in the wheels trick.

True. I'm thinking about portal weights in the rear, but getting a brand that weights less than the SSDs.