100 Mile Review
 

Hi folks. Thought I’d do a quick long term review on my experience with the TRX4 Defender.

The drive train has been flawless. In the last 5-10 miles I have a slight click that comes and goes in the front diff but not enough to make me open it as yet! I give Traxxas major credit for how tough and well built this rig is. The shocks are still working great too. No leaks. I also tow up to 40lb with a trailer so it’s not used lightly.

Electronics! Well the steering servo was replaced immediately for a Savox I had. This was powered by a CC BEC which probably helped the stock esc complete 44 miles before getting glitchy. The motor was ok but I had a HW 1080 and Holmes 27t wired and waiting so both came out as did the BEC. 60 miles on and the truck is still doing great!

Also a note of praise to the HW1080 and HH 27t....I get insane battery life out of these two. Almost 2hrs per 4000mah 3s.

If your interested in my trailing there’s plenty of pics here:

https://plus.google.com/communities/...58499388?iem=1

"thumbsup"

Re: 100 Mile Review
 

There’s some great shots on your plus page Wiz. Nicely done.

Re: 100 Mile Review
 

Many thanks. My Missis thinks it odd I have more pics of my trucks on my phone than her and the family. Oops.

Re: 100 Mile Review
 

Totally agree Danza , great pics."thumbsup"

Re: 100 Mile Review
 

I have really enjoyed my truck. However, I was just thinking to myself that for the price it has been ok. I'm new to rc so I'm not sure if I'm right in my thinking. My steering servo left me, the servo horn went, and this weekend my front diff went strange, and the front diff housing has cracked. I don't feel like I have abused the truck so it is a little disappointing. As I said, I'm new to this so my expectations may not be in line with reality.

Re: 100 Mile Review
 

I think some luck is involved with all RC. Sometimes you get the ‘Friday afternoon’ built truck where the assembly line was itching to get home. Sometimes you get the odd weak part. I’ve had many trucks over the years and trail trucks to. The TRX4 has been leaps ahead in quality to all my Axial based rigs. The first thing you did with older axial vechiles was remove the weak parts. :-)

Re: 100 Mile Review
 

I'm having a lot of fun with it, but I'm already running up quite a tab. Upgrading and repairing are adding up! I should have the replacement front axle housing this week but I'm a little worried if I'll be able disassemble and reassemble everything myself.

Re: 100 Mile Review
 

You’ll be fine. Take pictures as you disassemble and have the manual (exploded diagrams) handy. Most importantly take your time. :-)

Re: 100 Mile Review
 

Will do, thanks. I'm probably going to buy a Bronco and double the fun.

Re: 100 Mile Review
 

It's really fun to have two different flavors of the same rig. They're just different enough to make things interesting. I think I like driving the Defender a bit more but that's probably because it was my first one so I'm just more familiar with it's handling characteristics. The Bronco really shines on the tighter more technical stuff but the Defender squeezes through narrower obstacles and seems to climb a bit better. Swapping out tires and wheels is fun too. Yea... having two is really cool cause if one's broken you just take the other one. Plus it's nice if you buy or make a part and for some reason don't like it on the one rig, you can still try it on the other.

Re: 100 Mile Review
 

I was within seconds of buying a trx-4 bronco, but then the ascender happened. Then I was ready to do it again and axial ran the scx10ii kit on sale for $309. Now the wife is starting to ask too many questions lol. I don't think the cracked housing is normal... I do know that traxxas stands behind everything and a phone call or email is where I would start. The worst they could say is no.

Re: 100 Mile Review
 

Give this a try...easy to follow.


https://traxxas.com/sites/default/fi...Manual-WEB.pdf

Re: 100 Mile Review
 

Alright, alright. I replaced the front axle housing and while I was at it I changed over to red diff covers and pumped a bunch of grease in the diffs. Since everything was already in pieces I swapped in the metal servo horn and put on my new rear bumper. Front diff servo has stripped gears. I wish I had called Traxxas on that earlier in the week. Maybe could have had it fixed up for the weekend. Oh well, I can still have fun with only one locking diff, right? Thanks for everyone's help on this.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/NJ...w=w606-h807-no

Re: 100 Mile Review
 

If you want to lock the diff just pull the cable at the servo end. You can manually lock/unlock. :-)

Re: 100 Mile Review
 

135 miles in now. List of parts failure is:

Failed parts:
1 hex pin.
XL5 ESC (Motor ok but replaced at same time)
1 Stock servo horn stripped.
1 micro servo
2075x servo (Was in use as a shift servo).

No maintenance other than regular WD40 and I did put Marine grease in the diffs/portals. Good job Traxxas...good job.

Re: 100 Mile Review
 

Good to hear, I can agree.
I have only managed to kill the servo, the rest of the gear is still good to go on my Defender.
The TRX4 is a BEAST, not only are the plastics probably the highest quality. There is a lot of quality engineering and thought put into it behind the scenes.

Re: 100 Mile Review
 

Completely agree! Leaves my axial rigs in its shadow. I keep reading about the Vanquish ARTR and thinking it's just got nothing other than bling. The locking diffs and two speed just make this rig so capable. The portal are ace. No more diff clanging. :-)

Re: 100 Mile Review
 

My broken parts list:
Defender
1. Dead 2075 servo
2. Stripped plastic servo horn
3. Cracked front axle housing
4. Stripped 2065 servo gears. Should be metal.
5. Failed 2065 front servo. Rear may go soon.

Bronco is still stock and nothing has gone bad yet.

I think I was a little rough on the Defender at first. We’ll see how the Bronc does by comparison. I expect to at least replace the steering servo at some point.

Overall, I’m still enjoying them quite a bit.

Re: 100 Mile Review
 

I think build quality is partly to blame for the issue with the micro servos. Some fail quickly while others last a long time. Mine bar the micro servo that was on shift duty have been ok and back in my time of Summit ownership again they did not fail.

I should note I am careful with the servos. I switch while at a stop and I'm easy on the throttle while they settle.

Re: 100 Mile Review
 

How do you measure miles on these trucks, especially down to ".3" mile? GPS?