Sawdawgs's Bronco

[Summitonslingrs]

I had a Bronco in High School not quite as old as the TRX-4 Bronco (’79) but my ’88 Bronco was fun and I was torn when it came time to sell.
10 years later Traxxas releases the Bronco… I was already a TRX-4 Defender owner but I could not resist. I ran dawn and bought what I assume was one of the first ten or so our LHS received. Beautiful it was, I stole the beadlocks off the Defender, threw some license plates on and headed out to Blackrock for some play and pictures. Had fun, got some cool pics but on the way home I began to feel guilty… I had bought yet another toy truck for myself… ugh… what to do? I know I will customize it and give it to my son for his birthday I thought. Yes, Yes I know use the kids to justify my ridiculousness…whatever, it made me feel better. So down into the basement it went around mid-March with about 20 minutes drive time and did not emerge until I gave it to Sawyer for his birthday last weekend 6/15/18.

Three months in the hole gives a guy lots of time to tinker and I left no stone unturned. A couple custom touches here and there. And just a few upgrades…

The paint was all applied on the outside of the Lexan. Yes I know it will scratch off but I was not waiting for the clear bodies for a color change. The pre painted black body made a nice backer for the Green to Gold color changing paint anyway. Maybe it will look cool once it’s all scratched up.

Sawyer’s (Sawdawg) TRX-4 Bronco!!! Enjoy:

What you can see:

• Green to Gold SpazStix paint
• Body Moldings re-profiled and painted gloss black along with grille, tailgate filler, Door Handles, Wipers and Bumpers.
• Rust-Oleum Undercoating for Bronco Shell (Not recommended)
• Custom Front & Rear Bumpers Handmade by Myself
• MyTrick RC Bronco Light Kit
• @CNCCustomwheels 1.9 8 hole Classic Beadlock Wheels
• Lockedup RC (LURC) “Agile” 1.9 Beadlock Rings and Scale Hardware
• Vanquish 225 SLW wheel hubs
• Proline BFGoodrich Krawler T/A KX 1.9 Tires
• Crawler Innovations Lil’Nova 1.9 Foams
• RC4WD Warn Scale Front Hubs
• SSD RC Scale Rear Hubs

What you cannot see:

• Mamba X ESC & Castle Slate 2850KV Motor
• Traxxas Single Speed Trans Conversion
• MIP HD Drivelines
• Traxxas locking Spool’s Front & Rear
• Savox SA-1230SG Servo
• ProTech RC Alum Clamping Servo Horn
• STRC Alum Front Shock Towers Custom Fitted (Factory the shock towers are plastic and are molded into wheel wells on the Bronco.)
• BowHouse LCG Battery Tray & Rear Chassis Brace
• MFR Brass Link Set (10pc) Painted Black
• STRC Brass Lower Shock/Link Mounts Front & Rear
• STRC Brass Rear Axle Portal Drive Mount
• STRC Brass Front Axle Steering Knuckles
• MFR Brass Outer Portal Covers Front & Rear
• American Machine Works Ohio Brass Spring Retainers

[Summitonslingrs]

Re-Profiling the moldings.

[Summitonslingrs]

Prep for paint:

[Summitonslingrs]

Custom Bumper building and fitting:

[Summitonslingrs]

Wheel & Tire building, One of my favorite parts!
Huge Thank you goes out to @cnccustomwheels these are sooooo sweet!!
Six different vendors were used here to bring together this stunning Wheel and Tire combo.

[Summitonslingrs]

Up-under pictures.
You can see all the STRC Brass comes black and I painted all the MFR stuff in an effort to retain stock look.
(My Gearhead RC wheels and Hyrax tire's were still installed in these pictures.)





The STRC Brass Inner portal/knuckle were not yet installed in this picture

[Summitonslingrs]

Custom fitted STRC Alum Front Shock Towers & Panhard Mount:

[AnimalHippie]

Truck looks great bro! Love the color! Nice bumper fab! Keep up the good work! Can't wait to see some pics of it on the rocks.

Sent from my SM-S975L using Tapatalk

[ScoJac]

There is some MAD WIZARDRY in there !
You sir can be proud and I can now sulk in jealousy

I really like how you reworked the side trim. That color rocks, it's almost the same color as my first car a '75 Ford Torino. You should add some exhaust pipes, check these out on eBay.

Again, Nice job

[Summitonslingrs]

Originally Posted by AnimalHippie

Truck looks great bro! Love the color! Nice bumper fab! Keep up the good work! Can't wait to see some pics of it on the rocks.

Originally Posted by ScoJac

There is some MAD WIZARDRY in there !
You sir can be proud and I can now sulk in jealousy

I really like how you reworked the side trim. That color rocks, it's almost the same color as my first car a '75 Ford Torino. You should add some exhaust pipes. Again, Nice job

Thank you both!!
I’ll check out the exhaust pipes!!

[Summitonslingrs]

Now thats a heavy box....
MFR Brass outer portal cover(Painted Black)
STRC Brass Inner Portal/Knuckle
Completely assembled with internals.

[JatoTheRipper]

I'm not typically a fan of green, but that's a beautiful Bronco! LURC wheels are awesome as always. Have you had a problem with the scale beadlock ring hardware loosening or backing out?

Those custom bumpers are awesome!

[Summitonslingrs]

Originally Posted by JatoTheRipper

I'm not typically a fan of green, but that's a beautiful Bronco! LURC wheels are awesome as always. Have you had a problem with the scale beadlock ring hardware loosening or backing out?

Those custom bumpers are awesome!

Thx Jato!! The bumpers were a challenge to build but fun. Not bad for my first whack at it...

Was never a huge green guy either but this color caught my eye.

The scale hardware and the beadlock rings are LURC. I have no run time so I cannot comment on loosening or backing out yet. I Loctite'ed all the scale hardware so I hope not...

The wheels themselves are made by @CNCcustomwheels

[JatoTheRipper]

Originally Posted by Summitonslingrs

Thx Jato!! The bumpers were a challenge to build but fun. Not bad for my first whack at it...

Was never a huge green guy either but this color caught my eye.

The scale hardware and the beadlock rings are LURC. I have no run time so I cannot comment on loosening or backing out yet. I Loctite'ed all the scale hardware so I hope not...

The wheels themselves are made by @CNCcustomwheels you can really only find him on Instagram. He had/has a FB page but I think it is inactive.

First try on the bumpers? Great job!

I didn't thread lock my scale hardware for fear of not being able to remove them when required.

Ah CNC Custom...I, and many others, have given up on him and his wheel lottery. He makes nice stuff, but it's not a business. It's more of a hobby so he only randomly releases one set at a time.

[Summitonslingrs]

Originally Posted by JatoTheRipper

First try on the bumpers? Great job!

I didn't thread lock my scale hardware for fear of not being able to remove them when required.

Ah CNC Custom...I, and many others, have given up on him and his wheel lottery. He makes nice stuff, but it's not a business. It's more of a hobby so he only randomly releases one set at a time.

I have heard stories of Loctite problems and scale hardware. I barley used a whif in fear as well. We'll see.

You have it exactly right, Greg at CNC Custom Wheels makes wheels as a Hobby on the side while raising a family, maintaining a household and having some fun.
The fact that they are custom and exclusive are part of what make them so alluring!!!

[high plains drifter]

If using a little removable thread-locker on the hardware, what's the concern regarding removal?... Stripping the tiny hex-heads? I've got 4 Injora bead-locks with a total of 128 socket-heads that I was going to thread-lock so I don't want to have issues. Thanks.

[ScoJac]

As long as you only use a wee-tiny bit of thread locker you should be fine just take and set a soldering iron tip on the faster for 20-30 seconds and heat up the thread locker it should come out no problem. Maybe hold it on longer on some of those real tiny delicate fasteners. Also for some of that scale hardware try using the low strength "purple" thread locker.

[high plains drifter]

Will pick up some low-strength thread-locker... thanks.

[Summitonslingrs]

Originally Posted by high plains drifter

If using a little removable thread-locker on the hardware, what's the concern regarding removal?... Stripping the tiny hex-heads?

Exactly! My hardware is still fresh though. I could see running into this problem after you have disassembled and reassembled the wheels a number of times. I did the trick where I threaded all but six of the bead locks screws through the ring and then cut them off. Then you only use six screws to attach the ring to the wheel.

Originally Posted by ScoJac

As long as you only use a wee-tiny bit of thread locker you should be fine just take and set a soldering iron tip on the faster for 20-30 seconds and heat up the thread locker it should come out no problem. Maybe hold it on longer on some of those real tiny delicate fasteners. Also for some of that scale hardware try using the low strength "purple" thread locker.

I will have to look for the purple! Thanks for sharing the hack!

[JatoTheRipper]

Originally Posted by high plains drifter

If using a little removable thread-locker on the hardware, what's the concern regarding removal?... Stripping the tiny hex-heads? I've got 4 Injora bead-locks with a total of 128 socket-heads that I was going to thread-lock so I don't want to have issues. Thanks.

The quality and tolerances of scale hardware is less than ideal. Some of those want to strip the hex head out of the bag.