Dr. F's Kit Bronco

[dr frankenstyle]

Just took it out to the front yard. Give me an order of fries to go with it because I'M LUVIN IT. This motor is wicked!! I know the pinion change helped a little too, but Oh Mama, it's bottom end is smoooth like a baby's. And it has SO much torque! I was creepin' up and over the spike-bridge, nice and slow, and on the third time I realized that it was still in high gear. Then I went to the rock pile and did the same thing .... crawled up and over the rocks, nice and slow, then did it again in LOW gear. Even with the XL-5 it's so much better than before. The power is so smooth, I didn't even need to lock the axle's as much.
Maybe by the time we go crawlin' at the park again, I'll have my LCG battery tray and rear foams in too. My buddy may be in for a surprise.

[Tmaxxed]

Looks great man! What motor mount is that?


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[Inspector86]

If you think it's smooth with the XL5 just wait till you get the HW1080 installed. OH BABY!

[dr frankenstyle]

Originally Posted by Tmaxxed

Looks great man! What motor mount is that?


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Thanks, It's a Chinese copy but I'll have to look again to tell you who they copied. I'll pop in more info soon. I just looked and there are a lot of listed between $17 and $35. This one is listed as "New Motor Mount Heat Sink for 1/10 RC Crawler Traxxas TRX4 Car Model Accessories" it's just $16.16 right now. Or just search eBay for alloy motor mount for TRX.

Originally Posted by Inspector86

If you think it's smooth with the XL5 just wait till you get the HW1080 installed. OH BABY!

Yeah, I've been reading that all over the section. I'll order it Thursday, so it'll be here sometime next week. I can't wait!

[Inspector86]

That motor mount is manufactured by GRC but is apparently sold by a number of vendors on ebay. I also have the $17 one ordered just waiting for it to arrive.

[dr frankenstyle]

Originally Posted by Inspector86

That motor mount is manufactured by GRC but is apparently sold by a number of vendors on ebay. I also have the $17 one ordered just waiting for it to arrive.

There ya go. When I saw it in SVT's thread I searched and found 2 or 3 "name brands" listed. But when I looked again last night I didn't see anything but the low-priced "no-name" ones. The one I got is nicely machined, fit perfectly and is solid as a rock. Seems like one heck of an upgrade for very little cash. Glad to hear you got one too, I'm sure you'll like it.

[dr frankenstyle]

My Bowhouse Low CG battery tray got here today. SUPER NICE!! It comes with a new cross-member for the rear to give you room for large sized batteries.



The fit is perfect on both pieces. Even the 5000+ batteries sit with 90% or more below the tops of the frame rails. The front end dropped about 1-in, while the rear dropped about 5/8-in or so.



It does move the battery rearward almost 2-in. but I think the drop-down will more than make up for all of that. I usually run my small batteries if I want top performance anyway.
Gonna order a HW 1080 tomorrow.

[dr frankenstyle]

Took the little Bronc' down to the rock pile again this afternoon. Man, I'm really likin' this new set-up. It climbs like a goat!



I tried to hit the steepest parts of the pile .... NO problem. This one showed right at 55-deg on the angle gauge.



Right up and over.



The HH motor has So much low-end power it just creeps over everything I throw at it. And the Bowhouse tray seems to let it lean farther and still keep it's footing. Different lines .... same results.



I can't wait to get the 1080 in it next week.



Hopefully we'll hit the park tomorrow and see how it compares to my buddy's set-up.

[dr frankenstyle]

My buddy and I had a great afternoon at the park today.



He's turnin' his Bronco-into-Blazer into a Jeep now, so it's "in the shop" and he drove his blue Chevy kit rig today.



The little green machine was on the scene today. The new motor is the bomb. It just crept right over everything his rig went over and 2 or 3 places his wouldn't go.



We usually try to push our limits, but after I passed him on a particularly steep climb up a slick rock, IT WAS ON. We tried to go a little wilder on every obstacle, and the Bronco matched his moves step for step.



We surprised ourselves a couple of times, and we had WAY too much fun all afternoon.



And at the end of the day, the little Bronco kept it's crown for a few more days.



But that may only last 'til next time .... like my paint. But, hey, 2nd place is still LOTS of fun.

[dr frankenstyle]

Ordered some new wheels back at Xmas and they got here today.



These are Jazrider's D-type. They added about 43 grams each over the X Spede wheels and they're like an EZ-lock, they only have 6 screws holding the wheel halves together. And I didn't need the special "for pro line" lock rings either. They've got lots of room in the back-sides for the portals too.



I just liked the looks of them, and the little machined-in valve stems. I'll see how they roll soon. The extra weight should help a bit too.

[Tmaxxed]

Looks great!


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[dr frankenstyle]

Originally Posted by Tmaxxed

Looks great!


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Thanks I can get some "lug nut" screws from Locked Up and finish up the new look. Got the C.I. foams in the other tires now too.

[dr frankenstyle]

It'd been raining for the past few days, but it finished off with a coating of snow, so I took little greeny out to play on the rocks.



This truck just makes it all seem so easy. It wouldn't climb just any line, but it went up and over every time.



I'm likin' the new wheels, and the BF-Goodys are just awesome. It was so quiet outside that you could hear the gear-whine echo off of the trees.



Drove over spike-bridge a few times too. The wire ramps make it easy to get up onto the bridge, but the snow makes it a bit trickier to cross.



The new wheels don't seem to collect and hold snow as much ....



..... but the snow WAS a little deeper last time.

oh, the 1080 should get here tomorrow ... and I've got another little goody coming too.
tune in next time ....

[Tmaxxed]

Originally Posted by dr frankenstyle

It'd been raining for the past few days, but it finished off with a coating of snow, so I took little greeny out to play on the rocks.



This truck just makes it all seem so easy. It wouldn't climb just any line, but it went up and over every time.



I'm likin' the new wheels, and the BF-Goodys are just awesome. It was so quiet outside that you could hear the gear-whine echo off of the trees.



Drove over spike-bridge a few times too. The wire ramps make it easy to get up onto the bridge, but the snow makes it a bit trickier to cross.



The new wheels don't seem to collect and hold snow as much ....



..... but the snow WAS a little deeper last time.

oh, the 1080 should get here tomorrow ... and I've got another little goody coming too.
tune in next time ....

Looking good man, the BFGs do really good in the snow. I finally got mine out this weekend with the new foams you recommended. Worked great.


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[dr frankenstyle]

Originally Posted by Tmaxxed

Looking good man, the BFGs do really good in the snow. I finally got mine out this weekend with the new foams you recommended. Worked great.


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Thank you, Sir I couldn't be happier with the Krawlers (except maybe Predators, like yours ) and the Li'l Novas are just icing on the cake. Glad to hear you're liking yours too. Your truck sure looks good with them.
I'm thinking about gettin' the new class-1 Mud Terrains, just to have a more challenging option now and then. I wish they'd release a Krawler in 4.19 size. I may wait a few weeks.

[Tmaxxed]

Originally Posted by dr frankenstyle

Thank you, Sir I couldn't be happier with the Krawlers (except maybe Predators, like yours ) and the Li'l Novas are just icing on the cake. Glad to hear you're liking yours too. Your truck sure looks good with them.

I'm thinking about gettin' the new class-1 Mud Terrains, just to have a more challenging option now and then. I wish they'd release a Krawler in 4.19 size. I may wait a few weeks.

Are you talking about these? Are they supposed to be better than the krawlers? Just wondering because I have a brand new set I haven’t tried out yet. Except the ones I have are the 4.75” tall ones.




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[dr frankenstyle]

Originally Posted by Tmaxxed

Are you talking about these? Are they supposed to be better than the krawlers? Just wondering because I have a brand new set I haven’t tried out yet. Except the ones I have are the 4.75” tall ones.

Yep, them's the ones. I won't say better, but in the right kind of mud they definitely show their engineering. My buddy proved that to me. If I had a set (like you, lucky dog) I'd have 'em on wheels ready for wet days. If they made a Krawler in class-1 size it would be my first choice, but not yet. And don't get me wrong, when I want to out-crawl my buddy the big Krawlers will be on the truck. The 4.19s are just to run in class-1 or to make things a bit more difficult.

[dr frankenstyle]

The HobbyWing 1080 got here today. It seems to be as nice as everybody says, maybe better.



So far the only changes I made were activating the freewheeling mode and I turned the reverse up a notch. I have my TSM turned off and my multi-function knob controls the reverse/brake, so I can adjust the drag brake and reverse rate on-the-fly from the transmitter, and I want a little extra reverse to dial up or down.
Here is my other goody. Look closely.



That's right ..... it's an 8 tooth pinion. Turned out easier than I thought it would be. The Holmes motor has 4 mounting holes. I'm using 2 of the holes on the same side of the center-line, not directly across from each other, so they line up with the A and 3 holes in the motor mount to give perfect gear mesh for the 8t. The holes are slightly farther apart, so I just took a small round file and elongated the holes toward the center a bit.



The Hot Racing gear has a beefier collar (even has a m3 grub screw) that makes it longer, so I made a 2-mm spacer from aluminum to get the teeth to line up right. After that it all went together nicely giving it slightly tighter lash than the 9T, but still enough slack that I think it will be reliable.
Between the gear and the 1080 the thing just creeeps across the floor now. I can't wait to get on the rocks to really give it all a try.


Good Crawlin' everyone.

[Tmaxxed]

Lookin great! Can’t wait to see some trail pics!


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[B-MOW71]

Just had a chance to read your whole thread. Good looking little green machine. You will like the HW 1080 ESC. It is a great ESC. And the price ain't bad either.

Looking forward to your next round of pics and to hear how you like the ESC.

Subcribed!