Jeepfreak’s TRX-4 build

[freakinjeeper]

So I bought a very gently used Defender and quickly learned how much of a weak spot the stock steering servo is. I then learned that the stock ESC really doesn’t supply enough amps to power a servo under any kind of load so a Hobbywing 1080 was my next upgrade. I dare say that I wish I had learned more about brushless first but love the response either way. I changed the driveshafts out for metal ones and added in a brass bumper mount, also relocating the steering servo forward. I will say that weight in the correct place makes a huge difference, and I was already impressed. Ended up with a winch and beadlock wheels with new canyon trail tires. I love the truck, however, the real weakness seems to fall more and more along the lines of the heavy body so my next idea is getting an axial Cherokee body and custom painting it for a suitable replacement on the trails. I figure I can swap back easily enough to the Defender if I did want to, or could even gradually build another rig for that body again. I have been letting my imagination run on how I want to paint my replacement body but also realized that I may have to shorten the wheelbase but not sure as of yet. I am hoping to get this thing squared away by the end of the month so I can run it in an event with a much improved lower center of gravity.
This is the perfect stock addiction that I acquired.

Testing the capabilities of the stock truck

Decided to paint the stock wheels for a little different look

New lights installed!

Trying it out on the rocks

Beadlocks finally arrived..

Found a new contrast color

Fixed my winch with a new wireless controller and decided to change the look a little more with white lettering on the tires

Comparing notes and body mounts for my body that will be coming this week.

Still a lot to do but very happy with the build and options on the Traxxas rig.


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[niro750]

Nice! Some good mods.

I have one on order but as much as I want a Hilux or pickup body I don't know if I can be bothered Changing the wheel base back and forth for that. I may just end up with a proline ford pickup

[BadBeard]

I like the white lettering on the tires. Be interested to know how well it holds up when rock crawling or hard trailing.

[AnimalHippie]

Like the rig brotha! These things are definitely an addiction! Have you thought about cutting the lugs on the trail canyons? I removed the small middle lugs with a small set of side cutters. Made a big difference in grip. Contemplating grooving another area of them as well. Will post some pics of my cuts if your interested. Good luck and jeep up the great work!

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[RCPawel]

Nice mods, have you found any difference in the steering action due to the forward mount or was it smooth? Seems that the steering bar doesn't fall perfectly parallel to the steering link

[freakinjeeper]

Originally Posted by RCPawel

Nice mods, have you found any difference in the steering action due to the forward mount or was it smooth? Seems that the steering bar doesn't fall perfectly parallel to the steering link

It is still close enough that the steering still performs well. The weight being set farther forward makes such a big difference in crawling that being at least close is good enough for no more speed than our rigs has. I would say that much faster might create bump steer but even wide open on mine it doesn’t seem to bother.


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[freakinjeeper]

Originally Posted by BadBeard

I like the white lettering on the tires. Be interested to know how well it holds up when rock crawling or hard trailing.

It will scrub off when you really get in the rocks but is extremely easy to touch up when needed. I don’t mind maintaining it a little bit to keep the look


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[freakinjeeper]

Originally Posted by AnimalHippie

Like the rig brotha! These things are definitely an addiction! Have you thought about cutting the lugs on the trail canyons? I removed the small middle lugs with a small set of side cutters. Made a big difference in grip. Contemplating grooving another area of them as well. Will post some pics of my cuts if your interested. Good luck and jeep up the great work!

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I have considered modding my tires but they do perform really well for the places I use it currently. Still may try it out though as I can see how it may make them perform even better.


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[freakinjeeper]

Originally Posted by niro750

Nice! Some good mods.

I have one on order but as much as I want a Hilux or pickup body I don't know if I can be bothered Changing the wheel base back and forth for that. I may just end up with a proline ford pickup

I am actually thinking about getting my wife into this as well as the kids. Figured it would be a good spare body to keep on hand for any future need. I like the Defender body but I really want to make a smaller version of my full size rig in the end and it would make for a lot lower cog.


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[freakinjeeper]

So after a week of reading and getting items together, I finally have almost everything together to start changing the body out to the newer axial Cherokee so I can make a scale of my 1:1. Still a couple more things to get figured out but paint will be coming soon. Hopefully I can get this worked out soon so I can run it in my comp run.




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[Shadowfocus603]

I like it! On my first trail run I stripped the stock servo horn right as I got back to the car so that got replaced. Then on mine I replaced the servo with a 25kg unit and went with the Proline Raptor body with Hyrax tires. Ditching the 2lb for a 1/2lb body was amazing. The difference is absolutely unreal. I have a pile of brass coming in this week, including the brass bumper/servo mount. Looking forward to a Halloween comp on the 27th.

[freakinjeeper]

Originally Posted by Shadowfocus603

I like it! On my first trail run I stripped the stock servo horn right as I got back to the car so that got replaced. Then on mine I replaced the servo with a 25kg unit and went with the Proline Raptor body with Hyrax tires. Ditching the 2lb for a 1/2lb body was amazing. The difference is absolutely unreal. I have a pile of brass coming in this week, including the brass bumper/servo mount. Looking forward to a Halloween comp on the 27th.

I forgot to mention that I already replaced my servo horn as well. I replaced it shortly after I replaced my servo when I read about everyone else having trouble with them. I know that I need to get some other brass on mine but I know how much the lighter body should help overall also. I tried running it some with no body on it and it really is amazing how much differently it handles even small stuff. I am thinking about trying to move the roof rack from the Defender onto it as well but have to see how the mounting posts line up.


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[freakinjeeper]

Has been a slow week for my project so far since I am trying to help a friend get ready for a fun crawl that is coming up in a couple more weeks. I have finally picked my paint colors out and got everything that I should need to get it to fit now. I almost forgot to order my leds to make my own lighting on the new body (shame on me for forgetting) but I think I have enough of them coming by the beginning of next week. I am going to start masking my body so I can start right away Saturday morning with paint. I am getting excited to see how it actually turns out. On another note, the friends Jeep has been torn down, cleaned, and re-greased and I was able to track down the slightest little squeak and made it go away. Started piecing some of my spare lights together and just have to finish soldering in some JST connectors. Got the winch on and working, though the stock Axial bumper really doesn’t allow much extra space to get everything perfect. Finally mounted my stock wheels and tires on it since the BFG tires on it aren’t much for the rocks. I need to bake the tires off the wheels and get him to get some beadlocks for the tires. I just wish I could earn enough working on these things to spend my time with scale stuff rather than punching a clock.. Anyway, will update with my progress soon.


Stock Canyon Trails already look so much tougher on the Cherokee! Winch fitted and controller soldered in.

The lights look brighter than they really are but they do give it a lot more interesting and scale look. Light bar should help a lot with the light output.


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[freakinjeeper]

Let me just start by saying that this has been a heck of a busy day! I started relatively early this morning changing my suspension links and adding the fenders in, then had to compare some pics for carpetfuzz17’s build to see just what I had to trim on the fenders. Masked everything up for paint and got started, quickly remembering why I can’t stand my frickin airbrush. Stinking thing clogs and paint dries in the nozzle so often that getting a decent layer of coverage anywhere proved to be difficult, however, I powered through it and kept on. The friend that I have been helping with his rig was nice enough to let me occupy his garage and use his Dremel to work on everything, especially since it rained a bit earlier.



Starting to look like the big one..



Checking my marks one more time before trimming the inner fenders.



Starting to decal it up..



Look! A front wheel drive Cherokee! I know, they already exist (unfortunately). Forgot to modify my rear driveshaft so time to cut that down a little to fit the shorter wheelbase.



Time for some crawling and testing it out after a day full of effort! This thing is amazing now! Have to finish a couple of small details and a bit of paint on some stuff to finish, then install the detail parts and add lights and it is good to go in time for my event coming up! This has been a great day for me!


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[carpetfuzz17]

Originally Posted by freakinjeeper

Let me just start by saying that this has been a heck of a busy day! I started relatively early this morning changing my suspension links and adding the fenders in, then had to compare some pics for carpetfuzz17’s build to see just what I had to trim on the fenders. Masked everything up for paint and got started, quickly remembering why I can’t stand my frickin airbrush. Stinking thing clogs and paint dries in the nozzle so often that getting a decent layer of coverage anywhere proved to be difficult, however, I powered through it and kept on. The friend that I have been helping with his rig was nice enough to let me occupy his garage and use his Dremel to work on everything, especially since it rained a bit earlier.



Starting to look like the big one..



Checking my marks one more time before trimming the inner fenders.



Starting to decal it up..



Look! A front wheel drive Cherokee! I know, they already exist (unfortunately). Forgot to modify my rear driveshaft so time to cut that down a little to fit the shorter wheelbase.



Time for some crawling and testing it out after a day full of effort! This thing is amazing now! Have to finish a couple of small details and a bit of paint on some stuff to finish, then install the detail parts and add lights and it is good to go in time for my event coming up! This has been a great day for me!


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Those look great together you friends looks good but your XJ looks meaner

[freakinjeeper]

It was mean for a bit, then I crapped my first motor. I got a lot of use out of it, especially since it hasn’t been treated gently. I had a spare one though so a few minutes to swap it out and right back to running around again. Still a great time and need to get another spare motor. I figure that I can get them cheap enough that a spare is never a bad thing.


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[freakinjeeper]

Originally Posted by carpetfuzz17

Those look great together you friends looks good but your XJ looks meaner

Appreciate that! Have to find the right color green to match some trim stuff but that will happen another day.


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[freakinjeeper]

Got a lot done this weekend and even found a bit of time to go try out the modified wheelbase with the new body and am happy with the results so far. I have a couple of things to iron out but can’t complain for how well everything is working at the moment. Was nice to enjoy time with a couple of friends as well since crawling is better as group therapy.. Finally got my lights most of the way sorted out and even wire up some lights to come on only in reverse. Really adds to the scale detail as far as I am concerned. I have more little details to finish up but didn’t think I would be as far as I am now so it was a very productive couple of days. Will post up some more as I get things done.


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[freakinjeeper]

Finished up some of the painting and finally got around to installing my 25kg servo. My cheap Savox is going in the box for a spare because it has been struggling with my 7.5 lb rig lately while crawling. Ordered another spare motor after finally wearing the brushes out on the original one and it showed up last night so in the box it goes also. Also got around to installing my light pods though I am not sure if I am going to leave them on the bill bar like they are currently yet. Finished by flipping the front bumper mount to get it closer to the body and make the approach angle better. Have been able to get a good bit done and all in time for an event coming up next weekend.


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