My take on the TRX-4. Ford F-100 with Rear Cage!

[neilus]

Having never really been much of a fan of Traxxas (probably due to not ever buying RTR's) the TRX-4 has been off my radar. However, when they released a kit version, my eyes were opened.

So, here's my take on the TRX-4 Sport. I was waiting for the new Sport kit to arrive in the UK, but I got impatient and picked up a Kit with the electrics instead. I sold off the ESC, wheels, tires and body etc. I've added the SSD portal covers and front overdrive to start with, and I've got a Mamba X with 2280kv motor to go in.

I spent some time looking at body options. I want this to be a performer so all the massive top heavy bodies were out. I've got a few RC4WD Mojave cabs that I had thought about adding a cage to, but they just looked a little too small. So, I settled on the Pro-line Ford 1966 Cab. I'll be adding a simple, low rear cage to neaten up the back end.

Here's the start.



The body is the perfect width for the stock sliders, but I had to trim them a little and lift them up 5mm.



It seems to me that Traxxas have really thought about the versatility of the TRX-4. I love the fact that I can use a small lipo up front for performance, or a larger one in the middle for trail running. Thumbs up.




I lengthened the wheel base 6mm and switched the rear shock mounts around. So, I had to cut a little bit out to allow them to clear the middle fixing bolt. I know I could have left the middle bolt out, but I thought as it's there I'd use it.




This allows the rear shocks to lay down a little.




Now, next up was the rear cage. This caused me more headache than any other metal work I ever done. I wanted to attach the rear hoop to the chassis, but as the rails bend in towards the rear axle, the 2 mounting tabs had to be brazed at an angle to make them work. The problem I was having was how to hold them in position while I took it off to braze, without them moving.

I spent 2 evenings coming up with several methods that didn't work. Then, on the 3rd night, I had a brain wave. I decided to cut a piece of 1/4” alloy bar I had to the same profile as the chassis rails and bolt the mounts to that to braze them. This worked out perfect.

Here's the issue I was having.



The 3 pieces of the 3rd attempt.




And here's the solution.




And the finished result. Perfectly square... just how I like it.







I guess it's a lot of effort to go to just to get one part of the cage right, but it was worth it.

I made a start this evening on the next part of the cage, but decided to call it a night. The next piece is bent up, and tomorrow I'll get it brazed into place.



Thanks for taking a look.

[Topher Builds]

Following along. Solid start on the cage. Cab looks good mocked up too.

[neilus]

Originally Posted by Pant Danza

Following along. Solid start on the cage. Cab looks good mocked up too.

Thanks very much


I spent most of the day today working on the rear cage. This involved a lot of head scratching and thinking to finally decided how I wanted it to look. I was originally going to build a conventional style roll cage the height of the cab, but as I really want to keep the weight low I chose to lower the cage. I was a little unsure how it would look, but I'm really happy with the result.

Someone on Instagram asked me how I hold the part together when I'm brazing. The simple answer is I use what ever will do the job. In this example I used an old servo box, 2 clamps and a cable tie.



As I spent all day working on the cage, I seemed to be a bit of a mental zone, and therefore forgot to take pics as I went a long. So, here's the final cage.




And here it is all mounted up.




I'm not sure yet whether I'm going to keep the spare tire or not. I do like the look, but it kind of goes against my plan of keeping the weight low. I guess I'll see how it performs with and without.



Next up will be to tidy up the rear of the chassis, and make up a winch bumper.

[soze]

Really like how that cage turned out. Nice work!

[indybama]

Nice job! I like how u dropped it below the back window. Looks really good. I need to learn how to braze lol

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[neilus]

Originally Posted by soze

Really like how that cage turned out. Nice work!

Thanks very much

Originally Posted by indybama

Nice job! I like how u dropped it below the back window. Looks really good. I need to learn how to braze lol

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Thank you. I wanted to keep the weight low down. Definitly have a go at brazing, it's great fun.

[neilus]

I spent some time this week thinking about what I wanted the winch bumper to look like. I was originally going to use a RC4WD Warn winch I had and started to make the bumper. But, once the first part was mounted and I sat the winch on I wasn't really feeling it. Mostly, because the bumper had to stick out so far to house the winch, the approach angle suffered.

Here's the start.






So on to mark 2. I'm not going to use a servo winch, so this bumper can be nicely tucked in against the body.

I always start with the 2 mounting brackets.



And as usual recently, I got carried away building it and forgot to take some pics. So, here it is done.








The last piece of metal work on this truck was the spare wheel mount. I thought I'd make use of the rear shock towers as they seemed to be in a perfect spot.




And once again, here it is done.






Next up will hopefully be the paint, and install the electrics.

[yotadude77]

Your metal fab skills are outstanding! Looks so awesome!

[B-MOW71]

Great job on the metal work! Front bumper looks awesome!

I like how you tied in the spare tire mount to the shock towers and rear chassis brace.

Looking forward to seeing more!

[rschoi_75]

Beautiful work.

Also, I'm sure it's been mentioned before, but your scale garage is awesome too.

[Stormin2u]

Great build, I love your tube work not to much but all high quality in design and fabrication. Like you I've never owned a Traxxas product*until the TRX-4 and I've been very impress so far.

[Topher Builds]

Agreed with all of the above. Clean work!

[HKSkook]

Nice job how strong is cage?

[Stray]

Wow what a beautiful build, what materials are you using for brazing? my brazing never looks that neat....

[neilus]

Originally Posted by yotadude77

Your metal fab skills are outstanding! Looks so awesome!

Thanks very much

Originally Posted by B-MOW71

Great job on the metal work! Front bumper looks awesome!

I like how you tied in the spare tire mount to the shock towers and rear chassis brace.

Looking forward to seeing more!

Thank you. The spare just seemed to fit nicely there, and i was going to make a shock hoop brace anyway, so it worked out good

Originally Posted by rschoi_75

Beautiful work.

Also, I'm sure it's been mentioned before, but your scale garage is awesome too.

Thanks very much. I keep meaning to do a little weathering on the garage, but time hasn't allowed it yet. Soon maybe...

Originally Posted by Stormin2u

Great build, I love your tube work not to much but all high quality in design and fabrication. Like you I've never owned a Traxxas product*until the TRX-4 and I've been very impress so far.

Thank you. I'm really liking the build quality and the little details on the TRX-4. I can see that they've done their homework well/

Originally Posted by Pant Danza

Agreed with all of the above. Clean work!

Thanks

Originally Posted by HKSkook

Nice job how strong is cage?

Thanks. The joints are super strong. They will only come apart with the heat from the brazing torch

Originally Posted by Stray

Wow what a beautiful build, what materials are you using for brazing? my brazing never looks that neat....

Thank you. I use a Bernzomatic TS-4000 torch, 55% silver brazing rods with appropriate flux. And i use a mix of 5mm tube and 5mm, 4mm, and sometimes 3/16" solid rod depending on what i'm making.

[Stray]

Thanks for the update, are your rods just mild steel?

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[neilus]

Originally Posted by Stray

Thanks for the update, are your rods just mild steel?

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Yes just plain steel. Although, I have used stainless in the past but just find steel better to work with. But I do make sure the joints are 'super' clean before starting brazing

[Stray]

Originally Posted by neilus

Yes just plain steel. Although, I have used stainless in the past but just find steel better to work with. But I do make sure the joints are 'super' clean before starting brazing

Ok great,

I've been using copper coated bundy tube with nickle based rods. I have some silver solder, I might give that another crack.

Appreciate the info

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[neilus]

I finally managed to get the metal work primered and painted. I was considering a more vibrant color but ended up just going with black again.



While I was painting I also did the cage for the SCX10II Power Wagon build i've got going on also.



And I fitted a Proline fuel cell. This just fits nicely behind the spare tire.



I've accumulated quite a few lexan paints over the years, so I thought i'd use one up on this body. I wasn't too sure which one to got with.



And here it is. There's still some small details left to do, but i'm happy with how it turned out.





Because I had to trim the front of the body to clear the tires, it meant that the grille decal didn't fit. So I decided to chop it up and move the headlights in a little.

After cutting a section out of the middle of the decal, and clamped a socket over the headlight part to give me a nice guide to cut out the lens.




I also fixed the light buckets to the inner fenders so I wouldn't have to unplug a wire everytime the body was removed.



That's all for now. I'm hoping to get this finished in the next day or so

[cartronicshn]

outstanding work, i love the detail and effort put into it.