Jato Assembles a TRX-4 Sport Unassembled Kit

[DukeMinnix]

I'm glad I saw your post on the hex and the comment because I obviously didn't look far enough into that portion of the instructions and assumed they were stepped like the axial version and installed them outward. I'll have to change that tonight. That will allow me to run some motoworx wheels I've had sitting around cause the center bore was too small and I didn't want to modify them.

[Browneye]

Black oxide - If it's good enough for a firearm it should be good enough for a axle cover.
Give it a shot of WD once in awhile.

I'll look at the SSD covers. I thought they were sold out when I looked...I have a cart going at RPP. I want something for the front at least.

[JatoTheRipper]

Originally Posted by JSterrett

Bought them when they were first released... so about a year? They also haven't taken a lot of shots though, I have a more of a tendency to think about my lines than just bang away at an obstacle. These have seen a ton of water though, including salt water.

They should be OK unless you let salt water sit on them or if they get scratched. That's when black oxide seems to quickly fail.

LURC could have used one of the methods to make black oxide more corrosion resistant though.

Originally Posted by DukeMinnix

I'm glad I saw your post on the hex and the comment because I obviously didn't look far enough into that portion of the instructions and assumed they were stepped like the axial version and installed them outward. I'll have to change that tonight. That will allow me to run some motoworx wheels I've had sitting around cause the center bore was too small and I didn't want to modify them.

Glad I could help! When I picked up the hex I thought "Stepped hexes? Stupid!" Then I glanced at the manual and noticed how nicely they fit when reversed.

Originally Posted by Browneye

Black oxide - If it's good enough for a firearm it should be good enough for a axle cover.
Give it a shot of WD once in awhile.

I'll look at the SSD covers. I thought they were sold out when I looked...I have a cart going at RPP. I want something for the front at least.

Firearms quickly rust without lube.

Yes, they are currently sold out. I can wait.

[JatoTheRipper]

As svt pointed out, the plastic motor mount is a cost cuttings measure. I guess my love of this truck is already blinding me. This part should be metal. The middle part can be purchased from Traxxas in aluminum, which I have, but the plastic skid/lower motor mount and top mount/cover parts are only available in plastic from what I know. I'm sure some Chai-knees company will cast them in aluminum should you want to do that. But I don't like metal skids so this will always be plastic on my trucks.

I wish the motor mount bolted onto the skid. That way the lower motor mount could be metal. The one-piece design is surely a cost-cuttings measure on the part of Traxxas. With that being said, it is a simple design and it should be fine since Traxxas uses high quality plastics. I wouldn't want this made of Axial plastics.

So I'm upgrading is the motor mount. I'm only doing this because I purchased it for my Bronco and never installed it. That truck has the stock, brushed motor so I figured the metal plate would be of greater benefit in this truck with a more powerful motor. To be fair I gave OSRC the heads up that I'd be upgrading the servo mount and motor mount. The aluminum mount only weighs .20 ounces more than the stock, plastic piece. This weight is up front and down low so I don't think it will affect performance much.




Let's install the Revolver onto the... Crap. The shaft is too long! That's what she said!

Time to get out the Dremel - the official hack job tool for every unprofessional shade tree fabricator like myself.

I didn't want the Revolver to ingest metal shavings into its beautiful body with its magnetic personality so I wrapped it up in a Zip-Lock bag. This right here is a redneck engineering tip that you won't get elsewhere.




Thankfully I had a carbide drum for my Dremel. Regular cutting discs wouldn't work. Ignore the fact that the shaft looks like it was bitten by a shark instead of finely machined by an unprofessional. It works and there is plenty of clearance now.




After dueling with the Revolver shaft (get it?) and winning I installed the motor. Looks good to me!

The motor wires are are very short as somebody warned. I put them as close to the ESC as possible so that, hopefully, I don't have to extend them.

Once you have the motor plate sandwiched between the skid plate and the top cover everything is solid. It's a good design in that it is newbie friendly and easily allows motor replacement and gearing change without having to set gear mesh yourself. But the drawbacks are as I documented above.




Here's the motor in the chassis. It's ready to go guns ablazing (again, get it?)!

[Pabust]

My advice to you, if you use aluminum wheels replace the stock hexes and use this ones instead:

PARTS FOR TRX-412mm Aluminum Hex Set for TRX-4

I broke 7 stock hexes before replacing them with bronze ones and later with aluminum ones which have signs of wear, since the SSD ones are made to use Axial type wheels on a TRX4 they shouldn't give me any problems in the future

[JatoTheRipper]

Originally Posted by Pabust

My advice to you, if you use aluminum wheels replace the stock hexes and use this ones instead:

PARTS FOR TRX-412mm Aluminum Hex Set for TRX-4

I broke 7 stock hexes before replacing them with bronze ones and later with aluminum ones which have signs of wear, since the SSD ones are made to use Axial type wheels on a TRX4 they shouldn't give me any problems in the future

How are you breaking aluminum wheel hexes?

I've never done that with any RC of any scale!

[Topher Builds]

Jato the truck looks great, glad your revolver wires reach your esc as that’s been a concern keeping me from throwing one in my trx4. Have ya driven it with the revolver yet?

That darn shaft was too long for the 10.2 as well.

[Pabust]

Originally Posted by JatoTheRipper

How are you breaking aluminum wheel hexes?

I've never done that with any RC of any scale!

I don't think those are aluminum, i think is a weaker metal:

[JatoTheRipper]

Originally Posted by Pant Danza

Jato the truck looks great, glad your revolver wires reach your esc as that’s been a concern keeping me from throwing one in my trx4. Have ya driven it with the revolver yet?

That darn shaft was too long for the 10.2 as well.

Thanks!

The wires are barely long enough and I mean barely. I didn't even snip the ends before soldering on the bullet plugs.

Of course I haven't driven it. You can tell from the photos it's not finished yet!

Just kidding. Yes, I drove it in the house as a short test. That's all. I'm awaiting our trail run to really drive it.

Originally Posted by Pabust

I don't think those are aluminum, i think is a weaker metal:

They look to be cast so they will be weaker than machined metal, but I still don't see how you broke them. Are you using a ton of power and wheel speed?

[Pabust]

Originally Posted by JatoTheRipper

Are you using a ton of power and wheel speed?

yes, i have a Tekin ROC412HD motor on 3S and i'm not kind to the TRX4, i abuse it every time i can

[durok]

Jato - I broke 2 Axial metal hexes and bent a through-pin on my Revolver-equipped Bomber, but I was running 4S and nearly 6" tall tires at the time...

[Inspector86]

Just an observation here about the Revolver wires. I initially thought I would just solder on longer leads but found that they are not soldered on to a terminal like a conventional can motor. I think the leads are actually the windings extended out of the motor with colored heat shrink tubing as insulation. But I do agree they could be longer, even an inch would help.

Also a comment on the stock TRX4 wheel hexes. The stock hexes look to be powdered metal and IMO are only good for use with plastic wheels. If you decide to run an SLW hub wheel, you need to install a set of SSD TRX4 hexes. BTW, the inner step on the hub is designed to help retain the bearing in place in the portal cover which in turn retains the stub shaft from moving laterally.

[OSRC]

You're going to love that motor. It's such a different feel from your standard brushed or even sensored system. Not a lot of RPM, but torque for days. Should be a perfect match for the somewhat high stock gearing.

[JatoTheRipper]

Originally Posted by Inspector86

Just an observation here about the Revolver wires. I initially thought I would just solder on longer leads but found that they are not soldered on to a terminal like a conventional can motor. I think the leads are actually the windings extended out of the motor with colored heat shrink tubing as insulation. But I do agree they could be longer, even an inch would help.

Also a comment on the stock TRX4 wheel hexes. The stock hexes look to be powdered metal and IMO are only good for use with plastic wheels. If you decide to run an SLW hub wheel, you need to install a set of SSD TRX4 hexes. BTW, the inner step on the hub is designed to help retain the bearing in place in the portal cover which in turn retains the stub shaft from moving laterally.

I agree that the Revolver wires look to be part of the windings. You'd have to extend the wires from the end of the existing wires rather than from the motor.

I'm going to roll the dice with the stock hexes as I've never broken a single metal hub. I will be using aluminum wheels. If they do break I'll check out the SSD hexes. From what you said it sounds like they are great products just like everything else I've used from SSD.

Originally Posted by OSRC

You're going to love that motor. It's such a different feel from your standard brushed or even sensored system. Not a lot of RPM, but torque for days. Should be a perfect match for the somewhat high stock gearing.

It is a pretty cool motor. I've only driven in the house and a very short stint in the grass to get an idea of top speed. I haven't crawled over more than my foot though. It is very smooth. I do have to figured out why it has some cogging. I'm guessing it's an ESC programming issue or maybe the tall gearing.

[Browneye]

Does the sport kit come with the tall rear body posts?
The parts list includes the 8215 post kit but wanted to make sure...I haven't opened mine yet and was ordering parts and I need the tall posts for the LandCruiser body.

[mewalsh100]

Looking forward to seeing the body all painted up and mounted.

[Teng]

Morning time here with my favourite fresh black coffee with Jato thread off cause.

[sgtlt]

no it comes with short body posts for the pickup body

[JatoTheRipper]

Originally Posted by Browneye

Does the sport kit come with the tall rear body posts?
The parts list includes the 8215 post kit but wanted to make sure...I haven't opened mine yet and was ordering parts and I need the tall posts for the LandCruiser body.

Only low posts in my kit. I can say that now that they're installed.

Originally Posted by Teng

Morning time here with my favourite fresh black coffee with Jato thread off cause.

Haha! Thank you, sir! I'll try to have more reading for you tomorrow morning. I appreciate it.

[JatoTheRipper]

Next up is the steering servo. I decided to give the ProModeler 470 a try because of all the talk about it on this site. I'm not sure if it's going to perform, but it sure is damn pretty!




Here's the servo installed. You can see the two nuts on the left required by the Yeah Racing mount. Before the kit arrived I had ordered a Traxxas metal servo horn. I assumed this kit would come with a plastic horn. It did not. It came with the metal servo horn so now I have a spare. No complaints for me. It was a nice surprise that the upgraded metal servo horn was included.




Even the battery tray is the highest quality that I've ever seen. The latch, seen on the right, is molded to fit into the battery tray one way and one way only. And it does fit perfectly. Details that Traxxas has nailed with this truck. Details like this abound and for that reason I can't think of a better first kit for new scalers. One downfall of this battery tray is that it's probably much heavier than it needs to be. But the Traxxas, tool-less battery strap is a great idea. Sure, Velcro does the job and is simple, cheap and light, but I do prefer this tray for ease of use. Once I try to get this truck into ultimate performance mode I may develop my own battery tray. I still don't think a perfect battery tray has been made for this truck.

I still don't exactly understand the recess in the battery tray. It's nice that it has provisions for Velcro straps, but even my 3S 2200mAh batteries won't fit down in the recess.




Shocks are next, but I hate doing those and it's late so let's move onto something else. Ohhh I know - tars! The stock wheels are nice looking. It's a shame that they're black (black wheels are boring and I hate them) and glue on. Oh well, OSRC and I agreed that we could use beadlock wheels. And, being the wheel and tire addict that I am, have numerous sets of new and used wheels at home.




I decided to use SSD slots because they are such good looking wheels IMO. If you've mounted RC4WD stamped wheels forget that completely. The SSD wheels were so much easier to mount. You don't even need to use longer screws if you don't want to.

Ahh much better. Shiny wheels are good for my soul...or lack of a soul because I am a ginger.




Well it's a new day. Not here and now, but it was when I decided to move onto the next step. So get out your thinking caps, use your imagination, and play along with me!

Shocks...I see you. I will win even if I have to rebuild you.

The shocks come pre-assembled. Or, as RTR fans like to say, Ready To Rebuild. Those of you that have a TRX-4 or have purchased the take-off shocks on eBay already know that these shocks rock.



Not one to leave well enough alone I disassembled the shocks and added Noleen SF3 Green Slime to the top o-ring and lower x-rings.

Here are the shocks partially disassembled. I did not remove the C-clips or lower mount from the shock shafts. I didn't see a spare C-clip anywhere included in thsi kit. Shame on Traxxas!






Traxxas included this unique shock oil pouring mechanism. I've never seen a two-piece shock oil bottle like this. It works just fine. But you have to remove the spout to reinstall the black, rubber seal. So decide if you want to lose the spout or if you want to forgo the black seal and have your oil dry up - although will silicone oil dehydrate? I've never tried. Your decision. Choose wisely.




Two hours later and the shocks are magically filled, rid of air bubbles, bled and reassembled. It didn't really take two hours, but it took longer than I expected. I've sure had easier shocks to bleed, but I'm the worst shock assembler so don't take my word for it.




Adios until next episode. Same bat time. Same bat channel.