Jato Assembles a TRX-4 Sport Unassembled Kit

[Topher Builds]

That servo sure is a beauty. very cool about the metal servo horn.

For the shocks, did it come with the orange and white springs or did you add those?

[soze]

Originally Posted by Pant Danza

That servo sure is a beauty. very cool about the metal servo horn.

For the shocks, did it come with the orange and white springs or did you add those?

It comes with white for the front and orange for the rear.

[Topher Builds]

Originally Posted by soze

It comes with white for the front and orange for the rear.

Sweet

Looks like I’ll have an extra servo horn and springs bc I ordered the exact same ones

[Browneye]

Funny, was eyeballing the exact same wheel for the FJ. But I have something on hand that should be just killer. The tires seem worth trying.
If im not mistaken a protek hi-volt will fit in that tray recess.
I was pleased the shocks were already built.
Looking good!

[durok]

Originally Posted by JatoTheRipper

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.

Traxxas mentions that the recess in the tray is meant for their 1/16th battery packs on their website...

[JatoTheRipper]

Originally Posted by Browneye

Funny, was eyeballing the exact same wheel for the FJ. But I have something on hand that should be just killer. The tires seem worth trying.
If im not mistaken a protek hi-volt will fit in that tray recess.
I was pleased the shocks were already built.
Looking good!

The tires are definitely good for RTR tires. At least they were on my Bronco. We'll see how they perform on the Sport.

Originally Posted by durok

Traxxas mentions that the recess in the tray is meant for their 1/16th battery packs on their website...

Interesting, but very odd. Seems like a waste to me. Those batteries max out at 2200mAh on 2S if I remember correctly.

[sgtlt]

do the tire mod and they are really good. not Hyrax good but about as good as anything else

[sgtlt]

Traxxas makes a 1400mah 3s battery that I think will fit in the recess

[Noobcrawler391]

Originally Posted by sgtlt

do the tire mod and they are really good. not Hyrax good but about as good as anything else

What tire mod?

[soze]

Originally Posted by Noobcrawler391

What tire mod?

siping and using a dremel to cut lines in the lugs for more tread.

[johnnyluv]

Good documentation, Jato. My Sport kit came just yesterday (east coast to west coast), but I’ll probably wait and see if the wife will take the kids up to the in-laws for a mid-week visit, soon, as that will allow me to work more freely. Plus, I’m currently in the middle of upgrading(plastic removal) the new Wraith 1.9.

[sgtlt]

Originally Posted by Noobcrawler391

What tire mod?

removing the small triangle shaped knob. it takes a while because there are 60 on each tire but really worth the time. there are some videos on youtube about it.

[Noobcrawler391]

Originally Posted by sgtlt

removing the small triangle shaped knob. it takes a while because there are 60 on each tire but really worth the time. there are some videos on youtube about it.

Thanks. I was hoping it was something less time consuming. I’m just gonna glue them today and run em. Thanks for the info.

[Browneye]

Originally Posted by Noobcrawler391

Thanks. I was hoping it was something less time consuming. I’m just gonna glue them today and run em. Thanks for the info.

Ya, it's a job for us hardcore idiots. LOL
I did some lug trimming on PB RB XL's and they turned out well. Pretty easy with a sharp scissor, or a end-cut wire nipper plier.
IMO the siping is what makes the Hyrax so good, so it's worth doing on the TRX tires.

I'm glad to hear they're not already glued on - I looked at the bag and thought 'oh damn'.

I ordered alloy hexes.
Found a online hobby shop that had the SSD portal cover weights, the nice black-brass ones, one left. Good tip - they are the most weight in one add on piece. Everything else is either pieces or are less weight. I had the beef tube ones in my cart at rpp - also nice looking but $50.

Mine is going to end up costing as much as a new Blazer would have.
Oh well, I have the Axial Blazer and love it.

Are you going to build out the body as supplied? I was surprised at all the accessory detail items.
You decide on your body paint? I know a guy...

[smog]

It comes with good tires and rocking shocks! For all the ire Traxxas has been able to draw from RCC in the past, they are responding in spades. No promises but total delivery. No wonder they are doing so well.

I am sipping my coffee with Teng this morning. This is a go-to thread these days. No pressure...lol

[soze]

Originally Posted by Browneye

You decide on your body paint? I know a guy...

I think you mentioned before... what are you using for airbrush paint?

Faskolor or Createx (what kind?).

There are some less than stellar reviews on the Pro-Line paints that just came out.

[JatoTheRipper]

Originally Posted by smog

It comes with good tires and rocking shocks! For all the ire Traxxas has been able to draw from RCC in the past, they are responding in spades. No promises but total delivery. No wonder they are doing so well.

I am sipping my coffee with Teng this morning. This is a go-to thread these days. No pressure...lol

I agree that the shocks work so well.

Traxxas surely delivered with this truck.

thanks! No pressure...

Originally Posted by soze

I think you mentioned before... what are you using for airbrush paint?

Faskolor or Createx (what kind?).

There are some less than stellar reviews on the Pro-Line paints that just came out.

Where did you see bad reviews on the Proline paint?

[JatoTheRipper]

Thank you to all that are reading my thread! I'm glad you are enjoying it.

Next up is the links. Like the shocks, the links are pre-built! Yes! Building links is an exercise in tedium that I simply loathe.




I've built kits in the past that came with preassembled links, but they never seemed to be the correct length. Traxxas seems to have gotten it right. The links measure correctly and they also match the schematics in the manual. Noice!




With the building of links out of the way we can immediately put them to use. Here I ran into one of the very few (maybe only?) cases where things didn't fit perfectly. As you can see this link mount must have experienced too much shrinkage during the molding process. The center, where the link will rest, is very tight. I struggled a little bit to get the link in because this isn't flimsy plastic. But after a minor struggle the link went in and I don't see it causing any other issues. Still, it appears to be an odd molding issue in this kit where there were very few issues.




Here the links and shocks are attached to the front axle. The links are thick, steel. They are strong, but heavy.




Now let's get that axle on the truck! The closer you get to the finish the more exciting it gets!




And here's the rear axle with the links and shocks. The rear shocks have stiffer springs. Orange springs in the back and white in the front. To me, the front springs seem too soft on the bench, but I'll let the real world be the deciding factor.

One thing I believe I failed to mention is that all of the shocks, except the left front, are built with 5mm of preload. The left front gets 9mm of preload. Very odd, but I'm guessing it's some sort of Band-Aid to combat torque twist.

[Browneye]

Ya, prebuilt shocks and links is a bonus. Nice looking shocks compared to vaterra or axial.

I have used automotive acrylic enamel, but it's messy and fussy and expensive. My last half-dozen bodies I just use the Tamiya stuff. Quick and dirty. The problem is color selection, which is great if you like bright colors, but if you're trying to replicate realism not so much.

My lhs said the proline stuff was supposed to include some neutral colors - green and tan and stuff. We'll see.

It's hard to beat the Tamiya paint for application and durability on lexan.

[JatoTheRipper]

I know this is getting less detailed as I move along. That's because I want to catch the thread up to reality and because I forgot a lot of things I wanted to mention. If you have any questions feel free to ask them here!

Next up is the driveshafts. Traxxas makes good driveshafts. The nice packaging comes into play here again. The plastic pieces are separated from the metal parts which are separated from the small, metal parts. Very nice.




I'm sure many of us have built Traxxas driveshafts as they are often retrofitted to other brands. But even the driveshafts have nice touches that make building them a breeze. Inside of the plastic collar you can see "ribs" that align the collars on the driveshaft. You can't put these together incorrectly.




Here are the assembled driveshafts. Simple, efficient and strong. Notice tjat three of the four halves are the same length. Only the rear driveshaft has a longer half. That's great for keeping spare parts on hand although this isn't an area that fails often so I won't keep spare driveshafts on hand.




I guess I didn't take photos of the driveshafts or rear axle installed. But you guys can imagine what that looks like.

The photos move onto soldering and installation of the Mamba X ESC. The Revolver wires are barely long enough to orient the ESC this way. I wanted the Mamba X oriented this way so the battery lead would face the rear and because the lead for the receiver could be routed nicely. It seems to have worked out OK.




After installing the one tire on the SSD wheels I decided to put air holes in the tires. I've only done this once before and I'm not a fan of it because I do sometimes run in mud and water. But I don't see using these tires long so I ran to Harbor Freight for a leather punch and I put two holes in each tire.

I personally am not going to sit there and cut 60 nibs off of each tire! My fuse is shorter than my patience.




They sure do look pretty.




Next up is the bumpers. These are some beefy bumpers. Not including the D-rings the rear bumper is two pieces and the front is three pieces. I see areas where weight can be trimmed when the modification round starts between OSRC and I! The D-rings are nice and I do not foresee my pet peeve of D-rings that stick straight up. These are some nice hangers.