Jato Assembles a TRX-4 Sport Unassembled Kit

[JatoTheRipper]

I wondered why the manual mentioned white grease. Turns out it's just to seal the waterproof receiver box.




The Traxxas receiver box is a very complicated piece for what it is. I think it's very odd and stupid that they use two different types of screws to hold on the two different covers. This could have been simplified by using the same screw throughout. Minor niggle.

You can also see the grease applied to the foam pad that you install on the underside of half of the plug-side of the receiver box cover.




Here's the receiver box with the plug-size cover installed. Oh and there's that blue o-ring that has caused Traxxas haters so much grief because of the patents. I believe the patent was partially due to the o-ring anyway. I can't be bothered with worry about that nonsense and I have to laugh when people get mad at Traxxas and think they are patent lawyers. GTFOOH.

I believe I mentioned earlier in this thread that I decided to use a Traxxas TQi receiver so I could still have the use of the Link app and the awesome inclinometer gauge. I believe this will be an extremely useful tool when modifying this truck for maximum performance!

Notice that I had to use a 3" servo extension wire for the ProModeler servo. If you have a servo with a short lead you are going to need a much longer lead.

The Castle Mamba X's lead was just long enough to reach the receiver.




Now the receiver cover is installed. Traxxas tells you to place the receiver toward the front of the receiver box and now it starts to become apparent why they do that. You can access the bind or "Link" button through this hole in the cover.




Now plug the receiver hole with this rubber plug and you can see the red light from the receiver. Another nice touch by Traxxas. If you place the receiver in a different spot it's not going to light up on the outside cover like this.

Attention to details is something Traxxas is great at.




After all that work (I call it fun) we now have a running chassis!




All that's left now is painting the body. Ugh!

[soze]

Originally Posted by JatoTheRipper

Where did you see bad reviews on the Proline paint?

Few places. Amain is the most recent one I saw. Look at the product reviews.

Originally Posted by Browneye

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

Yup, Pro-line just came out with a new set that even has military green/olive drab! I'm just hoping the bad reviews of their paint are from misuse, and these turn out pretty good. It would make it an easier decision to just grab those sets.

I'm looking for water based paints as the S.O. is very sensitive to smell and complains when I bring a body in the house even though it's been painted months ago.


@Jato - sorry for the derail, but the build is looking good! And dammit... I totally forgot to noleen grease my shocks. *sigh* gotta drain them and go back and do it I guess...

I also had to make servo extension leads as none of my electronics wires were long enough to comfortably get into that box.

[JatoTheRipper]

Originally Posted by soze

Few places. Amain is the most recent one I saw. Look at the product reviews.

@Jato - sorry for the derail, but the build is looking good! And dammit... I totally forgot to noleen grease my shocks. *sigh* gotta drain them and go back and do it I guess...

I also had to make servo extension leads as none of my electronics wires were long enough to comfortably get into that box.

I just checked AMain and there are only two or three reviews that I see. They are all negative, but it's only three reviews. Am I missing some.

No worries. I'm not building a train so you can derail it all you want.

I am getting odd stiction with my shocks built with green slime. It's only at full extension when the truck has been sitting for a while. After getting past the initial stiction the shocks seem to work great. OSRC did not build with green slime so we are going to compare tomorrow.

[soze]

Hmmmm, can't find the other ones. I don't remember if it was in a youtube comment section, or some other messageboard..... I'm just hoping it might be down to not prepping correctly or something like that. I had thought the paint might be same as Faskolor, so it should be fine right?

[Thloftus]

Originally Posted by 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...

Which tires were you running? Apologies for the off-topic question, !


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[B-MOW71]

Sport is looking good. Great step by step write up.

Can't wait to see it with the body on.

[Topher Builds]

Awesome build so far as usual, love the detailed write up. It’s like getting a training before I get around to building the sport kit. I know what you mean about the stood up D rings, it’s like a booger on the truck’s face.

For shocks, I haven’t needed green slime on the traxxas shocks, their x ring assembly seems to do well with preventing leaks. I did try and build them with green slime once but they felt sticky so I cleaned it off and rebuilt them. Maybe try a 10w and see if your stickiness goes away?

I also loosen the lower cap, shake out the x ring, and apply some oil there as it seems to help the shaft move freely.

Fill em up, bleed em, I compress them completely before screwing on the top cap with the shock fully compresssed, when tightening the top cap I try and make sure the shock stays compressed as when you get to the last bit of thread the shock shaft will start to push out, and then check for stiction again. Usually they work out pretty well for me with this process so I figured I’d share.

[Thloftus]

Originally Posted by JatoTheRipper

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.

Nice choice with the SSD wheels; they should look awesome on the truck! It’s great to hear they’re easier to mount than the RC4WD stamped wheels.



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[Thloftus]

Originally Posted by 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!

I’m excited to hear your thoughts about this servo. I’ve considered it several times ...



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[JatoTheRipper]

I'll respond to the comments when I have a chance.

I have a quick question though for those with Revolvers...

It seems I can't tune out enough drag brake. Even at 5% it's too strong and stops the truck dead. Any suggestions?

[Topher Builds]

Have you used the drag brake ramp setting?

for details

[JatoTheRipper]

Originally Posted by Pant Danza

Have you used the drag brake ramp setting?

for details

It's set to medium

Thanks. I'll check out the video.

[durok]

Originally Posted by JatoTheRipper

I'll respond to the comments when I have a chance.

I have a quick question though for those with Revolvers...

It seems I can't tune out enough drag brake. Even at 5% it's too strong and stops the truck dead. Any suggestions?

Jato - IIRC, I followed this video pretty much exactly (although it was for my Bomber, not my TRX-4):

[IMG][/IMG]

This build is making me regret buying an Nvidia RTX GPU instead of one of these kits!

Originally Posted by Thloftus

Which tires were you running? Apologies for the off-topic question, !


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Team Losi Maxxis Creepy Crawlers... they break in real nice, got mine mounted up on Gearhead RC CAC wheels (1.5" wide, useful since the tires are nearly 2.5" wide)

Losi Maxxis Creepy Crawler LT 2.2 Tires

[Thloftus]

Originally Posted by durok

Team Losi Maxxis Creepy Crawlers... they break in real nice, got mine mounted up on Gearhead RC CAC wheels (1.5" wide, useful since the tires are nearly 2.5" wide)

Losi Maxxis Creepy Crawler LT 2.2 Tires

Nice, same tires on the Rock Rey. I didn’t think about running them on the Bomber - sounds fantastic for bashing too!



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[Browneye]

I thought you said mambax?
There's race mode and crawler mode - one has drag brake the other doesn't.

[DRTMI]

To your sticking shocks. The black spacer in between the two o-ring is a little too long. To remedy this, either loosen the lower cap as mentioned above, or remove that spacer and sand a little off to fix the stickiness.

[smog]

Originally Posted by JatoTheRipper

I just checked AMain and there are only two or three reviews that I see. They are all negative, but it's only three reviews. Am I missing some.

.

Originally Posted by soze

Hmmmm, can't find the other ones. I don't remember if it was in a youtube comment section, or some other messageboard..... I'm just hoping it might be down to not prepping correctly or something like that. I had thought the paint might be same as Faskolor, so it should be fine right?

Hopefully this move by Proline will get the attention of those responsible for Tamiya's PS paint line. It's about time we get some colors that reflect the current scaler market.

[mass-hole]

Originally Posted by JatoTheRipper

I'll respond to the comments when I have a chance.

I have a quick question though for those with Revolvers...

It seems I can't tune out enough drag brake. Even at 5% it's too strong and stops the truck dead. Any suggestions?

The drag brake on my Monster X/puller pro 540 combo is pretty insane. At 30% it caused my Rock Rey to endo and roll onto its roof on pavement. I had to just set up my GT3C to adjust it with the CH3 trim switch.

[JatoTheRipper]

Originally Posted by Browneye

I thought you said mambax?

There's race mode and crawler mode - one has drag brake the other doesn't.

Yes, I have the Mamba X. The Revolver drag brake is too strong at 0.5% strength!

Originally Posted by DRTMI

To your sticking shocks. The black spacer in between the two o-ring is a little too long. To remedy this, either loosen the lower cap as mentioned above, or remove that spacer and sand a little off to fix the stickiness.

I'd agree with that if the stiction was constant. It's not. The shocks are really smooth once you get past the stiction that arises only after sitting idle for a day or so.

Originally Posted by smog

Hopefully this move by Proline will get the attention of those responsible for Tamiya's PS paint line. It's about time we get some colors that reflect the current scaler market.

What's wrong with the PS paint colors?

Originally Posted by mass-hole

The drag brake on my Monster X/puller pro 540 combo is pretty insane. At 30% it caused my Rock Rey to endo and roll onto its roof on pavement. I had to just set up my GT3C to adjust it with the CH3 trim switch.

It's insane. The drag brake is set at 0.5% and it's like it's set at 100%. The truck won't move.

[durok]

Originally Posted by JatoTheRipper

What's wrong with the PS paint colors?

We were talking about how we need more earth tones, military, and neutral colors.

Pro-Line finally released some in Phase III -

#6325-08 Mil Spec Green
#6325-09 Mojave Sand
#6325-12 Primer Gray

as well as some blues, pearls, and fluorescents.

What we need is Tamiya PS spray cans in colors along those lines!