Revive and Conquer: TRX-4 Raw Builder's Kit

[hibbs]

Hey all,

I got back into the hobby a few months ago. Been away for many years now. The TRX-4 is a new truck to me. I have to admit I was hesitant to pick one up because of the mixed opinions on it's performance. A lot of folks seem to feel it's a trail truck and not much of a comp truck. Best way to find out is to buy it and see yourself. I'm going to build this truck to be competitive much as I possibly can.

I really wanted a chassis builders kit. The closest they have includes wheels/tires and body. I hate to take the time to sell those. Luckily i found a lightly used (I think it was driven no more than a couple times) rolling chassis. Only cost about $200 so I was stoked!





It's barely even dirty! Since I couldn't really build it I decided to tear it apart and clean it up. I also tore the axles down and packed them with marine grease cause I like to play in the mud/water.

OH GOD WHAT HAVE I DONE




Spent some extra time getting the shocks just right since they're exceptional.



It looks almost brand new.






Got a holmes puller pro and savox 1210 installed. Waiting for larger spur, SUV mount and an axial Cherokee body to show up next week.

I have all the brass bits to put on. I'm not sure if I should return some of them. I want weight down low but I worry I got too much weight :/ Anyone know what the sweet spot is for adding brass? I have diff covers, C hubs/knuckles, portal covers all around and shock spring retainers. It's about 500 grams or so. That's a pound. Too much?

For now got a battery tray built. It lies just on top of the links. Low CG as I can make it.





I made my last build with all electronics in one fuel cell box designed to be modular. I am going to make a brace so I can remove 2 screws to swap mamba x, CC BEC, receiver and hobbywing 1060 for winch control between this and my other truck.

I'm quite impressed with the TRX-4 so far. I can't wait to drive it! I love how well it goes together. The hexes bolt to the axles with a through pin and the links fit into place in a pocketed fashion. The chassis rails are beefier than others I've owned. The shock towers look so nice too. I couldn't be happier.

[mewalsh100]

Nice work so far. I’ll be curious to see how far you take it and how competitive it is.

[kincer]

These are really nice rigs, I've got 3 of them now. If someone said 10 years ago that I would have a Traxxas scaler/crawler I would have said "Yeah right" but here we are lol. I really like that battery tray set up, nice work

[hibbs]

I got a bowhouse high clearance skid installed



Electronics are nice and tidy. The whole setup swaps between this and my other 1.9 comp build.





Powdercoated the brass parts for a much nicer look



Got them all installed along with over/under



I decided on a more trim body than the oversized cherokee




Still to come is metal work to make bumpers/sliders probably a cage and I have to make a servo winch mount to get a winch setup going.

Got to take it out and drive it a good bit. It surprised me several times and is incredibly capable and agile. The only thing I haven't got used to is the balance. The weight I added makes it heavy at the bottom so on a rollover it's hard to catch it and land on the wheels. I was much better at it with my SCX-10 Hilux.

Not sure what else I can do to increase performance from here. Tires are either RB XLs, Swamper XL predator or Voodoo KLR/M Reds. I think for the comp this weekend I'll try the Voodoos.

Any suggestions on improving performance?

I plan to run it and my comp 1.9 back to back and compare how well each performs.

[hibbs]

Couple more pics

[Topher Builds]

I’d recommend starting over on your brass options if you can. The full yeah racing brass kit including portal covers, knuckles, and chubs adds 177g total.

If you went with just the ssd portal covers on their own you’d get 150g from only those two pieces. I’d combine them with samix v2 brass chubs and samix brass knuckles which add another 184g to the axle.

You can flip your rear shock towers around to get some angle out of them too.

That electronics box sits a little high, maybe consider moving it up front, in front of the servo, or on the side trays so it sits lower.

Glad you’re having a good time with your TRX4! they are great trucks and very capable.

[hibbs]

Originally Posted by Topher Builds

I’d recommend starting over on your brass options if you can. The full yeah racing brass kit including portal covers, knuckles, and chubs adds 177g total.

If you went with just the ssd portal covers on their own you’d get 150g from only those two pieces. I’d combine them with samix v2 brass chubs and samix brass knuckles which add another 184g to the axle.

You can flip your rear shock towers around to get some angle out of them too.

That electronics box sits a little high, maybe consider moving it up front, in front of the servo, or on the side trays so it sits lower.

Glad you’re having a good time with your TRX4! they are great trucks and very capable.

Thank you Topher. I appreciate the feedback. I’ll look into tweaking some things. I was worried to put too much weight in brass. Seems to be a point of debate whether weight is good or bad. In my mind a lighter truck will have less weight working against it on steep climbs but a heavier truck will have more traction. Not sure if that’s the case but that how I picture it in my mind.

I like exocaged rc on YouTube and he suggested not putting all the weight on a trx4. He had one that way and felt it hurt performance beyond a certain point. I tried to shoot for a mid point between no weight and all the weight. I also tried to stick to parts that were as low as possible (c hub not diff cover).

[Topher Builds]

Originally Posted by hibbs

Thank you Topher. I appreciate the feedback. I’ll look into tweaking some things. I was worried to put too much weight in brass. Seems to be a point of debate whether weight is good or bad. In my mind a lighter truck will have less weight working against it on steep climbs but a heavier truck will have more traction. Not sure if that’s the case but that how I picture it in my mind.

I like exocaged rc on YouTube and he suggested not putting all the weight on a trx4. He had one that way and felt it hurt performance beyond a certain point. I tried to shoot for a mid point between no weight and all the weight. I also tried to stick to parts that were as low as possible (c hub not diff cover).

You may be right. Weight can be excessive and needs to be in the right places. I’ve seen performance improvements by taking weight off the rear axle before but usually notice improvements with more weight up front and down low where it’s not rotating mass.

If you do ever consider swapping out to the ssd portal covers it would be interesting to hear what you experience.

Here’s a clip of my trx4 from a while back to give you a point of reference, not doing anything too crazy here but gives an idea of how the truck does. It has the samix and ssd pieces up front that I mentioned above. Also some eBay metal housings in front and rear. And a brass diff cover in front. It’s about 9lbs overall. Running both OD/UD as well.