Set up
 

So i only do trails and light crawling but my trx doesn't seem as capable as my hpi venture, I've rockbeasts, lcg battery tray, lightweight lexan fj40 body and plenty of brass but just doesn't seem as capable as it should be. Didn't seem much different when it was a defender. 🤔 Any thoughts?

Re: Set up
 

The FJ body is still massive and heavy so it will hurt performance immensely.

The TRX-4 has portal axles and the center of gravity is much higher than a Venture. You should be able make the TRX-4 perform much better than stock. Tuned shocks and tire foams will help a lot. So will smart placement of weight, but added weight in strategic locations. Post photos of the chassis and where you added weight.

Re: Set up
 

I agree with jato, more details would help. Like what motor, esc etc. I personally have had best results using a truck body.

Re: Set up
 

I would also point out that shock oil and spring rates have a huge impact on how the truck works. I have found that for me the stock TRX4 springs are a bit on the stiff side and I have swapped out the 0.39 stock springs for 0.30 rate springs installed with zero pre-load and 10wt shock oil.

Re: Set up
 

personally, i think softer springs and the 30wt to be pretty good. tired 10wt, then 20, and now i am back to 30. I may try 40, but 30 is working very well for controllability on my "log garden".

Re: Set up
 

I did the same, swapped the Defender body for the FJ and performance suffered. Huh. Seems counterintuitive, but it is what it is. Sidehilled a little better, but lost overall grip. I ended up going back to a Defender, did some fine tuning and I've been very happy with it. The TRX seems to like weight to perform. Puts more pressure on the contact patches and gets better overall grip is my guess.

Either body is a heavy choice though, something like a Sport body or another truck body would be the way to go for pure performance. It can certainly be tuned to work better with the lighter body. Having said that, my Defender goes pretty much anywhere my Sport does.

I've found the biggest change I've made on any of my TRX's is the battery location. The LCG tray is nice for sure, but if you are running large packs it really makes a difference. I ran my Bronco with the LCG tray and a large 3S 5000 pack for a long trail run and it wanted to lift the front wheels on inclines way more than it should. Changed mid trail to a much lighter pack and the difference was night and day. I then moved it to the slider and again, very noticeable increase in performance. I now run 2200 packs on the slider for all my TRX's.

Battery enlightenment: http://www.rccrawler.com/forum/traxx...ml#post5898387

Re: Set up
 

Did you move the electronics so you could mount the battery on the sliders? Is the extra side weight noticable?

Re: Set up
 

Yes, receiver is over on the ESC side now in a few rigs, and one of them is now in the battery tray. No, no noticable difference as far as weight balance.

Example:
https://i.postimg.cc/mZjcc5yZ/10sm.jpg

Re: Set up
 

Which front bumper is that? Looks good. Does it get hung up much?

Re: Set up
 

I have the Bronco version. I have a lot of weight added, but most is not the usually brass/replacement type. Only brass on the truck is hot racing portal covers up front. I have 1.5 oz of lead in each of the axial beadlocks on it. The rest is all is a lead "crossmember" I made up front right over the axle. I just got a bunch of the 1/4 lead stick-on weights and made a "crossmember" that slid in-between the frame rails, and then kept sticking more lead too it till I ran out of room. It clears the steering fine and goes right to behind where the stock bumper posts stick through. I actually ran some zip ties through the holes at the end of those bumper posts and wrapped around all the lead for extra support. I was also using the front tray the Bronco has to run a shorty battery up front too, so forward weight bias was... to say the least VERY good.

Having that battery forward of the axle and up high was kinda' hurting down hilling and side hilling though, so I tried putting the shorty battery in the stock battery tray and all the way forward. I also tried it (gens ace 4300) on it's side in the rear of the tray (in the little well back there that is lower). On it's side worked pretty good till I got to the steepest stuff and that was when I moved to the front of the stock tray. This seems to be the best compromise so far.

I do mostly trail running on mountain trails.

Oh.... and shock oil, I actually went to heavier oil and that improved things for me. I'm using team associated oil. I initially started out with 55wt, and that was a pretty good improvement. Then tried 70wt and things got even better. Then tried 80wt... and that's a bit much, I'll be going back to 70wt soon. Every truck is different though, I would say try a few different weights ans see how your truck responds.