'91 4Runner - Redcat Gen8 V2 Slider build

[Goro Majima]

Here's #6 of the lexan Toyota 1/10 fleet, a 2nd gen 4Runner. I initially wanted a straight axle chassis for this body but this slider seemed fun and I'm looking to differentiate all of my crawlers. With that said, straight into it, I hate this steering setup.

After trimming the body out, just setting it onto the chassis already sits decently as the bumpers on the lexan nearly rest on the ends of the chassis bumper mounts well as you can see in the pics with the 3 spoke wheels, just needs some work to completely rest on the bumper mounts (trimmed off top hole setting of shock tower to clear hood and level body out). To start, I trimmed off the first bumper mount hole in the front and trimmed off parts the front inner fenders to shape with the 4Runner body (a bit excessive trimming). Since that scoots the body back to better align the wheels, what was removed up front needs to be made up in the rear so I extended the bumper mount one hole. Wheelbase fix done, and even the stock rock sliders line up between the fender flares. Now to mount the body...

As much as I hate exposed body clips, holes were reamed for the factory body post setup. If I was going all out for this build, I'd do the aerocatch style body mounts like I did with my FlexJ40 build. Anyway, since the body is better aligned with the chassis, I adjusted the links to the most inner settings to shorten the wheelbase (shown with 6 spoke wheels). Since I mentioned my Toyota rigs will be somewhat diverse from each other, this build will have more of a lifted, maybe a muddin' type look, we'll see. With that said, the shocks are set on the lower-most setting on the towers as well (also flipped the shocks for LCG effect). I will do the bumpers chrome and try to keep the body factory-looking. Or, trim the bumpers off and do 4.7's... Besides the indecisiveness, it's gonna be a darkish metallic/candy purple type color and machined wheels. Both to be revealed when build is done.

Now since I shortened the wheelbase, after already disliking the factory setting of the steering linkage setup, binding has joined the sloppiness. I will address the steering when I make further progress in getting it running/painted but most importantly the wheelbase is set along with the body mounting.

I will update accordingly.

 

[Goro Majima]

Update time now that I've slowed down a tad on my builds. I've got 5 currently going (all chassis are built), but they all need finishing touches and tuning/painting. So here I am taking it back to #6 of the fleet.

This body stayed unpainted for the longest time, but finally sprayed it PS18 Tamiya Metallic Purple. I started to hand paint the window moldings flat black, but it didn't look right so removed that paint and started to mask them in preparation for a light semi gloss black spray. All the masking is done, just need to liquid mask the rest of the body. I also trimmed the front arches accordingly for rubbing. I'm leaning towards chroming the bumpers with a chrome marker. Kind of an OE bumper look.

What took up a lot of time was dialing in this new panhard setup. The Club5 tie rod link is nice and beefy but it really protrudes a lot more than desired, but it works so I won't change it (yet). Here's the rest of what has been done.

Since I'm running this chassis in the shortest factory wheelbase position, I moved the Bowhouse panhard relocation bracket behind the factory mount instead of in front of it and mounted it into the frame with the nearby inner fender screw. You can also see I added aluminum link mounts (includes lower panhard mounting).

I used the factory panhard link, both sides extended rod ends, with one end extended with a 2mm spacer. I needed to mount the panhard further up and out, so I used these aluminum flat brackets to achieve that. On the left are the 2 brackets I used, and the right showing them unmodified. With the slotted bracket, it gives some adjustability to work with but I have it locked out to the max setting. Also mounted a 4-40 right angle bracket on the unused shock mount hole of the C hub to be able to mount one of the flat brackets.

 

[Bob_in az]

Good job on the steering. Now you can shave the inner sides of the C hub & the backs of the portals for tighter steering. I cut a lot off of mine & now I have as much steering as an ar44. There's plenty of plastic there, so it doesn't weaken it. People think the ball end of the axle limits the steering, but it's actually the C hubs & portal housings that limit the steering.

 

[Goro Majima]

I'll put it on the to-do list!

 

[Goro Majima]

Moldings painted and decals on! Prep for the moldings took forever but it's what it takes for crisp lines rather than freehanded brush strokes and bleed-throughs. I also used flat black so I wasn't satisfied at all the first attempt. But as for as completion and future mods, I can say it is now complete despite not having tinted windows yet (few other completed builds don't have tint yet either). Future mods will be full aluminum axles to add to the silver, and metal rock sliders via Scalerfab. I don't own a set of their rock sliders yet but they look just awesome. Might do the raw metal option and paint them silver.

And here's the wheels I went with via Locked Up RC. Trail Gear Creepers are probably my most favorite looking beadlock, and when I saw these were made in scale form, it was only fitting that I throw them on with a 2nd gen 4Runner out of my Toyotas.

Also forgot to add on going with the purple. Not only did I want this to be a more flashy/blingy type build, but I really wanted to replicate the RTR Gen8 color since that's what it is. Crawling video to come soon, as usual.

 

[AK KRAWLER]

That turned out great man!!!

 

[Goro Majima]

That turned out great man!!!

I appreciate it! I figure the full aluminum axle setup (I'll find out if those C hubs need shaving for more steering angle), spray tinted windows, and a custom license plate, #6/11 would be in the books.

 

[AK KRAWLER]

I appreciate it! I figure the full aluminum axle setup (I'll find out if those C hubs need shaving for more steering angle), spray tinted windows, and a custom license plate, #6/11 would be in the books.

If you purchase and install the Redcat aluminum axle housings, play close attention to the area that the differential locker bearings seat. One of the two housings I had were not made properly and I did not notice it till after months of running and toasted the original bearings.

I had to dremel out the bearing seat a little, or it would pinch and egg shape the bearing slightly, which caused a weird bind that was hard to diagnose.


With with only the bearings on the locker, set into the axle housing, make sure it spins freely. Mine would get tight, then spring toward whichever direction you were trying to rotate it. Originally, I thought it was just the magnets in the motor causing the bind and release, but there was a lot of it that was caused by the mis-manufactured axle housing.

It works great now, but something to watch out for "thumbsup"

 

[Goro Majima]

Thanks for the heads up, AK. I hope I don't end up with that issue but it wouldn't be something new to take care of.

 

[Goro Majima]

I had all the aluminum pieces ordered besides the C hubs, and when I finally received those they ended up being two of the same sides. I was bummed, but ordered up another set along with a brief message to them to make sure of the packaging. Still did the aluminum swap over of the rest of the axles. Everything seemed to go smoothly besides using shims in the front input shaft. I'll clearance the C hubs when I receive those for the tighter steering.

Other things to do:
- Might modify rear bumper mount area so it isn't visible.
- Mirrors via Knight Customs on the way.
- Scalerfab rock sliders are lost in USPS somewhere.

 

[Goro Majima]

Wasn't satisfied with the HH BRXL ESC's initial throttle start, so swapped it out for a SW4 that's actually from my LC80/FJ80 TRX4 (which got my spare HW 1080). The TRX4 has interior now and at roughly 8.4lbs, it was a little too much for the Sidewinder. This is a bit lighter and the SW4 suits it much better and has the lower speed control needed.

Got the 2nd set of C hubs in and installed, all is good. As you can see in the first photo, the aluminum C hubs don't have the front shock mount hole which I need to utilize. So simply drilled in said area and added 4mm spacers to get somewhat near the stock C hub front shock mount.

Also my panhard setup went back on fine with the addition of a 2mm washer on the stock panhard mount.

One thing I forgot to do is modify the C hubs & portals for more steering angle. In due time.

RC Nerds mirrors installed:

Still on the list:
- Modify rear bumper mount area.
- Swap steering link to one that protrudes less.
- Eventually receive my Scalerfab rock sliders (hopefully they're dealing with USPS, was unable to do anything on my end). I think those would pop on this build.
- Record some footage.

 

[AK KRAWLER]

Looking sweet and awesome mods man! She’s a beast!!!

 

[B-MOW71]

Good looking 4Runner!"thumbsup"

Not sure how I missed this build thread, but I'm here now to see how it ends up!

 

[Goro Majima]

Looking sweet and awesome mods man! She’s a beast!!!

Good looking 4Runner!"thumbsup"

Not sure how I missed this build thread, but I'm here now to see how it ends up!

wow
beast for shure. nice

Thanks gents. No running video yet but it's most likely gonna be involved in my next video.

So the Scalerfab rock sliders fell through, no big deal. But I feel like these BP Custom 2pc universal ones match this build better (as opposed to the tube style). They didn't take much work to fit them how I wanted. I wanted to utilize the stock plastic floor still so I cut the ends off of the inner BP parts and that allowed them to be mounted as well as the stock plastic unharmed.

For further security I bolted the new slider piece and stock plastic together with 4 nuts and screws. To put the actual slider pieces where I needed them, I used 8mm nylon spacers to lower them down enough where the body rests on the body posts.

Also swapped in some King 100mm shocks with the faux piggybacks. I feel like I had to add to the bling even though the stock shocks are decent. These are some noisy shocks as far as spring tension goes that's for sure. Almost forgot I finally swapped in a lesser protruding drag link via Hardcore RC.

And here's the rear bumper mount mod I ended up going with. Gave it a beveled edge to sit sorta flush with lexan bumper. Good enough for me lol.

If there's anything else for me to add to this build, it'll be it's own custom license plate and perhaps a whip antenna.

 

[Goro Majima]

Running footage:

https://youtu.be/4Ic9Cp_G8cQ

 

[Speedy-Triple]

nice runner .... I like the color and stance. I have a body in which I kept the lexan bumper just like you did and ran one of these

https://iercscaler.com/ols/products/ierc-class1-rear-bumper
or similar
https://www.teamgaragehack.com/collections/chassis/products/tgh-modular-bumper

its adjustable which adds the bar right at the bottom of the lexan bumper almost seamless to help protect the body and also it will not snag it on the rocks (act as a slider) since its secured to the frame.

 

[high plains drifter]

Running footage:

https://youtu.be/4Ic9Cp_G8cQ

NGL some of that was hard to watch.. especially with the sound on lol. But what great dedication to finding out what she can handle right outta the gate. I only cringed a few times simply b/c that body is just so clean ( was? lol). Really fantastic job on everything start to finish. You do some absolutely immaculate and precision work. Congrats on completing this one ( servo not withstanding lol).

 

[Goro Majima]

nice runner .... I like the color and stance. I have a body in which I kept the lexan bumper just like you did and ran one of these

https://iercscaler.com/ols/products/ierc-class1-rear-bumper
or similar
https://www.teamgaragehack.com/collections/chassis/products/tgh-modular-bumper

its adjustable which adds the bar right at the bottom of the lexan bumper almost seamless to help protect the body and also it will not snag it on the rocks (act as a slider) since its secured to the frame.

Both of those are pretty nice.

NGL some of that was hard to watch.. especially with the sound on lol. But what great dedication to finding out what she can handle right outta the gate. I only cringed a few times simply b/c that body is just so clean ( was? lol). Really fantastic job on everything start to finish. You do some absolutely immaculate and precision work. Congrats on completing this one ( servo not withstanding lol).

You keep it real man, that's what I'm about so it's all good! My content is definitely not the best and this rig isn't suited for this new obstacle at all, but I try to keep the content as raw as possible also. But it was fun trying to make it do work.

And yeah, really a bummer I rolled it. But the body didn't get scratched too bad actually! I can smooth them out for sure because I too love how this one turned out. And the wheels are unharmed (I really try to avoid curb rash and body scrapes on climbs or descents like in the real world). I'll do up another video once I get brass, modded steering angle and stronger servo.