It's hard to believe that I started this build back in November 2022 and have yet to get this out on the rocks. But...I can now officially say that this rig is complete. Yes I did say complete. No further additions or upgrades are planned. Well, I do still need to add a winch, but that can wait.
Enough money spent and too much time sitting idle. It is time to get this out on some real rocks and get'er fine tuned. So far short runs here and there on the basement carpet and manmade indoor obstacles have proven that this will be a great performer with little to no major changes needed.
The last of the touches to this build happened last night. I've been wanting to add a set of lights to this to compliment the front teardrop headlight housings. I added an Associated XP Head and Tail Light Kit. A simple kit with clear LED bulbs for the front and red LED's for the rear.
For the rear, I mounted the red lens on the back of the bed beside the tailgate. The stock position on this body for these taillights are supposed to be under the tailgate. I previously cut that section of the body out so that I could lower the body down onto the rear bumper.
I've thought about adding a roof rack to the top to help protect the body. I recently purchased a servo from NSDRC and while I was shopping I added one of their roof racks to my cart. I initially had planned on using this on new build, but after looking at the size, I figured it would look better on this rig. It is carbon fiber, is SORRCA legal and comes with a winch pulley attached to it.
The next change was replacing the wheels and tires. I was really digging the look of the previous combo, so a change was needed. After watching a recent Crawler Canyon tire review, I knew that I had to try out a set of these knock-off JConcepts Tusk. These clones are packaged by Globact and have the Mix Racing logo on the side of the tires. These are super soft and pliable and sticky. I inserted a set of silicone inserts similar to the new Injora inserts, but these are made wider to fit in wider tires.
The inserts I have pictured are the firmer blue inserts. I used the dark green softer inserts in these tires. I wrapped these tires around a cheap set of wide titanium colored Amazon wheels. It's hard to tell in the pics, but the titanium color matches nicely with the color of the body.
The plan now is to get this out on the rocks ASAP. That is as soon as the weather gets better. Winter has made a full return this week here in Ohio, so I'm shooting for the following weekend to give her a drive.
