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Thank you!
Installed a Bowhouse low center-of-gravity battery tray. Took a lot more work than expected to fit the Traxxas 3s battery. Had to disassemble just about everything in the rear to remove the frame brace so I can cut it to fit my battery. Also had to cut the truck bed and relocate the panel separating the bed from the cabin. Well worth the labor!
The battery now sits much lower than with the factory battery tray. I’m having high hopes for better stability for side-hilling.
The battery now sits much lower than with the factory battery tray. I’m having high hopes for better stability for side-hilling.
Installed an aluminum rear bumper with a hitch receiver. Had to cut the body to clear.
Nice stealth mod, I have the RC4WD one, I didn’t need to cut the body but it sits lower so probably not good for crawling.
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JCM5: When I ordered the GPM rear bumper, I didn’t know the hitch receiver was going to sit high under the body. I’m glad it did, because I tend to reach the limit of the departure angle when I go crawling.
I wanted to gain some clearance to prevent my tires from rubbing the fender flares of the body at full compression of the shocks. Instead of fitting aluminum shock towers to the factory inner fenders, I thought I would give a set of adjustable upper shock mounts a try first. Bought two sets of them off of Amazon. For the price, the quality of the machining is pretty damn good. However, they were about 1mm wider than the shock mounts. I did some filing on all six of the mounts and here’s the results:
No more rubbing with the wheels at full compression/articulation or at full lock with the front wheels. They BARELY clear the fender flares. PERFECT!
At the hills of Cannon Dr in Orange, CA:
I am quite satisfied with the results. My TRX-6 now sits about 7mm higher. However, no more rubbing the fender flares of the body when the wheels are fully compressed and front wheels at full lock. I believe with the Bowhouse low center of gravity battery tray installed, it kept the balance of the truck planted quite well. At no point in time during the hill climb or descend in some of the steeper areas did I feel like the truck was going to roll over. My TRX-6 was stable the entire trip. The extra ground clearance was perfect over the large rocks. I did not get stuck at any point. Success!
No more rubbing with the wheels at full compression/articulation or at full lock with the front wheels. They BARELY clear the fender flares. PERFECT!
At the hills of Cannon Dr in Orange, CA:
I am quite satisfied with the results. My TRX-6 now sits about 7mm higher. However, no more rubbing the fender flares of the body when the wheels are fully compressed and front wheels at full lock. I believe with the Bowhouse low center of gravity battery tray installed, it kept the balance of the truck planted quite well. At no point in time during the hill climb or descend in some of the steeper areas did I feel like the truck was going to roll over. My TRX-6 was stable the entire trip. The extra ground clearance was perfect over the large rocks. I did not get stuck at any point. Success!
Very nice pictures, does the shocks still works smoothly with the tilted angle like that? especially after running trough dusty trail runs.
Also you need to adjust your 2nd and 3rd axle upper links so the drive shaft will more straight to reduce vibrations and increase efficiency. Right now the 2nd axle is pointing down a bit at the back and 3rd axle is tilted slightly up . I had the same issue when I replaced my trx6 axles with aluminum one. It’s a simple adjustment by making the upper links shorter.
Also you need to adjust your 2nd and 3rd axle upper links so the drive shaft will more straight to reduce vibrations and increase efficiency. Right now the 2nd axle is pointing down a bit at the back and 3rd axle is tilted slightly up . I had the same issue when I replaced my trx6 axles with aluminum one. It’s a simple adjustment by making the upper links shorter.
You are absolutely right. Thank you for the tip! I will adjust them so the driveshaft is more in-line. "thumbsup"
The shocks are still very smooth. What I did notice is both of the shocks of the 3rd axle is leaking shock oil... I'll have to see what's going on with that. I wonder if it has to do with me mounting the shocks at an angle.
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Phildirt
RCC Addict
I wouldn't think shock angle would cause a leak, maybe check the caps and make sure they are tight. I have had to re-seat the o-ring on several shocks as well, seemed to help. But I've mounted them almost horizontal before without it causing a leak, at least not any more than Axial shocks already leak 
I wouldn't think shock angle would cause a leak, maybe check the caps and make sure they are tight. I have had to re-seat the o-ring on several shocks as well, seemed to help. But I've mounted them almost horizontal before without it causing a leak, at least not any more than Axial shocks already leak
Sounds good! When I have time, I'll take them apart and service them. Thanks for the advice! What weight shock oil do you guys use? I've heard from people using oil weight ranging from 20 to 30, but that's quite a broad range. The factory oil in my front shocks seems to be too stiff to my liking.
Phildirt
RCC Addict
I'm a caveman when it comes to shocks, I am running 30 in my truck but couldn't tell you the difference. I know some guys are really good at tuning/notice microscopic changes in behavior but it has to be fairly obvious for me to notice. I'm convinced that weather and mood affect tiny truck wheeling more than some of the tweaks people do :mrgreen: and I've noticed that a lot of guys change so much on their rig in a short time span that there's really no way to tell what was affected. If I ran a bone stock TRX4 for like 2 years and then you changed the front springs when I wasn't looking I would probably notice right away haha. But not if I changed shock angle, weight, springs, body mounts, tires within a month of owning it. Not enough of a bench mark for me to tell if if it was all that or the temperature of the rocks I was trying to climb :lmao
on't get me wrong I'm not a mod snob and I get that 90% of this hobby is 'hop ups' I just wonder how much they really affect, all things being equal on a light toy truck.Phildirt: Very true. "thumbsup" What I noticed when I last took my crawler out was that the front shocks hardly moved aside from climbing, while the rear shocks were articulating freely as they should. I thought maybe it's the dampening being too stiff since I don't have much preload of the front springs after adjusting the collars. If it's not that, then perhaps I just need lower rate springs for the front.
Phildirt
RCC Addict
I kind of knew, but learned a lot more about it in another thread the other day, that preload doesn't affect spring rate (doesn't make them stiffer). If you are seeing slower compression/rebound it very likely could be shock oil weight, or a combo of that and the springs. Sure others will chime in with some real advice lol. But shock oil is easy enough to swap out if you want to test the theory.
I’m going to try out 27.5 weight shock oil for the front. Also got a pair of titanium nitride shock shafts and high-flow pistons. Hopefully that will do the trick. I’ll post on here how that goes!
Jeff6x6
Pebble Pounder
Great build photos. I wish I would of followed mine every step. Try the shock mods that you use white Teflon tape. You don’t tighten the caps as much and frees up the shaft thru the O rings. I use 80wt for a smooth articulation. I spooled the front after I overdrived it. That free’d a position on the transmitter. I am using the Dual Sound E.S.S. The available channel gets the yellow wire. I now have the Dixie horn along with a good V-8 downloaded. I am running a 9T pinion with a 3S Lipo. I am using the dual stage foams with hard outer foams. Tallest one with two outer foams. I am running the Canyons modded and sipped for dirt/Limstone. Another set of Hyrax for smooth rocks. I don’t take mine out when social crawling as it does not play well with 4x4’s. Holmes Hobbies makes hand wound brushed motors that do everything better. I have his Torque Master Pro 550 21T with a 10 pinion on my other TRX-4. Crawlers slo-mo and faster than stock. I have his 27T waiting for the 6x6. Wanted to share what works for me. Nice build.
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Jeff6x6: That’s some amazing info. Thank you for sharing. I’m going to try that Teflon tape trick
Spooling the front axles seem like a great idea. I lock the fronts most of the time anyways. Would you mind if get in contact with you when I change out the motor and ESC? I may need some help with some tips on that. Again, thank you for chiming in!Jeff6x6
Pebble Pounder
Jeff6x6: That’s some amazing info. Thank you for sharing. I’m going to try that Teflon tape trick
Sure...I do not visit this site often as I do Facebook. I have 3 sites I am active with. Posts get responses within minutes. Some comments I have are months old here and no other posts added. The chart is not as clear as it could be. A 9T for the 45 Spur puts you at bottom A bolt and the other set of holes ...top right. This gives the bolt pattern vertical lined up. The Hoby Wing ESC has an open plug available but I spliced into the main plug and added a power splitter . I cut one end off and soldered on and electrical dipped. That gave me two power leads to hook accessories up. Some people have install issues with the 1080. I read the instructions and got it the second attempt. I YouTube any new install. It is great to know what to expect before you pick up a tool and dig in. I had parts that stayed in boxes for some time till I was comfortable enough to start the mods. Please keep posting your progress ;as a lot of readers learn and enjoy other build posts.
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Benp
Rock Crawler
Jeff,
Good to see you around!
I absolutely agree on checking out YouTube for install info. A lot of really good info out there.
I have a touch clearer screenshot of the pinion mesh chart.
Jeff6x6: That’s some amazing info. Thank you for sharing. I’m going to try that Teflon tape trick
A lot of the swapping out parts may seem daunting at first but as Jeff mentioned take your time and check out youtube.
Pretty much anything you can think of, you can get walked through on YT.
I’ve used it a lot. Especially for tuning ESCs.
Good luck and keep your progress coming. [emoji106]
It’s a fun and rewarding rabbit hole to go down.
Benp and Jeff6x6, the info is super helpful! Thank you!
Rebuilt my front shocks with ti-nitride shafts and new seals. When I disassembled the shocks, they were both low on oil. I tried filling the oil with just a new o-ring on the filler cap. When I fully compressed the shocks, I can see the oil slowly seep out. Took the caps off and tried the Teflon tape trick that Jeff6x6 mentioned. No leaks! I don’t feel much difference between the ti-nitride shafts and the stock stainless shafts. But they do look a lot cooler!
Rebuilt my front shocks with ti-nitride shafts and new seals. When I disassembled the shocks, they were both low on oil. I tried filling the oil with just a new o-ring on the filler cap. When I fully compressed the shocks, I can see the oil slowly seep out. Took the caps off and tried the Teflon tape trick that Jeff6x6 mentioned. No leaks!
I don’t feel much difference between the ti-nitride shafts and the stock stainless shafts. But they do look a lot cooler!
OSRC
I wanna be Dave
Usually indicated they are overfilled. A major cause of leaky shocks is simple overfilling. If you fill it to the top with the shock shaft all the way out, when the shock compresses the volume of the shock shaft displaces the oil and it has to go somewhere. Puts a ton of pressure on the seals and will eventually blow out/leak.
Fill the shock about 8/10 full and then slowly compress the shock shaft...when the shaft is fully compressed, the level of oil should just be at the top. Then screw on the cap. That eliminates any internal pressure (actually will create a slight vacuum in the shock body when extended)
Maybe you know all this, IDK but thought it might help. "thumbsup"
