New Baja Rey owner

[Achilles Fender]

Hi there!

Looking for suggestions and/or opinions. I just received a Losi Baja Rey in a trade and I really like the look and idea of the Rock Rey better. I am trying to decide if I want to keep it a Baja Rey or transform it into a Rock Rey.

From my research here and from looking at the instruction manuals for both vehicles it looks like I could just drop the full Rock Rey Cage on the Baja Rey and keep the front arms and shock tower setup (correct me if I'm wrong.)

The only upgrades currently installed on the truck are Losi aluminum trailing arms, Vanquish (or similar) rear upper links, the Metal Concepts RC upper and lower front arms and the common Ebay carbon fiber body panel set.

From reading here it seems like the base chassis upgrades required are an SSD third member and the SSD front bulkhead no matter the configuration.

Below is the minimum list of parts to swap out the cage without swapping the front shock tower/arms/driveshaft setup to a Rock Rey that I came up with after pouring over both manuals for comparison. For some reason the Rock Rey drive shafts are ridiculously expensive and the Baja Rey's front arms and drive shafts seem more durable (correct me if I'm wrong here too.)


Roll cage sides: LOS230027 $13.99
Roll cage roof & Front: LOS230028 $13.99
Rear Tower & Mud Guards: LOS230029 $13.99
Front Bumper & Skid Plate: LOS231021 $11.99

 

[willyg1981]

The motors are different , it has been done though check out the Facebook losi Rock and baja Rey page ,
The design of the front driveshafts on the RR are more technical,
The articulation of the front shocks on a RR is greater than that of the BR ,
Make sure the traxxas screw mod has been done if mounting 2.2’s
Actually regardless of mounting 2.2’s or not , it’s a must to prevent diff failure which will cost about $60 over the 3 diffs to fix
It’s a definitely an enjoyable rig , have fun


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[Achilles Fender]

Make sure the traxxas screw mod has been done if mounting 2.2’s

What is this mod? I searched and can't seem to find information on it. Is is just replacing all the diff screws with Traxxas screws of the same size and type?

Looks like the shock tower, upper and lower A arms are different too.

Yep, I noticed that too. Just from my research it looks like the Rock Rey cage would easily replace the Baja Rey cage by just swapping out the front bumper and skid plate since the rest of the cage mount points seem to be the same. It looks like I could keep the rest of the Baja Rey front end using the Rock Rey cage, but I could be wrong.

 

[willyg1981]

What is this mod? I searched and can't seem to find information on it. Is is just replacing all the diff screws with Traxxas screws of the same size and type?









Yep, I noticed that too. Just from my research it looks like the Rock Rey cage would easily replace the Baja Rey cage by just swapping out the front bumper and skid plate since the rest of the cage mount points seem to be the same. It looks like I could keep the rest of the Baja Rey front end using the Rock Rey cage, but I could be wrong.

The screw mod is 2.5 x 10mm (traxxas 2523 )
Much thicker and stronger the stock screws are more like a wood screw , the traxxas screw has an engineering thread
Don’t use anything smaller ,... they will snap !!
Ask the guy you traded it from it might of been done already !


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[TheLetterJ]

Truth! I recently took out ANOTHER front diff cup that had m2x8 (or m2x10?) grade 12.9 screws shear off. If I can find a m2.5 tap locally, I'm going to try to salvage both of these HR aluminum diff cups, otherwise it looks like Exotek now offers a purpose built Baja/Rock Rey aluminum diff cup with larger screws.

 

[willyg1981]

I had the alloy cups but didn’t retapp for the larger screw and used the protek 1.5x8mm din12:9’s and they all snapped
The cups that those replaced where the standard losi plastic cups which hadn’t broken but at the time I was convinced that the alloy where the better cup so out they came in damaged and replaced with the HR cups with the “fancy”protek screws ,
They all failed eventually,
I replaced them again with the plastic ones I had removed but this time replaced with traxxas 2523 screws ,... since then all that breaks are the hub screw pins which I will happily replace out on the trails easily and always have spares of them purposely lol
Good show from exo-tek releasing the beefed up cups though , as I have noticed when removing the spider gears that the inner walls do get chewed up from the “half lapped spider gear axles “( sorry don’t know the correct terminology lol)
What would be the correct term for that part of the diff ? Anyone know ?


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[Achilles Fender]

Thanks for the information guys. After much research and thought I decided it would be best to just leave the Baja Rey as a desert racer as it was designed to be.

I did forget to mention this also has an RPM front bumper/skid plate installed and a Gear Head rear light bar both which are nice also. No electronic upgrades and I still need to figure out what diffs are in installed and their current condition. They seem to be fully functional at the moment so there's that at least.

I still need to buy the SSD front bulkhead, the SSD third member, and some Traxxas screws in the near future. Hard for me to decide what to spend money on since I'm also saving for a Bomber kit at the moment.

 

[CM9000]

do you plan on running 2s or 3s lipo?

 

[Achilles Fender]

At the moment all I own is 3s. The original owner ran it several times on 3s and surprisingly nothing self-destructed based on all the reports here :lmao:

I'm RC poor for the the next 2 - 4 weeks but I could probably scrounge up enough to buy the SSD bulkhead and the SSD third member if those seem like the best first upgrades for durability.

Edit: Forgot to mention I already ordered the Traxxas 2.5mm X 10mm screws to replace all the diff cup screws.

 

[CM9000]

At the moment all I own is 3s. The original owner ran it several times on 3s and surprisingly nothing self-destructed based on all the reports here :lmao:

I'm RC poor for the the next 2 - 4 weeks but I could probably scrounge up enough to buy the SSD bulkhead and the SSD third member if those seem like the best first upgrades for durability.

Edit: Forgot to mention I already ordered the Traxxas 2.5mm X 10mm screws to replace all the diff cup screws.

I would start with 2s and shimming the pinion gears. then if you want faster, go for the ssd stuff. the truck is plenty fast on 2s, turn off the avc and have tons of fun. other parts will last longer as well. "thumbsup"

ive had 2 Baja reys. raced one for 2-3 seasons with no issues after shimming. the only real issue I had was the slop in the stock steering rack. the losi aluminum steering rack and servo mount fixed all my steering slop issues.

I wish I had kept my Baja rey fleet (besides the super). they were really the most fun to run out of my whole collection racing or not.

 

[Achilles Fender]

I ordered the SSD third member prior to seeing the last post. I'm going to order the SSD Front bulkhead and replace some of the bearings with BOCA or AVID bearings once I get more money at the end of the month and then do a tear down and re-build the truck this Fall/Winter.

It still has the stock servo, servo arm, and steering setup which I plan on using until it dies or until I get tired of loose steering. Everything else seems solid so I will just drive it until something else breaks or wears out. More than likely that will be the tires and/or wheels next.

Thanks for all the advice and information "thumbsup"

 

[Achilles Fender]

I had a credit at my LHS so I ordered the SSD front bulkhead and picked up some 5mmx13mmx4mm bearings for the SSD third member and the front bulkhead when they arrive.

Now all I want is some rear fenders and some new wheels and tires and I will call this vehicle "done" for a few months (or weeks) or until something breaks whichever comes first :lmao:

 

[Achilles Fender]

The current plan is to make this a performance truck with some scale elements added in with the emphasis on the reliability side of things.

I picked up two pairs of the Proline 2745-03 ProTrac F-11 2.2"/3.0" Red/Black Bead-Loc Wheels at the LHS last night. Still need to order some BFGoodrich All-Terrain T/A KO2 M2 (Medium) Tires at the end of the month when I have more money.

I've got the following parts on order and I will post some pictures once I get something together worth posting pictures of.

SSD Front bulkhead
SSD third member
Top and Rear cage parts (old top cage body mounts were shaved off for a CF body)
Rear Fenders (old ones went missing from previous owner)
RC4WD Baja Rey Spare tire knock off

Eventually plan to replace the servo mount with the aluminum version and the servo with a better one when it (if it) dies.

Has anyone seen problems with the stock plastic front or rear shock mounts on this vehicle or are they mostly for show?

I only want to replace parts that might break or or broken.

 

[TheLetterJ]

My stock shock mounts are still doing their job, almost 2 years later. Rear upper links and an RPM front bumper should go on your list if you don't already have 'em.