OS's World of TRX thread

[OSRC]

Starting to come together! Masked the blue and shot the black plastic with some satin black. The plastic was really faded in spots - the paint really brings it back. I was torn between a new paint job or a beat up weathered look. Decided to go new, I'll let the trail beat it up.

Added some detail to the front as well as some cheapo light buckets. I trimmed the bumper up giving it a beveled edge at the sides and slimming the fenders a bit to match.

Added some "work lights" in the rear. I have red lights as well, they'll go in the rear bumper eventually.

All lit up!

 

[Phildirt]

The Tonka has my attention...makes me want to go flea marketing with a tape measure

 

[OSRC]

It's funny, I bought 2 for that exact reason and used neither since they were so heavy. I found this one in the backyard...forget where we got it. Kids used it to haul rocks around... since it was more plastic than metal, it was much easier to work with. It's still heavy, but not nearly as much as an all metal body.

 

[OSRC]

Got the body back on the chassis. Wheels and tires TBD, trying out a few different sets. I added some TRX4 stickers here and there to break up the blue for now. I'd like to find something more truck appropriate.

Front detail, I added a shackle and filled in the lights. I'll eventually black wash the grill in the body too.

A side pic of the slant back. Came out ok. I still need to figure out what to do with the back of the chassis. I need to add some weight out back somewhere too. I haven't measured it yet, but I'm sure the weight is very front biased. That Tonka body is heavy!

 

[Gramps]

Looking good!

 

[OSRC]

Picked up a set of R35 MT45 tires...Amain was blowing them out for $13/pair. Not a great crawler tire I reckon, but good enough for trail duty and look the part on the truck. Stuffed with CI foams, medium rear and heavyweight mediums up front. Started adding some scale goodies as well.

Brainstormed a bit and this is what I came up with for the rear bumper. Cut up a piece of delrin and fudged it to the stock rear bumper mount. I'll tidy up the wires later.

I have a small cargo cage coming for the rear where the aluminum plate is, should finish off the rear nicely. After that, it's test run time! Very curious to see how this truck goes down the trail.

 

[OSRC]

Done for now... rear cage showed up and fit perfectly between the rear shock towers and added some scale goodies to fill in the space. I removed some of the stickers too, some of them looked a bit tacky. Unfortunately, they took some paint off too. it's ok, all part of the process.

Pretty happy with how it came out - not bad for a spur of the moment build! Definitely won't look like the other TRX4's out in the wild...

If the rain pulls out of here, it's time for a quick test run! I have no idea how this rig is going to do....It's pretty front heavy, and I'm sure it's going to need some shock tuning.

 

[smog]

Very cool OS!

Over the years I have come across a couple of Tonka trucks repurposed for RC. I find them fascinating. The forward lean on that cab you have used has a great look. It’s a natural for a competition tow-truck

Thanks for the thread!

 

[durok]

This is so cool, lovin' the utter uniqueness of it all - it oughtta look completely bad-ass out on the trails!

 

[B-MOW71]

Great job OS!"thumbsup" Love all the little extra details that you have added to it! The more I look at it, the more details I see!

 

[OSRC]

Took the front motor, non-portaled Sport out for a test drive. Definitely different from your normal TRX4 run - it's so much lower, both in clearance and COG. Having said that, it did really well! Holmes Crawlmaster worked great with the somewhat tall gearing, and the 2 speed got a decent amount of use. As always, I drove with open diffs and only locked up whenever I needed to, which is still surprisingly not as often as you think. Using the steering to shift the weight on the contact patches while diffed out to find grip (and finding it) is so damn satisfying... I still think this is the best drivers trail truck on the market.

However, Fall is in full effect and the leaves were piled up pretty thick in spots. As much fun as I was having with the Sport, I was doing more plowing through leaves than driving. Maybe not the best time to run a lower truck. So after a while, I ran back to the truck and swapped out to the 6 which had no such issues. Stock electronics are doing fine, even the servo - I still think I got a ringer on it as it seems stronger than my others. Ran around the mountain, climbing up and over pretty much anything along the way. This truck is such a beast.

 

[o0wiz0o]

I agree...TRX has the best trail platform. As well as being great fun running with open diffs and trying to use skill/technique to overcome challenges the unlocked diffs mean it sails over rough trails where locked diffs tend to bob around in a drunken manner. Haha.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A6013 using Tapatalk

 

[OSRC]

Finally took the Tonka TRX out for a little test run... It did really well! It's a bit nose heavy, but not nearly as bad as I expected. The gearing is a bit on the low side, so it's a torque monster ilo a speed demon. Fits the truck though, and it's a pain to tear down so I'll leave it for now. The tires surprised me, they seemed to have a lot more grip than I was expecting. They look kinda narrow under the truck though, and some wider tired would look a bit better imo. All in all, it's very ready for a nice sedate trail run... Now I just need a trailer to pull behind it.

 

[OSRC]

Took the Tonka TRX out for the maiden run. Last minute gearing change up to a 15t pinion and a swap to some 1.9 Showdowns and we were off! Spent the morning crawling around a the edge of a dry lakebed and the Tonka did incredibly well. I thought for sure it would feel nose heavy/top heavy but it was a non-issue on the trail. I guess there's enough brass down there that it offset the body weight. In any case, it was planted and way more capable than I expected. Had no problem hanging with the better trucks in the pack and getting where I wanted to go. Got a lot of attention out on the trail too.

Showdowns did fantastic - I think they're staying long term. These rocks had grip for days too.

Walked up this huge rock. Only about 1/3 of the trucks got up there, so it was in good company.

Do plan to swap back to the TRX4 shocks, I think it had a bit too much suspension travel with the Icons and the current shock oil was way too light. Other than that, great and smooth power from the Crawlmaster and don't really have plans to change anything else.

 

[OSRC]

Another couple thousand MAH put through this truck and it continues to impress. Still bone stock running gear, I can't believe the stock steering servo is still going strong. Even has the stock plastic servo horn and somehow it's holding up. I wasn't easy on this truck, and it takes everything in stride. I do think it's time to start some upgrades, and the truck is ready for some maintenance. I had some serious squeaking going on in the driveline and pretty sure the icons have completely drained themselves of oil..(shocked!!) Due for a teardown and rebuild over the winter I guess.

 

[JCM5]

Fantastic idea on the the Tonka, looks awesome. Can’t wait to see it on Trx6 and perhaps with a crane in the back since there’s a lot of room in the back on Trx6

 

[OSRC]

Thanks! Won't be on the 6 though... I'd have to lose the diff locks and I really don't want to do that. I have a Bullhead body I might try and put on there eventually, idk.
-----------------------------

Speaking of the Tonka, I tried out a set of Proline Carbine wheels since I had six Grunts laying around unused from my Dynahead build...Could have sold them I guess, but hey, just doing my part to stimulate the economy!

Anyway I ordered 3 sets since I wan't quite sure how it all works. Turns out you can build a single or dual from each set, so I've got a spare pack. The wheels are pretty slick how they go together, just wish you could buy a single ilo paying extra for all the double stuff you won't need.

Thought it would look cool, but the wheels need such a wide offset hub (there are 2 included, narrow and wide) out back to clear the portals, it looks comically wide out back. Actually, it's not terrible, but with the overall stance of the truck it just looked silly.

Talk about grip.... holy moly!

So I took them back off and put the Showdowns back on. Expensive experiment! $90 for the tires and another $120 for the wheels. (Well, 3 sets of wheel since I can't read.) They'll get used somewhere hopefully.

 

[OSRC]

Tear down time for the 6.

Traxxas bearings are good quality, but they have a ton of drag... after experimenting with removing the seals on one of my other TRX's (and having great results) I was debating doing the same to the 6. I chew through a 4000mah pack in the same time my buddies go through a 2000mah pack... it's heavy, but not that heavy, so I figured the bearings were causing a lot of drag - especially with that second axle back there.

Before committing to a few hours of very tedious work I pulled the motor, and sure enough the spur turned very hard. I put my 3v test pack on the motor and it would barely turn the axles in high gear.

So, that means tearing down all the driveline components and removing the bearing seals. A very, very tedious and time consuming job...but, frankly, one of the best free mods you can made to the TRX platform. As I did before, I left the bearing seals intact on any outward facing parts and only removed the inner bearing seals.

Starting with the front axle...Tear it down, I give the bearings a good blast with degreaser spray, soak in some WD40 for a while, blow dry and lube with some bearing oil. It frees them up a ton. Also blast the gears to remove all the extra grease, clean out the housings and re-grease with a thin coat of red and tacky. All the driveline components looked great - no visible wear on any of the gears. Plenty of miles left!

and done... I added an aluminum diff cover up front since I had it in my stash, but otherwise just disassembled everything and reassembled as stock. You can feel a significant difference in just the axle alone.

Transmission too...lots of bearings in there as well.

After a long afternoon, these are all the seals I removed. Quite a pile!!

The difference in the driveline is absolute night and day. It now spins nice and free... Putting 3V to it easily spins second gear now, and everything is butter smooth. I have to imagine this will make a huge difference in efficiency, as well a noticeable bump in performance....well throttle response anyway.

Just waiting on a new servo to arrive, I finally decided to upgrade the electronics while I had it apart. Got a 1080 and a Crawlmaster 550 waiting to go. I have 2 more TRX's with the stock bearings ... might have to tear them down and remove some more seals. I got all winter, have to keep busy somehow.

 

[JCM5]

Interesting, I replaced all trx6 axles with aluminum ones and don’t recall having bearing seals in any of the axles. All the bearing has rubber seal like the one pictures in your transmission. Did Traxxas ditched them? I ordered my Trx6 through my local hobby shop back in Oct

 

[OSRC]

The black seals I took out are the rubber seals. I have the same bearings in all my TRX4s, I don't know that there were any running changes or anyting.