Picked this one up last year and have been having a lot of fun with it ever since. It's on it's 4th body now which is either a testament to Traxxas durability or to my heavy trigger-finger.
Anyway... Started out with the classic Bigfoot body but I just didn't have the heart to damage such an iconic beauty so I modified some rear body mounts and instead mounted up a Toyota FJ body from my old T-Maxx. That was fine for a while but I felt that the handling was a bit sketchy as opposed to my buddy's Stampede with Bigfoot body. I decided at that point to go back to stock rear body mounts and find a pickup-style body. So with reamer in hand I went ahead and bored some new holes in another old T-Maxx body that I had laying around... a Ford F250. But after building a couple of ramps, the Ford body began getting thrashed pretty badly.
That brings me to the current body... another Proline Ford SD, but with a twist! Back when I had a full-size 2004 Toyota Tacoma and was heavy into the nitro scene, I wanted a T-Maxx body that looked like my beloved Taco. Although not very accurate, I did what I could to match it to my full-size Toyota and with some little modifications and details, it actually matched the full-size Taco adequately. That body was another appropriate donor for my Stampede since I no longer run my T-Maxx ( and sadly no longer have the full size Tacoma). So that's where it's at now... a Bigfoot Stampede with a Ford-turned-Toyota shell originally on a T-Maxx lol! Anyway... enough about the body... onto the other mods and upgrades!
Traxxas- hardened steel differential output yokes & u-joints
Traxxas- bearing conversion kit
Traxxas- chrome suspension pins 44m
Traxxas- front camber links 39mm
Traxxas- front toe-links 59mm
Traxxas- rear turnbuckles 96mm
Traxxas- front caster-block king pins
STRC- front & rear aluminum shock caps
STRC- aluminum front caster blocks
STRC- aluminum rear hub-carriers
RRP- aluminum upper & lower spring retainers front/ rear
RC Trix- stiff ( 20%?) rear springs
RC Screwz- stainless hex-head screw conversion kit
Exceed RC- aluminum rear wheel hex's
Custom front body mount- I utilized an old T-Maxx rear body-post mount, flipped upside-down and modified to use as front body mounting posts. Also fabricated an elliptical-shaped "brace" that fits snugly between the bumper and chassis ( not visible)... providing more rigidity and strength to the front bumper and body-post mount.
Custom rear double body mount- Jumping high and landing hard was causing the rear of my flimsy nitro cut-out bodies to twist and subsequently rip. So I scavenged some old HPI and Associated body-mounting parts and came up with this rear double mounting-post setup. The truck now utilizes six posts instead of four ( 2 front/ 4 rear) and is noticeably more rigid... holding the body onto the chassis much more securely.
Custom front shock brace- Because I no longer needed the stock front body mount piece, I decided to clean things up by removing it. It was pretty flimsy anyway so I decided to cut up an old Associated graphite-composite shock-tower in order for the front shocks to mount to a more rigid brace . The light-weight and minimalist design ties the shocks together for a much stiffer mount than the original.
Custom rear shock/ body-mount brace- The Stampede rear shock tower is also quite flexible so in order to strengthen and minimize flex, I fabricated a 1/4" thick aluminum bar that ties into the existing shock tower. Definitely a noticeable improvement, minimal weight, and along with the double rear body mounts... shocks and body feel much more secure.
So anyway... Thanks for checking out my Stampede/ Bigfoot project. It's been a lot of fun and I'm not sure if it's over yet but I'll post any additional mods/ upgrades/ breakage here. So far I've only managed to kill one spur gear and blow-out two rear shocks. I believe that the spur got chewed due to a hard hit that widened the gap just enough to chew it up. The weakness in the shocks I believe, were the stock plastic caps. Other than that, everything has held up quite well despite a seriously bashed-up Ford body, some missing body clips, and a couple long lost e-clips.
Comments/ questions always welcomed.
Anyway... Started out with the classic Bigfoot body but I just didn't have the heart to damage such an iconic beauty so I modified some rear body mounts and instead mounted up a Toyota FJ body from my old T-Maxx. That was fine for a while but I felt that the handling was a bit sketchy as opposed to my buddy's Stampede with Bigfoot body. I decided at that point to go back to stock rear body mounts and find a pickup-style body. So with reamer in hand I went ahead and bored some new holes in another old T-Maxx body that I had laying around... a Ford F250. But after building a couple of ramps, the Ford body began getting thrashed pretty badly.
That brings me to the current body... another Proline Ford SD, but with a twist! Back when I had a full-size 2004 Toyota Tacoma and was heavy into the nitro scene, I wanted a T-Maxx body that looked like my beloved Taco. Although not very accurate, I did what I could to match it to my full-size Toyota and with some little modifications and details, it actually matched the full-size Taco adequately. That body was another appropriate donor for my Stampede since I no longer run my T-Maxx ( and sadly no longer have the full size Tacoma). So that's where it's at now... a Bigfoot Stampede with a Ford-turned-Toyota shell originally on a T-Maxx lol! Anyway... enough about the body... onto the other mods and upgrades!
Traxxas- hardened steel differential output yokes & u-joints
Traxxas- bearing conversion kit
Traxxas- chrome suspension pins 44m
Traxxas- front camber links 39mm
Traxxas- front toe-links 59mm
Traxxas- rear turnbuckles 96mm
Traxxas- front caster-block king pins
STRC- front & rear aluminum shock caps
STRC- aluminum front caster blocks
STRC- aluminum rear hub-carriers
RRP- aluminum upper & lower spring retainers front/ rear
RC Trix- stiff ( 20%?) rear springs
RC Screwz- stainless hex-head screw conversion kit
Exceed RC- aluminum rear wheel hex's
Custom front body mount- I utilized an old T-Maxx rear body-post mount, flipped upside-down and modified to use as front body mounting posts. Also fabricated an elliptical-shaped "brace" that fits snugly between the bumper and chassis ( not visible)... providing more rigidity and strength to the front bumper and body-post mount.
Custom rear double body mount- Jumping high and landing hard was causing the rear of my flimsy nitro cut-out bodies to twist and subsequently rip. So I scavenged some old HPI and Associated body-mounting parts and came up with this rear double mounting-post setup. The truck now utilizes six posts instead of four ( 2 front/ 4 rear) and is noticeably more rigid... holding the body onto the chassis much more securely.
Custom front shock brace- Because I no longer needed the stock front body mount piece, I decided to clean things up by removing it. It was pretty flimsy anyway so I decided to cut up an old Associated graphite-composite shock-tower in order for the front shocks to mount to a more rigid brace . The light-weight and minimalist design ties the shocks together for a much stiffer mount than the original.
Custom rear shock/ body-mount brace- The Stampede rear shock tower is also quite flexible so in order to strengthen and minimize flex, I fabricated a 1/4" thick aluminum bar that ties into the existing shock tower. Definitely a noticeable improvement, minimal weight, and along with the double rear body mounts... shocks and body feel much more secure.
So anyway... Thanks for checking out my Stampede/ Bigfoot project. It's been a lot of fun and I'm not sure if it's over yet but I'll post any additional mods/ upgrades/ breakage here. So far I've only managed to kill one spur gear and blow-out two rear shocks. I believe that the spur got chewed due to a hard hit that widened the gap just enough to chew it up. The weakness in the shocks I believe, were the stock plastic caps. Other than that, everything has held up quite well despite a seriously bashed-up Ford body, some missing body clips, and a couple long lost e-clips.
Comments/ questions always welcomed.
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