Trail Honcho, For Trailing

[lonleycreeper]

I just picked up my new Trail Honcho from the Lhs yesterday. Shout Out to The Treasure Chest, in Missoula Mt.

My goal for this rig is to run it stock, with just cheap mods or changes to things that break, or I cannot stand. Budget for this truck is $50 a month, or less. or $12.50 a week.

I will be running 3s Venom Lipos in the 30c 2200 mah flavor, they fit snugly in the battery tray laying down, and come with xt60 to deans connecters. Yay! $26

After unboxing the truck last night, I noticed no leaking shocks, the tires feel suprisingly soft and the bumper is very low compared to the body. I was happy to see a parts tree in my box, extra links, rod ends, light buckets, lenses, a fuel can, and a few other extras. Yes it has dogbones and plastic links, but I have been running dogbones on my rigs since my original kit. And plastic slides better than aluminum.

Got to leave for work...

 

[Heisenberg804]

Hey bud you should check out these guys videos. They are doing Honcho build off spending $50 a week in Upgrades. Only in Week 1 but could give you some ideas

Good Luck

https://youtu.be/adDqCrWWUno

https://youtu.be/sJz5EchFswc

 

[StomperCrawler]

I'll be interested to see a) how much steering the dogbones put up with, and b) how much climbing angle the plastic links can handle before turning into spaghetti (in warmer environments).

 

[lonleycreeper]

I'll be interested to see a) how much steering the dogbones put up with, and b) how much climbing angle the plastic links can handle before turning into spaghetti (in warmer environments).

It gets pretty warm here in summer, hitting triple digits for at least a couple weeks usually. I am a little more concerned about the cold, plastic gets pretty brittle. I will be running the rig Sunday, so we will see about that. I am planning on more snow and ice than rocks. This weekend is suposed to be right around freezing for the highs, so pretty warm for the weekend.

Hey bud you should check out these guys videos. They are doing Honcho build off spending $50 a week in Upgrades. Only in Week 1 but could give you some ideas

Good Luck

https://youtu.be/adDqCrWWUno

https://youtu.be/sJz5EchFswc

Hey thanks for posting those. I subscribe to both their channels. I find though that they tend to buy stuff rather than saving money by building... Eg, Harley's Deadbolt build from a couple years ago... Bought incision links, when you can spend half as much (or less) building them.
Now I have nothing against buying stuff for your crawlers, just want to show that you don't have to throw hundreds of dollars at your rig to make it capable.

I was at a point in my life when I could not afford to buy a $26 dollar battery on a single paycheck.

(Yoda voice)So low budget build this will be. hmmm...

 

[lonleycreeper]

Tally for January...


$329.99 Trail Honcho Rtr.
$26.99 Venom 30c 2200 mah 3s lipo.
$32.66 Venom ac\dc NiMh\Lipo charger

$389.64 initial purchase cost.


Rtr weight is 4 lbs 11 oz.

 

[roadrashracing]

I had mine out today and love it, I plan on keeping it stock still something breaks, only thing I changed is rims and tires. I also changed battery plug to a real deans due to issues.

 

[lonleycreeper]

What issues? Just curious.

Your run looked like mine, covered in snow...

I just ran in the yard today, my friend had other plans.


Photo dump!

Steering angle.

 

[wcdfmt510]

I also just picked up my honcho last week. Running it on a gens ace 5000 50c 2s.. have a f350 crew cab body im working on for this chassis.just curious to see how the stock size tires look. Working on a drop bed to. Theres a pic of it on the stock yeti 2.2 tires and a pic sitting next to my yeti

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[lonleycreeper]

Next to my Twin Hammers.

I did the free mod, Harley mentioned in his video... I swapped the rear shock towers side to side, and springs front to rear.

The truck feels much softer than stock. In stock form the truck felt to stiff imo.

 

[colbynobo]

What issues? Just curious.

If it's anything like the SCX10 ii that I have, I would bet the clone Deans connector on his truck periodically gives out resulting in a complete loss of power. I would have to unplug it and then plug it back in to restore connection. Mine always wanted to do this whenever it was most inconvenient (top of the hill, middle of the mud-bog, deep in the underbrush). A genuine Deans connector also resolved my issue.

 

[lonleycreeper]

Next to my heavy weight, brushless, custom built, F150.

I have to rebuild the front bumper on my F150 ... again...

 

[TAT76]

Oh heck Yeah! Glad to see you picked up the new honcho. Loved the OG back in the day. We'll have to meet up and compare rtr's.

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[lonleycreeper]

Oh heck Yeah! Glad to see you picked up the new honcho. Loved the OG back in the day. We'll have to meet up and compare rtr's.

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This summer I am planning on climbing St Marys peak with scalers... Consider this your invite. Before then, I am avalibl after 12pm on Sundays, or any holiday that falls on Monday.

I did a little winter excursion today.

Circumnavigated Kelly Island.

A little over two hours on one 2200 mah pack.


Prepare for a load of pictures...

A strange monolith...

A giant tree,

Flexin

Disappearing tracks.

Warm weather made for treacherous conditions.

Hanging the nose off a cliff.

Hillclimb!

 

[roadrashracing]

I was having issues with the stock battery connector fitting an adaptor I bought to run traxxas connectors.

 

[lonleycreeper]

I was having issues with the stock battery connector fitting an adaptor I bought to run traxxas connectors.

Oh wow, I will keep an eye on that. I have never had an issue with Venom's adapters, and I tend to leave the adapter on the truck, and unplug the battery from there. We will see, and I will report from there.


I have been holding on to some Hpi T.T. rear fenders for what 7-8 years now, lol, just for this body. They took a little customizing, but fit like they were made for the honcho.
Also mounted up my old school 8 holes, and proline tsl's

 

[Jerseycrewmax]

How does it compare size wise to the previous honcho?


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[lonleycreeper]

How does it compare size wise to the previous honcho?


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They are identical in size. The differences I see...

New. Old.
Rims, Methods vs Walker Evans.

Tires, 4.75 Falken vs 4.3 Ripsaw.

Axles, ax10 vs Ar44.

Body Paint yellow vs silver. Note, the body holes do not line up, old vs new

Cage Spare tire mount vs none.

Chassis servo on axle vs cms.

Links plastic vs much better plastic.

Esc Ae2 vs Ae5


I am sure there are more...

 

[vipers28]

Mine won't fit/work either. So now going to buy a new battery.

I was having issues with the stock battery connector fitting an adaptor I bought to run traxxas connectors.

 

[PounceTheBear]

Mine won't fit/work either. So now going to buy a new battery.

I had that same issue. I took an Xacto knife and shaved a very small amount of the openings and gave it a little extra umphf and it went on. Now the trick will be to get it off

-Tyler

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[lonleycreeper]

Good to know, so sounds like any overall improvement


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Yeah a definite improvement all around.

Mine won't fit/work either. So now going to buy a new battery.

Why buy a new battery? You can just change the connector on the esc to match your battery. $3-$4 instead of $25- a whole bunch of money.


I spent a little time in the shop today.

Made a bracket to lift the front bumper.

Bumper is even with or slightly higher than the lowest part of the body.

And I made a winch plate, and mounted an old rc4wd Bulldog. Need to get a controller for it.