Trail Honcho or Cherokee

[PounceTheBear]

Hey gang! Happy new year!

Just bought a Ryft. Should be here tomorrow. Well, it's being shipped FedEx, so it'll likely be here whenever they say it'll be here.

Anyways, I have a few extra clams to toss into a second car. I like the idea of the Capra, but with the Ryft, I feel those are likely too similar. I know, they're different, but I'm looking for more of a trail truck than an actual crawler/racer what-have-ya.

Is there really an difference between the Honcho and Cherokee? I have a good spot in the woods near a creek basin where I could do some good running around in the woods and some steep banks. No rocks really. I'm not too concerned about breaking any stock parts, cause as soon as they do, that's upgrade time, and an easy search for who's running what aftermarket wise.

Which would y'all say get, or does it really only come down to which I think looks better with these two?

 

[twade984]

Cherokee pros:

Universal front axles
Steel links
Ax10 style transmission
Multi piece axle housings (?)

Cons:

Big body. Looks good, but it’s big.
Multi piece axle housings (?)
Links still need replacing before long because axial 10.2 rod ends are junk

Honcho pros:

Higher clearance body/cool tube bed style
Light kit stock I believe
Cheaper
One piece axle housings

Honcho cons:

Dog bone axles
Plastic links
Grey case trans


I’ve had two cherokees and a deadbolt (very similar to honcho), I’d get the Cherokee personally since it leaves more options for upgrades on the trans, links, axle housings, and is a little more scale imo.

Personally I’d strongly consider spending the extra money on an scx10.3 kit ($399) and some budget electronics (hw 1080 $40, Holmes Crawlmaster sport $15-$20, ds3235 servo $25, and flysky gt5 $58 if you look hard enough)

The 10.3 is much better built than the 10.2, body has way more detail, and once built doesn’t really need much for upgrades.

Either way, hope you enjoy whatever you get!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[PounceTheBear]

Cherokee pros:

Universal front axles
Steel links
Ax10 style transmission
Multi piece axle housings (?)

Cons:

Big body. Looks good, but it’s big.
Multi piece axle housings (?)
Links still need replacing before long because axial 10.2 rod ends are junk

Honcho pros:

Higher clearance body/cool tube bed style
Light kit stock I believe
Cheaper
One piece axle housings

Honcho cons:

Dog bone axles
Plastic links
Grey case trans


I’ve had two cherokees and a deadbolt (very similar to honcho), I’d get the Cherokee personally since it leaves more options for upgrades on the trans, links, axle housings, and is a little more scale imo.

Personally I’d strongly consider spending the extra money on an scx10.3 kit ($399) and some budget electronics (hw 1080 $40, Holmes Crawlmaster sport $15-$20, ds3235 servo $25, and flysky gt5 $58 if you look hard enough)

The 10.3 is much better built than the 10.2, body has way more detail, and once built doesn’t really need much for upgrades.

Either way, hope you enjoy whatever you get!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yeah, I like the idea of a kit much better. Thing is, I have 0 spare or extra anythings. No extra radio, esc, motors. I could try to get the same esc as my current radio to bind it to two different trucks? Not sure if mine does that though? Need to check. Buying the kit 10.2 puts me close to the 10.3 rtr. Could hold off for a few more pay cycles and get a nicer quality kit I guess?

The 10.3 does look much better. Wish they had something different than wrangler/gladiator for Jeep. I would lean toward the bronco though.

With the portal axles, I've never had anything with those. I get the extra ground clearance, but do they pose any extra maintenance with more moving parts?

 

[twade984]

I admit I’m a little biased against the 10.2’s in general, they just need lots of upgrades to compare to most of the current kits/rtr’s available in my opinion.

But, some people prefer the lower cost of entry, and slowly upgrading over time.

As far as the 10.3 portals go, I’ll also admit they aren’t my favorite thing, but reliability wise, they are fairly proven. If portals aren’t your thing, you can easily sell them for enough to cover the cost of the straight axle conversion.

I’m not really trying to sell you on one thing over another, only trying to present a few things I learned the hard way. I’ll lay out one more thing, and then shut up and let other people chime in.

The 10.2 is better suited as a universal base to build from and utilize a multitude of after market option parts to suit your tastes, mild to wild.

The 10.3 is more of a complete vehicle out of the box, inner fenders, universal axle shafts, detailed body, heavy duty links and rod ends, metal gears in the trans, better shocks, and imo acceptable electronics for trailing and light crawling.

The 10.3 bronco rtr is $230 more than the honcho rtr and $210 more than the Cherokee. I can promise you, within a short period of time you will want to upgrade the 10.2’s with:

-Universal axles $35 from SSD (if honcho)
-Links $55-$65 for SSD, vanquish or hardcore
-Steering servo $25 for basic “budget” servo, comparable to the rtr 10.3.
-shocks $45 for Trx4 take offs
-trans gears $32 incision
-Axle gears $70 for x2 SSD ring, pinion and lockers.

Total $260 on the low end.

If you drive real easy and keep the stock, or comparable brushed motor and Esc, you can probably get decent life out of the trans and axle gears, but I’ve definitely seen people shred them.

But that’s kind of just my view on it, and there’s no wrong choice. I just have an idea of what I expect out of my rigs, and how I like to get there. I didn’t enjoy spending over $600 on my deadbolt and upgrades, and still basically just having a deadbolt with cheap electronics, wheels and tires.

 

[PounceTheBear]

I admit I’m a little biased against the 10.2’s in general, they just need lots of upgrades to compare to most of the current kits/rtr’s available in my opinion.

But, some people prefer the lower cost of entry, and slowly upgrading over time.

As far as the 10.3 portals go, I’ll also admit they aren’t my favorite thing, but reliability wise, they are fairly proven. If portals aren’t your thing, you can easily sell them for enough to cover the cost of the straight axle conversion.

I’m not really trying to sell you on one thing over another, only trying to present a few things I learned the hard way. I’ll lay out one more thing, and then shut up and let other people chime in.

The 10.2 is better suited as a universal base to build from and utilize a multitude of after market option parts to suit your tastes, mild to wild.

The 10.3 is more of a complete vehicle out of the box, inner fenders, universal axle shafts, detailed body, heavy duty links and rod ends, metal gears in the trans, better shocks, and imo acceptable electronics for trailing and light crawling.

The 10.3 bronco rtr is $230 more than the honcho rtr and $210 more than the Cherokee. I can promise you, within a short period of time you will want to upgrade the 10.2’s with:

-Universal axles $35 from SSD (if honcho)
-Links $55-$65 for SSD, vanquish or hardcore
-Steering servo $25 for basic “budget” servo, comparable to the rtr 10.3.
-shocks $45 for Trx4 take offs
-trans gears $32 incision
-Axle gears $70 for x2 SSD ring, pinion and lockers.

Total $260 on the low end.

If you drive real easy and keep the stock, or comparable brushed motor and Esc, you can probably get decent life out of the trans and axle gears, but I’ve definitely seen people shred them.

But that’s kind of just my view on it, and there’s no wrong choice. I just have an idea of what I expect out of my rigs, and how I like to get there. I didn’t enjoy spending over $600 on my deadbolt and upgrades, and still basically just having a deadbolt with cheap electronics, wheels and tires.

Funny enough... I think I am going to go with the 10.3. I never considered them before because they are ALL jeeps or the bronco. There needs to be a bit more variety from Axial than a Jeep or a Unimog..

I did some digging around and found a fun body I thought I like..for now that is. https://www.jconcepts.net/shop/jci-creep-crawler-body I think it will fit.

I also found a solid axel conversion kit - https://www.amainhobbies.com/axial-scx10-iii-standard-straight-axle-conversion-kit-axi238000/p-qqqetzuqhc2zqctz

I do like the kit. I can choose my electronics - everything I have is spektrum. batteries, charger, radio (is that called the transmitter?) Is this good, or is it over kill? https://www.horizonhobby.com/product/firma-60a-brushless-smart-esc-2100kv-sensored-motor-crawler-combo/SPMXSEMC08.html

Also found a few decent servos to get me started until it drops off a 4' cliff and breaks something important.

 

[smog]

Good choice on the 10.3

The 10.2 is indeed a money pit

Though I have never built a 10.3, all indications are that the quality has improved there

Also like your body choice, the creep is light and low down

"thumbsup"

 

[Bertman82]

I have a Honcho and it's probably my favorite truck, but I agree it's basically a RTR kit. In addition to what's mentioned above that will need to be upgraded, the radio that it comes with is known for being literally worse than garbage. That's an impressive but pathetic feat.

The good part of the Honcho(Cherokee as well) is they work out of the box. Yes, the Honcho's links are plastic, but if you don't bash it into walls or rocks at full speed repeatedly, they'll be fine. You will get more turning angle with universal shafts, but again, the dog bones will work fine.

I like my Honcho because the cost of entry was cheap, and the upgrades were cheap. I could drive it until something broke, fix it for ~$25 and keep going(ex. you can buy a Tactic TTX300 radio for $25 used on eBay without a receiver, bind it with the included receiver for a cheap upgrade). That process has repeated and I've enjoyed every minute of it.

 

[Tim1987]

the only thing about the 3 is the stupid dig servo that burns up.

I should have gotten the jl not the jt.