Great thread idea. Like others, I never started a thread for my TRX4's so this is nice to be able to post pics of mods and actually talk about them... unlike in the TRX4 picture thread where discussions are understandably discouraged.
Anyway... Haven't done anything today but over the last couple weeks I've done a few more upgrades to my Defender TRX4:
Knight Customs 3Dp windshield wipers and lower-front exo-cage tube. Was a lotta work just to get things "right". Tube needed a lot of sand/ paint/ sand/ paint before I was even remotely happy with it. Used Krylon Fusion satin black after the final sanding and although it still has some texture to it, it looks a lot better now and doesn't stick out like a sore thumb. Wipers obviously don't come with any hardware so you have to find screws small enough to work. I actually had to bend one of the wipers to get it to lay flat against the windshield and lemme say... these things are REALLY thin and flimsy so if you do this mod, just be careful not to break 'em. Final result was I guess worth the effort... Defender looking much more scale with them in place. If I was to do this again I think that I would simply move the original Traxxas tube down lower rather than add the bent Knight Customs tube.
Next up was some Injora cheapie bead-locks. I actually intended for these to go onto my Bronco but had a change of plans. Anyway.. no issues with these wheels and they were only about $50 including some Swamper knock-offs. OD of the tires are small at approx 110mm but I'll use them on something else. The bead-locks really look killer imo... nice machining, great finish, and no issues with mounting some Flat Iron 1.9's. One thing maybe worth noting is that you can't use scale hardware because the wheel face is angled/ not flat... meaning that you can't get a typical nut-driver or wrench in there... Only a standard hex tip will work to secure the bolts.
Added a little "splash" to the rear end by way of license-plate with home-fabbed bracket, cheap-o China alum D-rings, and a third "brake light". I used reflective tape for the brake light which is cool cause it looks like it's actually on when the sun hits it at certain angles. The D-rings look good imo compared to some of the others out there that use a pin that is WAY out of scale. Really happy with these mods.
Next was a Yeah Racing rear chassis brace and front servo mount. Happy with them although the front mount/ brace uses a couple small nuts to secure the servo ears on one side and they are a B!^@H to access! Still though.. much more rigid and nicer looking than the stock plastic parts. One reason that I did this mod was because I also upgraded to a HH SHV500v2 and wanted to make sure that with the xtra torque, things wouldn't get all twisty lol.
I also installed a pair of Yeah Racing diff covers front and rear. Only $11 each and they look much nicer than the Traxxas offerings. Fit and finish are A+... Highly recommend! I also went ahead and painted the fill holes silver just for the heck of it. Sorry for all the dust lol. They look much nicer than what it looks like in the pic.
Onto the front/ rear SSD drive-shafts. They're certainly a good deal heavier than the Traxxas plastic shafts so if you're looking to shave weight, don't get these lol. They seem to be well made... definitely heavy-duty and no issues so far although I think they take a little time to "break in" and get smoother. I went ahead and used a liberal amount of graphite powder to lubricate the telescoping parts as I didn't want them to attract contaminates like grease would have. I picked up a pack of xtra M4 drive-shaft pins just in case one of the pins backs out on the trail but I also used a good deal of thread-lock to assure that doesn't happen. Really happy with these although not something I would consider necessary for a lot of TRX4 owners.
Lastly for this phase was a Hot Racing stainless off-set steering rod. Pretty cheap and although smaller diameter than the Traxxas rod, these seem very strong ( as well as the ends). Tolerance is tighter too so... less slop than OEM. Even with end-points adjusted, I would still slightly rub the diff covers ( the OEM covers fwiw) during full lock drive side. With this new steering-rod there is no contact at all and no binding either. Highly recommend if wanting to get your steering rod away from your diff covers.
