Wrangler Rubicon 2 door

[Boiler]

I've been wanting a new body for my 2nd Sport and I knew I wanted something with less overhang on the rear. A Jeep seemed like it would fit the bill, but I really like the look of the 2dr Wrangler over the Unlimited.

The issue was the 2dr is spec'd for a 300mm wheelbase. Traxxas says the TRX is adjustable for that wheelbase, but doesn't sell a kit and doesn't explain how to do it. Turns out if you replace the rear links with four of the front links you'll get pretty close. So that's what I did.

I also ended up trimming 40mm off the end of the rear frame rails to better fit the body. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out considering this is only the 2nd body that I've painted. I used Tamyia PS-61 Metallic Orange backed with silver.

Up front is a PL Ridge-Line bumper and the rear is the stock Sport with the hitch receiver trimmed off. I had to trim the rock sliders as well as raise them 18mm in order to fit the body. I used standard inner fenders trimmed to fit the body.

 

[Boiler]

Approach angle is now about 73 degrees and the departure angle is around 65 degrees. I could do better on the rear with either a different bumper or trimming the body slightly to pull the bumper in a bit more. Still alot better than with the stock Sport body even after flipping the bumper mounts.

 

[Inspector86]

I like that a lot! Let us know how it performs with the short wheel base.

 

[Boiler]

Just playing in the basement. Boards are set to 50 degrees.

 

[OSRC]

Love the color scheme! Body looks good on there, though it seems to be pretty high.

 

[Boiler]

The body is a little high. I was more concerned about tire clearance than aesthetics. My Bronco rubs a bit more than I like so I wanted to avoid that. I mounted it high enough to not get any rub on the fenders from the stock tires without trimming the fenders beyond the mold marks. I'm sure I could get it lower by using shorter tires and trimming the body to clear the frame rails out back (it's nearly touching now).

 

[sm77]

Great job Boiler , I have 2 of these bodies and wanted to do the same on a TRX 4 chassis kit I have , could you detail the mods you made to shorten it with some pics as well and could you post a pic of your Jeep side on on a flat surface please , any help greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Slaven

 

[Boiler]

Great job Boiler , I have 2 of these bodies and wanted to do the same on a TRX 4 chassis kit I have , could you detail the mods you made to shorten it with some pics as well and could you post a pic of your Jeep side on on a flat surface please , any help greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Slaven

Sure thing, I'll grab some more pics tomorrow. It was fairly simple, but did require a bunch of trimming. Most of it was simply bolt on.

On a side note... despite the body appearing to sit high it really doesn't. I checked it next to my Bronco and it sits about the same height. I think it appears higher because the body doesn't extend as low.

Went on a short run today. Nothing too technical. I'm pretty happy with the short body and the angles. The rear doesn't scrape like the Sport or Bronco and the approach angle is greater than it can actually climb. With my current weight distribution it can't handle more than a 50 degree incline without the front tires lifting. I am running a a 4500mAh 3S (311 grams) in the stock battery tray. With a either a lighter battery or a front mounted battery I'm sure it would do better. Also I tried using a Bowhouse LCG tray, but the shortened links hit before the shocks bottom out.

 

[Topher Builds]

Nice jerp! Always wondered what one of these on a shortened trx4 would look like. I’m a fan.

 

[Boiler]

Hopefully these photos will give you some idea of what I did to make this body fit.

Just a side view. Body is just about even with the floor pans.




Height comparison with my Bronco. The Jeep body isn't seated quite all the way down in this pic, I didn't notice it when I took the photo.




The body came with molded in dimples for the front posts. I used these to locate the front posts because I thought it would look odd to place them somewhere else.




I cut down a Sport rear body post mount and fitted it to the front to get the necessary offset to line up with the existing body holes. It looks kinda odd but it works. There may be prettier ways to do this, but I wanted to work with the parts I had on hand.



This is a standard Bronco rear mount.



I trimmed 40mm off the end of the frame and drilled new holes for the bumper mount. I set the bumper in the mount midway when mocking this up to allow for some later adjustment, if necessary. I then placed the bumper so that nearly touched the body to determine how much to trim off the frame.



This shows the trimmed slider. I took off a little more than needed I think. I probably could have fit these a little tighter to the fender flares.



This gives you an idea of where I trimmed. The rear of the floor pan will have to be trimmed to clear the tires. The front is good to go. The sliders I trimmed from about the middle of the part that screws to the floor pan.




Gives a little idea of the rear floor pan trimming. Probably should have radius-ed that corner, but it clears the tire fine.



Just shows the relation of the sliders, body and floor pan.



These are the standoffs I used to raise the sliders. The are hollow plastic for 3mm screws and are 18mm long. They were part of a kit I got off Amazon. The standoffs have an outside diameter of 7mm which is a little too big to fit into the recess on the sliders. I ground some flats on them to make them a snug fit. There doesn't seem to be any movement.



This is the kit I ordered. To use these you'll also need longer screws.



You'll have to swap out all four of the rear links. I used four of the front links to do this. The Defender uses 121mm links to get a 324mm wheelbase. The others use a 109mm link to get a 312mm wheelbase. The front links are 100mm. To get an exactly 300mm wheelbase you'd need 97mm links, but I didn't feel like 3mm would make that big of a difference. You could probably find some shorter rod end ends to get it exact, but again I was working with what I had on hand. I also shorted the driveshaft before discovering you could just swap it out for a front and get the same result.



You'll also notice that I have inner fenders. These are the standard Bronco fenders trimmed to fit (more or less). I had an extra set, so that's what I used.

As I said before, I set the body for max articulation with no rubbing using the stock tires and using the existing body lines. I'm sure you can get the body lower, but I doubt you can get it low enough to not have to raise the sliders.

Anyhow, hopefully that'll help if anyone's considering something similar. Let me know if you have any questions or comments.

Boiler Up!

 

[sm77]

Cheers thanks mate great photos and instructions , I need to sort some front links first , appreciate your efforts with the photos "thumbsup"

 

[Browneye]

Like "thumbsup"