Australia / English
22 December 2023
Traxxas TRX-4
- by ScaleMonkey
We also got carried away and built a Ford F-150 based on the TRX-4. Now, some might say you can just buy that… True, but we wanted something different. The Ford F-150 from Traxxas is a so-called High-Trail model with a long wheelbase of 336mm. That’s all well and good, but honestly, this model doesn’t have much to do with reality. Therefore, our approach was to create a truck that is as realistic as possible but brutal, featuring all the refinements of the TRX-4 chassis.
What does that mean?
The suspension needs to be lower without losing travel. The same goes for the wheels; they are too big, so away they go. The motor – let’s not even talk about that – we need a new one. Finally, the axles; the originals are too light, so we installed an aluminium/brass combination from Vitavon here.
Let's get to the details
The F-150 body is really top-notch. We painted it in Candy Red and Black and equipped it with the original Traxxas light kit. Nothing more needs to be done here; with the clipless system, everything is fine and ready for the first run.
For the ladder frame, as mentioned, we opted for a conversion using Vitavon parts. These are manufactured to a very high quality from high-strength 7075 aluminium and supplemented with brass weights on the portal axles. To lower the suspension, we modified the original shock absorbers of the High-Trail version (110mm) using the piston rods from the standard TRX-4 version. These now measure 100mm. The longer housings also result in a larger oil volume, which has a very positive effect on the damping. The springs used were also those from the standard TRX-4 variant, so that the suspension and vehicle height can be adjusted well.
The TRX-4 axles are suspended by several links, which required a bit of brainwork. Traxxas includes an additional extension for the rear axle on the long-travel version. For whatever reason, that part is completely redundant, so away with it. We built completely new stainless steel wishbones for our Ford, thereby also saving ourselves the aforementioned extender. The rear axle mounted this way has a much more dynamic spring movement and now serves the purpose of a trailing axle much better than before.
As the drive for our F-150, we chose the Hobbywing HW38020386 AXE Plus R3 540L 2100kV R2 combination. This allows for very sensitive control in first gear and has plenty of speed in second gear. And as for the power… more than enough!
To neatly stow all the new tech, we built a carbon fibre battery board, which also offers space for the Hobbywing ESC. This immediately creates a tidy look amidst the usual TRX-4 cable mess. Speaking of tech, we run all our models with Sanwa remote controls. These unfortunately only have 4 channels, but that’s enough for a TRX-4. As a solution, we used Reefs servos for the differential lock and the shifting. These are freely programmable. This allows you to connect the differential lock servos via a Y-cable and adjust the direction of rotation and travel separately.
As our vehicle slowly takes shape and the end is in sight, we went looking for the right wheels. We found what we were looking for at RC4WD. We opted for the Classic 10-Hole Chrome 1.9″ Beadlock Wheels. Here, the small holes in the rim bed were drilled out and additionally fitted with the 1.6mm hex bolts from RC4WD. It’s a bit of fun, but we like it. For the tyres, we chose the Goodyear Wrangler MT/R 1.9″ 4.7″ Scale Tyres from RC4WD. These aren’t that big, but they still look pretty mean.
All in all, we spent two months letting off steam here and, we believe, built a sharp-looking car. If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to leave them for us… We would be delighted.
Thank you for reading.
Feel free to leave us a comment if you want to share your opinion.
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