Traxxas Telluride Trailrunner

[bjoehandley]

New project time, Traxxas Telluride TrailRunner, aka Blasphemy!

Here's a couple pics, and the build will start on Sunday



Has a decent amount of flex straight out of the box too!

[bjoehandley]

The modz, they have begun!

Starting with a mild body drop



Then I swapped the never once used Titan 12t for a Trinity Monster Maxx 21t (wish these were still available, they make a great scaler motor!)


Then it was time to lay things out for a little fender trimming and bumper removal.


All the hacking is now done!


Now the last thing I've gotten done and photographed so far has been the getting the body destickered and ready for some bedliner..........which is currently drying.


I still have to change the diff oil to 500k, get the other pair of Proline ProTrac beadlocks to mount the Me Trenchers to, then give me a couple more paychecks, and I'll buy and install the brushed Stampede 4x4 diffs to gear the truck down. Might even get a little Model Master Flat Black Lacquer to lay down on the hood bulge.

[CBD55]

So your not going for a scale look but more durability right? Looks like a nice truck BTW

[bjoehandley]

Oh no, I am going for a scale look, I'm just getting things started. The body drop helps hide the chassis some more, the rims I'm waiting on will pull the tires in closer to the chassis and puts more of the tires under the flares, trimming the front bumper off gets rid of that silly vestigal bumper on the body and makes more room for the Stampede 4x4 light kit (which will eventually go on it), then the bedliner will help reinforce the body, give it some density, and then give it more of a trail rig look.

[bjoehandley]

The bedliner is dry!


Decided to drop the body a bit more and move the upper end of the shocks to the outside holes.


Here's how it looked after the above



And one final flex shot for the night

[SilveradoTX]

I like the looks of this.

It's definitely off to a good start.

[Supamegaman]

You did a great job! Is the bed liner kind of heavy?

[bjoehandley]

Thanks guys!

Yes, the bedliner does add weight to it, but it does add a nice sense of density and as well as opacity to bodies that you wouldn't get with normal paints, and it does wear nicely when drug across the rocks too

[sean1214]

Lookin really good! Keep up the good work

[bjoehandley]

Lookin really good! Keep up the good work

Thanks, the other pair of beadlocks should be in tomorrow and will likely be installed by Wed. night if all goes well. Still have to get the brushed Pede 4x4 diffs and at least change the oil in the stock ones besides that.

[sean1214]

Thanks, the other pair of beadlocks should be in tomorrow and will likely be installed by Wed. night if all goes well. Still have to get the brushed Pede 4x4 diffs and at least change the oil in the stock ones besides that.

If your tearing into the diffs I'd suggest to put heavier fluid in there.

[bjoehandley]

If your tearing into the diffs I'd suggest to put heavier fluid in there.

Oh yes, I will be putting 500k in both the OEM and the Pede diffs (might even put some in the back of my E-Revo too), then if push comes to shove, I'll stick some silly putty on them too. If you run across some decent quality spools or lockers for this plattorm, let me know, from the videos I've watched, a couple of those could make a world of difference in the Telluride.

[sean1214]

Here you go.

http://www.hot-racing.com/index.cgi?...=SSLF125;c=603

[bjoehandley]

Thanks Sean, I may have to look into a couple of those.

[bjoehandley]

Finally got the last pair of beadlocks in and assembled then mounted everything straight out of the bags!

First thing Dad noticed when he saw it was the lack of width, so I showed him this pic, where the beadlocks are mounted on the left side and the OEMs are still on the left.




Then did a couple flex shots, lost a a bit with the shallow offset, and the reinforcement webbing catches on the front of the caster block too, nothing serious at least though.



Then when I got home after work, I colored in the lugnuts with the silver Sharpie I used on the Bug Body for my Fiesta


Plus a couple more table top glamor shots




Oh, and I also used some of the flat black lacquer from the Bug body to black out/anti-glare the hood bulge too


Now what's left to.do?

I still have to get the Brushed Pede 4x4 diffs (far better gear ratio over stock, would be even if this was a 1/1 rig!) and will be building whole new assemblies with the 500k oil in them, not sure what's going to come of the OEM assemblies after the parts are swapped just yet since I don't have any of the other 4x4 trucks in my fleet. I also have a couple pairs of HPI's soft SCT foams on order too, should work much better at crawling than the standard Proline SCT foams do. Another plus of running those beadlocks is that with the way they're designed, I should be able to weight them with lead and still not have them be noticeable until you break the wheel and tire back down!

[bjoehandley]

Bombed around some of the parking lot after work tonight, crawling up and over the curbs and zipping through the mulch. Did surprisingly well, considering that the stock diffs still have the 100k oil in them. I also found that the front rims binding on the front side of the caster blocks when at full lock can be used to my advantage! Turns out that if the airborn tire is turned to the point of that binding, it acts like the newer traction control and 4wd systems that use the vehicle's ABS system to lock the gripless tire, putting the power to the tire still on the ground!

Well, here's the pic I took in the mulch.

[rag6]

Thats pretty cool with the bedliner. Whats the difference in ratio between the stock and pede diffs???

[bjoehandley]

I can't remember the specifics at the moment, but I think the R&P is around 2.73:1 vs 3.93:1 and the final drive with is 19 something vs 27 something, with that difference being around 7.40:1 shorter for the Brushed 4xPede diffs. Just got those built and installed today with 500k oil and the spider gear pin brace for the E-Maxx/-Revo for a little added reinforcement. I'll post up the diff pics later.

Haven't driven it outside of the kitchen yet, but it does have more punch than it did before with the standard gears and that Monster Maxx 550 21t. I was able to score a 17t Trinity Speed Gem with a P94 endbell that I hope to swap onto the Monster Maxx. Kinda wish Trinity would sell that motor again with with the P94 endbell, I have a normal one in my SCX10 on 9.6v and it works darn good in that and probably will in this Telluride too.

[bjoehandley]

Ok, here's the pics, first two are the front then rear diffs, standard 4x4 on the left and Brushed 4xPede on the right



And here's what I had been talking about so far as the spider gear pin brace



Ok, now for the actual ratios
The Spur and Pinion gears are 83/12 for a ratio of 6.917:1
Normal 4x4 diff gears are 37/13 for a ratio of 2.846:1 and the "final drive" will be 19.69:1
Brushed 4xPede diff gears are 47/12 for a ratio of 3.917:1 and the "final drive" will be 27.09:1

[noir 522]

The 87:12 vs the 47:12 gear ratios , are those numbers from the spur and pinion from the motor or the actual gears accompanying the diffs?

Great build by the way, normally I would frown on using a spool (easily broken under high power/traction situations (emaxx/ revo). But in a lighter vehicle they should work well.

Just a small suggestion, if your gonna push the envelope wiyh unique innovation then I would suggest a gnarly new body. Jeep, Bronco, tube frame with panels etc

[bjoehandley]

Thanks Noir, the 19.69:1 and 27.09:1 final drive comes from multiplying the ring and pinion numbers against the 6.917:1 pinion and spur ratio. When it comes to spools, I have twisted apart a Revo spool in my brushed E-Revo (look up Rock E-Revo for carnage pics ), but the ones in my SCX10 (that started life as an AX10 Scorpion), Wheely King (home brew Crawler conversion), and Losi cralwers have all heald up well (well, other than the plastic one in my Mini Crawler, anyway) and have had axles break on the Comp Crawler before the current V3 shafts came out! Wouldn't mind trying a spool in this truck, but after seeing what happened to my E-Revo, I just don't think I can trust the aluminum portion of them.

Body wise, why I'm not running any of the Jeep, Bronco, and Rover bodies that Proline and HPI offer is that they wouldn't be any more scale since those are solid axle trucks, now if a lexan 4 wheel independent Rover or Jeep body were to be released, I would be all over it. Kinda pulling to see a lexan KL Cherokee Trailhawk body to come out for this chassis, it would go well with the XJ Cherokee body on my SCX10

[bjoehandley]

Ok, mini update, I've since added RPM front camber links, which "work" but will probably replace them Traxxas 3644 camber links or the Lundsford Ti equivalents so I can use them on all 4 corners. Also bought a pack or the 3644's to use as tie rods, they're too short, but can be made to work, although those might be replaced with Lundsfords too. I also added the Stampede light kit to it too.

Now in tinkering with it, I joticed that more steering travel is available if I use the inner mounting holes on the steering knuckle, a lot more. I've had to dial in some toe-out to keep the tires from rubbing on the shocks (which I though was the u-joints binding), but it should be interesting to see how it does on the rocks.....once I get a chance to put it on them that it........

Here's a couple pics to show the angle and the new lights



And here another flex pic, just for the heck of it

[rag6]

So I guess the gear pitch is different between the 2 diffs. Looks like the pinions are different sizes even though they are the same tooth count. I was wondering how trx was gonna address gearing challenges with the brushed pede 4x4... now I know 8)

think that these diffs will hold up to heavy power?

[bjoehandley]

Not sure, the teeth are closer in size to what the Nitro Rustler/Sport/Pede trans gears, only in sintered metal, so I imagine that they should hold up well to stupid levels of power.

[bjoehandley]

I installed an E-Flite EFC-721 HD Camera on my Telluride tonight, haven't had the chance to try it out as my lap top is "in the shop" right now.

I went the simple route, two long button heads run through holes drilled just above the windshield, backed by a couple washers, then using some unused fuel line to make spacers and retainers and some Parma gel servo tape instead of anti-jelly mounts or bolting it solid to the body.





And here's how it looks otherwise.






Now so long as somebody paranoid doesn't freak out over it being "A DRONE!!!!!!!" when I finally get it out on some rocks, I'll be good!

[mwe-maxxowner]

Hey that looks familiar! I like this truck .

[bjoehandley]

It should, I've been participating in your RCC thread too!




And thanks.

[mwe-maxxowner]

Yeah I know . Driven it much yet?

[bjoehandley]

More curb crawling the past couple nights, but that's it. Funny thing though, one of it's biggest oroblems is getting over tall round edged curbs, but I have that same issue with the Green XJ bodied SCX10 too.

[mwe-maxxowner]

I guess that's where a shorter wheelbase hurts.

I don't think I saw it mentioned. What are you geared with the 21T? And what voltage do you run? Set up as such, does the 21T seem sufficient? I've been reading I may need more like a 35T.

[bjoehandley]

I'm running the stock pinion, spur, and 3000mAh/8.4v battery that the truck came with, but those brushed 4x4 Pede diffs make for a significant gear reduction, it's almost like comparing 4.11's in a TJ Wrangler Rubicon with a 4.0l/5 speed to the 3.05's in a non Rubicon 4.0l/5 speed TJ!

[mwe-maxxowner]

Wow. If that motor is sufficient on 8.4 nimh, I should easily be set on 3s at most with the titan. I was considering the 23turn marine titan.

[bjoehandley]

I'm eventilually going to put this Telluride, the Green XJ SCX10, and a Blue XJ Wheely King on 3s, the 21t's in the SCX and Telly should be ok.....not sure about the 55t Integy in the WK though...........

Also got the chance to shoot the WK, Telly, and SCX10 together on my XJ!

[mwe-maxxowner]

I ran a single titan 21t in a revo crawler with an emaxx tranny on 4s. I know it isn't the same motor, but I would think they'd handle 3s just fine.

The 55t would be a beast if it held together .

[bjoehandley]

The 55t might be alright, now the trans and diffs on the otherhand.................

Oh, finally hit some rocks today!



I'll post more later

[bjoehandley]

Here's the other two pics



The truck definately could use a spool though!

[mwe-maxxowner]

So, is it worth buying one to set up for crawling and a little trailing? Does it seem to have enough crawlability? There may also be times I wanna toss a velineon in and blast through some river beds . Maybe spool the rear and putty the front?
I Have wondered about filling a diff half with 500k and half putty. Or putty it but don't clean the oil off the gears. I think then it might be a tad looser.

[bjoehandley]

I'm going to try silly putty first, then maybe another set of diffs with JB Weld, otherwise, I'm thinking mixing MIP Stampede 4x4 CVD's, E-Revo MIP diff outputs, and Traxxas Revo Spools...........which will cost half of of what I paid new for the truck

[mwe-maxxowner]

You have me excited! Now to run across that 100-150$ roller ?!

I have a sidewinder esc that might be perfect for this. It sits in a box otherwise. I'm too hard on it with my brushless builds .

I plan to try stock shafts since it won't be a high speed brushless powerhouse. If stockers break I may try stock revo shafts. Some of the slash guys use them with success. I'd just in weld right off the bat if I wasn't concerned about turning radius. It isn't even wide open flat ground turning that concerns me, just slow speed precision on the rocks turning.

[mwe-maxxowner]

What is the theory behind setting up shocks for a truck like this? I'm guessing really light oil, and the softest (linear) springs that will hold the truck up. I've set up go fast and jump off roaders, but never anything like this.