Just Couldn't Resists! 3.0

[Xraycer]

The TRX4 platform is a proven winner, but the Defender's tall and heavy body, kills much in the way of crawling performance. The solution is to add plenty of weight, way down low. But, how much?
I ordered 2 sets of porter axle brass covers off Amazon. A very heavy set for the front, and a significantly lighter set for the rear.

 

[Xraycer]

The TRX4 platform is a proven winner, but the Defender's tall and heavy body, kills much in the way of crawling performance. The solution is to add plenty of weight, way down low. But, how much?
I ordered 2 sets of porter axle brass covers off Amazon. A very heavy set for the front, and a significantly lighter set for the rear.

Will it be enough?

Heck yeah!

The difference is night and day! The Defender is now nearly as good a crawler as the Axial Wrangler. I was clearing structures and lines I couldn't before. I am so ecstatic by the improvements. I don't see a reason to add any more brass parts for weights.

 

[Doom!]

I think your on the right track. Too much weight, and you might have to gear down to reduce motor strain. But I think your good.

 

[Xraycer]

I think your on the right track. Too much weight, and you might have to gear down to reduce motor strain. But I think your good.

I spent a couple of hours, with the Defender, at Peabody Town Forest this evening, and it performed like a totally different rig!

 

[Xraycer]

I think your on the right track. Too much weight, and you might have to gear down to reduce motor strain. But I think your good.

Too much weight could also be detrimental to performance was well. The Axial Jeep is very light, and it is a crawling beast! It definitely is a balance point you would need to experiment inorder to find that "sweet spot".

 

[Kimmie28]

I have a defender as well. Just couldn't bear to tear the body up. Traxxas has come a long way when you want a scale body. I ended up with a hard raptor body for it. Then the wife claimed it as it was "her" raptor lol. My defender body sits on my txt-1 now and is a total shelf queen

 

[Xraycer]

I have a defender as well. Just couldn't bear to tear the body up. Traxxas has come a long way when you want a scale body. I ended up with a hard raptor body for it. Then the wife claimed it as it was "her" raptor lol. My defender body sits on my txt-1 now and is a total shelf queenView attachment 128685

I love the pick-up style for my bashers, but for my crawlers I prefer the boxy suv bodies.

 

[Greywolf74]

I have a defender as well. Just couldn't bear to tear the body up. Traxxas has come a long way when you want a scale body. I ended up with a hard raptor body for it. Then the wife claimed it as it was "her" raptor lol. My defender body sits on my txt-1 now and is a total shelf queenView attachment 128685

I love the tires on this!

 

[Xraycer]

Habanero has been down for several days now. The less than 3wk old stock esc went up in smoke.....literally! The Traxxas rep basically says that Traxxas electronics needs to be run only with Traxxas batteries because all the other lipos out there are inferior and will cause issues. My other dozen rc vehicles, including a Slash, disagrees. So, no warranty replacement!
Got a Hobbywing coming today, so hopefully everything goes in smoothly and runs again.

 

[Doom!]

@Xraycer They've got tow the corporate line, don't they. Glad you've got it under control. Habanero needs to get out and play for the holiday weekend!

 

[Xraycer]

@Xraycer They've got tow the corporate line, don't they. Glad you've got it under control. Habanero needs to get out and play for the holiday weekend!

If Traxxas thinks they are going to convince me to pay a premium for more of their products, by how this was handle....they are delusional. You don't win loyal customers this way.

 

[Doom!]

If Traxxas thinks they are going to convince me to pay a premium for more of their products, by how this was handle....they are delusional. You don't win loyal customers this way.

That's one thing I can say, When I contacted Element (Associated) about a missing part, they took care of it promptly and professionally.

A lot of folks give Horizon good marks for customer service, but I got the "so what do you want us to do about it" kind of attitude when I contacted them about a dead servo right out of the box, for one of my aircraft. I think it has to do with who helps you sometimes. I am always polite when I contact people, so it irks me when they treat you this way.

 

[Xraycer]

That's one thing I can say, When I contacted Element (Associated) about a missing part, they took care of it promptly and professionally.

A lot of folks give Horizon good marks for customer service, but I got the "so what do you want us to do about it" kind of attitude when I contacted them about a dead servo right out of the box, for one of my aircraft. I think it has to do with who helps you sometimes. I am always polite when I contact people, so it irks me when they treat you this way.

I agree, it makes all the difference in the world on who you get on the other end of the line!

 

[Xraycer]

The Hobbywing esc arrived this evening. Got it installed and everything send to be working great! It came with a programming device, so still need to figure out what all the different programming functions actually do. This esc is specially designed for crawlers

 

[Xraycer]

I still got more stuff coming for Habanero, but here are a couple of he things: lights and another spare tire cover.
The jack that came with the Defender is just a solid red and look so cheesy. So, I spruced it up a little with some markers. Also threw a little silver on those gas can caps.

 

[Doom!]

@Xraycer A little bit of detailing goes a long way!

 

[Xraycer]

A small arrived yesterday from China.
The top picture is the ugly stock snorkel. The bottom, is the nicely scanned new one.
It came with the world's tiniest screws (5) for attachment to the body. I opted to use E6000 adhesive instead.

 

[Doom!]

Looks great! Much better detail.

 

[Kimmie28]

I have a surpass hobby crawler 10.5 motor and esc in my trx-4 sport now. Been experimenting with different setups in it. I think I'm going to look at a different set of gears for the tyranny next. We shall see though

 

[Xraycer]

Shall.....we....play....a...game?

Who's old enough to remember this famous movie line?

The Defender bling from China had now been installed. I've decided, at least for now, that I did not want to drill a ton of tiny holes all over the Defender. So, I am going to test out the E6000 adhesive. This adhesive has proven very effective on the accessories on the Axial Wrangler. The gas can and jack, mounted on the rear bumper, has taken a bit of abuse and are still holding strong!

Anyways, let's play a game: can you identify all the newly added body accessories?
Top pic is the before, and bottom is the after.