Sendero HD Titanium

[J’sCrawler]

I purchased a sendero HD because I had one of those “I gotta have it“ moments. I loved the ”titanium“, which looked silver to me but it turns out it’s almost a green! I love green so no big deal.
Anyway picture time!

Before the actual transaction I did my research on what I wanted to add to the fleet. It was between the gatekeeper, the sendero SE, a builders kit, or the HD. I love kits, it’s a fun way to enjoy the hobby. I love the U4 look of the gatekeeper, and would have built the kit. I loved the truggy look of the HD. After pricing stuff out I decided RTR, because I didn’t read very many bad things about element RTR’s. After all I just built a chassis based off scx10.2 components that is probably a $600 rig. I just couldn’t justify the builders kit price plus all the rest it takes to complete it. The builder kit is priced very well, it’s the rest that takes its toll. I was sold on the look of the HD, and well let’s face it, the body itself is Outrageously priced.
HD titanium for the win!

 

[Doom!]

Looks like your having fun. The bad thing is, I love my Sendero HD. Why is that a bad thing you ask? Because I want another one!

 

[J’sCrawler]

As a baseline, I did all the tricks I’ve seen on YouTube, or read on forums.

• As a cosmetic touch I painted the front grille black. It comes chrome and I prefered the way the red HD has the black grille.
• I cut some treads out of the tires to open them up and vented them.
• I swapped The front bumper mount to the rear, and rear to front, flipping the rear mount upside down to raise the bumper for better approach. I moved the bumper in a hole or 2 because it was sticking out too far. I have seen the evidence of it making a difference
• I took the sliders and mounted them on top of the mount, trimming that little knob off flat(see pic below) so the slider hangs up less
• I then raised the body enough to sit down on the bumper and into the channels of the rock sliders.
• I reinforced corners of the body with flex seal paste/glue or whatever it is, it’s just like shoe goo but white, or like a caulking/adhesive. I ran electrical tape down low along the body where it sits into the rock slider channels.
• I also swapped in the 12%(?) overdrive gears before I took it out for a real drive. I noticed it had a wobble at the spur gear, and I remember reading the aluminum outdrives solved that, so when I purchased the truck I purchased those as well. It’s true, they solve that issue, and I can imagine that could chew up a spur gear overtime so get those in everybody! They were not expensive and are easy peasy to put in.
• I changed my tx/rx to radiolink stuff. The rc4gs. It helps a minor amount with that crazy jolt you get when you hit reverse. It doesn’t cure it though.
• I took the scissors to the foams and cut them down to about 95mm OD. It allows the tires to squish a little more.

After my first good drive I can think of some to-do’s……

• Take apart the shocks, re-grease seals, and fill up with oil. I’m not sure what weight I want to run right now. I see they are seeping/leaking a very little bit.
• limiting straps up front. On steep climbs the front seems to unload and have that torque twist lifting that driver side wheel. I have had success with other platforms using limiting straps to help suck the body and frame down to the axle in this situation. It also helps to keep the front shocks from unloading, which pushes the chassis away from the obstacle which in this case, results in that backwards tip over.
• A new esc. The radiolink (or any good radio system) really helps with the twitchy characteristics of the sc480x but it’s not a fix for the real issue. I could get a program card for $20 but why, a 1080 is about $40, a fusion SE is like $80, which is the route I will most likely go some time down the road. I don’t see the point in investing into the stock electronics when that money can go into much better systems.
• The motor. Just a point worth mentioning, I have seen that once you replace the esc with something a little better, the motor then leaves something to be desired compared to some other brushed motors in the same “class”(?)…….I am not concerned with changing the motor at this point.
• Add some weight upfront and down low… maybe. Some brass link mounts or maybe a brass diff cover. I don’t want to go crazy with adding brass parts to this chassis. It’s really nice how light it is.
• The wheels perhaps, but I really like them. They go together easily, they look great, they just work. But….some aluminum Injora chanquish wheels in that gun metal color would look bad @$$ on this truck! Those go together easy too. Great wheels for the price and they offer hubs that offset the wheels in different dimensions. I could also line the stock wheels with some romex scrap to weigh them down.
• Trim the font fenders just a wee bit. The tires hardly ever touched them after raising the body, but a smidge could go.
• most importantly just drive it! Drive the crap out of it!
  
  
  
  
  

Looks like your having fun. The bad thing is, I love my Sendero HD. Why is that a bad thing you ask? Because I want another one!

Another sendero? Or another element? I would say get the builders kit and do something…. Unique? Did you see the oh what is it called but it’s on the ecto/gatekeeper type chassis….. the zuma? Like an FJ40 type thing. Of course right after I get my sendero.
In this pic notice my motor wires are reversed, this is how it came. I swap them back but reverse is faster, and way twitchy. This motor must be meant to run in reverse or something. You can see again how I have the sliders mounted up.
that big@$$ 3S battery last a lifetime, no concerning heat issues On stock 18/87 gears.

 

[Tunedfrog]

Great looking truck. If it were mine I would build it into a wrecker.

 

[J’sCrawler]

Great looking truck. If it were mine I would build it into a wrecker.

It’s too pretty to wreck…. Please elaborate!

 

[Tunedfrog]

I'm picturing a carbon fiber boom with a servo activated hook and cable.

 

[J’sCrawler]

I'm picturing a carbon fiber boom with a servo activated hook and cable.

Shooooottt…. Like a titanium-o-mater!

 

[J’sCrawler]

I rebuilt the shocks, they did not have grease on the orings. For the rear I refilled with 40wt and greased the orings, I saw somewhere that some xrings can be used from another team associated car. The top of the rear shock is now mounted on the forward most hole rather than the rear like it came stock, since the 40wt felt slightly stiff. The front I filled with 40wt oil but drilled 2 more holes in the piston at a smaller diameter than the 2 already there. I applied grease to the orings.
the steering link seems to rub on the driveshaft so I clocked the c hubs forward one notch which raises the link off the driveshaft. Now the link is very close to touching the upper link, but can be solved using some washers on top of the steering link’s swivel balls to bring it back down a little bit.
I trimmed the front fenders a very small amount so no rubbing will occur.

 

[J’sCrawler]

Team Associated #91493……. The x-rings that fit these shock bodies.

 

[J’sCrawler]

I was waiting for the rain to cease so I could continue on a home project and spent some time on this……

 

[J’sCrawler]

Did some more tinkering……..

1. Shaved off the sliders so they are just flat. I love the look of the tubular slider but I think functionality here will win
2. got a new battery on a great sale
3. removed a bearing from the axle to try to get rid of that lurch/binding from the universals, I can’t see that it cured it and I turned the epa down on both sides to prevent binding.
4. put a cut in the outer lugs of the tires so they are ever so slightly more pliable. Same process as cutting up canyon trail tires.
5. trimmed the body flush to the bottom of the front grill, drilled new holes in the bumper mount to slide the bumper in as far as it can go. Better approach angle.

something I was just listening to and I have read about this…. Was a click coming from somewhere. Possibly the diff needs a shim. More tinkering then…..

 

[J’sCrawler]

The SSD universals are a direct fit. I swapped these in thinking the steering throw could be greater with no binding, and yes it’s a little better but something is still there. Maybe I just didn’t see this at first and now I’m just nit picking. These unis are for the pro diamond ssd going in my scx based chassis so I’ll just be borrowing them.……
I opened up both diffs but the ring to pinion gear really doesn’t seem like it has a need for a shim, there’s hardly any play.
time to get it out there

 

[J’sCrawler]

I’m seriously thinking about tinting the windows. I have a can of it, and a light tint would look pretty nice

 

[Doom!]

If I didn't put an interior in mine I would have tinted the windows.

 

[J’sCrawler]

If I didn't put an interior in mine I would have tinted the windows.

I’m not sure on the interior yet. I could always mask off the front windshield and lightly tint the rest.

 

[J’sCrawler]

we got some play time in! I noticed due to approach angle improvement it did a lot better however, it also went into some spots where it had no business being driven into
The trimming of the sliders helped it squeeze through some narrow canyons too. Overall it did really well today. It was hard to find the exact lines I took on the first drive but I think some improvements were made.

• Did the foxbelly help? Yes as far as having that super flat skid, high centering was not as big of a problem.
• the shocks seemed good in the front, and maybe slightly stiff in the rear. Same 40 WT front and back same springs, just the pistons are different.
• The tires had some real squish, and I do believe adding a slice to the outer lugs to separate it into 2 made a difference.
• I put a 14T pinion in when I swapped in the foxbelly. Definitely lost some wheel speed but crawling was pretty good. I might go up to a 16T. The motor was a warm, not hot at all or anything to worry about, the esc was a little warmer. Judging by the finger check these temps were fine.
• I also added aluminum hexes to the rear only, they are only about 2mm wider, so the rear track width has been slightly widened. I will probably do this upfront.
• It’s probably me nitpicking again, but I think the drivetrain became louder after the foxbelly swap in. I haven’t driven my scx/Capra clone for awhile so I probably forgot what a “loud” drivetrain really sounds like.

Check out the approach angle here, the rock was taller than the truck and basically a wall:

I guess pictures don’t really do the terrain justice.
That tire squish!

So here we have a very vertical climb, right at this point is where I think a limiting strap would help suck the frame down to the axle and keep the shocks from unloading like they are right here. Edit: I think a rear link riser would add anti squat which in turn pushes the front end down, that might help here as well.

I really need to build a course in the back yard…… one on each end of the short course track. Yea……..

 

[J’sCrawler]

One more thing to do is throw on the aluminum beadlocks and Scorpios I use for the Capra clone and give it a run. It’s funny that whenever I start driving a new vehicle, I always want to test different tires just to see what actually works better. I always read the raves about the hyrax but honestly for what they cost I’d fool myself into believing they are the bees knees too.

 

[J’sCrawler]

It is tough driving one handed trying to shoot a video….. time to invest in a couple thumb steer apparatuses!!

 

[J’sCrawler]

ever notice your stock esc getting hot? Me thinks it’s from the steering servo being weak and drawing more amps when it can’t over power the terrain thus taxing the esc’s bec……. I glued this leftover hobbywing fan to the esc case using nylon spacers and E6000. It kept it very cool today.

 

[Jerold]

It is tough driving one handed trying to shoot a video….. time to invest in a couple thumb steer apparatuses!!

You can always get a little tri-pod/mount and stick your camera/phone on the side for a static position. This one is super cheezy, but it works. I typically use two of these in the middle of the road to capture speed runs.
https://a.co/d/hWBicy9

For the operator view, I picked up this little guy on Amazon.

Just $13 and it mounts on top of the RadioLink in the FPV screw hole. That screw they are showing is actually a just rubber plug the covers a 1/4" screw. If you don't have a threaded mount you can probably use super glue or cut a hole and add a mount too. Lots of radio mods out there.