Shergar

We did! Organised things aren’t really my thing, but I really enjoyed this immensely. People didn’t care if you had the cheapest worn truck there, they were happy you were having a great day out. https://www.ukrctruckersnationalgathering.co.uk

I have no idea! It was random, truck after barely moved like mine, truck before went the whole way - it was an extended spec lift on a bog standard motor, must all be down to weight distribution I guess. I reckon the pulling area must have been 30 foot long? The actual sled has a proper worm drive pushing the weight forward (on the sled) as you pulled too.

Been sent a picture of when I tried the tractor pull - well it was there - got about 5 foot!

Here we are in the flesh at the 2022 RC truck National Gathering. Apart from having to glue the tyres on the front after pulling one off the rim whilst turning lock to lock in a 3 point turn, it performed faultlessly, a really big thank you to Doug for making it all happen and pushing me to finish it. That TS12 orange definitely didn’t get ordered Wednesday lunch, painted Thursday lunch, and driven up the A1 Friday lunch… Some real variety here, check out this video for an idea. Loads of really powerful heavy and outright expensive construction trucks at the show, the double action loading was fabulous👍 Obviously there was a working weighbridge too 😳 The articulated tipper wagon for followed behind me went 21kg loaded - thats a bag of cement! Obviously it wasn’t all plain sailing on the rough stuff, but It did pretty good - only the front bumper approach kept acting like a shovel and digging in, though I was surprised quite how capable it was if you kept the throttle in! Yes I did drive up this excavator made mountain unaided 😎 The show was great, even though we only stayed a day, well worth a visit if you have a truck, people were really friendly and easy going and happily answered any daft questions whilst chewing the fat. The pair of us really enjoyed ourselves.

Earlier this year I inherited this pre built Arocs tipper with full remote operated tipper bed. The idea was to freshen it up back to box art. Well that idea didn’t last long 😉 Well built and a good spec with a MFC controller, fully operational bed and alloy rims too, I pulled it apart…. Then I decided a powered front axle would be a great idea 😂 Trouble is the gearbox blocked the space needed for a front propshaft. So I changed the gearbox obviously…. a Lesu 5:1 gearbox went in - next time a (slightly longer in overall length) 1:14 ratio gearbox will be used as the 5:1 is only as slow as the Tamiya low gear, so you have to shackle it to a stupidly high turn motor to slow it down. Why these trucks are so fast is a mystery - great for open spaces but hopeless for low speed manoeuvring. Here you can see the difference in transmission lengths, note the transfer box which subsequently had to be changed as the tipper body rams fouled it being too high. Its just a generic Far Easten part, I forget who made it, or the subsequent one. The propshafts are all Lesu and look fabulous though I very much doubt they are ‘crawler’ tough. Ultimately the chassis ended up like this, the TT02 chassis will give you an idea of size: Upfront a monkey metal Yota axle went up front - fully locked diff and all! It is slightly too wide for a Tamiya truck and needed 8mm hex to stop rubbing on the hubs. I notched a ‘V’ out the hubs with a hacksaw and file to give a big clearance incase the wheels buckled in use. However its the cheapest way of bunging a driven axle in. Anti wear grease went in the rear diffs and everything got plenty of red and tacky grease for when it goes mud plugging 😳 Notice the Power HD analogue servo - the Tamiya MFC really are not keen on digital ones .Also we have the hard resin axle cases from Tamiya and a Lesu rear crash bar. I had the Lesu matching lights, but they don’t have space for electrics within so are pointless really, and refitted the Tamiya ones. A 10mm 3D printed chassis lift kit went in and all stainless hex hardware where I could . There after reassembly beckoned with a few changes - the font axle needed 12mm hex hubs which was a surprisingly tough order - in the end I used Tamiya trailer metal plated rims, flat clear sprayed to tone the chrome down. A flat light bar replaced the two beacons (which I kept knocking off!) and everything black plastic got a coat of ‘rubber black’ paint. Note the dampers which do absolutely nothing in use but look lovely, even these upgraded oil ones 🤣

I saw one in the flesh today, very capable, very surprised!

Made my wagon work for a living today! Went to the RC Truckers national gathering in Newark, excellent event 👍

Four wheel steer on the cards?

I’m 4/5th’s crawling trailing and when the horns come out 1/5th’s bashing. It’s the big kid in me! It’s probably getting the same wear and tear either way. It makes such a whine in low gear* that you put it in top, and you can’t help it. Heaven knows why these trucks end up brushless! Dodgy business ethics aside, I see why the Traxxas faithful are evangelical about there RC’s now. (*I stuck a two speed gearbox from Jenny’s in it, I wouldn’t bother in future).

I’d decide what terrain your running in before upgrading the motor - I found anything faster than a bog standard silver can was hopelessly overpowered in woodland trials - you simply ran out of room. One mod that was worthwhile was the front CVD’s for increased lock, but I’m guessing you have them on a SR. The other mod was the reinforced chassis, and TT02 drift parts bag (grey ones). The chassis happily took landing on anything in its stride. https://www.modelsport.co.uk/product/tamiya-tt-02-lower-deck-hard-black--444286

Yep 👍 This is the cheap truck kit, I just added 2021 Bronco arches/clips, Bowhouse battery tray, swapped the bumpers and added my own electronics.

All good…. Phew! The content of the video above - poor little truck!

So been out with my eldest today (and she drove too, though it cost me cooked breakfast!) and lets saying despite not knowing who the hell Kevin Talbot is, she has been channeling him 🤣 Imagine the scene… down the woods were the local bikers have made a pump track - one innocent TRX4 and a mashed throttle and hope for the best….. Traxxas tough indeed! I was videoing so these are the stills 🎥 Where exactly are you going? Luckily there wasn’t a THUD…. Instead there was a splash 😳 The “It was like that when I got here” face 🤬😂 Thats before she turned everything upto 11….. back home now and no damage - more luck than judgement! Though I’ve just broke the hosepipe and GT85 out and it appears all good for now. The shell has a few more speed scrapes alongs its… well bloody everywhere actually! For what this cost its remarkable value for money, all the crawler/basher/trailer you need.

IMG_0820.MOV

MAY THE FARCE BE WITH YOU 🤣

As you cant get a black heat sink Hobbywing 1060 direct, the next best rebadged thing!

Do you do autographs @BigGinge 😉

Ignore me listen to Redback 👍

I’d dismantle the axle and check the main gear diff, should be the only part that needs replacing. Quite likely this plastic part has chewed. https://www.modelsport.co.uk/product/ftx-mauler-front-and-rear-solid-axle-hub-422586 As seen here page 13: https://www.cmldistribution.co.uk/diagrams/FTX/FTX Mauler Manual.pdf

Pop in 35 turn crawler motor in and see how you like it?

Nice shell, terrible price.

I did the best job I could - which included painting the tailgate - then fresh scalped the exterior film and sprayed the exterior, perfection being on the outside. Now I’m trying my best to wear it all off 😉

Do you think that shell would fit a TRX4…

I’ve decided this is a basher not a crawler- it loves donuts more than I do 🤣 I might try drift wheels next 😉

I dropped the pinion right down on my TT02 rally and stuck a 35T motor in - seemed to be my sweet spot. I found the Fastrax copy rally blocks were softer too and didn’t dig in as much as proper Tamiya ones. Still it looks great in that colour scheme 😎