The time is right to build the truck that traxxas wouldn't
 

almost a year ago i bought two traxxas SRT's off Ebay, it was a dream come true Because at the time they came out, i was a traxxas fan. I have always routed for the underdog, and going against AE and Losi, there was no more underdog thing to be than Traxxas.

Anyways I have finally started a project, that might be the definitive SRT to date. As i have said i got two of these gems, and one is absolutely perfect, That one will be a shelf queen. The other didn't come with a body and is not rough, but used, and will be the genisis of the project. The setup will be a little Old School and a bit of New School. The old school, will be the SRT chassis and tranny internal mods, It will have a delrin top gear and alumnium idler gear W/ball dif (racing setup of the time). The New school would be the top shaft and Jato type slipper with a Velineon 3500 setup w/lipo's. I will also try to add some Jato shocks, the fronts will be easy, they are the same length as the stock Big bores. the problem will be getting the geometry right, I know the Jato works a bit more on progression than other trucks, so i am hoping to incorporate them in this project. I will post pics of what i am starting with tomorrow (got to take it apart to figure out a little crunch in the tranny anyways)

quite interesting sounding do you have a pic i dont believe i have ever seen a traxxas srt

Here is a link to traxxas's SRT section, it includes gallery and specs.
http://www.traxxas.com/products/elec...rt/trx_srt.htm
To those who don't know, The SRT came out about a couple years Before the rustler and was the flagship ST of traxxas from about '93 to '97, after traxxas got out of racing, they simplified the SRT with a few thiongs ( like combining the rear suspension, motorplate and tranny and plastic chassis. One thing i forgot in the first post, the chassis is fiberglass NOW, but eventually when i get it running right and looking the way i want, I'll cut some CF for it to bring it to the '00

Does it have the same chassis bolt pattern as the Rustler, at least on the lower deck? If so you could use the RCM-RC Carbon-fiber Rustler chassis. You can buy the lower deck by itself if the top deck bolt pattern is different. It looks that way from the pictures on the TRX site.

The SRT actually has a bulkhead in front of the transmission, I'm not sure if it will bolt up. With the exception of that, I figure its about the same, overall design is almost identical

Well if all you had to do is drill a couple more holes in the lower chassis plate to accomodate that bulkhead, that would save you quite a bit of machine work!

The chassis i have in mind, is going to be like Losi or associated, rounded and more modern. Its too bad Traxxas didn't continue the SRT, with the focus back on electrics lately, they would be a welcome addition to the racing family

Yeah it looks like a nice truck. I wish they would update the Spirit chassis to the upper/lower deck design. I hate the ugly plastic tub chassis.

The stampede also has a bulkhead of sort there, and I believe the Rustler does also. Maybe you could fashion up some hybrid parts. That chassis looks very similar to the Rustler.

on the stampede and rustler/bandit buggy, the transmission is attached to the chassis by 6 screws and the shock tower provides top support, the SRT uses a bulkhead similar, if not identical to the Nitro models, Except for it being mounted to the front of the transmission. The SRT transmission is mounted by 4 little screws in the rear and is slotted into the bulkhead, The bulkhead is bolted to the battery box and is supported by it and the shock tower is attached to the bulkhead. Its slightly more complicated but with 8 screws you can just remove the tranny without removing the entire suspension. The main reason i went this route, is that the suspension is seperate from the transmission and it has an alumnium Motorplate. Anyone that has broke a suspension mount, on a stampede or rustler, Know it costs 8 bucks a pop to fix, because you got to buy the whole gearbox, this way its a buck or two

there are also options for reat toe and antisquat that the rustler just can't do, unless you get the fastlane trannycase

As Promised, here are the pics of what i am starting with. I will update with more pics, as i make changes.

First pic is tranny showing the delrin top gear and alumnium idler
[IMG]http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x...ture2001-1.jpg[/IMG]

tranny assembled with XL/VXL top shaft
[IMG]http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x...ture2004-1.jpg[/IMG]

rear view showing the bulk and space where tranny sits
[IMG]http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x...ture2002-1.jpg[/IMG]

side rear view showing where the bulk meets battery box
[IMG]http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x...ture2003-1.jpg[/IMG]

More pics,

tranny mounted side view
[IMG]http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x...icture2007.jpg[/IMG]

rear showing where tranny and bulk key together
[IMG]http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x...ture2012-1.jpg[/IMG]

pic of front suspension and steering, Look familar? this is where the Nitro rustler/Stampede steering came from
[IMG]http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x...icture2008.jpg[/IMG]

I also plan to see, if the electric Rustler/ Stampede arms will improve stability without going too wide. The SRT uses the nitro geometry and arm length

Also thought i'd show you the shelf queen i got

Side view
[IMG]http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x...ture2015-1.jpg[/IMG]

Bottom view, look at the lack of scuff and scratches
[IMG]http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x...ture2016-1.jpg[/IMG]

That is freakin' awesome! GL with it man, get some vids :).

I got the VXL setup in yesterday and got it installed with a hitec 5925 digital servo and a Jr XS3 setup FM. The power of the VXL in a stadium truck rivals the Mamba Max setup, wheelies everywhere with a tight slipper, on 2s lipo. I haven't tryed the 3s yet because i got to mod the rear cover piece for the taller battery. I also need the Maxamps traxxas packs for the SRT (I like to never got the pack in without messing up the wires). Maybe the flightpowers will work as well, i got to check. I will post pics tonight or monday, I'm going to visit My sister this weekend and will get some pics as well

looks like its going pretty well..
phil

Nice, I really like those trucks...To bad Traxxas had to start cutting corners. Have you thought about the Jato front suspension? I think it would be fairly straight forward. If I remember, some Rustler owners use Jato suspension.

I could but i'm not sure of bulk height compared to the srt, I think the SRT bulks are taller. I'd have to relocat the servo and i'm not sure if it will work. I do plan to build another later using the Jato suspension but it will have custom mounts and use the complete Jato front assembly. right now i want to see if the old truck can run with the new trucks

Its officially running now
 

I got the Velineon in thursday and got it installed, I had to clip the mounts and the plug holder from the sides. It runs better in a stadium truck, than a stampede. Power everywhere, I need to add weight to the battery box. Its real light in the front, using a 3700 flightpower evo 20 2S lipo. Here are a couple pics

[IMG]http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x...icture2024.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x...icture2023.jpg[/IMG]

Very nice work. Any up close pictures of everything mounted? How is the durability of the old Traxxas vehicles?

Once again, great job on it. :smile:

Its holding up great so far, had a couple tumbles and all that happened was one turnbuckle sliped off. I'm going to upgrade them to rustler/stampede/bandit before long. Like i said in the opening post, I'm using a delrin top gear and an alumnium idler (the choice setup at the time)and its running fine.I weighed it last night and my goal was to get it to 60 oz. (RC Pro weight), right now with a 3700 pack, its 65.1oz.

Nice looking truck man. I'm guessing going with even lighter rims and cutting your a arms out will save you some more weight.

I find it strange that Traxxas would stop making such a great vehicle; but I guess its cheaper for them to build an 'all-in-one' tranny&suspension case, rather than have seperate parts. Shame, but if you start whooping everyone's modern day machines, it will just go to show that Traxxas killed the goose that laid the golden egg, or something like that....

Nice SRTs.

My guess would be the SRT came right before the RTR Boom, and they didn't sell, though they were around for a few years. Besides the traxxas, while good racers never got to the level of the Associated or Losi's, They did not fund as good a race team either. Thanks for the compliments.

I don't intend to lighten the arms, I think that weight should stay to help lower COG. If anything I'll look to lighten up the battery box and a CF chassis using 2mm CF

Just a followup. I run it today on 3s, it honestly is too much. Even with a loose slipper, it was wheeling out of control. I got some eagletree graphs on it and will post them in the brushless section, But on 2s its about 600 watts w/ a max of 90 amps pulled, on 3s it pulled 1100watts on a 101 amp peak. check the brushless section tomorrow afternoon at latest to see the graphs