Here's the all metal version, and even though he's running the small stock tires that are too firm it's still going anywhere he points it.

https://youtu.be/QjLZ3TRJOgM

It's much cheaper to get into and stay in nowadays. Nitro is dying, which is fine by me. Spektrum and futaba radios are still expensive, but the used ones and all the new opentx radios are reasonable. that computer radio in the pic I posted above was only $129 and you can do anything with it. Brushless motors, lipo batteries, and the new foam they use in planes have brought the price down and made huge increases in performance and repairability.

I love so much early 80s Hilux.

Would you recomend buying one? I saw them in Banggood.com but i was a skeptical on the quality of the all metal one.

Well I haven't got everything together yet so I really don't know. Everything seems super beefy but you have to go over the whole thing because a lot of the screws and bolts are just finger tight.
But if you watch the videos the plastic version bounces around like a toy and doesn't go over obstacles near as well, whereas the metal version handles more like a real truck and is much more capable.

Well I got all the conversion done Wednesday except mounting the body. It was a chore to say the least. You can tell the metal version is made by a different company and the only parts that interchange are the 2 frame rails and the wheels, and even then the frame rails are thicker on the metal version.

After the tedious task of checking all the fasteners (had to do some disassembly to get to all of them) I had to adjust the 4 link control arms on each end to clock the axles up to reduce driveshaft binding (it sits about a half inch taller than stock) I didn't clock the front axle much because that can cause trouble with handling and steering. It's also extremely difficult to get to the upper control arms on the front.

Steering servo was next. It's re-positioned underneath the tray rather than on top, and the servo horn they provide wouldn't fit my servo, but after rummaging around in my RC parts drawer I found a suitable metal replacement. The stock steering arm is curved upward at the end to meet the horn, the metal one is not. So after much cursing and moving the horn and trying different holes (I almost swapped the plastic arm over) I found an acceptable compromise.

On to the ESC and killswitch. They don't provide a mount for the switch OR the ESC, so I had to get handy with my drill to mount the switch. The ESC/receiver is just slapped in the electronics box ( I didn't have double sided tape) with enough of the wires stuffed in to keep it from moving.

Motor and transmission. The 260 motor and crawler gearbox supplied in the kit are both twice the size of the stock 160 motor and box, and configured opposite of stock, with the motor in front of the box rather than behind it. The first thing I notice is it's got heavy wires on it and the connector is female rather than male so I cut the wires and swapped the connectors. I then discover my trusty soldering gun I've been using for 20yrs has shat itself, so I found some tiny wire nuts and connected the heavy and very thin wires and plug everything in.

Initial testing. Steering works as it should and with a little trim adjustment it's pointed straight ahead. Then I discover the polarity on the motor is reversed so I swapped the wires. While I can now run the crawler it's immediately apparent that the 260 is too much motor for the stock ESC to handle, it's sluggish and the board is getting hot. I had my doubts as soon as I seen the extreme difference in wire gauge. And I discovered the driveshafts are still at too much of an angle to run smoothly. I remedied this by moving all the upper shock mounts 1" in towards the center of the frame, which dropped it a 1/4" putting the shafts at less of an angle, softened the suspension, and left some droop for better suspension flex.

The body. The battery tray is part of the bed and I'm gonna have to cut a significant portion of it out to clear the big crawler gearbox. After that I think the cab will mount up without any trouble.

Conclusion. While the seller and reviews claim it's a simple swap, it's not. It took a significant amount of time and work to get it functional. And the stock ESC isn't compatible, thank goodness I already have a better one on the way. I think a beginner would have thrown in the towel and left it to collect dust on a shelf. Would I recommend this upgrade? Hell yeah! When I was a kid I would've given my left nut for an all metal crawler that handles like a full size truck. :D

Finally downloaded an image resizer, Jerry's probably hoping it works.. :lmao:

The shocks come mounted straight up and down which made the suspension way too stiff and had both driveshafts binding. Moving the top mounts 1" inboard fixed all of that. It dropped the height a quarter inch (it's still a 1/4" taller than the plastic version) which improved the drive shaft angles. It also softened the suspension and it will actually flex/twist now with a slight bit of droop.

The other thing I did was shorten the servo horn and bend the connecting tie rod. Before the horn was hitting the top of the axle when the suspension compressed. Now I'm working on mounting the bed, which requires a significant amount of cutting and trimming.

Well I reduced them from 470kb to 190kb so they uploaded, but still come out godzilla sized! Any tips to fix this crap?

Ok, this is 50kb. Let's see what happens.

Edit:. Apparently it's just this screwy site..

Oh, I dunno if this counts, but both my son and I have drones, medium size ones, and, fly them pretty often. A lot of fun. Less chance of crashing than a plane or helicopter. Cameras too, and, pretty well set up. Haven’t had dog fights yet lol.

Frank, your phone should have a really basic photo editor in it. Resize the images dimensions to like 1000x800, then compress the size to under 197kb. The smaller picture will look better when compressed and fit the forum better.

Buddy picked up a cheap Chinese GPS quad. Supprised it actually flew really well. Video isn't the best but it's a $175 quad not $700. Of courses the instructions were terrible but YouTube was helpful.

Well after getting a 3 channel radio and receiver, and a better ESC, and doing some extensive cutting on the bed and moving a frame cross member, I got it all together and was off to the races. After about 10 minutes of crawling I noticed my front end was getting sloppy. Passenger side front tire was flopping around and so was the front driveshaft. When I got the metal version about 60% of the bolts were loose, but the exterior axle bolts were all tight so I didn't take them apart, which apparently I should have.

I also discovered it's back to the drawing board for the steering. Sitting static it turns equal amounts in each direction, but this thing puts out so much torque the body twists one direction in drive and the other direction in reverse so I'm considering mounting the servo on the axle. I hate to do that though because it would take away from the full scale realism, which is what makes the truck appealing.

Pic isn't my truck but it's the metal version I have, and Indy with a bottle of Jack is kewl. :lol:

well, steering flex is scale lol. Traxxas and axial have both went to axel mount servos for that reason on some models. I'm not a fan of the look either.

just gonna throw this out there, i am downsizing my collection, anyone want to buy a Nitro Evader or a 1st Gen hpi Nitro RS4? both have running (least they ran last year LOL) O.S. 15 cv pull start engines,

the evader battery box has broken off the tail end, i was zip tying the pack to the rear shock tower... also, no body on the evader

the rs4 has a 2 speed, but the ear on the gear for second is broken off... i can link to the gears needed if you want... or i could order and replace before sale... i may do that anyways... also comes with a pretty beat Subaru WRX body and rally-esque tires.

I still have a few electric evaders. most with destroyed diffs lol.

I'm not a nitro guy, matter of fact my 36cc Baja 5b is getting the brushless conversion soon. It's just too much hassle and twice now the mayor has sent a town trustee down to run us off the ballfield because of the earsplitting racket it makes (it's much louder than any nitro I've been around). But if the price is right I'm sure someone would be interested.

they are both WAAAAAYYYYYYYYY quieter than the RCMK 254 evo in my boat that i am still putting together....LOL but thats on a tuned pipe with an external stinger and a stinger mounted "muffler"

My baja is just a tuned pipe, that's it lol. sounds good, but loud. Need to get an engine for that thing and put it back together.

Have you tried this yet???

https://youtu.be/fpoZlIulg1k

Finally tore into the front axle, half the screws were loctite-ed, and the other half were loose. The cause of the slop was a loose set screw on the ring gear, and a loose set screw on the passenger side CV joint. I lubed all 9 wheel bearings including the pinion bearing with white lithium grease (my plan was to use marine grease but it didn't seem to be getting inside the tiny bearings) and put it back together with blue loctite.

With a torch I bent the steering tie rod even further but it still wasn't quite enough (guess I'll have to she'll out the dough for the aftermarket one). I also moved it to the closest hole on the servo horn and shortened the horn for more clearance between it and the third member.

After that I installed the big Mn 90 super soft crawler tires. They scrub a little when the wheel is turned to the right and your at full flex, but not enough to matter. They made a big difference in crawling though. I lost a little bit of torque (3s brushless is next) because of the larger diameter, but it'll go over anything now. :D

Looking good Frank. :tup:

Well the big tires are just too much for the 370 (the biggest of the 3 stock motors) even with the ultra low aftermarket transfer case and gear reduction box. Some of that can be attributed to the all metal conversion (this thing weighs more than some 10th scale RCs) and I haven't even added lead shot to the tires yet. So desperate times call for desperate measures.. :hehe:

More than 10yrs ago I got acquainted with brushless motor systems and they were EXPENSIVE! I bought a Castle Mamba Max for my Traxxas Stampede and it was somewhere in the neighborhood of $350 if I remember correctly. Well the Chinese are selling them now at ridiculously low prices. I came across a 7800kv 540 with a 120amp ESC for under $50! So I purchased a RacerStar 2430 sensorless waterproof 4 pole 5800kv motor (60,000rpm!) with a 25amp ESC for $28 that can run 2s or 3s lipo packs (they claim).

Now I know for a single speed crawler you should run a sensored 2700 to 3300kv motor for lots of torque and no clogging on take off, but.. If you've got a 2 speed transmission ready to be installed (which I do) you can get away with a higher kv motor. Now the clogging is unavoidable with a sensorless motor and the Chinese haven't gotten in the sensored market yet, but it's negative effects can be reduced with a tiny (8 tooth) pinion gear. So here soon I'll be doing donuts and wheelies in high range and crawling like a beast in low range. :D

I also had to order some T-plug connectors for my lipo packs.

There are some sensored motors that are reasonably priced. What can size do you need?

Motor and ESC? Has to be a 2430 or 2435. The guys with plastic frames run a 2445 but that's because they can trim to make room for the longer can.

24mm is the diameter and 30mm is the length.

i would be careful with that 5700kv 4 pole and a 25a esc... i fried a 35a on a 4200kv 4 pole 540 sized motor on 2s in a touring car...


that said, i have had no issues running my 9200kv 370 sized dynamite C4 on 3s in my mini-T.....LOL nothing like power wheelies at 40+mph...

Yeah it definitely seems a little sketchy, and that's why I said "they claim". There's 2 different motor options with that system and different specs for each. For the 5800kv they list 2s and 3s, for the 7200kv it's only 2s.

The only solace I can take is several group members have used this system with 2s packs without issue, and from the vids a 3s pack is completely unnecessary lol.