Bluey the Traxxas Ford Raptor R 4x4 not-a-LWB-Slash

[GooneyBird 959]

Update: So it has a name now. It's Bluey! Because it's blue. And a raptor. Get it? Also, maybe I was sick for a couple of days and stayed on the couch while binge-watching anything the internet threw at me. Maybe. 

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With the Rustler gone and sold I was on the search for an offroad, outdoors-y, fast vehicle. I already own a slow offroad vehicle, which I use as my walkabout car, and so this one needed to fullfill a couple of roles:

- Be able to survive a day at the beach
- Look somewhat scale (I was SO DONE with the truggy with a technocolor-vomit paintjob look of the Rustler)
- Hold its own on an offroad track, as one opened about an hour away and I'd like to see if that is my 'thing' after indoor onroad basically ceased to exist over the last couple of years. 
- Have good parts support. I break things. 
- Be a kit

I'd been low-key looking for something over the last 6 months or so, when suddenly Traxxas decided to release the Ford Raptor R 4X4, which is a long-wheelbase Slash 4X4 in anything but name. I've owned a Rustler, and while it had its share of weird issues, it was generally reliable and good to drive, so something based on the same platform was just fine by me. But, I was on the fence about it. I mean, I already had the Rustler.... right? 

And then the Rustler got moved on to a new owner.

And then my job gave me a nice end-of-year bonus. 

Sa-weet. 

I have no impulse control.

Anyway, since I fancy a bit of a tinker project over the winter months (alongside refurbishing the TRX4 for new adventures this spring), I figured I'd post a build log here.

Step 1!

Okay, done. 

[GooneyBird 959]

Just kidding! Yes, it's a RTR, and so technically it comes Ready-To-Run out of the box, and technically that would be correct.

However!

When I got the TRX4 the first thing I noticed was how thinly the body was painted, and unfortunately the same holds true for the Raptor. (The Rustler was probably silk-screened due to the graphics on it, and didn't have that issue). So, out comes the cling film and a can of black...

Not my best work ever, but it was cold as heck outside. This is two coats of black on the inside....

And I added in a faux bedliner. From the factory this is body-colored, aside from the two strips for the body-holding system. Now at least everything is the same color.

(yeah, it's in Dutch... The app follows the language of your phone)

Another thing that Traxxas consistently gets wrong is their end points. A common complaint is that their steering servos burn up quickly, especially on TRX4s. The issue is not so much that their servos suck (which they kinda do, but y'know, different discussion), but rather that the end points are set too far out, causing the thing to bind and heat up quickly at full lock. And which cars spend a lot of time at full lock? Exactly, TRX4s. 

Out of the box the TQi radios are a bear to program, but when you've got a Bluetooth module and the app....

... setting end points couldn't be easier. Note how far back I had to set them before the servo wouldn't strain and buzz at full travel anymore. Traxxas, you've got such a slick ecosystem. Get this right from the factory! This needlessly kills servos. 

In the Rustler I had an RPM sensor, a temperature sensor, and a voltage sensor; all linked to the radio and my phone through Bluetooth. Quite useful, especially with how overheat-prone the VXL3s can be (more on that later). I removed the telemetry from the Rustler when I sold it, because the radio that came with the Rustler didn't have the Bluetooth module installed. 

So obviously, I transferred the sensors. Now, Traxxas is actually kinda clever in that their cars 'break up' into chunks fairly easily. 4 screws and the entire rear section comes apart.

Meanwhile, the motor comes out with literally two screws (One that holds the gear cover on, and the second holding the motor plate to the chassis)

In order to get the RPM sensor in there, you need a couple of things. First and foremost, there's a blanking plate on the chassis motor mount that needs to come off...

...and gets replaced with a hall-effect sensor...

...while the cable has a neat little coridor to pass through between the motor mount and the plate.

Of course, the sensor needs to pick something up. This is a separate plate holding a permanent magnet, and gets mounted to the spur using three lugs and three screws.

At this point you can put the slipper clutch/spur gear back in the chassis, and join the chassis back together again. Oh, OCD pet peeve: the wire for the sensor comes out at the left side, while the electronics are on the right side of the vehicle. Fortunately there's more than enough length in the cable to do a U-turn and route back between the ESC and receiver.

(pictured here without the motor in it for clarity)

Next up, the motor. The temperature sensor normally gets mounted to the can directly, but I've got a whopping great heat sink on it, along with a fan, so it's in-between the ribs of the heat sink, as it doesn't really fit anywhere else. 

Combine this with the yet-to-be-installed voltage sensor, and the rat's nest is growing....

The voltage sensor is nothing but a small wire that taps into the positive side of the battery. Traxxas sells an adapter (of course they do) but I made my own by simply running a wire from the postive side of the plug to the appropriate plug, and pinning it in. (I did the same on the TRX4, and the Rustler) No pictures because at this point I was soldering, and making a mess of it, but you get the idea. 

And with that, we have data coming off of the vehicle!

 

Next up, making room for my batteries. The tray in this car is ample, to say the least, and so with a bit of foam...

 

...my old racing packs fit just fine. 

But, I've also got a 3S-battery, which is too high for the clamp! 3D-printer to the rescue!

(Yes, I have a second clamp. It's the same part as on the TRX4, where I replaced it with straps). I made a quick-and dirty extension, which means that now...

... higher packs fit!

And now, we have a running chassis. 

 

So, just exactly how ready to run is a Ready-To-Run vehicle? Well, not really, if I'm honest. Taking apart the rear end of the chassis I found..

• I found one or two screws that were a little too loose. Might have happened in transport, but you never know.
• The gear mesh was set too tight with the included spacer. Remove the spacer and you get 'normal' adjustability back
• The end points of the steering servo were set too far out. (This is fixable in software, come on Traxxas!)
• The stock ride height is off. It squats in the rear quite a bit. You get shock spacers in the box, but still... 
• The body was painted very thinly. If you held it up to the light you could see straight through.

Not all bad though, I found a couple of good things too!

• The pinion had an appropriate amout of lock-tite applied
• No shock leaks
• The tires appear to be properly glued
• Other than the endpoints, the steering tracks straight, and has the same amount of range (too much) on either end

 

[Kpowell911 2245]

Interested in one of these, but Ive had at least 10 vehicles on this platform, and theyre so pricey now. Good luck with it

[GooneyBird 959]

So, after adjusing a couple of things (see above) I couldn't wait for a break in the non-stop rain to take the truck (which I've by now named Bluey) out for a run. There's a new neighborhood under construction nearby, and it was a perfect wide open space, with cobbled streets but not much else in the way of obstacles. IE: perfect shakedown terrain.

 

I'm pleased to say the truck drives well. It's quick, quiet, and despite the dusty, sandy streets, the tires had an okay amount of traction. There's a lot of body roll, but that's just part of the charm. I have my telemetry in it, and when I had a good, open bit of terrain I went for a top-speed run. 

(I love how Traxxas' telemetry app allows you to save and replay a run.)

So, that's 85kph according to the telemetry. Now, I'm not entirely sure it's 100% accurate (it gets its data from the speed of the spur gear, and extrapolates using the size of the tires so it doesn't account for things like wheel slip), but it feels correct enough and certainly fast enough....Even if this is just a ballpark figure. I plan on eventually taking Bluey to an offroad track, and speed is completely irrelevant there. Still, it's nice to know that it at least matches (and slightly exceeds) the factory specs in terms of speed.

So, after getting it home and cleaing it, I tried to find a spot for the transponder. If you're going to a track, you ideally want to see some lap times so you know if you're heading in the right direction with training. On the Rustler there were a couple of holes perfectly spaced for a MyLaps transponder holder, and I found these holes on the Raptor as well....

... except now the holder sits backwards in the truck. I don't think it matters much, but it looks a little goofy. Ah well, beats having the thing taped to the side of the servo like I've seen some touring cars do.

Anyway, as I was looking at the truck, I noticed it's big. LIke, really big. Like, not 1/10th scale-big. I know Traxxas plays fast and loose when it comes to scaling cars, but with most of them based around not-real cars like truggys and disproportionat monster trucks, it's not really noticable. However, Bluey is supposed to be a scale replica of a 2023 Ford Raptor R, so we have some real-world data to compare against. I pulled up the dimensions for the full-size one, and compared it to the scale truck. (Excuse me converting the size of the real truck to metric. Anything but base-10 just breaks my brain)

• Wheelbase: 369 cm vs 384mm, about 9.6th scale
• Width: 243 cm vs 289 mm, about 8.4th scale
• Overal length: 589 cm vs 637mm, about 9.2th scale.
• Height: 203 cm vs 226mm, about 8.9th scale

So ignoring the width (which can be explained away with the scale model having very wide fender flares), I'd say it's about 1/9th scale. Which, funny enough, puts it right in scale with a TRX4. 

[GooneyBird 959]

Ever since I got the truck, I wondered why Traxxas didn't also include LEDs in the headlights. I mean, they gave us pretty buckets for it, along with clip-in LED holders.... Probably because the moment I type this, Traxxas will bring out a Pro-Scale LED set and continue down their path of nickel-and-diming you to death. 

Anyway, I have a soldering iron, and a bunch of pre-wired LEDs I got from the far east recently, sooo....

As you can see, TRX helpful even gives you wiring holders in the grill to stuff the wiring from the LEDs into.

I wanted to run the wiring under the front body mount, but there's no room. However, going over is an option, and after a nice date with Mr. Dremel, there's a good spot to tie-wrap the whole thing.

So how does that all look when finished? Well, bright, annoying, in-your-face, and therefor quite realistic for the average F150 Raptor-driver.

I purposefully went with bright white LEDs, hoping to simulate the real truck's HID lights. I think it looks pretty much spot on!

If nothing else, it lights up the hobby room door REALLY well. 

[GooneyBird 959]

So I've ran a couple of packs through it, both at a construction site, and with the recent bout of weather...

At an indoor car park, where I had set out a small course with cones. (And after about an hour, got told to leave by the cops.... So much for that driving location).

Bluey is performing admirably. I had noticed that sometimes there's a loud, metallic CLUNK coming from the driveline, but I soon found that to be the center shaft moving back and forth on the splines. It's about 5mm on the short side, presumably to allow for some chassis flex when landing a large jump or something. Anyway...

... nothing a couple of o-rings can't fix. There's another ring on the front input shaft going to the front diff, but it's a little more difficult to photograph so imagine this, but on the front.  

There's still a couple of mm of play on the shaft, but at least it now 'runs' into rubber o-rings instead of making a loud CLACK as it runs into the pot metal driveshaft. 

[GooneyBird 959]

So, I'm weird and sometimes take very non-track focussed cars to a track and make them handle...somewhat. I got @Fuijo's TB01 to go around an indoor onroad track with some degree of success, and I'm still claiming that for the win. (Oh, and I did laps around another indoor onroad track with an actual RC tank once. But that doesn't count, right?)

Anyway, a couple of years ago I took the (somewhat race-y) Rustler to an offroad track, and actually had a lot of fun despite the Rusty being all sorts of not suited to what I was doing. Now I have Bluey, which is slightly lighter and probably a bit better on track.

Anyway, as we all know, 50% of your setup is the correct tires, so I emailed the track I plan on going to about what the local hot tire is, and got a set. Let me preface this and say I'm used to glueing touring car tires....

... yeah, those are the biggest inserts I've ever seen.

Two agonising sessions of glueing and stretching and bending and pain later, and I've got a set mounted and glued. 

Couldn't help myself and pick out the lug nuts with a bit of chrome paint.

Notice how much smaller in the arch the track tire looks versus the stock all-terrains.