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Phase
II
The TXT-1 is
an awesome truck from the box - it's currently the *best* production
solid-axle monster out there. However, with it's centralized transmission,
motors and batteries all up in the upper-chassis area, the truck
is somewhat top-heavy. I also run the truck with dual-8.4 packs
(read the full report on that here) so
the 14-cells makes the rig even more tippy.
Making turns
at high speeds would generally tip the truck over on two wheels.
While looking cool, I decided to see if I could make a better high-speed
handler out of my truck. What I wanted to achieve were:
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to reposition
the battery packs to a lower position if possible to lower CG
for stability and better cornering |
| · |
to reposition
the electronics to a lower position also for a lower CG |
| · |
Improve
steering of the truck |
| · |
to retain
the use of 14-cells as this greatly improved the performance
of the truck |
| · |
to lighten
the truck where possible to increase top-end speed and acceleration |
| · |
to remove
the upper plastic decks as these often made it hard to wrench
on the truck's tranny and suspension |
In short, I
wanted to retain the power and speed of the increased cells, but
to improve the handling of the truck. So Phase 2 began...
Repositioning
the Battery-Packs
I was always stumped when wondering how I could shift the batteries
to a lower position. I couldn't mount them between the front and
rear gearboxes like in a clod because the centre gearbox is there
- in fact, that gearbox seemed to prevent shifting the batteries
anywhere in the frame at all! Then I chanced upon my Emaxx and it
stuck me - I could mount the batteries on the sides of the centre
gearbox. I was running dual batteries so this would be a perfect
solution.
In the pics
you can see the simple mounts I made for the batteries - holes were
drilled to relieve weight and battery straps were used to hold down
the cells. The mounts are positioned to be as low as possible without
getting in the way of suspension movement; at full articulation,
the lower link bars come close to the batteries, but just miss them.
Repositioning
the Electronics
Now with the
batts out of the way, it was certainly simpler to relocate the electronics.
The left picture shows the results of the relocation - a much lower
profile for batteries and electronics. I removed the two upper plastic
decks and decided that I would move the electronics to where the
batts used to be. Instead of sweating over an aluminum electronics
tray which might interfere with the radio signals, I opted to use
a plastic sheet (second & third pic) that was not only easy
to cut, it also made the chassis look cleaner because it was clear.
I mounted the sheet to the rails with 4 zipties (fourth pic).
I found an innovative
way to mount my antennae too! It's neat and it works (see last pic).
Lightening
the truck
Removing the
plastic decks removed some weight, but I also removed the front
and rear bumpers to shave off a little more. Overall, the chassis
looked a lot cleaner and more race-oriented too.
Steering
Improvements
Two main things were done to improve steering. I shaved off parts
of the steering knuckles to get more steering throw... but this
required some other hacking to work properly (read the full report
here). In addition, I also added some spacers to lengthen the front
lower suspension rods - this adds some castor to the front steering
which helps the truck steer better. I also replaced the stock rodends
with some I had in my toolbox which had much less slop.
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More info on
the next page.
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