Traxxas TRX4M - In-depth Review, Comparisons, Crawl Footage & More!!

The wait is over! The ALL NEW Traxxas TRX 4M Mini Crawler is here! Is it worth the hype? How does it compare to the Axial SCX24? In this video I answer those questions and more as I do a deep dive into the new TRX4M 1/18 crawler. I hit the key features, show comparisons with other scale rigs, give you my driving impressions and show plenty of crawl footage. Is this the new king of the mini crawler market? Watch to find out!
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[@CapeCrawlers]

Timestamps Key features: 2:11 First impressions: 4:21 Size comparisons: 8:34 Driving impressions: 10:49 Crawling footage: 15:44 Final thoughts: 23:21

[@Mattwiistand]

I just got the green defender and instantly went ripping it down the snow over the rocks and I literally drove it under water to make sure it was waterproof lol. From now on we will take it easier but I wanted to make sure it was tough before recommending it to friends and family

[@CapeCrawlers]

LOL trial by fire! I’m assuming it survived the swim?

[@masongregory2]

Man I love your videos very in depth and patient with your audience to how you show your rigs and set ups and with your reviews as I am a beginner in this hobby you have really been a help thank you

[@CapeCrawlers]

Thanks for watching! And I appreciate the kind words!

[@petejones6827]

and i took the rear wheel cover off in the back cause it hits before the rear bumper to find a nicely done hidden feature a very nice spare tire mount thats got a hex on it and doesnt look bad without a tire on it also

[@CapeCrawlers]

That’s awesome!

[@DEENRC]

I just know you're going to love modding this one ..can't wait to see what you do it's going to be awesome.i got the black bronco too. And ordered some mofo wheels for it and lgrp tyres. This is gonna be fun.

[@CapeCrawlers]

Can’t wait to get tinkering! What Mofo wheels did you get?

[@DEENRC]

@@CapeCrawlers the upw in silver with brass rock cutter ring Island spacers and 3 mm offset hubs..they looked good quality in the review you done👍

[@nycr6biker796]

Yes!!!!! Got mine yesterday. Red bronco!!!

[@CapeCrawlers]

Awesome! Enjoy!!

[@HONDAJEFF05]

the TRX4M is so cool

[@CapeCrawlers]

It is! I’m very pleased with it

[@HONDAJEFF05]

@@CapeCrawlers waching it now

[@wxlterX]

I love my bronco! I got it in A51 colour and im in love with it😍

[@FORDEVR]

The TRX4 was my first crawler. The TRX4M was my second crawler. after a short period of time I decided to sell my TRX4 and I am going to get a second TRX4M. your video just help me confirm my decision thank you and looking forward to your next videos on the TRX4m

[@CapeCrawlers]

Thanks for watching! We are loving our TRX4Ms. Lot's of fun and even more so now that there are lots of upgrades and customization options available.

[@bobcog0001]

putting in the crawler gears from traxxas which cost only $5 will improove the controll of throttle significantly, but i reccomend getting metal versions of the same crawl ratio, even though bit more expensive worth the long term durability or just upgradde the motors.

[@goochma]

I couldn't find a TRX4M anywhere. None of my local Hobby shops had them. Traxxas website was only taking preorders. Kept checking my local Hobby Shop weekly with no luck until last Wednesday. The shop owner said they had two coming next Thursday. Both Broncos, one blue one red. The blue one was already accounted for. I paid up front for the red one. Now I can't wait for next Thursday to come.

[@CapeCrawlers]

Glad you finally scored one! They're selling super fast, which is great for the mini crawler market!

[@marcofabiopala]

Complimenti per il video. Bella presentazione!

[@CapeCrawlers]

Thank you, I appreciate that!

[@all-natty]

i love the trail kings on the defender!!

[@CapeCrawlers]

They look awesome don’t they? And they fit pretty well!

[@andrewrichey7374]

Man I like that black bronco, Yep we’re here watching

[@CapeCrawlers]

The black is super sharp. I think it looks fantastic, especially with the pro scale light kit!

[@GeezerGramps]

Great review Adam, I agree with you for the most part. I thought it drove better out of the box compared to any of my SCX24’s. It will slow crawl fine on flat ground but not on the rock or my indoor course, it lacks a smooth low end. I’m hoping the crawler gears will fix it. The weight bias is not ideal at 49/51 got mine to 50/50 by adding 15g on top of the servo. I felt mine was unpredictable at times, it flips when it looks like it shouldn’t & will hang on when you think it’s going to flip. All in all I’m happy with my purchase & look forward to trying to make it better & keep the stock scale look, with no interior which it needs. I put some Treal beadlocks & Injora 58mm tires on mine & was surprised to see that I only gained 1.8g per tire. Haven’t tried it yet with the new tires.

[@CapeCrawlers]

Thanks! You nailed it with the unpredictability. I feel like that goes for the low end power as well. It felt dead then would abruptly lurch out of a tight spot. I put some big tires on it and it gripped super hard but I’m having rubbing issues now. Need to find the right size tire to fit. I’m very excited to put the crawler gears in it! The journey begins!

[@jimbo4203]

Love mine, been running it a few days and the front bumper hits a lot, hope someone makes a higher clearance one

[@CapeCrawlers]

I will be anxiously awaiting that high clearance bumper as well!

[@jimbo4203]

@@CapeCrawlers how did the lgrp tires fit , I want to go bigger

[@CapeCrawlers]

@@jimbo4203 Good! They rub a little bit but not bad at all.

[@jimbo4203]

@@CapeCrawlers are those the 63 mm ones

[@CapeCrawlers]

@@jimbo4203 yes they are.

[@TrevorParkJones]

Seems like a very capable rig. Might be fun to get one. Thanks Adam, another great video!!! Take care!!!

[@CapeCrawlers]

They’re totally worth it. I put the crawler gears and some updated wheels and tires on the bronco and it’s a whole different beast. Very impressive!

[@humbertomaya7200]

If you're finding the suspension a bit too bouncy you can try removing the shocks and taking some of the rebound out Mine had about 50% rebound which made the suspension feel too stiff / bouncy when compressing I now have about 10% rebound and the suspension cycles much smoother and is much softer

[@CapeCrawlers]

Good advice, thank you!

[@prob6999]

I also got the black bronco. I’m getting frustrated with the tire rub on the steering link considering this is a Traxxas truck, but I’m also worried about even running it due to the driveshaft pin problems I’ve been hearing about.

[@CapeCrawlers]

Those are definitely some problem areas. I’m still running ours hard and we’ll see how it holds up!

[@Yourmomsplacefasuppa]

If a piece of clothes hanger will fit in it I'm going to just cut some and bend the ends w needle nose as long as they won't get a hold of something spinning

[@Yourmomsplacefasuppa]

If you have access to a drill and tap set it's worth considering drilling out the inner shaft assembly and drilling and tapping the outer assembly and using a set screw

[@Thecrawlerhutt]

I live to see your content

[@CapeCrawlers]

I live to create it for you!

[@Thecrawlerhutt]

@@CapeCrawlers thank you sir!

[@greggrube2948]

Glad you like the little bronco, I have the 1/10 trx-4 bronco , I am very happy with it. Crawls and climbs like a goat, out of the 18 crawlers I have the bronco is one of my favorites. Great 👍 video bro!!

[@CapeCrawlers]

Thanks for watching! I’m really happy with the bronco. Super fun!

[@petejones6827]

i cut my bumper right after the led lights it helps ALOT and doesnt look that bad if cut nicely

[@Saetun.]

man i really like the TRX4M, id really love to see a Gladiator option.

[@CapeCrawlers]

I would love to see that as well! I think we'll see some Chevy bodies first, a Blazer or K10 based on their high trail models. Just my guess.

[@havikhobbies]

I love that these will fit our 1/24 scale outdoor course! I think I want to get a red Defender and keep it scale looking 🤔

[@CapeCrawlers]

The defender looks fantastic and would make an excellent scale rig!

[@saturnfivehynrgrc581]

The black looks good.

[@CapeCrawlers]

I agree. Very glad I got the black.

[@kendietz355]

I have a Black Bronco on hold of Christmas. Also, you were wondering about one handed driving with the Traxxas remote so go to "Mark Santa Maria" he has add ons for those remotes.

[@CapeCrawlers]

I will check him out, thanks!

[@CrawlerTrax]

We got one as well, looking forward to reviewing it!

[@CapeCrawlers]

Enjoy! We are loving ours.

[@andrewrichey7374]

Appreciate your sharing, great video I’ll be watching for Moore 👍👍😎

[@brokenmonkeyrc8350]

Very informative video Adam. I'm so jealous, I am on the list at my local hobby. Hope it's soon!

[@CapeCrawlers]

Thank you! I hope you get yours soon!

[@JumboJabs]

Cant wait to pick up the Defender when they come back in stock!

[@CapeCrawlers]

I hope you love it as much as we do when you get it!

[@trejodaniel]

Great Review Adam! Was eagerly awaiting your take on these babies! I was able to to snag a Defender today with a couple of upgrades! Bronco will come soon 😅

[@CapeCrawlers]

Thanks for watching! I’m excited to build these out and see what they’re capable of. Lots of potential I think!

[@farmboyrc]

the trx4m defender is probably the next Rc I'll get!

[@CapeCrawlers]

You won’t regret it 👍🏻

[@RCCrawlerz209]

Saw somebody out at the rocks with one today. Looked pretty dope! I wonder though, if you could put the 54mm shocks on 'em & get that crazy flex out of those rigs? 🤔🧐🤨

[@CapeCrawlers]

Possibly, but the stock GTM shocks are already pretty big. The other issues with flex is going to be the servo. Since it’s wedged in between the shock towers, I can envision it hitting the towers and limiting articulation before long travel shocks run out of travel

[@RCCrawlerz209]

@@CapeCrawlers That's unfortunate...

[@rcgeordiecrawler2710]

What can i say Adam to tell you how disappointed i am with you that you got the Blacked out Bronco that i have on order 😢😢😂😂. Only joking bud 😜😜. I have to say it does look good all black though doesnt it 😍😍 and cant wait to get mine at the end of December when they finally make it to the UK. Excellent video Adam as always 🤙🏻🤙🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[@CapeCrawlers]

Haha! The black is so sharp; love it! I hope you love it as much as I do!

[@petejones6827]

man i really like the tires on the stock bronco i got the plastic beadlocks and brass for the front and they mold to the ground realllly well and i feel like they have alot of grip on mud they are not great but rocks and dry dirt having so much contact and how soft they are makes for some really great traction i found. they seamed to bite better than my injora tires, from what i can tell the other tires are so rounded they suck you get tire roll and have a higher chance of roll over also

[@CapeCrawlers]

They do hook up really well! I love how soft and squishy they are. Great performance for a stock tire.

[@stonekoldkustomz8033]

You are right a Adam, it can use bigger tires and wheels. Why don't you throw a set of those Injora wheels and tires that you're always touting, I think there would be fantastic performers, and look excellent.

[@CapeCrawlers]

I did! Check out the upgrade video. Those wheels and tires looked and worked amazing on the bronco 👍🏻👍🏻

[@stonekoldkustomz8033]

@@CapeCrawlers Very cool, I'm going to check it out right now. Thanks Adam!

[@ericpohlman5131]

What scale is it? 1/24th I'm assuming, but these little truck scales have a very blurred line. Thank you.

[@CapeCrawlers]

1/18. Just a little bump up from the scx24

[@rodgalley9209]

Not much shown on the Defender. The Bronco is a U.S. truck mainly, the Defender is known more around the world. I felt we only got a U.S. review on a U.S. truck and the Defender was ignored.

[@CapeCrawlers]

You’re right, I neglected the defender. I didn’t show much of the defender because my son had already bolted a bunch of stuff onto it. I wanted to review and showcase a stock vehicle to demonstrate how it performed out of the box. I will have more defender content coming soon.

[@fernandoheras4893]

Great video friend!

[@CapeCrawlers]

Thanks for watching!

[@caseys_cozy_garage]

I'm surprised how good the stock tires are. They are really hard but then they climb fantastically. I will be putting softer rubber on them

[@CapeCrawlers]

They are good! I find the stock defender tires to be slightly better than the bronco, but both are good!

[@cmwontner]

I am in 2 minds if I made the right choice with scx24 Gladiator now!

[@CapeCrawlers]

You know which one is my favorite 😉

[@allyoucando8486]

The price is not bad, but one problem that you others youtuber don't say, you need to change the bushing for bearings, buy the low gear $5 but if don't find then the complete transmission $40, and not to mention the possible others upgrades that force the price close or even higher that MIni Capra, the real value is the Mini Capra they have all that I'm wasting money if I buy the TRX4M, that why Traxxas lunch the XRT before the TRX4M to reduce the loss of money because the Mini Capra have more value

[@CapeCrawlers]

Very true. The cost of the rig is just the price of entry into the mod game. I personally love the process of upgrading and modifying so I just accept that the base price is the floor. If you want capability out of the box, for sure the Capra will dominate any of these.

[@basc5026]

I don’t own one but from the vids I’ve seen this is more of a trail based crawler I’d imagine. Not sure if it could out perform a LCG SCX24 rig out on the rocks. TRX4M looks pretty jerky trying to slow crawl. The only part I really like about it is the turning radius, that’s where the SCX24 lacks Would love to build an SCX24 LCG rig with the TRX4M axles

[@basc5026]

Also wonder if this will be able to FLEX as much as your Gladiator…

[@CapeCrawlers]

I think you’re right. It’s going to take a lot of work to make this into a hardcore crawler. I’m excited to see how the crawler gear set works and if that smooths out the bottom end power.

[@CapeCrawlers]

I’m going to say no to the flex because of the shock tower and servo design. I can see with a lot of articulation the servo will hit the shock towers before you can fully utilize long travel shocks

[@travis3567]

For a first time buyer trying the hobby out… would you do this for $150 or the SCX24 for $80? (I have a line on one for 50% off)

[@CapeCrawlers]

I think I answered this question in another video, but I would go with the axial at $80. That’s a great deal, especially for a first time buyer.

[@travis3567]

@@CapeCrawlers hey! I ended up ordering the bronco SCX24 based on your recommendation. I plan to frame mount the shocks and ordered the servo kit, wheels/tires, steering linkage, diff covers, and weighted hex extensions. For ~$160 all in I think it’ll way outperform the stock TRX4M… or at least that’s my hope!

[@fasteddie8730]

what are the green wheels on the defender ?

[@CapeCrawlers]

Injora beadlocks

[@ninerminer370]

Was your son running the Defender in sport mode or trail mode? He looked like he was having more fun.😂

[@CapeCrawlers]

Full sport mode all the time! He is having a blast with the defender!

[@donald2818]

You can’t crawl with the stock gears. Get the crawling gears and it’s a completely different animal.

[@CapeCrawlers]

Totally agree. It’s a night and day difference for crawling.

[@ericwalters7067]

I picked up a few of these from wreckless. What upgrades do you recommend for more flex?

[@CapeCrawlers]

To be determined! I’m testing some flex extensions from some folks right now. Also experimenting with retrofitting scx24 long travel shocks. I’ll post up some content with some examples soon

[@mikeharris7885]

Hi, informative Video - will anyone tell me if you can disable the ESC Lipo cut off like you can on the TRX Defender? I am a beginner prefer to use NiMH batteries and I dare say I can adapt the connector for charging. any advice welcome, thanks.

[@CapeCrawlers]

Thanks for watching! I will defer to the community regarding the ESC cutoff, as that is outside of my expertise! Are you part of the SCX24 group on Facebook? There are some geniuses in that group.

[@fishnrc294]

Question are the chassis exactly the same so you can get a body & it’ll fit either version?

[@CapeCrawlers]

Just lined them up to get a visual comparison. The chassis itself appears to be the same but the bumper mounts are different. The bodies aren’t directly interchangeable for that reason. Otherwise they look identical

[@sugatooth]

So the 1.0 wheels fit on the TRX-4M with no mods? Also, are there much 3rd party upgrades right now, or is it all from Traxxas?

[@CapeCrawlers]

Yes, they’ll fit no problem. I am not aware of any 3rd party mods just yet. I’ll be keep a close eye out though!

[@sugatooth]

@@CapeCrawlers awesome, thanks!

[@VS666]

hahaha, you probably posted this an hour after I asked if you were getting one. just got a green defender yesterday and went ahead and got a full size black/black defender too haha

[@CapeCrawlers]

I was eagerly waiting to pick these up for days!! I love that you got both defenders. That’s epic 🤘🏻

[@tarantula-man]

Does anyone knows what is the outer diameter of the stock bronco tires ?

[@CapeCrawlers]

57mm according to traxxas. I feel like that’s overstated though.

[@tarantula-man]

@@CapeCrawlers thanks 👍

[@kendietz355]

What is the trx4m hex size?

[@CapeCrawlers]

7mm. Same as the Scx24

[@kendietz355]

@@CapeCrawlers Thank You, I have a Black Bronco on hold of Christmas. Also, you were wondering about one handed driving with the Traxxas remote so go to "Mark Santa Maria" he has add ons for those remotes.

[@DennisTingle]

Bro I really liked your channel but can you correct your lighting. You look yellowish and over exposed other than great video.🤟

[@CapeCrawlers]

Thanks! I will try to fix the lighting. I do everything with my phone, which is not ideal.

[@edsteele9923]

Traxxass TRX-4M Sucks as far as power switch,,,Wait NO Power Switch...you have to use battery plug as switch by unpluging and plugging every time....battery plugs are NOT made to work this way....and CANNOT USE other chargers such as Spektrum because of Traxxas proprietary plug on the battery and when your plug goes bad there are NO battery's in stock world wide!!!! Video is about 20 minutes too long.....Water Proof is a strong statement...probably Water Resistant

[@CapeCrawlers]

The battery design is a big downfall for sure. As for the waterproof claim, another person in the comments completely submerged theirs and it survived, so I think the there is some evidence to support the waterproof claim. I could have made the video another hour in length 🤣 but hey, to each their own.

[@randall4411]

Just another Bronco and defender we don't want .

[@CapeCrawlers]

What would you have preferred they release? I want more body options as well.

[@randall4411]

@@CapeCrawlers Anything but a Power Wagon . I like Rat Rods and Redneck Garage Built Trucks .

[@CapeCrawlers]

@@randall4411 a rat rod would be awesome!