Crawler Canyon Quick(re)view: Element Trailrunner RTR, Part 2

[@mfnJOSH]

Small tires are fun because they add a handi cap that forces you to explore new lines and approach obstacles differently. It makes wherever you're traiking/crawing a whole new area. I patina'd a protoform dodge dart body and put it on a utron chassis with 4.19 tires... currently my favorite rig to drive. Even beats my sporty, and the other 4.75 tires rigs.

[@machinedred]

🎉 dude as your fitting servos weekly like me I suggest you buy the cheap servo tester off Ali ,it gives you 1500u ( mid stick ) output so you can centre your servo on the bench without radio gear , I have a permanent one stuck to the bench ,saves a lot of time

[@rud3y1]

Another nice lil design touch by the guys at element is the steering hubs are the same between the solid axle and ifs. So you can get some nice brass or what have you and they'll swap straight over if you ever wanna change from ifs to straight or visa versa.

[@gerrysoldguyreview]

Glad you like it! I have a few ifs trucks and love the different driving experience!

[@machinedred]

30:14 bush ! Tune !

[@Brian_Mowry__BMOW71]

Almost bought the Trailrunner when it was first released, but decided not to. Just watched Part 1 and now this part 2 and thought I'd just check out Amain to see if it was still available. Shockingly it was still in stock at $275. Hard to pass up that deal, so I got one ordered and will be here this week. Looking forward to seeing more of Ruby in the future.

[@machinedred]

🎉when meshing I preload the spur shaft with my thumb away from the motor to replicate it being under load , especially important with the Amazon dig box ,try it dude 😎

[@FaithSaraG]

Ruby's looking good!

[@JC-Nor-Cal]

Much more impressed than I thought I would be. And she's cute to boot.. with an overbite.. If you decide to change her name. "Overbite" should be it.

[@derrickhays3627]

Ruby is a good looking girl and pretty capable too, the tusk definitely looks better on her. Thanks.

[@FeralRC]

Horizon has great closeout deals right now on Class 1 Duratrax tires. I was thinking of selling my Trailrunner but now I'm ordering tires so maybe not...

[@chickentuber]

I think the extra drive shaft length (silver part showing) is so you can adjust the wheelbase shorter. ?

[@fromfin90]

a servo with plug in it would be more expensive to make waterproof, but sounds doable. That 32kg AGFRC is fantastic when fed 8,4v and 10A bec, really excellent.

[@TrailTape]

Funnily I don't think my Trailrunner had any threadlocker. Surely not as much as you've encountered. Hell even my driveshaft bolts didn't have threadlocker. I learned that the hard way... My first crawler and after a few hours of driving it switched to FWD mode lol.

[@neildaniels5443]

I told ya 4.19 would be perfect 😊

[@brianmorrison2846]

yes

[@brianmorrison2846]

Gig city I'm telling you man it's fast here.

[@TheOtherSock-728]

Having 4 places to plug the servo wire would be fantastic! My guess as to why the wires are at the same side as the output, is that servos were born from the model airplane world, where weight savings was top of the list. The motors are at the same end of the servo as the output shaft. So if they could save an inch of wire, it would save a gram or two, and the servo case could be a millimeter shorter by not having the wires travel through the bottom of the case. I can't think of a reason for them to be this way today though, as brushless motors are smaller and electronics are more compact .

[@mfnJOSH]

The ifs2 specifically is driving me to buy an sla printer. I want to redesign the control arms to use regular replacable 3mm ball ends... i also think it would be cool to make adjustable camber and castor.

[@CrawlerCanyon]

Adjustable caster would be cool, as IFS1 has absolutely zero.

[@mfnJOSH]

@CrawlerCanyon im designing a set for ifs2 in solidworks right now. Ill have to send a set over when they are ready to be tested.

[@HVT03]

Is it possible to put a sway bar on that rear axle, how would it perform, and what would be the differences between normal axle with sway bar and trailing arms with sway bar? Man, now I want to build something with IFS (probably IFS2), normal axle (instead of trailing arms) and the Benedict Harry 2-speed, some 4 runner or pre-runner body or whatever I like more... oh man, I can stop thinking about new rigs 🤣 Also, how would look some red wheels on there? Probably black looks better, but watch out for the red

[@CrawlerCanyon]

I find that same-same almost never works when color is involved-- you can put silver on silver, white on white, black on black, etc-- but as soon as you try to put say blue on blue or red on red, it's immediately obvious that the colors are never quite the same. I think she needs some 6-spokes, either silver or black. The 105s are a little boring, and 6-spoke would be (probably) the most 1:1 accurate as that's what's on most of the 4 Runners around here. But now that I think about it too much, maybe a red beadlock ring? That might be nice.

[@3sbrc]

Just dropped a like but going to watch the vid in the morning 😴😴

[@fuse557]

Love your content, and info you give us. But let's just get it over with. Redcat Fusion box stock with some decent tires and rims. Im not a Redcat fanboy. Own a Vrd. Lets see it on the rocks with good tires , rims , and nothing else!

[@CrawlerCanyon]

Should a Redcat never again darken my door, I would consider it a life well lived. For what I hope would be the last time, but inevitably will not be: they did not change anything meaningful. It's the same exact Gen9 axles, the same gawdawful geometry, the panhard is still on the wrong side of the vehicle. Let's not forget what I assume has to be the world's first 6-piece CF chassis. Lastly, an Ascent Fusion with a wheel and tire swap is a $500 Redcat crawler. I genuinely don't see the point. You could get a Phoenix RTR for less.

[@darrellwright3105]

If you click the bind button 3 times withing a few seconds it turns the gyro of on the receiver. When the red light turns green you know its set without gyro. Really simple way of disabling it.

[@CrawlerCanyon]

I'm doing everything in my power to remember this-- because that gyro likely got turned on by ol' ham fingers over here trying to press and hold the bind button and missing-- apparently three times.

[@darrellwright3105]

@CrawlerCanyon haha, especially hard when it's already in a reciever box and that end is close to the wall and trying to use a 90° prick punch lol..been there many times!

[@Stinkles_]

Honest question, would a Tamiya silver can 540 be an improvement over the Reedy motor? Cause I’m gonna get one of these, and I have a bunch of sliver can 540’s lying around. Wouldn’t mind a free upgrade in the period before I eventually go brushless.

[@CrawlerCanyon]

Yep, sure would. I did a test about a year ago where I tested a bunch of old Tamiya motors, and some were surprisingly good. The only drawback to those old Mabuchis is a super-short shaft for the pinion.

[@Stinkles_]

Awesome, thanks so much for the quick response! I’m gonna order my own Ruby after work tonight. Loved the videos, and seeing your thinking evolve in real time. I’ve subbed to the channel, can’t wait for more vids!

[@Rc_Alex_76]

Hi crawler fans first like and comment 😀

[@Rombo-86]

Yea 👌💪

[@3sbrc]

4 19 look nice

[@3sbrc]

But that incomplete front axle housing was just a bit weird but all together it's a nice truck,with a nice body

[@TrailTape]

If you need any more of the plastic washers that hold the fenders, door handles, etc on, shoot me a message. I 3d printed (several rounds of) some replacements for mine and after 2 months of heavy use they're still holding, and hold better than the stock ones did.

[@LumpkinMumfins1]

I reckon keeping it as close to original as possible while still making it useable is the way to go. Not every rig needs to kill every line, and unless you’re going to remove or BUTCHER that body, this will never be a high performance rig 🤷‍♂️

[@brianmorrison2846]

I've recently discovered that If you change rigs daily and hit the same obstacles you learn whats missing or needs to change. My VRD only gets out to set the bar level. Then I tune my rigs accordingly and the ones that don't kill the lines are the most fun. Amazon still has the Trailrunner in stock for $275 and it's tempting.

[@LumpkinMumfins1]

That’s a great way to do it if’n you have the time! As it stands I get time to make about one “Canyon Change” per week, which means sometimes my rigs go backward a bit in capability before they go forward again, but that’s half the fun! Like you said - “…the ones that don’t kill the lines are the most fun.”

[@LumpkinMumfins1]

4.19 Tusks are DEFINITELY the move on this’n looks-wise 🤌🤌🤌

[@jayleeson8517]

Ruby Ruby Ruby ( ahh aah ah aahhh)

[@PleasureAfterWorkRcCrawlers]

I'm a portal 4.19 guy 😇

[@jimbocreationsbu8203]

not Ruby - maybe Dolores - a weird distinctive name 4.19'' way better look - wwaaayyy better

[@CasperRc81]

Who cares what the edge of the pinion shape is😊. Cut a 1” strip of college rule paper width of the spur gear press the pinion into the spur with the paper in between and lock down your motor screws. Roll the paper out its a great mesh every time on 48p idk like 2.5-3 thow thick is the paper I measured it years ago. Elements site says in stock but I’m not creating a log in to find out. Also the utron has the ifs2. Dang you sir😂I want this think now 😂. Maybe they will re release it, But if2 with the axial yeti380 trailing arms make it a proper long travel sleeper. Like the pivot point would be around the “B” pillar sleeper. 2300pro and have best of both worlds. Get small paddles for like the traxxas bandit also. By the way my axial380 yeti on 1.9’s is a true line killer. Not hi break over points but even then such suspension travel is so. The front skid is narrow. I under driven the rear and I thrown small 3mm screw washers into the front carrier spider gears. It’s great it’s acts like viscous locker. Will slip a bit about 90-120* of wheel spin intermittently then bind up and lock up. I collapsed the servo saver spring with an ax10 axle housing bearing I believe. I’m not advocating this set up but it has the White Castle idk micro with fan and the slate 2850kv with the smallest pinion and 4.75x1.9 pitbull growlers it has decent low end coupled with the under driven vp set up. Think I’m going to 4 wheel steer it cage area allows room for servo on axle. I have my trx6 rear oe wheel/tires on looks alright. Thank you for the video. Man I want to check out your set up when I’m in universal studios 5/1/24 but the wife you know uh…stranger 😂😂 piece to you and your family.