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The Traxxas Slash 4×4 brought the fun of short course racing and the ease and power delivery of 4WD together in one package. While the first 4×4’s came with semi-powerful brushed motors and ESCs, people were soon stuffing overkill power plants into them. People were also finding that the drivetrains, dogbone sliders and chassis were all durable enough to handle these big motors, and the 4WD SC racing revolution began.
Due to the high ground clearance, the Slash 4×4 was fantastic out in the fields, desert and rocky terrain. The downside of all this ground clearance was its high CG, inhibiting its ability to keep up with some of the race-bred 4WD SC trucks starting to hit the market. What this truck really needed was something that brought all that weight down low, and that is where STRC came in.
PARTS USED
STRC
Slash 4×4 LCG Conversion Kit (Blue), ST6822LCG-B
Slash 4×4 LCG Conversion Kit (Black), ST6822LCG-BK
THE KIT
The LCG chassis conversion comes with a nicely machined, monster-thick, 4mm aluminum main chassis, 2mm carbon fiber top deck, aluminum motor mount, battery holders and mounting hardware. The chassis even has kickup machined into it; something every good off-road vehicle has for added performance. The kit is designed to reuse all of the mounting hardware off of your stock Slash 4×4, but does include a few more screws (longer ones) for certain areas. The chassis has provisions to move your battery forward or back for optimum weight distribution. While you can lengthen the battery compartment to accept your stock 7-cell NiMH battery, the battery strap isn’t long enough to hold it down. This LCG chassis is strictly designed for racing and running a 2S LiPo. If you want to run a longer pack (say, your stock 7-cell NiMH), you’ll need to fab up your own strap. Also missing was an antenna mount, but there are two holes in the upper deck that can be used to mount any aftermarket holder.
INSTALLATION
The Slash 4×4 LCG chassis conversion significantly drops the CG on the Slash 4×4 right down to where the competitors are and its simple design and layout make it extremely easy to work on. Installation took about 20 minutes; simply remove the front and rear clips from the stock Slash 4×4 and bolt them on to the conversion chassis. The side bumpers, servo and ESC mount in the stock locations, however if you plan on using the waterproof box, it has to be mounted on the top deck. Since this was a racer build, I opted to remove the receiver from the box and mount it directly to the chassis. I was even able to reuse the motor wire hold down!
BASELINE SETUP
I headed over to Pegasus Hobbies to do some initial testing with the bone-stock Traxxas Slash. Because of the battery hold-down issue, I threw in a MaxAmps 2S 6500mAh LiPo for the test. The track was a little dry, but had a few good jumps, hairpins and a nice, long straight with a drop-off. This track was sure to show the potential of the truck. To check the full potential of this conversion, the stock tires were used.
TEST RUN – STOCK SLASH
I ran three packs with the stock Slash 4×4. The first was to learn the track; layout, timing, etc. The next two packs were fast, controlled runs as if it were in race conditions. The truck worked great and was pretty fast, but did seem to lean a lot in the corners. This is definitely an attribute of a high CG, but also seemed to give the Slash 4×4 a lot of rear grip.
TEST RUN – STRC SLASH 4X4 LCG CONVERSION
After a quick teardown and rebuild, I had the STRC Slash 4×4 LCG conversion installed and ready to rock! I reset my trims, tweaked the ride height and set the modified Slash down for its initial run. Since I already knew the track, I was in my pin-it-to-win-it mentality right out of the gate. I immediately felt a difference in and out of the corners, where the lower CG made the truck much more nimble. Jumping was much the same as the stock truck, but my acceleration once the truck hit the ground improved substantially. With the stock truck, once it landed off a jump, there was a slight wait time as the suspension compressed and rebounded back up, followed by a short pause as the suspension settled back down. The STRC chassis has the same compression time, but the rebound was almost instantaneous, so I could get back on the throttle almost instantly. This is sure to help lower lap times in race conditions. The only real downside was coming out of the corners. Because there was so much body roll with the stock Slash 4×4, it would be a little lazy in the corners, allowing you to put the power down more abruptly. The STRC Slash 4×4 conversion rolls a lot less, so mashing the throttle seemed to give the truck a lot of oversteer out of the corners, especially on the stock tires. Some simple tuning and a fresh set of race kicks will certainly put you on the back door of some of the more race-oriented SC trucks!
FINAL THOUGHTS
The Slash 4×4 is a great truck and, I’m sure, has given everyone a lot of great memories, whether you’ve competed on the track or bashed it in the fields. If you’re looking for something to up the performance of your tired truck, check out STRC’s LCG chassis kit. It’s a simple install, works great and will make your Slash 4×4 feel like a brand new truck!
LINKS
STRC teamstrc.com
Traxxas traxxas.com, 888-872-9929
