Project: Traxxas Stampede 4×4 MTV

MTV = Multi-Terrain Vehicle

We do lots of projects all the time, and some take quite a while to ‘put together’. Your initial idea ends up being nothing like you thought, requiring even more time and parts but still resulting in more headaches. Then there’s the ones that just fall into place. When I first received my Traxxas Stampede 4×4 VXL I already had a vision of what I wanted it to be. I knew what tires, wheels and aftermarket goodies were going to be bolted on and what the final product was going to look like. The final screw has been turned, and I present to you my Traxxas Stampede 4×4 MTV, or Multi-Terrain Vehicle. This truck has seen dirt, rocks, mud and water…and has conquered them all!

Chassis
The Stampede 4×4 chassis features a nice, compact setup that really didn’t need much tweaking in order to complete this project. Up until recently, Traxxas’ chassis plastic was only sold in a light gray color. Now, thankfully, they offer their complete lineup in solid black; a color that compliments the rest of the truck oh so well. This also saves me the time of disassembling and reassembling the truck to do the dying myself. Additional chassis upgrades include Traxxas’ Battery Expansion Kit and set of custom rock guards. The battery expansion kit is basically just taller mounts that allow you to drop in a taller 3S LiPo pack. The rock guards are a pair of custom dirt guards I made from Lexan to help keep debris being thrown directly into the chassis area. These won’t block all of the debris, but they do block a lot of the rocks and water kicked up by the front tires.

Suspension
The suspension on the Stampede got the most attention mainly because it’s going to get the biggest workout! Starting with the plastic bits, I added a full, front and rear set of RPM suspension arms. You just can’t beat the performance and durability of RPM’s aftermarket parts, especially when you’re talking suspension parts. Moving further back, a pair of Team STRC machined aluminum C-hubs and a multi-piece aluminum steering bellcrank were added. These parts add durability and bling while removing any flex in these crucial areas. As a final step to the suspension upgrade, a full set of Team STRC threaded aluminum shock bodies were added to both the front and rear. These bodies are direct replacements and allow precise adjustment of the ride height (as well as looking absolutely trick!).

Drivetrain
In stock form, the Traxxas Stampede 4×4 drivetrain is extremely stout. Because of that, I saw no reason to make major modifications here either. I did, however, swap out the differential internals for a pair of Hot Racing’s differential spool lockers. There is a little work involved to insert these into the diffs, but once done you’ll have a pair of locked differentials that will allow you to crawl your way over almost any object! My next concern was the plastic sliding outdrives. Lots of power, lots of torque and super soft tires make a winning combination, but not if the drive axles turn to putty the first time you grab the throttle. I had a hard time finding a set of heavy duty, steel dogbones (or CVD’s) for the Stampede 4×4 until I came across Tekno RC. These guys had a full set of drivebones (and additional hardware) for the Traxxas Stampede 4×4 that fit like a glove. Not only did I get some killer bones, I also got new axles, bearings, and diff outdrives that were twice as beefy as the stock parts! Put all that together and you’ve got a near-bulletproof setup!

Electronics
The Stampede 4×4 VXL comes ready to go with a full complement of waterproof electronics, so again I saw no reason to try and find replacements that worked well together AND could handle the massive 3S MaxAmps LiPo I was shoving in it. The included Velineon VXL-S3 system is a powerhouse that can spin the rollers past the 60mph mark (on a 3S pack); however not something I really wanted in my MTV. But, because I did want some stump-pulling torque, I decided to match the stock electronics with the MaxAmps 3S Hard Case Race Edition LiPo and just drop the Stampede’s gearing down 2 teeth. Now we’re talking some serious umph!

Body, Wheels and Tires
To help give the Stampede it’s extreme MTV look, I removed the front and rear bumpers, wheelie bar and stock body mounts and topped it with one of VG Racing’s black roll cages. This is a direct fit cage, but it looked kind of bare with only the cage. I custom cut a set of Lexan body panels and zip-tied them in place, along with a set of TGN Distributing red window nets. These nets come in a variety of colors and can be attached in a couple different ways. To complete the look, I drilled a hole in the rear shock tower and added a ‘whip’ antenna and custom-cut flag. Keeping in line with my MTV theme, I knew I wanted some wheels and tires that would fit the bill in both style and function. A set of black RPM Revolver wheels were added to help widen the Stampede for its off-road excursions. To allow the MTV to claw over and through any terrain, I chose a set of Pro-line Interco TSL Super Swampers. I mean, really, it says Super Swamper in the name…perfect since that’s where the 4×4 will be most of the time!

The Drive
A proper testing location was needed for the Multi-Terrain Vehicle that would allow me to run in dirt, rocks and water, so I headed up to the local mountains to a location called the Holy Jim Trail. This trail features lots of uneven dirt, rock gardens and even some mini-creeks that cross the trail. There was even some mud up there after a recent rain, however not as much as I had anticipated. The first part of the test was some loamy gravel areas. The MTV worked great but with loads of 3S power on tap, it was a bit of a handful when the truck started reaching the higher RPMs. Massive wheelspin, rapidly-growing tires and constant wheelies made traversing the flat terrain a task in finger control, but I couldn’t help mashing the throttle because it was SO much fun! Once I got that out of my system, I headed over to the rock garden, an area where the rocks were as big (and bigger) than the Stampede itself. This is where the locked differentials and soft Proline tires were at home, slowly pawing their way through the field of boulders. I soon found, however, that the 3S pack was way too much power for this, too! At times I needed to quickly blip the throttle to help pull the MTV out of a situation, only to have all 4 tires explode with power and launch the Stampede into the air. It soon got easy to power through the rocks, but never towards my intended goal. The final test was to surge through some mud and water features, both of which would slow the MTV down and put quite a load on the power system (as well as test out its waterproof capabilities). The Stampede made quick work of both the mud and water, using the monster 3S power to pull itself through with no problems! I can honestly say that I was a little uncertain about how waterproof the Traxxas equipment was, but I’m here to tell you that it is no joke; this truck can be driven through water and mud with zero worries!

Final Thoughts
This turned out to be a pretty successful project, however it would have been much easier to drive with a 2S LiPo instead of a 3S. While the 3S is really fun, it made the powerband touchy, resulting in a difficult truck to drive smoothly. The VG cage worked flawlessly, protecting the internals from multiple flippies in the extremely brutal rock gardens. The RPM parts, STRC parts and Proline tires all helped out extremely well, and the incredibly durable Tekno RC driveline parts will for sure see their way on to more of my high-power projects! The one thing I still can’t get over is how well the MTV worked in the water and mud! Being a racer, purposely navigating an electric RC car INTO water (deep water, at that) was out of my comfort zone. The truck was under water up to the window nets multiple times, and I was waiting for that puff of smoke from the ESC, motor, battery…something! It never happened. I’m not busy this weekend…Holy Jim Trail, we’ll be seeing you again real soon!

Parts Used
Traxxas
Traxxas.com
Stampede 4×4 VXL – #6708L
Battery Expansion Kit – #5827X

VG Racing
VGRacing.com
Stampede 4×4 Roll Cage – #VGR-EPEDE_4x4

RPM RC Products
RPMRCProducts.com
Stampede 4×4 Front and Rear Suspension Arms – #80702
Revolver Wheels – #82222

Team STRC
TeamSTRC.com
Front Machined Threaded Aluminum Shock Bodies – #ST3765XGM
Rear Machined Threaded Aluminum Shock Bodies – #ST3766XGM
Machined Aluminum C-Hubs – #ST6832B
Machined Aluminum Multi-Piece Steering Bellcrank – #ST6845GM

Tekno RC
TeknoRC.com
Rear M6 Driveshafts and Hub Carriers – #TKR6852X
Front M6 Driveshafts and Steering Blocks – #TKR6851X

Proline
ProlineRacing.com
Interco TSL Super Swampers – #1166-14

MaxAmps
MaxAmps.com
Hard Case Race Edition LiPo 6500mAh 11.1v 3S

TGN Distributing
TGNDistributing.com
Scale Window Nets – #8967-RD

Hot Racing
hot-racing.com
Locking Differential Spool- #SSLF125