Traxxas SWB Conversion

I've always had thing for the Short wheelbase RC monster trucks of the 80's. I even had a Tamiya Midnight pumpkin. They were pretty fun if and when you could keep them on their wheels. Years ago I received a Traxxas stampede as a gift. I used it a few times but it mostly collected dust.

I decided to fuse the two together and created an easy to build short wheelbase chassis for Traxxas parts. The wheelbase measures right around 210mm. The front bulkhead mounts the same and uses the stampede parts and geometry for steering. The rear mounts the same but is backwards. This puts the weight on the transmission and motor forward of the rear wheels and greatly reduces wheelies. This also make it very stable and easy to drive. I tried to reuse as much of the hardware from the stampede as possible but you will need additional two 4x15mm and two 4x20mm screws. Check all holes for proper fitment, some may need to be drilled out.

You will need either a reverse rotation motor or reverse the rotation of your current one.

-Reversing the rotation of an electric motor is more than just switching the power leads. The brushes will also need to be re-timed 180 degrees from their current positions. There are several articles available on-line with more information.

More on the reverse mounted gearbox. The control arms will need to be swapped so that when it's done the left and right are on their proper sides.You will need the shock spaces to remount the shocks to the A-arms. The camber links will also need to be relocated.

Add a little double sided tape to remount the electronics and it ready to roll.

This design uses a standard 7.2v 6 cell battery pack for that added retro appeal. The battery bars can be made longer to accommodate a 7 cell pack.

Currently there is no body but I am working on a few ideas.

Enjoy,
~Liz