The TXT-2 comes in a nice big box stuffed with
goodies. The blurry and horrible picture on the right shows the
plastic parts trees and the side frames.
The transmission and transfer case are built
first. A set of three massive nylon gears are installed on
included ball bearings. The two silver can motors share a common
spur gear and use 19 tooth pinions. The motor mount is an aluminum
plate.
The side frames might look like plastic, but they are
actually a fascinating hybrid. The frame is black
aluminum bar with plastic apparently molded around it. A flat
aluminum plate is then screwed to the side. The bending stiffness
of these huge plates is tremendous, meaning that this chassis is never
going to flex. The cross members are mostly round metal
bars. The main structural cross member is the gearbox itself which
attaches at multiple points.
The axles are an interesting design with additional gear reduction inside.
The initial 90 degree turn from the drive shaft is done with a pair of
bevel gears performing a reduction, but this is not the
differential. The differential is one stage further down and uses a
spur type ring gear. The differential is an unsealed bevel gear
type. This model does not include any means to lock the differentials.
The completed axles are massive. Front and rear
are identical if you build with the four wheel steering option, otherwise the
rear axle knuckles can be locked out. The axles are attached to
the frame with long metal 4-link rods. There is a LOT more
articulation here that the Clod Buster. The drive shafts are nice
steel telescoping units. You'll notice that the pumpkins actually
face down which looks odd but that's really how they go!
The model uses 8 long plastic oil filled shocks.
Building them is obviously quite repetitive, but they seem pretty good
quality typical of CVA shocks. Installing them completes the chassis.
For the stock build I used the TEU-106BK dual brushed
motor ESC. I mixed the front and rear steering servos on my radio
so I can turn the four wheel steering on and off. The tires were very easy to put
on the plastic wheels and I did not glue them.