Tekno MT48.3 - Truggy chassis converted Monster Truck

[MT48.3]

I just made an account here because I thought this might be something you guys think is cool.

I am a huge fan of Tekno and bashing so naturally I purchased the MT410, however I've always liked the handling and feel of a longer wheelbase. I didn't want to get rid of the Monster Truck body because I really like being able to self-right my RC and I love the look of a Monster Truck body. Surprisingly Tekno actually has information on what part numbers you need to do this conversion including what bodies fit, I'll be including the picture I used to get the part numbers.

I'm sure I'm not the first person to do this, but I think I may be one of the first to do this exact combination of parts. The only things my build is missing right now is a Max6 Combo and the new M2C V2 center brace. I'm going to be attempting to fit a Max6 system into this truck by relocating the ESC to the top of the center diff.

 

[Klappars]

I loved this build when I saw it on RCTalk forum think and I'm sure others would love to see it here!

 

[MT48.3]

I loved this build when I saw it on RCTalk forum think and I'm sure others would love to see it here!

Do you have a link to that? That wasn't my build so I'm curious to see it.

 

[Drew]

Thats a very bada#% truck! I bet it handle like a dream. Im starting on takimg the nb48.3 and many of the sct410.3 parts and making a nitro sct. Should be sweet

 

[Klappars]

Do you have a link to that? That wasn't my build so I'm curious to see it.

Where else did you post this. I'm sure I had seen it somewhere else?

 

[Gritsngreens1]

I'd love to see the build as well.

 

[MT48.3]

Where else did you post this. I'm sure I had seen it somewhere else?

Oh you're thinking of Reddit lol, yea I posted it on there.

 

[MT48.3]

Thats a very bada#% truck! I bet it handle like a dream. Im starting on takimg the nb48.3 and many of the sct410.3 parts and making a nitro sct. Should be sweet

That will be unique, I like Nitro a lot but I'll probably never own one.

 

[Klappars]

Oh you're thinking of Reddit lol, yea I posted it on there.

Thats right. Knew i'd seen it somewhere!

 

[Drew]

That will be unique, I like Nitro a lot but I'll probably never own one.

Im still hunting for a used nb48.3. I missed the one on ebay and dont know if i will be forced to buy a new one just to build this conbersion but if anyone seeing this knows someone who has a used nb48.3 please let me know so i can build this nitro 410.3

 

[austinzippy]

I like the longer wheelbase much better! It's easier to drive faster since it's not backflipping on a hair trigger.

 

[Supradude26]

I do a quick changeover from regular race truggy mode to monster truck mode with my ET48.3 depending if im going to the track or just out having fun. Being that i started with the ET i didnt really have to change much. I just move the two rear body mounts to the front of the front shock tower, mount one of the front body mounts to the front middle of the rear shock tower as there is a factory hole there already. I did a Ford Raptor body up that is designed for the bigger 1/8th scale monster trucks, and even though the wheelsbase is still a little short, the body fits nearly perfect. I then move the shocks all the way in on the arms and install the stiffest springs i have and jack the ride height up and im ready to go. I have a few different sets of the proline 40 series tires and wheels with the 1/2" offset which are perfect as i already have the +2mm hubs. I can either remove the wing for a more realistic look or leave it on to help downforce as i trimmed the body to fit around the mount but dont have any pics of that setup yet

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[MT48.3]

I like the longer wheelbase much better! It's easier to drive faster since it's not backflipping on a hair trigger.

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I love how with the long Wheelbase you can put more of the power down, and also go faster off-road over rough terrain.

 

[MT48.3]

I do a quick changeover from regular race truggy mode to monster truck mode with my ET48.3 depending if im going to the track or just out having fun. Being that i started with the ET i didnt really have to change much. I just move the two rear body mounts to the front of the front shock tower, mount one of the front body mounts to the front middle of the rear shock tower as there is a factory hole there already. I did a Ford Raptor body up that is designed for the bigger 1/8th scale monster trucks, and even though the wheelsbase is still a little short, the body fits nearly perfect. I then move the shocks all the way in on the arms and install the stiffest springs i have and jack the ride height up and im ready to go. I have a few different sets of the proline 40 series tires and wheels with the 1/2" offset which are perfect as i already have the +2mm hubs. I can either remove the wing for a more realistic look or leave it on to help downforce as i trimmed the body to fit around the mount but dont have any pics of that setup yet

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Wow, you basically have a quick-change system. That body is actually the one I was using before I converted my RC Truck.

 

[Drew]

I'd love to see the build as well.

I just got the nb48.3 and about 75% of the sct parts and got started on it last night. Forgot bearings and spindle carriers so i prdered those thos a.m. so far everything fits like a glove. I am going to use the buggies rear hub bc its beefier and will run 17mm hex. I will definitely keep you guys posted and load some pics soon

 

[lampshade9909]

I do a quick changeover from regular race truggy mode to monster truck mode with my ET48.3 depending if im going to the track or just out having fun. Being that i started with the ET i didnt really have to change much. I just move the two rear body mounts to the front of the front shock tower, mount one of the front body mounts to the front middle of the rear shock tower as there is a factory hole there already. I did a Ford Raptor body up that is designed for the bigger 1/8th scale monster trucks, and even though the wheelsbase is still a little short, the body fits nearly perfect. I then move the shocks all the way in on the arms and install the stiffest springs i have and jack the ride height up and im ready to go. I have a few different sets of the proline 40 series tires and wheels with the 1/2" offset which are perfect as i already have the +2mm hubs. I can either remove the wing for a more realistic look or leave it on to help downforce as i trimmed the body to fit around the mount but dont have any pics of that setup yet

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Do you have any pictures or a better description of how you moved the body mounts and mounted this body? I'm curious to see where exactly and how you mounted your body mounts on the shock towers. I'm making a Tekno monster truck and am researching ways to raise up the body on a ET48.3 chassis/shock tower setup.

 

[Supradude26]

Do you have any pictures or a better description of how you moved the body mounts and mounted this body? I'm curious to see where exactly and how you mounted your body mounts on the shock towers. I'm making a Tekno monster truck and am researching ways to raise up the body on a ET48.3 chassis/shock tower setup.

Ill get some better pics when i get home tonight, but here are a couple i took before i painted my Raptor body and you can see a bit better where the mounts are at. The body mount mod i do is really simple. I simply take the stock ET rear body mounts and install them in place of the stock front ones, except they stick out the front of the shock tower using the stock body mount holes in the front shock tower. I then take one of the stock front mounts and install it in the middle of the rear shock tower, using the stock hole thats right in the middle of the rear shock tower. It gets installed coming out towards the front of the truck. As you can see in the pics, i had to trim the bed of the truck to clear the top sides of the rear shock tower, but I still think it looks good if done right. My only complaint I have with this setup is there is no way to adjust the height of the body, but I have a couple extra body mount sets for my SCT410.3 that I might try to mod and use. The only other things I have to change is I move the front shocks all the way in on the arms to clear the body when the suspension compresses, and i typically move the rears in as well and I always swap over to orange springs front and rear, basically setting it up to get the tallest possible ride height. I also usually swap out to either 2.8mm or 3.0mm sway bars as it seems to not traction roll as easy when its sitting higher up.

I have wanted to grab a Proline Top Kick body, the larger of the two sizes available as it has a long enough wheelbase that i think would fit better and look more proper, but the front hood has more slope to it that the Raptor so im not sure if it would end up working with my current mounting system. Its discontinued, but I know my LHS has a couple in stock...

https://www.prolineracing.com/bodies/gmc-topkick-clear-body.asp

Another option i want to try is the Revo 3.3 Proline 2008 F250 body as i believe its wheelbase is a bit longer than this Raptor. Anyway, ill get better pics of the mounts and the setup with the wing I did and post them up soon...

 

[Supradude26]

Here are some pics i just took of where the i put the body mounts in order to run a truck body on mine... only other things i do are move the shocks to the most inward hole on the arms, jack up the preload with orange springs, and i have a set of thinner droop screws that let me get the max ride height, stopping just before the shocks max out. I think it looks kind of goofy with the wing on, but was too lazy to take it off for these pics. It does a decent job of acting as a wheelie bar if you leave it on though haha.

 

[lampshade9909]

Here are some pics i just took of where the i put the body mounts in order to run a truck body on mine... only other things i do are move the shocks to the most inward hole on the arms, jack up the preload with orange springs, and i have a set of thinner droop screws that let me get the max ride height, stopping just before the shocks max out. I think it looks kind of goofy with the wing on, but was too lazy to take it off for these pics. It does a decent job of acting as a wheelie bar if you leave it on though haha.
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This makes total sense now! I get it. The pictures cleared things up perfectly. This looks like a strategy I'll use as well. Makes the most sense for what I'm building.

What are the thinner droop screws you used? Just anything that fit that had a smaller "head"? Could you just remove the droop screws all together? Or does that leave some unwanted "slack"?

I'll google around some of the body options you mentioned and let you know if I come up with any other ideas as well!

 

[Supradude26]

This makes total sense now! I get it. The pictures cleared things up perfectly. This looks like a strategy I'll use as well. Makes the most sense for what I'm building.

What are the thinner droop screws you used? Just anything that fit that had a smaller "head"? Could you just remove the droop screws all together? Or does that leave some unwanted "slack"?

I'll google around some of the body options you mentioned and let you know if I come up with any other ideas as well!

Yea the droop screws are simply thin head 4mm screws. I think they are actually Kyosho front kingpin screws I had. Cant remember exactly. You could also just file a set of stock ones down as they habe the 2mm hex on both ends so it wouldnt matter if you get rid of the one on the head end. The key thing is that you dont want to run with no screws, or setup that has so much droop that the shocks max out and stop the arms. It puts strain on the pisons, shock ends, shock mounts etc, especially with any of the big and heavy 40 series monster truck tires that I run. They probably weight 3 times as much as the typical truggy wheels and tires. I set it up so the droop screws stop the arms just before the shocks max out. 20+ years ago I kept stripping out the bottom shock ends and didnt know why as i had never had a rig with droop screws and didnt have it set up right... Lastly, the more extreme angles and weight of the arms the universals/cvd's can get pretty close to popping out of the diff cups, plus they will wear much faster running that way.

When i bought my ET48.3 last year i had originally planned on getting the MT410, but i really wanted the longer wheelbase plus it comes stock with a lot of the upgraded parts that I would have spent extra money on anyway. I ended up so impressed with it and the quality of Tekno that within the next 2 weeks i ordered up the SCT410.3 and EB48.4 as well. I still would like to add the MT to the garage as I want to have one that is set up to run 6s all the time that is a dedicated bash truck, but ive been holding out to see what the new 2.0 electric rigs will be like whenever they come out. I do think that the MT will be the last of the new ones to come out so ill probably just grab the current version because ive got so many common spares. We will see. 14 months after getting the kits, between all 3 the only parts that ive had to replace is a couple hinge pins, one ET universal shaft and one shock shaft, and ive had tons of giant crashes that should have destroyed many parts. These make all my other RC's seem fragile haha.