Yukino: The Ice Queen

 
It's a slow Thursday, so I thought I'd share some pictures of my "Yukino" build. I think I did my Latino brothers proud when I stripped everything off the Land Rover Defender frame in roughly 15 minutes. And I mean everything!

This is where I was about 1.5 hours in. The frame was built first, and the stock Defender bumpers were attached to its ends. I attached the skid plate, and then the high clearance suspension links. 

The next stage of this build got a little messy. I opened the transmission and axles to verify the status of the factory grease, then used a small paint brush to ensure every gear tooth and bearing were adequately lubricated. Once that was finished, I replaced the covers and then installed them on the frame. The driveshafts were also attached at this point.

One knock against Traxxas's TRX-4M crawlers is they suffer from significant torque twist. In plain English, when you hit the gas the right rear dips excessively affecting body roll and performance. 

My fix is to combine a soft spring with a hard spring on the right rear shock (far right), then fill all four reservoirs with 30W Team Losi Racing oil. I also adjusted the collars to shorten the shocks by one third their lengths to lower the ride height and stiffen the ride. This remedy worked wonders for Darkness, so I already know it'll do the same for Yukino.

It took me a little over three hours to complete everything on the chassis, and that's because the stock battery screws did not fit the Injora skid plate for some reason. I had to improvise with a leftover screw from one of the other Injora upgrade parts. 

After I spent about 10 minutes installing the LED light kit on Yukino's body...

... The Ice Queen passed her trail running test runs with flying colors. Now I just need her custom plates to arrive in a few days to officially complete this build.