PROJECT

Summit
PROJECT
SUPER
20
Pounds of
Pulling Power
by David Baker
W
Without getting too specific, I will tell you the
Summit pulled more than ten times its own weight
on level pavement without blinking. Put an eight
year old kid in here and it handles curbs, slopes and
other terrain...within reason.
hen you want a vehicle that is versatile enough to handle pulling, crawling, climbing
and monster truck style bashing, you can’t go wrong with the Traxxas Summit. Its two
speeds, low gear for slow and steady power and high gear for speed, provide all the per-
formance you need for endless fun. Right from the box it is ready to go and needs no
upgrades. But of course that never stops us, now does it? After using a box-stock
Summit to pull my six year old son in a wagon in a parade last summer, I decided I wanted to build a Summit specifically for that purpose. Maybe it
could even pull a full-grown adult. I also wanted to preserve the
high speed fun, so I turned to my friend Dan at Kershaw
Designs for some proper gearing consultation. I need to gear
it low enough for power without sacrificing too much on
the top end. Once the mechanics were figured out I would
focus on the esthetics.
Black and silver is a long favorite combination
from my younger days as a KISS fan. Keeping
the paint simple allowed me to focus on
the rest of the truck up until the last
minute before deadline.
The RC4WD Mud Slingers on
Mickey Thompson beadlocks
adds a substantial bit of weight
to the truck. Each tire and wheel
weighs in close to two pounds.
But dang!... they look awesome
and bite like a bulldog.
Parts List
Kershaw Designs
Summit Aluminum Chassis
DeWalt 820 14.4VDC Motor
MIP
9168
MIP Spline CV Kit, Traxxas Summit
Pro-Line
1160-13 Trencher 3.8-inch All-Terrain
MT Tires Mounted
RC4WD
Z-T0016
Mud Slingers Monster Size
40 Series Tires
Z-W0134 Mickey Thompson Classic II
Silver Beadlock Wheels
Robinson Racing
7758
Traxxas T-Maxx 3.3 High Performance
GEN3 Slipper Unit
RPM
80932
80582
80212
80222
Summit Front Bumper Mount
Slayer, Revo & T/E-Maxx
Axle Carriers & Bearings - Black
Front Right A-arms - Black
Front Left A-arms - Black
Thunder Power
TP5300-2SPR65 G6 Pro Race Series 5300mAh 2S LiPo
Traxxas
5607
5338R
5319X
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RC TRUCK
Summit RTR
Traxxas Lightweight
Aluminum Turnbuckle Red Revo
Traxxas Aluminum Pushrod Red Revo
RC TRUCK VOLUME THREE 2012 49
PROJECT SUPER SUMMIT
The RC4WD
tires and wheels
are heavy, especially
compared to these ProLine Trenchers. These will
be used for fast monster
truck bashing, leaving the heavy
wheels for pulling.
THE PLAN
The Summit is such a cool truck
as it comes from the box that I
almost hesitate to change it…
almost. The one thing about its
stock configuration that I have
always wanted to change, however, is the lack of ability to fit a
wide variety of battery packs
and brands. If I want to upgrade
to a brushless 6S system (and I
just might want to) I am very
limited as far as LiPo packs that
will fit. Fortunately there is a
solution for that. Kershaw
Designs now offers a chassis
kit that replaces the stock
plastic unit with a heat-treated aluminum version. This
was just the jumpstart I
needed for my Super Summit.
Next it was time to see about
some tires and wheels that I have
had my eyes on. RC4WD should
offer bibs on their site because
drooling is likely. I’ve wanted to
use their Mud Slinger 40 series
tires ever since I first saw them.
The Super Summit is as appropriate as I was going to get.
Along with the tires I ordered
some Mickey Thompson aluminum beadlocks. To make the
heavy wheels spin, I employed
MIP Splined Driveshafts. The
strong CVD units should have
no problem with the heavy
truck. I pillaged some Traxxas
lightweight linkages from a Revo
that has been sitting idle. And as
usual, some RPM arms, knuckle
and oversized bearings will add
strength and durability.
To better handle the stress of pulling a wagon full of
kids, the tranny gears were upgraded with hardened
steel gears (below). A pair of DeWalt 820 motors, yes
the power tool DeWalt, are paired up to a Robinson
Racing Gen 3 slipper unit. The heavy-duty design of
the RRP slipper will help to protect the drivetrain
while getting a full load moving. Cooling fans will
keep the motors at a healthy temp.
The Kershaw chassis is made from heat-treated
aluminum upper and lower plates and a set of
composite vertical chassis supports, making it
super rigid. The larger battery tray areas will
accept a variety of packs and allows them to
stay cooler than the enclosed stock battery
compartments. They also lower the center of
gravity, and can be used with stock center driveshafts or optional dogbones. The chassis is
available anodized in bronze, copper, matte
black or natural aluminum.
MIP Splined Summit driveshafts
required assembly. They are a
direct replacement for the stock
shafts. These heavy-duty units
held up to the gobs of power
from the DeWalt motors.
The front arms were
swapped out with
RPM’s super durable
Revo units. The Revo
rear arms a slightly
different than the
Summit so the stock
ones were used. RPM
knuckles and oversized bearings were
mounted to all four
corners.Traxxas lightweight aluminum
turnbuckles and
pushrods were also
used all around.
To power the Super
Summit I picked up a
pair of Thunder Power
G6 LiPo packs. The
5300mAh, 2S packs provided all the power to
pull the weighted down
wagon or hit the ground
running in second gear.
I admit that the layout is not as neat and tidy as the stock chassis, but I do like
the Terminator-type look of it. The motor mount will accommodate other systems
and the battery trays will hold a pair of 3S LiPos.
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RC TRUCK VOLUME THREE 2012 51
PROJECT SUPER SUMMIT
A construction site
behind my house was
the perfect spot for
action shots. I loaded
the wagon and hooked
it up to back of the
Summit and pulled all
my photo gear and RC
equipment to the site.
THE DRIVE - WAGON PULLING
My now seven year old son was eager to help with the test-drive of
the Super Summit. He had such a great time in the parade that he
wasted no time tucking his arms and legs inside the wagon as I
installed some fresh Thunder Power packs in to the truck. For this
part I mounted up the RC4WD wheels and tires. I started in low gear
and slowly pulled the trigger. The twin DeWalt motors were noticeably louder than the stock single motor, but it had the sound of
torque as they effortlessly began moving the 19.8 pound truck and its
payload down the driveway to the sidewalk. The low gearing managed to hold the wagon on the way down the sloped walk and pulled
it back up without skipping a beat. The next trip was through the
front yard and, while the motors worked just a bit harder, they kept
the truck with the wagon carrying my 60 pound son moving.
THE DRIVE - BASHING
After using the Summit to pull my camera and RC gear to a nearby
construction site I was ready to kick up some dust. I left the RC4WD
tires on it at first to see how they faired, but with all that additional
weight spinning at every corner of the truck I didn’t want to put
undue stress on the drivetrain at higher speeds. They hooked up
well and certainly kept the truck planted, but they proved to be just
too heavy for full-on bashing. I pulled the Pro-Line Trenchers from
the wagon and quickly mounted them to the 17mm hubs creating an
immediate weight loss of about 6 pounds or so. I was much more
comfortable with a heavy trigger finger with the lighter wheels. The
truck seemed happier too, since this location seemed tailor-made for
MT bashing. The top speed exceeds the stock single motor setup,
but with the small pinions not anywhere near what a brushless system would provide. A pair of larger pinions would get me closer,
but would compromise the pulling power of the current setup in
low gear. The truck is truly a great basher. It jumps level and tackled nearly every obstacle on the construction site. A blast to drive at
slow speeds and even more fun when you hit the red button for second gear. As I started out saying, the Summit is a great balance of
pulling and bashing.
FINAL THOUGHTS
I accomplished my original plan to make a purpose-built Summit to pull a wagon
loaded with whatever I need to load it with. The kids love riding in it, it’s perfect
for hauling stuff around the yard and for accommodating my camera and RC
equipment when necessary. I have a low Kv brushless motor that I plan to try
in it to see just how much torque I can create. Maybe enough to pull me
comfortably through the grass. 
Links
Kershaw Designs kershawdesigns.com
MIP, miponline.com, 626-339-9007
Pro-Line Racing prolineracing.com, 909-849-9781
RC4WD rc4wd.com
Robinson Racing Products robinsonracing.com, 209-966-2465
RPM R/C Products rpmrcproducts.com, 909-393-0366
Thunder Power RC thunderpowerrc.com, 702-228-8883
Traxxas Corp. traxxas.com, 972-265-8000
For more information, please see our source guide on page 81.
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