How to Convert Your Slash Into a Monster Truck

Ready to give your Slash^® a whole new personality? Monster-sized tires and a body lift are a fun way to totally transform your off-road RC experience, and the "monsterfication" process only takes about 30 minutes of bench time. And, you can switch back to short-course mode just as quickly. Sound like a plan? Here’s what you need to “make mine monster,” and how to put it all together.

Step 1. Install the Extended Body Posts
This is a simple off-with-the-old, on-with-the-new job. You’ll need the 2.5 and 2 mm wrenches included with your Slash (or hex drivers if you have ‘em). Remove the old body posts and install the extended posts from the 1914R kit.

Remove the old mounts

Install the front mounts

Install the rear mounts

Step 2. Install the Wheels and Tires
Use the 4-way wrench included with your Slash or a 7 mm nut driver to remove the axle nuts and slide the wheels off the axles, then replace them with your Stampede wheels and tires. Don’t forget to pay attention to the offsets. The front wheels are the ones with the more deeply set axle-nut holes, the rear wheels have the shallower openings for the nuts. Watch the tread directions too; the truck will run just fine with the tires on backwards, but your friends may laugh at you.

Remove the wheels

Start mounting the wheels

Tighten all the wheels down

Talon™ or Terra?

If you don’t already have a set of wheels and tires from a Stampede-based truck, you’ve got some choices to make. You can go with the realistic Terra design, which looks like the carved chevron tires as used on full-size monster trucks and is featured on the Bigfoot models. Or, get the Talon tread, which is a multi-terrain, “modern” design with more grip. The Terras come on satin or chrome deep-dish wheels, and the Talons are available with chrome or black-chrome All-Star wheels. Here are the item numbers:

3669
2.8″ Talon tires pre-glued to chrome All-Star wheels with foam inserts(nitro rear/ electric front) (2)

3665
2.8″ Terra Groove dual profile tires pre-glued to satin chrome wheels with foam inserts (nitro rear/ electric front) (2)

Step 3. Trim the Wheel Wells
Once you install the body onto the new posts, you may see some clearance issues. Those new tires are great for traction and ground clearance, but they're a tough fit under a stock Slash body. Compress the suspension all the way so you get an idea how much of the wheel wells you'll need to trim. Always remember: measure twice, cut once. Use your body scissors to carefully trim away enough material to clear the tires. After trimming them, reinstall the body and check your work. It's okay if you need to trim a little more.

Check tire clearance

Trim the wheel wells

Check the clearance again

Gearing for Larger Tires
The Monster Slash is effectively geared “taller” with bigger tires, even though you didn’t actually change the pinion or spur gear. A Slash tire rolls about 13 inches with each revolution. The larger-diameter Terra and Talon tires roll about 15 inches with each revolution. That extra two inches translates to an extra 166 feet for every 1000 motor revolutions! To avoid overheating the motor, the pinion/spur-gear ratio should be changed to suit the new tires. The Slash’s stock gearing is a 16-tooth pinion and 90-tooth spur gear. Bigfoot models all use a 14T (2427) pinion with a 90T (4690) spur, and that’s a good ratio for the Monster Slash.

Pretty easy, right? If you want to make your Monster Slash even wilder, you can find over 100 hop-up parts and accessories here. Get your wrench on, and show us how your Monster Slash turned out! Post your pics to Facebook, Instagram or Twitter with #TraxxasMonsterSlash, and we’ll be sure to share some of our favorites.