Easy Handling Upgrades for Stampede 2WD Monster Trucks

The Stampede and BIGFOOT models’ lifted chassis prioritizes ground clearance and an authentic monster stance.

Using the outer shock hole will give your truck a little more resistance to chassis roll.

Add weight to the front bulkhead
Stampede and BIGFOOT like to wheelie, and they transfer a lot of weight to the rear tires when accelerating. That means there’s less weight pressing the front wheels to the ground for steering grip, which leads to understeer or “pushing” in the turns. To get more weight up front, you can literally add more weight up front. Stick-on weights for balancing full-size car wheels are the easiest way to do this. They’re typically offered in half-ounce and quarter-ounce sizes. Get the quarter-ounce type, the smaller weights allow more installation options.

Look for adhesive-backed, 1/4 oz weights at any auto parts store.

We added four 1/4 ounce squares tucked into the front bulkhead.

Two more weights flanking the servo give us 1.5 oz in total.

Lower ride height with shock spacers
Lowering the truck’s ride height will also lower its center of gravity, which always helps handling. Installing spacers under the pistons inside the shocks will achieve this. The spacers will also reduce suspension travel, so don’t overdo it—a 5 mm spacer in each shock is plenty. You can cut spacers from sections of fuel tubing, or cut down the spare shock bushings included with the truck to make 4.2 mm spacers. Follow these steps to install a spacer in each shock:

• Remove the shock and unscrew the top cap.
• Dump the shock oil into a cup for re-use (if the oil is dark, discard it and get fresh oil)
• Unscrew the lower rod end and remove the piston and shaft.
• Install a spacer on the shaft, then reassemble, refill, and reinstall the shock.

Two parts trees with bushings are included with Stampede models.

Carefully remove the narrow end to create a 4.2 mm spacer

Install the spacer under the shock piston.

Terra Groove Tire Swap
If you’ve got a BIGFOOT model, your truck is already wearing Terra Groove tires. But if you’ve got a Stampede, you can swap its Talon tires for the Terra Grooves. The Terra Groove design is molded in a firmer compound, and the tread pattern allows a little more slide action when cornering. This helps reduce traction rolling and lets the truck get a little loose in the turns for more corner speed. The Terra Groove tires come mounted on black-chrome or satin-chrome wheels, and they’re sold in front- and rear-specific pairs. These links will get you to the finish you prefer in front and rear styles: black chrome (front, rear); satin chrome (front, rear).

The softer Stampede Talon tires use foam inserts for support to provide more hard-surface grip.

Firmer Terra Groove tires on chrome wheels allow a little more slide when cornering.

Install the optional wheelie bar
Here’s the least-surprising bit of truck-setup wisdom you’ll ever hear: in order to steer your truck, the front wheels have to actually touch the ground. When your truck is doing a wheelie, the only direction it can go is straight. The Stampede VXL’s 4-position wheelie bar can also be purchased separately for any Stampede-based 2WD truck (and it fits the Rustler, Bandit, and Slash, too). The wheelie bar installs in just a few minutes with no disassembly, and lets you set wheelie height without tools. Setting the wheelie bar to its lowest position will get the front tires back in touch with the ground ASAP to keep you in control.

The wheelie bar is easy to install and comes in black, green, blue, or pink.

You can also trick out your wheelie bar with anodized wheels and white-letter tires.

You can get the aluminum wheels in blue or red, complete with ball bearings.

Set the wheelie bar to its lowest position for maximum wheelie control.

Give Your Stampede a Low-CG Makeover

If you want to dramatically transform your Stampede or BIGFOOT’s handling, you can swap the front and rear suspension modules and the electronics over to the 3722R chassis, as used by the Rustler and Bandit. This will lower the truck’s center of gravity (CG) substantially for a big improvement in high-traction handling. But, you’ll also have much less ground clearance, so your truck won’t clear obstacles as easily. The #3722R chassis will also lengthen the distance between the body mounts by almost an inch, so you’ll need to make a new pair of rear mounting holes in the body (the 3433 body reamer handles the job easily). To mount the body close to the chassis like our Stampede VXL and BIGFOOT examples below, use the body mounts shown in the parts list.

They look very different, but the Stampede and Rustler / Bandit chassis accept the same components.

The Rustler / Bandit chassis lowers a Stampede CG considerably, as these profile views show.

In addition to the chassis parts, you’ll need steering bellcranks and tie rods to complete the low-CG conversion. All the item numbers are in the parts list.

Installing the #3619 adjustable front body mount on the Stampede and #3614 rear body mount on BIGFOOT will let you mount the body as low as possible.

Remove the two bottom positions (outlined in red) from the Stampede’s rear body mount so you can install it level with the top of the shock tower.

Low-CG Stampede

Low-CG BIGFOOT

Here’s the finished low-CG conversion on a Stampede VXL and BIGFOOT. High-speed, high-grip handling is dramatically improved—and it looks pretty cool, too!

This exploded view highlights the chassis and steering parts required to convert a Stampede to a Rustler