Team Traxxas Spotlight: Project StealthMAXX

Suspension Upgrades: Part 1
A bone-stock Maxx hits the ground running with huge-bore GT-Maxx shocks and industrial-strength suspension arms. Kent added the popular WideMaxx^® suspension kit to stretch the track 20 mm per side. It may seem like a modest amount, but this really gives the Maxx a performance boost in the corners and helps prevent traction rolling. It also looks stunning in white, but we doubt that we’ll ever see it this clean again. He also replaced the stock suspension pins with the hardened steel pin set for extra durability. For the final touch, those aluminum spring retainers look great on the blue shocks and the included O-rings make sure they stay exactly where you set them.

WideMaxx suspension kit

Suspension pin set

Blue aluminum spring retainers

Suspension Upgrades: Part 2
Let’s face it, we all love aluminum parts. They’re incredibly strong, lightweight, and they look amazing on any truck. We love the blue theme Kent used on this truck with the steering blocks, caster blocks, and rear axle carriers. All the parts are machined from 6061-T6 aluminum which is some of the strongest you can buy and that blue anodizing really stands out.

Aluminum steering blocks

Aluminum caster blocks

Aluminum axle carriers

Steering Upgrades
Kent swapped out the standard toe links for the TUBES units in what else, blue anodized aluminum (we’re sensing a theme here). In addition to being adjustable, they're stronger than titanium. They come in two lengths, one for the standard suspension and one for the WideMaxx kit. The standard composite toe links offer just a tiny bit of flex to cushion the servo in the event of a hard impact. That’s good for many reasons, but Kent’s goal for this truck was scalpel-like steering precision.

To achieve that goal, Kent combined a steel servo horn with the final upgrade: the massive 2085X metal-gear servo. Traxxas designed the 2085X metal-gear servo for the 20-pound 8s X-Maxx^® originally, but it drops right in to the Maxx to provide substantial bump in torque along with metal gear durability. We love overpowering our trucks here at Traxxas and this servo takes the cake. All of these pieces combine for the steering feel Kent was looking for - you turn the wheel…it goes. Period!

TUBES toe links

Steel servo horn

2085X HD metal-gear servo

Drivetrain Upgrades
The Maxx’s standard extreme-duty driveshafts are more than capable of handling its high-powered brushless system, but Kent built this truck to withstand absolutely anything. Using components taken directly from the 6s powered E-Revo^®, the optional steel CV driveshafts come in both standard and WideMaxx lengths. In addition to the driveshafts, Kent upgraded the Cush Drive with a Torque-Biasing Center Drive. Think of the Torque-Biasing Center Drive as a center differential on steroids. The all-metal construction has no problem coping with the motor’s torque and allows you to tune the front drive bias with different weight oils. Instead of lifting the wheels and losing traction, the center drive distributes power to the wheels with the most grip to prevent unloading.

Steel CV driveshafts

Torque-Biasing Center Drive

Wheels and Tires
Kent has been using Reponse Pro tires and wheels on his E-Revo for years. If you’re sticking mostly to the pavement, the standard Maxx tires work best. If you’re after consistently better lap times and superior bite on the track, then the Response Pro’s ultra-soft compound and spiked design can’t be beaten. You’ll need a set of 17 mm wheel hexes to mount the dished wheels to the axles and some anodized blue aluminum wheel nuts to round out the package. They look great, come four bright colors, and lock onto the wheel with a vice-like grip.

Response Pro tires

17 mm adapters

Aluminum wheel nuts

Paint and Body
Traxxas offers many different body options to customize your Maxx. Order a fully-painted body that’s ready to mount out of the box or paint your own. There’s even a thicker heavy-duty body for extreme bashing. If you decide to paint your own, you can start with a clear body for maximum flexibility or use a ProGraphix^® body that only requires a base coat. In this case, Kent chose the ProGraphix body and used a white polycarbonate paint for his primary color. For helpful advice on painting your own ProGraphix body, have a look at this article. After the paint dried, Kent further customized his Maxx with a white roof skid plate, tailgate protector, and wheelie bar. They look great and provide extra protection at the same time.

ProGraphix body

White skid plate

White tailgate protector

White wheelie bar

Final Touch: LED Light Kit
No customized Maxx would be complete without the high-intensity LED light kit. Built as tough as the truck itself, the light kit includes unique bumpers to hold the front and rear light bars. The waterproof kit blazes a path through the night with a tightly-regulated power supply for glitch-free performance. For added realism, the brake lights even work in both forward and reverse, with separate white reverse lights

This marks the end of our first Team Traxxas build project. Check back later for further installments. If you liked this build series, check out some of the helpful how-to videos on the Traxxas Support channel, Like, and subscribe. Click here to go to the channel now.