I love me a fast Stampede, I’ve built a few widened and muscle-bound Pede’s in the past and really enjoy driving them. Their wide track and short wheelbase make for an… ahem… “exciting” driving experience. It’s all to easy to send the rear wheels careening under the fronts in a dramatic backflip if you are too ham-fisted with the trigger but that’s half the fun of these trucks: putting the power down. The truck featured here started out life as the Slash MT project and then was re-chassised as a Stampede after the suspension of the Slash MT was used to underpin the Slash Sand Rail project. That left this truck with Jang-modded suspension, a 4300kV 4-pole motor and not much else. I don’t have any photos of the truck while it was torn down as I sort of just built everything on the fly. I had a few extra Stampede 2wd chassis in inventory along with the lower skids and the Pede-specific servo saver which made this conversion extremely simply. I had the truck running in about 30 minutes and was out putting the wheelie bar to the test. The front end of a Stampede gets very light anytime the throttle is applied making for a severe push that is usually followed by a traction roll as soon as the front tires catch up. After a full pack driving the truck was more of a chore than an exciting event, spurring me to look into how to make the truck handle better while still maintaining its “Pede-ness”. On my Maxx Pede I mounted the second battery pack under the chassis between the skids (this truck uses a Novak HV Maxx brushless system and 12 cells of Nickel Metal power) which lowers the CG considerably for this wider-than-it-is-long truck. I didn’t want to use a LiPO as a skid plate and risk a fire so that idea was out of the question, however I knew I wanted to lower the heaviest parts of this build to balance the handling and reduce the number of times I need to walk over and flip the truck together during a run. Enter the LCG Stampede… no, it’s not a Rustler. I promise.
Replacing the chassis of a Stampede with a Rustler or Bandit plate is simple and straightforward. The steering gets replaced with a set of bellcranks, the front steering links have to be re-made and the skids stay attached to the Pede chassis as it returns to the spares box. For a pop of color I chose to replace the rod ends with some red aluminum units from Amazon and fitted each of the links with some M4 threaded rod to make custom length units. I like how these feel compared to the usual 6-32 rod and plastic rod ends that I usually use. Red aluminum shock towers and red alloy shocks round out the red theme. Pro-Line front caster blocks and steering blocks along with their HD king pins for a much tougher front steering assembly. Stock axles and hex hubs find their home behind the Pro-Line BoneSaw 2.8″ tires mounted on Raid 6×30 removable hex wheels.
These head-on shots show just how wide the Jang modded Traxxas trucks (and cars, thanks to the Bandit, of which I have also done this mod to) and is simple to do with all Traxxas pieces. I chose to use RPM arms for this project as they are only a few dollars more that stock and that lifetime warranty is a huge reason that I exclusively use RPM products whenever possible. Also protecting the front end is a RPM Wide Front Bumper that deflects potential threats away from the center chassis and absorbs impacts far better than the stock small bumper. Shown here are the rear length shocks from OGRC. These cheap, Temu sourced dampers have been really good so far; they don’t leak, the spring rates are a good match for the weight of the truck and the threaded bodies make ride height changes a breeze. Unfortunately, the company OGRC was a victim of the 2025 Chinese tariffs and removed their products from Amazon and Temu shortly after the tariffs went into effect. If you can get your hands on a set they are definitely worth the money. The body shown above is a JConcepts California Special Ford F-150 for the Stampede painted in purple to green to gold Spaz Sitx aerosol paint. The OBS lines of this F150 really show off the color change of this paint and being a big fan of desert trucks and prerunners I love the look.
Here we see a close up of the rear shocks, another pair of OGRC rear length shocks, another aluminum shock tower similar to the front, the Pro-Line BoneSaw 2.8’s and the RPM rear suspension arms. Keeping the wheels pointed in the right direction are custom length camber links made from red aluminum rod ends and M4 threaded rod for a compact but strong unit. Inside the hubs are 5×11 bearings supporting a set of Slash 4×4 HD driveshaft assemblies. These driveshafts are $20 a pair and are among the best plastic driveshafts I’ve used. These are stock out of the package and fit directly on the Stampede, Rustler, Slash 2wd and Bandit, offering a lightweight yet strong option for these vehicles.
Out back we find a standard Traxxas slipper assembly, wheelie bar and mount, Stampede body mounts and the 4300kV 4-pole stump pulling motor. These cheap wonders put out decent power on 2s and are very quick on 3s power, all for around $20 each. The shock tower was drilled out slightly to allow the body mount screws to pass through freely and thread into the body mount; this makes mounting much quicker and easier.
For electronics I chose an older but extremely reliable Radiolink R4EH-H bound to my trusty RC4G. The servo is a cheapo 35kg unit from Amazon that isn’t the fastest but turns the wheels with authority, A shortened aluminum servo horn sends the yank to the bellcranks via another M4 threaded rob and aluminum rod end link. The ESC is another budget 60a GoolRC unit that is sensorless only but can handle 3s for some extra speed when the situation calls for it.
Underpinning the truck with a stock Rustler chassis and calling it an “LCG Stampede” is a bit of a cop out, I admit, but the handling benefits are well worth it. This truck handles much better than stock; the center of gravity is much lower and the wheelbase is longer, helping to keep the front tires on the ground where they can actually steer. Well, at least that is the point. This truck can send the tires skyward with just a blip of the throttle even on 2s but with a modicum of throttle control this truck can carve corners with the best of ’em. The Pro-Line BoneSaw’s work equally well on gravel, asphalt, loose dirt, rocks and roots; the gnarlier the terrain the better these work. The low profile sidewall sharpens the steering response of this truck to the point that if you are not careful and carry a bit too much speed into a hard 90, you’ll send this truck traction rolling several dozen times into a direction you were not intending. Just like with the wheelies the handling merely require the smallest amount of self-control. Would I recommend that you convert your Stampede to a “big-wheel Rustler”? Yes. Does it make that much of a difference? Also yes. This conversion is cost effective making the decision less a financial one and more of a “how fast can USPS get my parts to me?” Once I can get out to a more scenic location I’ll post up some better pictures, or at least some off of the bench!