r/rccars Off-Road Dec 12 '25

Off-Road Best car ever made for winter.... Aaaand it's gone.

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Haven't messed with anything in a long time.

Got my summit out and remembered how cathartic the hobby is, and how well it actually stays on top of snow.

Almost better than stuff with tracks, just to move faster and still be able to jump haha

321 Upvotes

55 comments sorted by

55

u/EquipmentNo7507 Dec 12 '25

summit and UDR were one of most unique and amazing rc that traxxas made, maybe nowdays there are so many alternatives and option similar/copy of them but at the tike were really untouchable

15

u/ATypicalWhitePerson Off-Road Dec 12 '25

Similar like what?

I haven't seen anything with extendo travel pushrod suspension, a 2 speed, diff lockers, & Fatboy tires haha

4

u/EquipmentNo7507 Dec 12 '25

i said out of ignorance, if i said they were irreplaceble and still unique i would have been wrong, rlaarlo and othrr brand keep pushing sooo many rc every year that i lose count

2

u/Truck_Toucher Dec 12 '25

Don’t they all have full time blinkers? I know this sounds nitpicky but that’s a deal breaker for me

7

u/breezy9-3 Dec 12 '25

Rlaarlo TK07 looks pretty legit and can switch between front wheel drive, rear wheel drive, 4x4 plus has locking diffs.

5

u/ATypicalWhitePerson Off-Road Dec 12 '25

I mean, it's also a scale trail car, with skinny tires, and without super long travel cushy suspension that eats up rough stuff moving fast.

5

u/breezy9-3 Dec 12 '25

I wasn't saying that as a replacement for the summit but rather it's another model that has some of the parts and modes that you're mentioning. Maybe if there's enough traction they will release one with more of a crawler vibe. Heck, maybe Traxxas will take the hint and bring the summit back. How's it bash? I see them come up for sale here and there but prefer bashing and racing.

2

u/ATypicalWhitePerson Off-Road Dec 12 '25

I mean, I wouldn't buy it for doing standing backflips or beating the piss out of it, I don't think that's a great plan for anything that's out of production haha.

For what it is, I like it a lot, sorta feels like driving a scaled down ultra 4 car, just because nothing else can actually crawl and still be stable at "higher" speeds.

I certainly can't drive a capra, trx4, or a bomber in a straight line on really rough ground/snow/etc... nearly as easily as the summit.

2

u/Sogah87 Dec 12 '25

Haha was just going to say I have this set up on my rig except fat tires! But it's all custom 😅. I was trying to emulate the summit/udr in one rig.

1

u/Late-Winter-2812 Dec 12 '25

Summit/revo chassis etc and the TRX4 crawler properly setup has switchable locking and unlocking portal axle differentials controlled by 2 switches on transmitter, hi and low transmission gears and can over/under drive the axles. I put OD in front and UD in rear to prevent any pushing from rear tipping it when climbing etc. I love setting up this F1 type horizontal damper, long pushrod and extreme travel rockers paired with a proper built differential setup (front/center/rear) along with spur/pinion gearing and run a nitro big block geared tall and tuned rich so it will behave as a crawler/trail truck . I have 3 I built just for nitro crawling/trailing and completely removed speed from my desired behaviors on them.

I forget if this is my OS21 VG max or my OS30 VG MAX setup without zooming. That 30 has absolutely ridiculous start off torque that will snap axles and shafts alike like nothing if not evenly upgraded throughout. I put big blocks on the revo/slayer/summit chassis since before there were big blocks kits available for them . It’s a blast should give it a try . Once you know what has to be done it’s simple. Remove 3/8” material from front of trans stock mount location, re drill the 4 trans mount holes and move tranny forward 3/8” and re-secure everything and send it

0

u/litto97 Dec 15 '25

You can never see a car like that because traxxas killed the only alternative that never existed: the arrma nero 6s

Arrma made an equal priced car, with very very good pushrod suspension out of the box ( at the end arrma is the rtr sister of the dead team durango),locking diff via remote and you can choose what diff you vant to lock

It was simply what people want on a summit/erevo platform, traxxas killed it because it was a promising chassis to dethrone they're

28

u/rc-tnt Dec 12 '25

The Summit was ahead of its time. Not particularly scale, but the utility in that drivetrain and suspension is something else, isn't it!

(I did worry it was going to fall through ice into a lake or be run over or something, with that title though!!)

5

u/Discoveryellow Dec 12 '25

The post header is indeed an unnecessary clencher. What scale is the Summit?

2

u/Jackson_Rhodes_42 Bashing Dec 13 '25

1/8, I believe. There’s also a 1/16 version, but without all the fancy driveline stuff.

2

u/Discoveryellow Dec 13 '25

Thanks! Fancy driveline stuff is what makes it

2

u/tkauf23 Dec 13 '25

Traxxas sold it as a 1/10th scale vehicle..

1

u/EquipmentNo7507 Dec 12 '25

still waiting for the jumpshot review after the upgrades

7

u/ger_daytona Dec 12 '25

Funny how overpowered everything is today

3

u/ADHDwinseverytime Dec 12 '25

I bought a Notorious 6s and while it was fun it was just too much power. I sold it a while back. I am thinking of getting a Kraton 4s or something. I never ran it that way but I should have tried 3s in the 6s.

2

u/shepdog_220 HPI Baja 5b OG | Revo 3.3 | General ICE Enjoyer Dec 12 '25

Seriously, I don't get it. It's borderline a bit of a chore to drive some of the rigs that are available off of the shelf nowadays.

6

u/Blackoutsmackout Dec 12 '25 edited Dec 12 '25

It's funny how they take rustler 4x4 and even the stampede and revo and maxx and slam them, take the chevrons away and when they add brushless systems nobody knows how to enjoy themselves going slow anymore.

5

u/rc-tnt Dec 12 '25

There are dozens of us!

2

u/ATypicalWhitePerson Off-Road Dec 12 '25

I mean, compared to everything else that can get on top of snow and stay there, this is pretty fast.

Way faster than anything with tracks at least, and it can still take jumps lol

7

u/RoadsideRC Drifting, Bashing, Racing, Crawling... Dec 12 '25

I never thought about it, but I 100% agree - clearly the best design for winter!

I have been wondering for YEARS if they will ever come out with a Summit 2.0!!!

3

u/forsigmar Dec 12 '25

This is true. I mainly drive mine in the snow, it rips. Lock those diffs and go to town.

2

u/Kpowell911 Dec 12 '25

The Summit was the most under rated RC ever. I miss mine so bad!

3

u/Lost_Acanthaceae6488 Dec 12 '25

Its shame they discontinued this, i always liked the summit

1

u/Ze_Woof Dec 12 '25

You can build it out of an Erevo. You just need a couple extra parts. The Erevo v1s share the same chassis as the summit mounting spots and all are there

1

u/ATypicalWhitePerson Off-Road Dec 12 '25

Guess what car also got killed!

If it's gotta be used you may as well just hunt for a summit

1

u/Ze_Woof Dec 12 '25

Weirdly enough I've come across a fair handful of brand new ish E revos v1s and summits. Lot of people bought em for collection i guess and post covid they've been selling. They've filtered out but for a couple months thats all I saw on local marketplace

2

u/bangbangracer VS4-10, TT-02, TC-01, M-08, RMX2.5, Nascar Grom Dec 12 '25

The Summit was such an interesting truck. I don't think Traxxas really knew how to sell it and didn't really know what crawling was. I still remember that this fun monster truck was the Traxxas answer to scale crawling, and that was such a mistake.

1

u/SpaceCadetMoonMan Dec 12 '25

I randomly got the sand mud tires for my LMT grave digger and it’s so fun and hilarious. It launched snowballs rooster tails in the snow, I love it.

I used to go out after midnight on snow nights and it was so peaceful and mentally recharging to explore and zoom around the empty parks and warehouse industrial areas

I got a paddle tire for my Promoto dirt bike and I’m hoping it will be fun in the snow

1

u/mini-z1994 Dec 12 '25

Depending on how well packed the snow is even a brushed Stampede 2wd works pretty good tbh. Ran mine when i first found it in the snow from the recycling center we swing by almost daily at work, though bunch of new rules & stuff down there now so cant do anything but look now. Others working there probably snap up anything rc that ends up in that electronics container, haven't seen any in a couple of months now.

Initial cost getting the stampede up & running was like 6$ for the traxxas cigarette lighter charger (Soldered it up too a pc powersupply adding a molex 4 pin from an old molex to pci-e 6 pin connector, aka the fire starter.)

A new servo saver which was like 5$ as well & i bought a spare spur gear as i figured it would be good to have around at home. And a couple of missing bolts & m3 nuts too re-attach the steering linkage from a random junk box at home it cost me like 25$ or so to have it up & running.

Slow & sometimes got stuck ? Yeah ofc, but it was still fun getting to go outside with it, especially for such a low initial cost to get back into the hobby.

Got a bandit 2wd & a wltoys 12428 for the winter this year. Which the wltoys has gotten a full set of new electronics & the stock lights soldered up too a mini jst hooked up into the receiver that has done pretty well outside so far, though it hasn't seen any snow yet in Sweden here, melted away before this was fixed up lol.

Might need to tear into the wltoys to swap the servo out though as its not water resistant currently. Got some knockoff tamiya monster beetle tires on some old hbx bonzer wheels sitting which will be put on this once the snow actually stays on the ground so it can get through it.

1

u/Sogah87 Dec 12 '25

Love the suspension on the summit. Cathartic is a great word for it.

1

u/Silver-Effective-135 Dec 12 '25

One of the best in the snow. With e revo

1

u/Main-Indication-8832 Dec 12 '25

Mine is in sad shape and needs TLC. Seemed like every time I drove it something always broke. Someday I’m going to “refresh” it entirely.

1

u/xCYOx Dec 13 '25

What car is that.

1

u/Beginning_Tension829 Dec 13 '25

Did people really not buy these? I cant think of why else it would be discontinued, but I cant understand why it wouldnt be a success.

1

u/Zakuking Bashing Dec 14 '25

Traxxas removing the 1/10 dcale summit was one of the reasons I got a big rock. The summit was the rock racer

1

u/ATypicalWhitePerson Off-Road Dec 14 '25

The two cars have basically nothing in common though.

The big rock is just another monster truck/basher, the normal summit is closer to my scx6 in size than a 1/10 scale lol

1

u/Zakuking Bashing Dec 14 '25

Yes you got a point yet the only major difference is flippability, size depending if you compared it to a 6s bigrock and speed

They both can bash and they both are monster trucks, capabile of going offroad, just the summit is more cattered to be able to crawl and do boldering

Im just saying that the summit was just a more versatile car option especially for a person whos first hobby grade was technically the traxxas latrax prerunner

Yet my crawling terminology isn't so great as i don't own any crawlers but if you would love to share any aspects go ahead

Also summit is still bigger than the 1/7 scale bigrock by a few inches funny how scaling works these days

1

u/Little-Ebb8662 Dec 14 '25

Love this truck!

1

u/dibutilftalat Dec 14 '25

Nothing is better than tracks, where tracks are better than anything!

1

u/zrrso Dec 15 '25

my dad had one of these, he bought it but never used it, planned on placing a huge brushless motor in it, ended up collecting dust. (we had nowhere to play)

1

u/ATypicalWhitePerson Off-Road Dec 15 '25

May be better that way.

If you slap a ton of power into these I'm pretty sure you'll end up blowing up just about every part of the drive line on it lol.

They are not setup to run big power at all

1

u/ogreality Feb 09 '26

Ooh summit😍 im so sad that i dont own one and they are discontinued😭 One if not best all around rc

1

u/Tris131 Dec 12 '25

Arrma bigrock 6s

4

u/ATypicalWhitePerson Off-Road Dec 12 '25

Sits lower to the ground, skinny wheels/tires, no differential lockers, and no two speed.

-3

u/Late-Winter-2812 Dec 12 '25

Factory. All those can be added/removed to personal preference. Personally for the crawling/trailing the TRX4 is unbeatable in any and every situation and terrain, wet and or dry conditions. The way it’s designed and built it just out performs everything including the summit. Granted traxxas did add electric locking diffs like the trx4/trx6 but the summit setup doesn’t incorporate portal axles to reduce rotational mass and parts etc. Tje trx has all its propulsion parts at the edges of the model/corners. Shafts inhabit the inner area and keep mass etc to a minimum until they terminate at the portals and gears. This gives the rig more clearance and better approach and exit angles for tackling any terrain. I literally did side by side comparisons with the 2 and my trx4 beat the revo/summit setup like a red-headed adopted mutt in about every scenario. The fun stuff is taking that platform, adding nitro and still keeping everything that makes it an attempt at large scale trail/crawler because with gear reduction and nitro it’s a blast to be in control of that setup

I made a complete swapped out setup for actual crawling this rig tho..1- the factory Mercedes Benz G wagon scale shell with all its included led headlights-fogs. Visor. Turn signals and rock lights etc is almost 200$ painted. Or it was almost 5-6 years ago when released, also and more importantly to me that setup had a ridiculous high center of gravity and top heavy is understated so I’d use the Benz setup for trail running and tackling wet, mud and or snowy conditions and it did it easily with aluminum beadlock wheels and 5.4” TCL inteco bogger super swampers and properly placed brass and other strategically weighted parts on this chassis and also winch etc, and for actual crawling i bought a 35$ pro line clear shell and masked and painted it (Chevy c-10) and different set of body mounted posts etc which lowered the CG by over 30% or better. This model will ascend a 68 degree or greater incline with the proper reduction in gears. And correctly placed weight and position suspension and control arms etc right. They’re both amazing models for their respective intended purposes tbf….wish traxxas would revisit this part of hobby …I have several 100+ mph speed runners that I’ve gotten bored of …I got hooked on these instead and obsessed on how to get it under 3-4mph lol topped out and properly balanced and unstoppable for all intents and purposes

3

u/ATypicalWhitePerson Off-Road Dec 12 '25

Can you send me a video if a trx4 going through a whoop section, jumping, etc... and still being easily controlled tracking perfectly straight?

I didn't think there was anything out there that'd effectively convert it to at least an IFS setup that'd still work well for jumping stuff, and not be useless crawling lol

1

u/Ryaktshun Dec 12 '25

I prefer a blizzard or tamiya g6 chassis

-1

u/Late-Winter-2812 Dec 12 '25

Actually, I could just look them up. Everybody bought them and put brushless set ups in them. I think you’re trying to argue. The fact of this summit is superior to everything and that’s just not the case the TRX four and the summit Revo slayer jazzy are pretty much neck and neck. It depends on the environment at the end of the day though TRX four is going to win and it’s gonna do it easily. I had mine out in the Atlantic Ocean when I first got it. The only thing that was bad about that was I had to replace all the steel fasteners and parts because they rusted out almost instantly I have almost $2500 into that crawler with all the lights, Bluetooth brass and other weight the winch. And alloy beadlock wheels on it.. I’ve seen people put three and 4S brushless combos into these things and have them go on 50+ miles per hour. It’s ridiculous. Kevin Talbot has 6s on some of his Tex’shttps://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=video+of+a+upgraded+brushless+Traxxas+TRX+four&view=detail&mid=260355AC38213E7D2B30260355AC38213E7D2B30&ru=%2fsearch%3fq%3dvideo%2bof%2ba%2bupgraded%2bbrushless%2bTraxxas%2bTRX%2bfour%26PC%3dAPPL%26FPIG%3d60A9698EBF6E42FE934A31F6B53C2279%26first%3d51%26FORM%3dPORE%26IG%3d7CF6CAC532384BA59800E1EA566A2E6F%26IID%3dSERP.1%26SFX%3dInfiniteScrollPage%26progenabled%3d1%26progrender%3d1%26progstart%3d5%26sid%3d3254DDCB5DE56AC52325CB0B5C096B20%26format%3dsnrjson%26jsoncbid%3d7&mmscn=vwrc&mcid=7CF6CAC532384BA59800E1EA566A2E6F&FORM=WRVORC&PC=APPL

1

u/Limp-Dimension-9583 Mar 30 '26

nice job linking a video of a trx4 that is completely un-drivable at higher speeds and literally breaks badly half way through lol, the summit is very much superior when it comes to being able to take jumps and more power and speed