How-to select a Pro-Line body for your off-road vehicle

Paul Onorato September 29, 2020 Stories

PICK BY KIT

When hunting for a Pro-Line body for your vehicle, the very first step you should try is the “Pick By Kit” feature found on the Pro-Line website. It is easy to find when on the homepage; just scroll down and you will see it on the bottom left. The “Pick By Kit” tool will not only show you all the bodies that will work with a specific vehicle, but it will also list all the cool Pro-Line wheels, tires and accessories that you can also add to your rig.

After you click the link, it brings you to the landing page for the “Pick By Kit” tool. There you can select the manufacturer of the vehicle you own and then pick the specific model you have.

To further illustrate this helpful tool, we selected the manufacturer, Traxxas, which reveals 28 Traxxas models to choose from.

We then picked the Traxxas Slash 4×4 and the “Pick By Kit” tool generated 73 Pro-Line products that could be used with this short course truck. Along with the numerous bodies listed, there were also many different tires, wheels and accessories to consider.

If your vehicle is not specifically listed under the “Pick By Kit” tool, don’t worry because you might still be in luck. It is likely that Pro-Line will have a body option that can be used on your chassis that is in need of a new lid.

TRICKS FOR PICKING A BODY

Pro-Line 1946 Dodge Power Wagon (#3499-00).

Try looking up a vehicle that is similar to yours in scale and size. The majority of the bodies listed on the Pro-Line webpage will have its dimensions noted. This is a good jumping off spot to see if the body will work with your vehicle. Most Pro-Line bodies have the length, width and wheelbase notated. The width and length are important, but not necessarily the wheelbase. Depending on the body, the wheelbase can easily be tweaked by cutting the wheel wells to match your chassis instead of to the vehicle it was intended. With some imagination, the width and length can also be made to work. This is your creation, so don’t be limited by what everyone else is doing.

This is a great example of the information that Pro-Line provides with some of their bodies. These are the dimensions from the 1946 Dodge Power Wagon.

A narrow body may look right if your vehicle is updated with some larger tires to give it a lifted 4×4 look. And if the body is too wide, you could select wider tires or wheels with an offset that pushes the tires farther out so that they fit within the body. The same logic goes for the length where you could get away with a shorter or longer body by tweaking the chassis with different bumpers. Keep in mind that due to the variances of shock tower sizes and position on the chassis as well as the location of body mounts; some bodies just might not work on your truck.

Since there are so many different bodies available on the Pro-Line website each with their own unique shape; the stock body posts on your chassis may no longer work. Pro-Line offers some extended body post mounts that can give you the length or width you need to work with the new body. Here you may need to be clever with engineering a way to install the mounts onto your chassis. First look at the different choices that Pro-Line gives you and there may be one that stands out from the rest in which you can make work. This is part of what makes this hobby so much fun; tinkering around with a bit of trial and error so that you can customize your vehicle.

Extended front & rear body mounts (T/E-Maxx)—#6304-00

Extended front & rear body mounts (Slash 2wd & Stampede 2WD)—#6070-00

Replacement front & rear body mounts—#4005-36

BODY MOUNTING TIPS

If you purchase a body that is pre-painted or comes molded in an opaque color like Pro-Line’s line of Tough-Color bodies or their Bash Armor line of bodies, it can be difficult to get the body post holes perfectly positioned. That is unless you have the PROTOform Crosshair Magnetic Body Mounting Kit (#6032-00).

PROTOform Crosshair Magnetic Body Mounting Kit—#6032-00

How-to select a Pro-Line body for your off-road vehicle — Comes in a plastic storage case.

The Crosshair Magnetic Body Mounting Kit uses high powered magnetics that allow you to precisely pinpoint the location of the body post holes. One magnet gets placed on top of each of the body posts. Then you take the body and position it on the chassis, being sure to have it correctly spaced both side to side and fore and aft. Next you place a magnet on top of the body approximately where each of the body posts are located. The magnet will attach to the body exactly where the body post is underneath. Now you can mark the body where the body holes need to be located through the hole in the magnet using a fine-tip marker. All that is left is to drill the holes into the body and it will sit perfectly onto the chassis.

PRO-LINE TOUGH-COLOR BODIES

Pro-Line Pre-Cut Flo-Tek Fusion Tough-Color Body—#3458-18

One of the latest body lines that Pro-Line has released are the Tough-Color bodies. The Pre-Cut Flo-Tek Fusion Tough-Color Body pictured here is for short course trucks and there are many other Tough-Color bodies to work with other types of vehicles. What makes the Tough-Color bodies special is that the body is molded from black material so you never have to worry about paint peeling or chipping off. Pro-Line supplies window stickers and other detail stickers to complete the look of the body.

PRO-LINE BASH ARMOR BODIES

Pro-Line Pre-Cut Brute Bash Armor Body—#3526-15

Shown here is an example of one of Pro-Line’s Bash Armor bodies. If you are not familiar with this line of bodies, here is the deal. This is not your ordinary polycarbonate body simply painted white. Pro-Line developed a special “Bash Armor” material that is already molded in white yet is twice as thick as typical 1/8-scale truck bodies. The material is ultra-flexible to lessen the possibility of cracking and shattering.

After trimming the excess polycarbonate off the body, there could be rough or uneven edges left by scissors. The Better Edge Sanding Block is the solution to give the body perfect straight edges as well as smooth out all the nooks and crannies. Injection molded nylon forms the shape of the block in which PROTOform gave it a comfortable ergonomic shape. The rounded ends are two different radius sizes for different applications. Each block comes with a form fitted piece of high-grade 120-grit sand paper that is held onto the block with low-profile hook-and-loop system. And PROTOform throws in a spare strip with the Sanding Block.