Skerb's Class 1 TJ II

[skerb]

So I recently sold off my class 1 rig because our club had been doing only c2 and c3 at most events and I needed some cash for a 1:1 purchase. So now that I sold it our club announces a comp at my favorite location, and they are running c1... Challenge accepted. So I had about a month to put together a sweet new rig. I have a few spare TJ bodies at the shop so there was no other though as to what to do.

I wanted to run this one with 1.55s like my last one but I didn't come across any wheels and tires that I liked, fit my budget, and we're small enough to fit in these dinky little stock wheel wells. So I had a friend with some 1.9 dirt grabbers which was right about the size I wanted to run and the deal was good. So I picked them up and threw them on some mismatched wheels I had laying around for now. Eventually Before the comp I'll either buy some new wheels or use these aluminum glue on wagon wheels I won in Florida at krawlfest.


So on to some pictures.

I started like any good rig starts, with a scx10 chassis.



On my last c1 tj I basically copied the body location of my C2 TJ, but I knew I could sink the frame up in the body some more and give myself some more center skid clearance, while also giving me a bit more up travel in the front with the vanquish panhard mount and not trimming the frame.



Testing wheelbase and tire clearance. I also realized at this point that these wagon wheels I have stick out less than stock axial beadlocks, which is great for this rig since I'm trying to keep the tires in the fenders as much as possible. I started by narrowing the rear axle using beef tubes and xr10 lockouts, this will narrow it by about a half inch.



In order to not have two little black tjs running around that look identical I'm planning to try to do a gr8tops half can on this one.... We'll see how that goes. For now I just trimmed the stock roll bar.

[skerb]

You can see in this pic how much I'm going to have to narrow the front to get it tucked in to the flares.


Because I tucked the body up so close there is no room for payed forward shocks like I did on my c2 so I'll be bringing them through the floor and hiding it with a toolbox.


Hides them perfectly.


I then measures for shock mounts that would allow full bump.


The chassis is about a half inch higher in the body, and it's the most noticeable in the belly clearance at full bump.


Checking clearance for a servo and estimating where ride hight should be.



This shows how much farther forward the body is on the frame than my past builds. In order to do this and still have a usable rear driveshaft length I had to move the center skid forward about a half inch.

It's going to be like a stock TJ but the tires scale out to like 35s-37s

[skerb]

This shows the narrowed rear housing.


Looking for ride hight. Not sure where it should sit


With the narrowed front axle both front and rear tuck nicely. I'm wondering if I had some vp wheels or similar what the narrowest hub would get me. Anyone know what vp hub width puts you at stock axial beadlock width? Are there any narrower options?



New stealthy shock mounts on the rear


Axle is as narrow as I know how to go while still using wraith knuckles and Chubs, it's about a quarter inch narrower than a stock scx axle.



Under body shot with a mockup servo mount. No foams currently in the front tires, just for mockup.


Another view of the rear shock mounts



Motor and trans sunk down between the rails.

[Hittman]

Looking good so far! As for the narrowest hubs, these are your best bet:

Presenting Shifts, Lightweight n' Flexible Offset Hubs

Post #83, slim shifts. They are by far the narrowest option available. I have run them on my comp rigs and scale rigs for nearly 2 years without problems

[skerb]

Originally Posted by Hittman

Looking good so far! As for the narrowest hubs, these are your best bet:



Presenting Shifts, Lightweight n' Flexible Offset Hubs



Post #83, slim shifts. They are by far the narrowest option available. I have run them on my comp rigs and scale rigs for nearly 2 years without problems

Thanks, I remember seeing those a while back. Are there any other 1.9 wheels besides vp and maybe locked up that use the same slw pattern, I guess duuude makes some. Looking for my cheapest option to keep it narrow. Realistically I can fit a wheel that is about 1/8" narrower maybe more and still clear the front knuckes and steering.

[mjc597]

Looks good !! Do you think your pinion will rub on the driveshaft when your suspension is compressed? Or is there enough clearance, it looks like it would be close in your last pic.

[fr8cture]

motoworx, the scale shop and hot racing have slw wheels.

[skerb]

Originally Posted by mjc597

Looks good !! Do you think your pinion will rub on the driveshaft when your suspension is compressed? Or is there enough clearance, it looks like it would be close in your last pic.

That picture is a bit misleading. The pinion has plenty of room, even at full compression. But I designed the trans mount to sit right above the front driveshaft at full bump, so the motor plate does get close.

Here is a pic with a 20t pinion at full bump

[skerb]

Got my driveshafts made up earlier today. I learned a valuable lesson on driveshafts. For this project I went ahead and bought two sets of the wb8 HDs because I linked how they used the floating center apline that was thicker. But you cannot shorten them as much as standard wb8 shafts. So for now I was able to use an HD for the front DS on this jeep and my class 2 in order to have enough regular shafts for this jeep.

[Hittman]

Originally Posted by skerb

Thanks, I remember seeing those a while back. Are there any other 1.9 wheels besides vp and maybe locked up that use the same slw pattern, I guess duuude makes some. Looking for my cheapest option to keep it narrow. Realistically I can fit a wheel that is about 1/8" narrower maybe more and still clear the front knuckes and steering.

Duuuuuude at DCW would be your best best for the best fit. You could have him do whatever offset you want, plus you could get a beadlock/glue on setup. Beadlock up front for looks, glue on the back side for knuckle clearance. Plus you could get any design you want. Probably your cheapest option for the best fit.

[skerb]

Originally Posted by Hittman

Duuuuuude at DCW would be your best best for the best fit. You could have him do whatever offset you want, plus you could get a beadlock/glue on setup. Beadlock up front for looks, glue on the back side for knuckle clearance. Plus you could get any design you want. Probably your cheapest option for the best fit.

Yeah, I pmed him last week about some 1.55s. Just can't decide what size to run. 1.55 or 1.9. If I go 1.55 here aren't many tire options in my size range. With 1.9 there are a few more, but I think 1.55s look better on this size build.

[Poprivet]

I'm building the same NB tj. I finally went with the 1.9's cuz the rock beasts are sick.

Unfortunately to look right with them I now have a stretched wheelbase class 2 tj with narrowed wraith axles.

IMO, 1.9 is to big for class1 for that tj body .

Subscribed, btw. Great looking rig. can't wait to see how it turns out.

[skerb]

Originally Posted by Poprivet

I'm building the same NB tj. I finally went with the 1.9's cuz the rock beasts are sick.

Unfortunately to look right with them I now have a stretched wheelbase class 2 tj with narrowed wraith axles.

IMO, 1.9 is to big for class1 for that tj body .

Subscribed, btw. Great looking rig. can't wait to see how it turns out.

Yep, I love the way these bodies work for class 2. This is my class 2 rig.

[Poprivet]

That thing looks great. nice job. What's the wheelbase on that one?

[skerb]

Originally Posted by Poprivet

That thing looks great. nice job. What's the wheelbase on that one?

The red TJ is almost 11.5"

[Poprivet]

Originally Posted by skerb

The red TJ is almost 11.5"

PM me a build thread if you got one. I'd like a better look.

[skerb]

Class 2 build here:
Guzzy the RED TJ Build

[Poprivet]

Originally Posted by skerb

Class 2 build here:
Guzzy the RED TJ Build - RCCrawler

thanks.
Lol, I was already subscribed to that thread. I thought it looked familiar. It's one of the many tj builds I looked at before starting mine.

[skerb]

So, this build has the frame closer to the body than I ever done...this is great for high clearance, bad for fitting batteries in the jeep. Spend an hour trying to fit 10lb of stuff in a 3lb bag. The. Said screw it and built a front bumper and winch plate.

[SuperDrty]

Originally Posted by skerb

Are there any other 1.9 wheels besides vp and maybe locked up that use the same slw pattern

The SSD-RC wheels I run on Slimer, with just a slight reaming of the bolt holes (to accept the 4-40 hardware) the SLW hubs bolt right up.

I'm not sure how narrow you can go with them though. But I could bolt them to my SCX10 axles when I get home tomorrow night and give you a width measurement if you'd like.