Budhatrain's Scx10 Jeep Road to ECSC pt.1

[budhatrain]

What can you say about scale? For me it's caught my attention for a few years now and when I attended rc4wd's East Coast Scale Comp I was hooked. Immediately I started to plan out three builds. This is the first one, and it's build off the foundation of Scx10 axles that are beefed up and capable of some serious turning. Of course I like to squirrel away the goodies before I start.



This guy named "Warpig" almost swept all three classes. I noticed he did a "how-to" on rccrawler and after reading it, I said "I can do that."

First a grungy set of scx10 stock axles, xr-10 universals, beef tubes, wraith chubs and hubs, locker and overdrive gears (*optional).



Take the stock axles and open them up. The stock green goop is sticky sticky and I used cowrc Moo-tor cleaner to clean everything up, of course slick it back up too. 1) you will need to remove the buttons on the outside of the case. Flip it over and remove some material on the inside too. This makes it so that the beef tubes can slide inside and wraith chubs to slide on the outside.

[budhatrain]

2) you need to file down these lips to create the slots that the wraith chubs use to slide on the case and have the capability to be clocked. It's not hard to do, but don't go crazy with the filing. Do a little and then test fit. You are trying to create two little mountain peaks on each side.




3) Now take the xr-10 universals and file them down. They come too long. Unless you pick up beef tubes that already have the grooves and you want the length of the universals (this is an option- less work, I don't know how much wider over an 1inch I suppose). I wanted to keep the width of my axles as close to stock as possible. The way that I did adds almost 1/2inch width. I can still find a body and fenders this will tuck under and possibly run in class one. The little bit of extra width helps with more steering too.

As you can see I filed the flat spots further down the shaft on the universals and then cut the shaft about 1/8 inch beyond the transition. Don't get the piece to hot and damage the heat treatment. I used HR lockers and filed/test fitted the universals to a tight fit. From here mount the chubs and hubs... once you get everything where you want it, screw into the beef tubes through the chubs and axle cases. The beef tubes I picked up had a hole pre-drilled and tapped for me. Other delrin options out there, you might have to do the drilling and tapping.

The end result is subtle but helpful. The beef tubes add weight down low, the universals give you the potential to steer more, the wraith chubs and hubs give you scrub steer and clocking. WIN





To match up the rears, I found some wider hexes. At this point I have had these wicked cool wheels and tires from rc4wd... Oh yeah, this is where my build began.




Plus you will notice that I swapped in as much of Screw Loose Hex Head Hardware into the axles, I plan on getting wet and stainless will be the ticket for rust free action!

[budhatrain]

Next I moved on to adding the new RC4WD CMS and Panhard mount for the SCX10 chassis. The fit and finish on this upgrade is very nice and bolts right in. Comes with a tons of stuff; the cms mount, a cross support for the chassis, upper truss mount, and enough hardware for all the links. I picked up the scale looking Superlift steering stabilizer to add some more bling.






I tried to get everything as parallel as possible. I don't know much about panhard setups so I want to make sure I am not binding up the system. I have also since replaced the stock plastic steering rod too







So this is how she sits after the axle and steering upgrade!

[budhatrain]

Moving on the paint. I picked up a new airbrush from Grex, very cool little unit with a trigger finger. First I test fit all the pieces. I think it looks cool all clear, kinda like Wonder Woman's airplane.







Another new thing for me was liquid mask. I know it's better than the tape thing I used to do but I never was into brushing it on. Then someone suggested picking up a cheapy airbrush that isn't too complicated to clean. I even had one and these things are not even twenty bucks. So I laid three consistent coats on, using a hair dryer in-between coats. Tackled the interior first... Then moved on to the truck!

[budhatrain]

Here's where I am at now... paint is all done, mounted the body. Had to ditch the floor board stuff for right now. With the fender flares, just too complicated. I changed out the shocks to some proline ones. I changed the front steering rod and added a system to be able to mount a rear tire to the lexan body.






Still lots to do, like electronics and bumpers and winches and and and... but I can't stop looking at it. Looks awesome so far!

[budhatrain]

So here is an update... I had to change up the steering arms I was using. Because I widened the wheelbase with the mod, it was convenient to use the backside of the steering arms (made for the xr10). However this threw off the steering geometry. So I flipped them around and just made my own custom length steering link with a couple bends. Much better

Here is an electronics tray I made up





I tossed these electronics in it.



Added a stinger bumper (made by my Ohio Guru friend Todd Grundish).







Optional body!!!



And here she is in action at the King of Gurus Comp in Logan Ohio







The truck is running great. I think I need to add stiffer foams in the tires, but I am just tired of spending money right now so it will have to wait. I can't wait to take this thing to ECSC in two weeks.

[budhatrain]

double post

[lappdogg]

Looks good mike! Ill be seeing you very soon!

[budhatrain]

Originally Posted by lappdogg

Looks good mike! Ill be seeing you very soon!

That's good to hear Andy, see you in a couple weeks!

[Metal Masher]

I like the set up. I'm anxious to see it run. See ya in a few weeks.