JKWranglers JK Wrangler

[JKWrangler]

Alright, been dragging on getting this project posted up on here, but I can tell you it has been a fun first build. It all started about a month and a half ago when I started getting parts in the mail.

First came the axles...


These things are just so beautiful, the detail is amazing!

Then came the motor (Tekin Roc412), ESC (Mamba Max Pro), and servo(HT5970)..




The ESC was much larger than I thought, and the motor and servo were just beautiful out of the box... If only I had a chassis

Finally after many weeks of waiting! (Damn customs!) My GCM Chassis Arrived! And of course it was packaged rather nicely!




Now finally got it together, had to tap the panhard bar, but no biggy.




Whats this? She's all sprung up! King 80/90mm Scale Shocks (Green Anodized Spacers have since been replaced, and front shock is now mounted lower)




And now the trans is built! RRP Hardened Steel Idler and Solid 5mm output, RRP Gen3 Slipper Clutch with Super Shafty Top Shaft



Gotta put it all on the plate!




More Chassis Shots, the thing is really a work of art! Thanks GCM! Tekin! RC4WD! and Castle!



I had to shave the frame with a dremel to fit the large 83 tooth spur

And heres a quick mockup I did right after I got everything in place. This is a working vehicle as of now. Those are Mickey Thompson 1.9" wheels with the Baja MTZ Tires




Since then I have gotten a few more parts in the mail, changed the front shock mounting point and did general suspension tuning, and am currently waiting on a light and winch controller. Hopefully I can get some more pictures up. But thats all for now, enjoy!

Heres a picture of the thing in action with the new front bumper for being patient with my broken links Ill try to get a shot of the rear bumper, and some more pics soon.

[fr8cture]

None of your pics work...

[JKWrangler]

Damn flickr! Ill make a photo bucket later tonight and get them up there... I don't know what the hell happened to that website.

[S1NN3R]

Originally Posted by fr8cture

None of your pics work...

Right click and view in new tab.

[JKWrangler]

Okay, pictures have been fixed. Thanks for being so patient. In the last picture you can see my hound kinda, she don't like the JK lol.

So heres a list of what I have as of now

-Ebay 2dr JK Body in Red

-Roc412 2300Kv Powerplant run off of 3s LiPO.

-Axial Ax10 Transmission with all hardened steel RRP gears and Gen3 Super Clutch. Super Shafty Top Shaft

-Mamba Max Pro ESC

-RC4WD Punisher Shafts (Ver2) all around

-GCM Skeleton J2 Chassis

-GCM 1:1 Transfercase

-RC4WD K44 Axles Front and Back

-Hitec HS9750T Steering Servo run off 7.4v HeyOK BEC

-King 80mm(R) and 90mm(F) Shocks using the white(F) and Green(R) 80mm springs front and back up top, and the Red 100mm(F) and 90mm(Rear) Springs on bottom to give it that dual spring rate look but essentially performs as if your just using the red springs. 80w Shock Oil front and back

-Rampage Front Bumper

-RC4WD Warn Winch

-ToughArmor Rear Spare Tire Carrier

In the future I plan to:

Fabricate Stock Roll Cage
Add either side steps or rock sliders
HeyOK THE Ultimate Light Controller and and LED Light Bar across the top of the windshield. (And MAYBE some small light bars inserted into the front of the fender)
HeyOK Winch Controller
Paint Yob
Possible Customization of the Rampage Front Bumper
Waterproofing of Electronics
And maybe that GCM 2Speed transfer case if they ever release it!

Some side notes is that I am currently using a 16T Pinion Gear, and while the speed is nice and really not to fast, I want to shrink it down a bit to get a little more uber slow crawlability. The throttle is okay for me going super slow, but everyone else complains its too sensitive, so I might just go down to a 13/14T pinion and see what happens. I am sure I will be messing around with the shocks (Although the setup is pretty nice as is IMO)

And hopefully some videos of it in action OUTSIDE (I don't want to bore you with carpet crawling) once this hellish weather ends, unless I find time to waterproof the electronics before then (Not gonna happen).
But for now...Enjoy!

[northkona]

To soften the throttle try adding expo on your transmitter, I run about +50 on my Spektrum. It gives you more trigger movement for less power at the start of the throw but doesn't limit full throttle.

[JKWrangler]

Yeah that's what I've been running it at already actually, I'm fine with it, just seems everyone else is not. Anyway, last nights blizzard was too much to resist. Waterproofed my electronics with some plasti-dip

Heres a tiny teaser, sorry for the video quality, I don't have the iPhone 6, lol.
Can't seem to embed youtube videos here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M813...ature=youtu.be
theres the link

[tokdl]

I can't believe I didn't find this build during my search. Looks fantastic, doing the same build myself except with a scx based chassis. Been eyeing up those axles for a while now, they look at home under there. Did you find that you needed to open them up and lube them? Looks awesome!

[JKWrangler]

I did open them up when I got them to see if it maybe needed a little bit of shimming, but lo and behold everything was pretty well done. It was packed with grease, but I decided to degrease it and use some of the marine grade grease we use up at my carwash (You get that stuff on your hands and it will be a few days before it comes off)

Really though, they should be ready to run right out of the box, and I had heard from a few people that you may want to open them up anyway just to check the shimming on the ring and pinion... This is my first build, and so my only experience is with these axles, but man, the quality is just superb in my opinion. RC4WD outdid themselves on this one and I can't see myself having any issues with these babies.

[photocycler]

Did you have to modify the Rampage bumper to fit? I notice on my Skeleton Chassis when i try and mount the Rampage, the mounting rails go back so far it interferes with the drag link for the steering.

[tokdl]

Originally Posted by JKWrangler

I did open them up when I got them to see if it maybe needed a little bit of shimming, but lo and behold everything was pretty well done. It was packed with grease, but I decided to degrease it and use some of the marine grade grease we use up at my carwash (You get that stuff on your hands and it will be a few days before it comes off)

Really though, they should be ready to run right out of the box, and I had heard from a few people that you may want to open them up anyway just to check the shimming on the ring and pinion... This is my first build, and so my only experience is with these axles, but man, the quality is just superb in my opinion. RC4WD outdid themselves on this one and I can't see myself having any issues with these babies.

Awesome! I'll likely pull mine apart as well and go over everything just for peace of mind. I've got some super lifts on the way and then I'll get those K44's

[Bananaclip]

This is what I have been waiting for. I love your axles but have held off on buying do to the unknown. You have a serious power plant and I am patiently waiting feedback on how they hold up to the power.... Get that thing out

[JKWrangler]

Alright, its been a long time waiting! I have about 85 hours of outdoor trail time. I have a few vids, but having no camera man makes them kind of crappy, so Ill be working on getting you guys a good one.

This thing has held up great! Initially, I used purple locktite for everything, and the only problems I have had were screws vibrating out of the driveshafts, and the axle brackets. Since upgrading to blue locktite on these components, everything has been dandy! 0 Breaks, lots of abuse!

The 16T pinion was a perfect combo for me, but too many of my friends, who I'd like to get interested in the hobby, had a tough time controlling it at slow speeds, and often did dumb stuff. So, after finally spending a good amount of time drilling out the old pinion, I have replaced it with a 13T, which is pretty nice for crawling, though to make it further idiot proof, I am going to get a 10T

This thing is a champ! Still haven't gotten the LEDs set up yet, I got distracted procuring my *new* 2012 JK Rubicon, found it with 7k miles on it! :HappyYes:

I also used some of the RC4WD Bumper Brackets and bent them, and Styrene to "Saddlebag" (I know wrong term) the batteries on each side of the frame.

One thing I have noticed is the misalignment of the drag link, and pan hard bar, which I believe is causing my suspension to flex at full turns (Nothing big, but bothers me, and since nothing has broken, gives me more reason to go back to the tinkering stage!). Going to pick up some bent M3 rod ends, place the tierod beneath the axle horns, and if possible, eliminate the spacer all together, but Ill probably still need it, this way it should be much more parallel, though not perfectly parallel to the pan hard bar! Ill let you know how it turns out when I get to it!