JimK's Cherokee X-Trail Revival

[JimK]

I also fastened the front bumper in place with a couple button head screws. I'm repurposing the front bumper off of my SCX10 3 Gladiator.



I think this bumper suits the Cherokee body well enough for now. Hopefully I can get the body mounted tomorrow and take this thing out for a rip on Friday??



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[smog]

Beauty of a build Jim. How is the shock/spring combo feeling? Eyeballing the trans, is it the Axial 3 gear with a 48P spur?

[JimK]

Originally Posted by smog

Beauty of a build Jim. How is the shock/spring combo feeling? Eyeballing the trans, is it the Axial 3 gear with a 48P spur?

Thanks smog! The suspension feels pretty good now with the changes I made to the shocks. Hopefully I can trail test it soon. As for the transmission, it's an Amazon copy of the Axial transmission with the 48P spur. Seems to be a decent tranny....time will tell.

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[Gula]

I love the stealth bumper!

[JimK]

Originally Posted by Gula

I love the stealth bumper!

Thanks Gula. I left it sticking out just enough to protect the grill from impacts....hopefully.

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[JimK]

Well, the more I looked at these Falken WildPeak A/T tires the more I wanted them on the X-Trail Cherokee. I had a set of black G-made VR01 bead locks kicking around so I decided to mount them up.



First one mounted and I like how these wheels and tires look together.



Got them all mounted and I have a fifth tire to use as a matching spare once I scrounge up another rim. Pretty sure I a couple more laying around somewhere?



The Falken WildPeaks are a bit bigger than the tires I have on there but just slightly. I don't want this rig to look monster truckish.



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[JimK]

I slapped them onto the truck and I think they suit the look of this build a little better. A bit more scale and realistic and I think the slightly larger tires look a bit more appropriate on this rig. Now if I can just get the damn body mounted I can take it out for a little trail run.







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[JimK]

Got the body mounted today....sort of. Still need to tweak the height and move it back slightly.

I gathered up all the mounting hardware I had.



Decided to put the body mount posts back onto the rear shock towers.



I fastened the magnetic mounts to the body posts that I mounted to the front shock towers.



Then I trimmed off the body posts and rotated the magnets outwards for a wider mounting stance.



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[JimK]

Next I flipped the truck over and transferred the body post locations onto some masking tape after centering the body.



Post locations transferred.



I used a body reamer to put in the holes. Was a bit harder than reaming a lexan body but I was able to get the job done with a little extra pressure.



I have the body mounted now but need to tweak it a little bit. I want it sitting as low as reasonably possible. I also need to shim the ends of the front links to move the front axle forward a few millimeters. I'll also need raise the rock sliders a little once I get the body position finalized. I ran out of time and need to head off to work. I'll fiddle with a little more this weekend.



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[JimK]

I spent the afternoon and part of the evening working on the X-Trail Cherokee. I'm happy to say that although it isn't completely finished it is done for now and ready to take out on the trails for a shake down run.

The first task at hand was to move the front axle forward and lower the body on the chassis. I moved the upper links forward one hole in the chassis. This was 6mm forward. For the lower links I used longer rod ends and unscrewed them slightly to achieve the same 6mm of forward movement.



To lower the rear of the body I cut some spacers from a ball point pen tube.



I slipped these over the rear body mount posts for the back flatbed to rest on. They fit over the posts nice and snug so no need to worry about them falling off.



For the front of the body I lowered and repositioned the magnet mounts. Took a couple attempts to get it just right but it wasn't too difficult.



Looks much better with the body lowered and the front tire centered in the wheel well.



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[JimK]

The front tire tucks nicely.



A small even space between the bumper and the bottom of the grill.



The front bumper is set back in nicely and is still very stealthy looking.



I had to raise the rock sliders up closer to the bottom of the truck body. To accomplish that I flipped the side trays over and then remounted the rock sliders.



The rock sliders fit nice and tight to the body now.



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[JimK]

Another quick and easy change was mounting the spare tire. This one is temporary until the matching rims I ordered show up and then the spare will match the other tires.



Next it was taillight time. I stole a couple light buckets from this roof rack. I acquired the rack in a trade and had no plans to use it anyway.



I mounted the buckets to the bottom of the flatbed at first. However I didn't like them so close together or sitting so low and exposed. Pretty sure they'd get ripped off in no time located there.



I decided to further cannibalize the rack and cut off the bracket that the light buckets were mounted to.



It mounted perfectly to the bottom of the flat bed in the body mounting slots.



This is a much better spot for the lights. They should be quite protected there and look better spaced out and sitting higher.



A quick test to make sure the lights work before moving on to the headlights. Good to go!



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[JimK]

For the headlights I broke out the soldering iron and spliced the headlights together running the wires off to one side.



Then I spliced the headlights into the taillight harness so I only needed one plug for all the lights. A quick test to make sure they work....all good!! All solder connections got covered with heat shrink tubing.



I used some zip ties and stick on wire clips to tidy up all the wires. Tried to keep the wires as neat as possible.



The lighting installation was a success and we're now ready to take on the night time trails.





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[JimK]

To wrap it up I secured the rx with a piece of double sided tape to keep it from bouncing around in the receiver box. I also installed a 6" wire lead to plug the lights into so I don't have to take the cover off the receiver box if/when I need to unplug the lights.



I also drilled a 0.125" hole in the top of the rx box and glued a short piece of antenna tube in there for the receiver antenna to pass thru.



I'm glad to finally get the Cherokee to this point so I can take it out for a shake down run. I don't plan on doing much more to this truck. I would like to add a few scale items to the flatbed and install some inner front wheel wells. I'd also like to eventually put in some sort of interior and a driver. If anyone has any recommendations for an interior I'm all ears. Thanks for lookin'.

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[JimK]

Well I finally got the X-Trail Cherokee out for a shake down run yesterday before work. I drove over to the arena on the edge of town to play on the hilly mountain bike trails there.

This hill is the closest thing I have to a mountain in my neighborhood and it's also the hub to all the downhill mtb trails.



Only one of these vehicles is leaving here not covered in mud today.



Playing in a washout on the way up to the top.



One last pose in the grass before heading down the trails.



I was nice and sunny today but we've had a lot of rain the last few days so it was no surprise to find the trails closed to mountain bikes.



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[JimK]

The trails are wide and rolling and not much of a challenge for tiny trucks but it was still fun to be out for a stroll with the Cherokee.



Over the rock we go.



Riding along the top edge of the bermed corners added a little fun to the drive.



The trails were greasy and sticky and it didn't take long for the tires to turn into big mud donuts. I quick punch of the throttle would send mud flying everywhere!



Making our way along the back of the big hill.



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[JimK]

I found a big pile of dirt to play on. The Cherokee is getting muddier by the minute!



I spent a few minutes driving back and forth over this pile picking a few fun lines to hit before moving on.



Did I mention the trails are kinda muddy?



I'm not one to baby my trucks but I wouldn't say I like to beat on them either. I do however usually shy away from too much water and using my rigs a submarines...today however was an exception to the rule. I went bombing back and forth through this puddle a few times to try and get as much of the mud off as I could. I guess we'll see just how waterproof the electronics really are?



Found a cement pad with a built in flex ramp.....nice!



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[JimK]

I started working my way back to my Jeep as I needed to be at work in a couple hours.

I found a couple little rock piles to play on along the way.



Certainly not the most capable truck I've had in the rocks but it was able to pick it's way through if I picked my lines carefully.





Full stuff and full squish.



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[JimK]

When I got back to my car and popped the body off to power down I couldn't believe how much mud had made it's way inside the cab of the truck!! I couldn't even find the power button to shut it off.



Definately going to need some inner fenders for this thing and find a way to close up the back of the cab.



Back at the house and ready for a good wash.



I took the garden hose to it inside and out. Again, we're gonna see just how waterproof this thing is.



The hose cleaned it up way better than the puddle did.



I shook as much water off as I could and set it on a towel in the house to dry off. I'm pretty happy with how the X-trail Cherokee performed on her first trail run. I know these trails were not too challenging but the truck worked really well. The suspension was very active and lively over all the small bumps and still firm enough to soak up the bigger stuff. The steering was also very quick and the truck responded well to steering input and had a pretty tight turning radius. One thing I was not to happy about was the throttle response....the truck was very jumpy and it was hard to modulate the throttle for a good slow crawl. I'm pretty sure this has to do with the initial throttle calibration during set up. I had to do it several times and in the end I was not convinced that I had done it correctly. I will recalibrate the throttle before my next outing and see if I can improve the throttle situation?



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[JimK]

I took the time to recalibrate the transmitter to the esc today. I was prepared to swap out the tx if I had to but I'm pretty sure I have it properly calibrated now. The throttle had a nice smooth pull and the motor accelerated evenly through the entire length of the trigger pull. I'll take it out for a trail run after work one day this week and try it out to make sure.



I also found a bit of water and dirt inside the receiver box....probably from hosing it off after that muddy run last week. Everything was still working properly so no harm done thankfully.



While I was messing around I decided to finish up the rear body mount posts. I marked with a silver sharpie where I needed to drill holes for the body clips.



I used a 1/16" drill bit to drill the required holes and then cut the posts down with a set of flush cutters.



They're a little tricky to reach but the pull tabs help out with installing and removing them. They are tucked out of sight and sort of hidden by the spare tire which is worth a bit of fiddling to me.



As always I was sure to stay hydrated while working on my tiny truck.



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