DERWOOD DESIGNS IFS Ultra4 the "Mutt"

[derwood21]

I've been working on and off this build for a few months now. Finally getting around to throw up a build thread on it. I've had this rig in my head for almost 2 years and just haven't had the means and time to build it until recently. After going up to a buddies shop and seeing his new Ultra4 rig he's building for KOH next year it lit a fire under my ass to get working on this thing. Had a customer come in interested in one of my scalers and he had an Exo so that was the start of it.

This thing has evolved quite a bit as I've been building it from what my first plans were, especially with all the new products I could add to it. Don't think I've dumped this much into one rig before but what the hell
The main basis is an Axial Exo Terra buggy. As soon as I saw these things come out I knew I wanted to throw a straight axle under the back. Playing with some side profiles on the computer I knew I wanted to shorten up the cage so I played around with it til I was happy with the look. The first rig that came to mind was Jason Pickett's 4444 Carnage Crew rig which I remember from KOH a few years back as the Axial rig, loved that rig. This rig was part of the inspiration for this build with an IFS twist.



Anyway on to the pics. Theres alot of details I didn't get pictures of through the build proccess but I'll cover what I did get.
I started out by shortening the whole cage down to a 2 seater



Threw some shocks on and mocked up my AR60 axle in the rear to figure out what kinda wheelbase I wanted. I've been wanting to do a rear trailing arm set up on a build. The Twin Hammer arms seemed to be a good length to work for me. Since I was using the trailing arms the lower mounts looked like they would work out well too.



I wanted to make the front track width close to the rear so I added a pair of Vanquish rear slash arms. With this I added Slash 4x4 caster blocks and knuckles. I like the look better than the stock Exo ones and they had better clearance for the wheels.


Since I swapped the arms and knuckles I had to figure out what to use for front axles. I also wanted to lock the front end. I used a Hot Racing spool and a solid 5mm through shaft. Drilled and tapped the spool and notched the shaft for the set scews. not sure how well its gonna hold til I get it running but I think its gonna work out. I was going to use slash MIPs until I looked at our shops Traxxas XO-1 and knew I needed a set of those booted cv axles, they just looked too badass. The Integy shocks just weren't going to cut it so I picked up some RC4WD King shocks.

[derwood21]

I knew I needed to eliminate the servo saver in the bellcrank. We what the hell, why not try and incorporate my steering for the Twin Hammers. with alittle thinking I relocated the servo and was able to get everything to line right up. This ended up working out well too because I ended up figuring out the servo was going to have to move for the tranny anyways.



Its going to be a tight fit under the interior.


I tried to use as much as I could out of the Exo kit during the build. I was experimenting with a spare tire carrier out back. Ended up changing it some to sit alittle lower. You can also see the Hot Racing Wraith rear sway bar set-up I modded to work too.


I really wanted to run the new Pit Bull 2.2 Rock Beasts on this but they were just to tall for this one to me. I did alittle searching for a smaller tire and found the RC4WD Dick Cepek 2.2 Mud Countrys. At 5.19" tall the scaled out to be a 42" tall tire in 1/8 scale, perfect. Also the look of the tread was something you might see on an Ultra4 rig. Then bit the bullet, which I don't regret whatsoever, and order up a set of the Vanquish 2.2 OMF's to mount them up on.


I Chopped up the stock panels and through alittle satin black on them to see how it all looked. My final panel design will have a satin black base.


After ordering a set of the Vanquish Wraith Currie housings in for the shop I knew I had to throw one under the back of the thing. Went for the silver axle but did a black truss to break it up.


Then once again Vanquish had to come out with something new. Picked up a set of the Hammers aluminum trailing arms which was perfect since thats what was under it already.


I kept looking at the light bar trying to figure out a way to change it up alittle so it wasn't the same as the rest. I had thought about putting a Vanquish Rigid LED bar on it but just didn't want it all exposed and to beat it up. So got to thinking why not put them together. The 4" bar fit right in.



Had to take acouple poser pics in the backyard the other day.



Well this is as far as I've really gotten so far. the next plans are mounting my winch servo that is going to be installed behind the steering servo, already mocked it up. After that the stock Wraith tranny is going to get swapped out for a RC4WD 2 speed version. The 2 speed with my Tekin SC4X 4.5T and MMP should be fun

[tedo]

Wow. Looks great! Should be a lot of fun.

Will be following.

[Tingram]

looks great!

[Hoosierdady]

Man, I want this thing bad. I mean, wow. Great job for sure man. Top notch.

[STANG KILLA SS]

been waiting for someone to do a narrow arm swap on a wrexo.
i would LOVE a 1.9 SCX width wrexo.

amazing retro fit skills!

[Brandon]

Nice job Darren

[Rockpiledriver]

I like it a lot. Great job!

[4RunnerKid]

nice use of parts, the result is killer can't wait to see pics of this thing in action...

[Fumbles]

Those flat black panels were the perfect touch.

[tachikoma1373]

That is most excellent

[zion23]

This is sick !!! Did the servo help by relocating lt as far as faster steering or better angle of aproach or it was relocated to avoid the mip and the back do the servo being so close??

[Szczerba]

Very cool build on 2.2's. I did the same thing on 1.55/1.9 back in July. Great minds think alike

Szczerba's SCX-EXO

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[PipeDreams]

Sub'd!

[Ballistic17]

That's an awesome looking rig. Nice work.

[Desert Rc]

Man that is a stout sinister little build. very cool

[tachikoma1373]

Have you got any pics of the rear end, trailing arm conversion. Since I smashed the rear part of the roll cage on my EXO, and superglue isn't going to hold those broke rear role cage pieces on for long , I might give it a go. Any further details much appreciated.

[atencio]

sweet rig, what wt shock oil did you use in the king shocks?

[rebuilder]

holy smoke! love it! that's the kind of 2.2 I would love

[Desert Rc]

I love it too this thing is mean