Ryft as dedicated rock crawler

[farmjohn42]

Has anyone dedicated a Axial Ryft to a rock crawler vs bouncer?
For the areas I drive, the Ryft's wheelbase is a little long. I was thinking of shortening the wheelbase front and rear to keep it symmetrical in functionality. Therefore with a closer wheel base in theory there is less of a chance for the skid to hang up on the prepuce of the climb. It appears the Axial Bomber rear lower links and the upper links could match creating approximately 10mm shorter rear. The front appears more difficult with an assortment of Capra and Enduro links, it would be close if the front could be shortened a noticeable difference. I found https://www.ebay.com/itm/275356494726 front shock mounts to relocate the front shock rearward slightly to help keep some vertical correctness.
If it worked I would eventually invest in the Vivaton portals for the Ryft as well as 4WS. https://www.ebay.com/itm/284435141280
Is this too wild of a theory to work or do you think its doable or more importantly helpful?

[OSRC]

Certainly doable. It is long, that's for sure. Shortening the WB would help breakover at the expense of some climbing stability....good trade imo.

I just finished my kit, and I built mine as a crawler/trail rig. Not sure what I want to do with it per-se, but if it stays that way it is probably getting shortened a bit.

[DrIsotope]

Oh, it can absolutely be done. The biggest hurdle is the near non-existent gear reduction in the gearbox-- the single speed in the RTR is the high gear, which is 1.33 : 1, and the low in the 2-speed is just 2:1, which absolutely does not lend to crawling. Portals will help with that a lot, but holy hell are they expensive. I didn't bother shortening mine at all-- I used a second set of stock links from Jenny's to get rid of the trailing arms and swaybar. It is wildly stable with a ~400mm wheelbase, and the middling breakover performance is offset by being able to get nearly vertical, and almost incomparable sidehilling. The springs from a set of Traxxas Long Arm shocks work, much to my amazement, perfectly. Mine is 4WS with a Treal rear steer axle (to keep the pumpkin in the proper place) and gearing as low as I could get... by making it. You can use a gear adapter for a Yeti to run normal spurs-- Traxxas and Kimbrough both make 32P 72T gears which can take the spur/pinion ratio from 3.53:1 to 6:1. Beyond that, it's either portals, or build your own gearbox, which is what I did. I built a 4:1 box out of MOD1 pinions. With a 12T pinion, it's almost too slow with a 70:1 FDR and a 2100KV motor.

The stock Swampers don't crawl too well. Whatever you choose, look for a tire around 6" tall. Stickies are really good where I'm wheeling, but they are almost unconscionably expensive. Go as low of KV as you can, feed it volts.

[AK KRAWLER]

Originally Posted by DrIsotope

Oh, it can absolutely be done. The biggest hurdle is the near non-existent gear reduction in the gearbox-- the single speed in the RTR is the high gear, which is 1.33 : 1, and the low in the 2-speed is just 2:1, which absolutely does not lend to crawling. Portals will help with that a lot, but holy hell are they expensive. I didn't bother shortening mine at all-- I used a second set of stock links from Jenny's to get rid of the trailing arms and swaybar. It is wildly stable with a ~400mm wheelbase, and the middling breakover performance is offset by being able to get nearly vertical, and almost incomparable sidehilling. The springs from a set of Traxxas Long Arm shocks work, much to my amazement, perfectly. Mine is 4WS with a Treal rear steer axle (to keep the pumpkin in the proper place) and gearing as low as I could get... by making it. You can use a gear adapter for a Yeti to run normal spurs-- Traxxas and Kimbrough both make 32P 72T gears which can take the spur/pinion ratio from 3.53:1 to 6:1. Beyond that, it's either portals, or build your own gearbox, which is what I did. I built a 4:1 box out of MOD1 pinions. With a 12T pinion, it's almost too slow with a 70:1 FDR and a 2100KV motor.

The stock Swampers don't crawl too well. Whatever you choose, look for a tire around 6" tall. Stickies are really good where I'm wheeling, but they are almost unconscionably expensive. Go as low of KV as you can, feed it volts.

That’s a pretty wild looking little rig!!!

[OSRC]

^^ Very nice! Looks real good with the shorter stance - great idea just using front links out back.

I filed down the motor plate a bit to get a smaller pinion on, I don't remember the size offhand...it's only a tooth or two IIRC. It's locked in low gear and has a Holmes Crawlmaster... mine seems to just be in the range of trail running and some light crawling. I've only test run a bit in the basement though.

I had in the back of my mind when I ordered the Ryft kit to swap drivelines with my SMT, I thought it would be a good upgrade for the SMT and work out well with a more crawler oriented driveline in the Ryft. But I haven't gotten there yet.

[DrIsotope]

If anyone is worried about rear triangulation when ditching the trailing arms for 4 link, don't be. The rear end has maybe 2-3mm of lateral movement, and that's probably down to cumulative slop in the rod ends.
Be prepared in every way to put in gear that can handle weight. Mine is currently sitting on 2.2" CF beadlocks, and with no "added weight" other than a brass Treal diff cover up front... is a bit over 9lbs.

[Nogman]

Originally Posted by DrIsotope

Oh, it can absolutely be done. The biggest hurdle is the near non-existent gear reduction in the gearbox-- the single speed in the RTR is the high gear, which is 1.33 : 1, and the low in the 2-speed is just 2:1, which absolutely does not lend to crawling. Portals will help with that a lot, but holy hell are they expensive. I didn't bother shortening mine at all-- I used a second set of stock links from Jenny's to get rid of the trailing arms and swaybar. It is wildly stable with a ~400mm wheelbase, and the middling breakover performance is offset by being able to get nearly vertical, and almost incomparable sidehilling. The springs from a set of Traxxas Long Arm shocks work, much to my amazement, perfectly. Mine is 4WS with a Treal rear steer axle (to keep the pumpkin in the proper place) and gearing as low as I could get... by making it. You can use a gear adapter for a Yeti to run normal spurs-- Traxxas and Kimbrough both make 32P 72T gears which can take the spur/pinion ratio from 3.53:1 to 6:1. Beyond that, it's either portals, or build your own gearbox, which is what I did. I built a 4:1 box out of MOD1 pinions. With a 12T pinion, it's almost too slow with a 70:1 FDR and a 2100KV motor.

The stock Swampers don't crawl too well. Whatever you choose, look for a tire around 6" tall. Stickies are really good where I'm wheeling, but they are almost unconscionably expensive. Go as low of KV as you can, feed it volts.

Any pics of the transmission? I'm looking to do the same for my tall tire belly dragger and I kinda know what I wanna do (parts are ordered) but can't find much for reference.

[casco_bay_rc]

Originally Posted by farmjohn42

Has anyone dedicated a Axial Ryft to a rock crawler vs bouncer?

I converted mine to a crawler by adding the three spools and gearing down at the pinion/spur. I'm also using a Mamba X to use the aux wire crawler/rock racer modes. You can underdrive the rear with gearing.

I added tons of weight down low via aluminum axles, brass, and tubes.

With these changes, my Ryft crawls as well as any of my other rigs, with the advantage being the longer wheelbase.

I'll post some pics soon.

[DrIsotope]

Originally Posted by Nogman

Any pics of the transmission? I'm looking to do the same for my tall tire belly dragger and I kinda know what I wanna do (parts are ordered) but can't find much for reference.

Oh, I coulda done this both different, easier, and probably better (like ordering shouldered bearings.) But it works well enough that I don't feel like starting over. Details of the build here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vla9Iuuo1xU
And some images:

[SteveB1]

That's pretty slick. I ended up putting a Vanquish 3-Gear transmission in mine and changing out the spur gear to a 90 and running a Holmes crawlmaster magnum.