Track Width. 12.5? I think I get it.

[RickM]

In doing some research I was sort of guided into looking into track width. It appears that I should be able to take a tape measurer and put it on a flat surface in front of my truck (or in back) and it should measure outside of the tire to outside at 12.5 inches? That sounds rather wide? If I am right and I need to widen my load, is there a way to do that at the axles or do I need to consider new wheels?

[AlmstEvil665]

12.5 is just the max for how wide the truck can be in 2.2. A stock Axial is around 9.75. Bergs are around 10. I run mine at 10.5 and like it. There is nothing that says how wide your truck has to be...it just says how wide it can be. Stock width works fine on an axial.

[solomon7]

12.5 is the max track width. Stick around 10 or less if you want to actually clear gates lol.
You DO want your wheelbase to be as close to 12.5 as possible though

[RickM]

That width thing sounds to me to be critical in side hilling and for that matter all stability. Making up the difference to get to 12.5 sounds massive. Sounds to me like there is now way to do that with axles alone. Sounds like wheels are indeed necessary for that.

[AlmstEvil665]

You don't need to be that wide. I am running my Axial at 10.5. Any wider and the steering is going to be all screwed up. A low center of gravity is more important than track width. Plus like said above when you start getting wider than 10 inches it makes it a lot harder to get through the gates. I think people try to stay around 10 inches. I just ran a comp Sunday with my truck at 10.5 in the front and stock Axial width in the rear and liked it. To get an Axial to 12.5 wide you would need one of those kits to extend the width. The bad thing about those kits is that it puts a lot of stress of your knuckle bearings and outter axles. You will start breaking axle stubs and bearings at 12.5 inches wide. Also the steering scrub radius is screwed up. Instead of the tire pivoting on a spot near the middle of the tread the tire is pushed pout past the pivot point of the knuckle and your are moving the whole tire forward and back instead of it pivoting toward the center. Its hard to explain.

[Crawling Calvin]

Originally Posted by RickM

That width thing sounds to me to be critical in side hilling and for that matter all stability. Making up the difference to get to 12.5 sounds massive. Sounds to me like there is now way to do that with axles alone. Sounds like wheels are indeed necessary for that.

Axle extensions could be used, the main problems I see with running a really wide width is:
Clearing gates, you have a lot less margin for error
In some spots it maybe an issue with tight fits

Other than that I think it boils down to personal opinion overall

[bob1961]

my friend was running 10mm wideners on each side and it was hurting him more then helping...........bob

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