Mr.JayDeeM's Jeep Cherokee build.

[Mr.JayDeeM]

Found my new spot to play in, Pics below!

Hi fellas,

I'm new to this whole scene myself. I've been a lurker on this website for about 2 years. I wasn't really into it until I met a friend who build rock crawlers. He got me seriously into it and I knew that I gotta have one. It really a lot of fun. Found my new hobby!

So, I took a plunge and bought a slightly used one off from ebay for $182.00. I didn't know what type of kit it was. I thought all Axial Ax10 are all the same. I learned the hard way. haha. Read below.

Here's what I started with when I gotten it.



When I said I learned the hard way, I found out that the kit I bought was an RTR, so it had stiffer springs, stiffer foam, heavy weight oil as well. I wasn't happy with how it flexed and what not. I could say I spent more time changing up things than driving it.

Since then, I changed some stuff,
I 1st cut down the foam as much as I can as I read up the stock tires are trash, so I'm going to use those tires for now.
I bought softer spring rate which is white coded along with Losi 25wt shock oil. It helps ALOT!
I oredered set of bent links but I seem to have a bit problem with them. Will explain later.

I never liked the body so I went out and bought a Jeep Cherokee made by Proline.

Here's what I finsihed with. I p[ainted it black to match my 1.1. I painted inside silver for metal effect and then I painted outside with light coat of primer, base then clear. Ready to get it scratched up!







I went to my local park that has good rocks and what not, played with it for couple hours at the same time studying how it performs. There's few things I see that I want to change. Discussed later.













It does not crawl that bad. It actually surprised me. But there is few things I would like to change. Will discuss more later but right now tell me what you think!

[F350white]

The flex on that thing looks good on that body.

[Mr.JayDeeM]

Thanks! I have axial 55t motor, cnc sntc I believe skid plate, I'm going to 4 link it as well so servo plate all coming in UPS soon.

It currently have 27t motor, 20 pinion and 87 spur. I hope the 55t motor will help a lot.

[solomon7]

Lookin' good!
That 55 will help a lot.
If you like how it performs now, wait till you put some decent tires on it.
I'd go TSL with an XJ like that. Don't forget to vent your wheels too!

The rock lizards have been referred to as doggy chew toys by many when compared to literally ANY other tire so you're gonna be blown away with some TSL and good foams.

[Mr.JayDeeM]

Well, today I trimmed my foam some more and drill a hole on back side of each wheel. it helps some. I still want to invest better tires. Who makes the TSL? Proline?

[Mr.JayDeeM]

Should I change my pinion gear when I get my 55t motor or leave it as 20t pinion?

[Mr.JayDeeM]

I finally got my new 55t Axial motor in as well the 4 link plate and the skid plate from STNC. I need a little help here. I want to know what hardware to buy in order to in board my alum bent links on my skid plate. It didn't come with any hardware and I'm pretty sure the stock ones will not work either.

here's a pic of it.

[Mr.JayDeeM]

My bent links I have. two is longer than the other. Which one goes in the back and which goes in the front?

[opek]

You get to choose! Try it both way!

[Mr.JayDeeM]

I finally installed my new parts. It took me a good 4 hours to figure this out. I still think I have my shocks some what wrong but will show later. I mirrored my transmission and installed my new 55t motor as well. The skid plate from strc is a nice piece and installed smoothly. It add some weight.

When I was mirroring my transmission, I ran into a lower link/motor contact issue. I figured it was bec its a bent style links, so I added some shim under the skid plate and transmission, it helped some but still touched it some. It'll do for now.

I will post some pictures sometimes tomorrow.

[Mr.JayDeeM]

here's some pictures.

Let me know if you see anything that is wrong or did I do anything wrong. Also please check out how I installed the shocks, it was the only way to clear the links and not cause binding but I feel like it causing it to flex a little harder..if anyone have an better idea how to remedy this, let me know.

[Mr.JayDeeM]

I found my new spot to play in. It's a awesome spot and it's very hard in some spots. I find it fun to start on the bottom and try to work my way around climbing to the top.

[Irmoxj]

Nice build, I was looking at putting a Cherokee body on my ax10, how do you like those 4 link mounts?

[Mr.JayDeeM]

Originally Posted by Irmoxj

Nice build, I was looking at putting a Cherokee body on my ax10, how do you like those 4 link mounts?

Yes, I liked it and works well for me. Flex well but controlled flex better than the 3 link did.

I 4 linked front and rear.

[Mr.JayDeeM]

i got my gunnar body mounts today! Thanks and will install it with pictures to follow.

Edit: Pictures as promised.

So much better and more stronger.

[Mr.JayDeeM]

New small update,

Here's how she sits right now with a lot of trail runs. Mostly rock. The body is beat up, trimmed some more, bumpers are gone because it ruined my approaches towards rocks. Took the foam out to the point when the stock tires really do suck. Shopping for tires now. Mirrored my tranny. Servo is slowly dying, lol. Snapped both of my rear control arms end links during a roll over it had. (wish I had a video)

Anyway, it still runs and will continue to run until it dies and then the upgrade and rebuild will to come.

Here's some pics.

[Mr.JayDeeM]

UPDATE!

I finally got some set of new wheels and tires. They are actually used but still in a great shape.

Set of HR wheels and rover tires. Also I got hitec ultra torque servo with arm. As well links. I can't install the links yet because i do not know what hardware i need to have for those.

Anyway, here are some pictures...

[Shinobid]

well....I would get a split pack battery pack from www.cheapbatterypacks.com and mount them on either side of the front axle to get that weight off the top...hurry up and change out that crappy plastic steering linkage..flip the shocks, chaqnge out those lower linkage mount screws with some button head screws..aluminum C hubs and hub carriers....the list can go on and on my friend... But I dig that body! That's the body I was using before I switched over to this: Another Poison Dart aka The Hobgoblin

You can see what I mean by split battery pack in my pics...

[Mr.JayDeeM]

Flipped shocks? What the benefits of this mod?

[Shinobid]

Just helps with weight distribution....also, I forgot to mention that my crawler started out exactly like yours did....