Cheap SOB Crawler Build

[hpiguy]

I had a ton of stuff leftover from my Wraith build, and bought this from Creepy Inc here at RCC for $100. I knew I was going to take the HH motor and ESC out of the Wraith (awesome combo, just wanted more speed), and my trans would bolt right up, so I couldn't pass it up. This will be all about what I can scrounge from stuff taken from the Wraith, and out of my parts bin, and I'll be keeping track of total cost as I go. I hope to have it going by weeks end.

So far, here's where I'm at;

The roller; Bender SWX chassis, AX10 axles, beadlocks, HB Rovers, Losi alloy shocks, bug body and all links and mounts = $100 shipped





Wraith trans with Robinson 13/87 gearing and HH 35T torquemaster pro / BR-XL ESC = free, already had them that I removed from the Wraith



Savox SC-0251 servo = $39.99, bought for the SC10, didn't fit. Might not be enough, but we'll see.



So I'm at $140 so far, and shooting to keep it under $200 if possible. I know it's an older chassis, but should still be good fun on the rocks, and more importantly the AX10 axles still have parts availability. My old TLT axled rig, parts are getting hard to find. Hell I may even enter a comp with it next season, it's not like it's going to hold me back being a noob driver. You could put the latest space shuttle chassis in my hands, and I probably couldn't tell the difference anyway at this stage in crawling. Basically, this one's all about cheap fun. I'll update as things arrive.

[chris.martell]

Good looking rig for the money dude:thumbup: I started my crawling with an swx chassis at it was quite capable. I actually had a very similar setup to what you have same shocks and all even mounted upside down.

Suggestion if your going to do anything that costs money beef tubes and xr steering. Check out the Ugly Betty thread for good ideas on budget xr mod. All stock Wraith/XR knuckles and chubs 12.00 worth of brass beef tubes only money is in a set of xr uni's. If you dont feel like turning the brass down I did basically the same thing but with a drill bit. Drill the ar60 housing ends to allow the brass tube to fit inside. Oh ya reminds me you will need a wraith housing also.

Good luck and happy crawling

[EeePee]

Looks like your front axle C hubs are on the wrong sides.

[hpiguy]

Originally Posted by chris.martell

Good looking rig for the money dude:thumbup: I started my crawling with an swx chassis at it was quite capable. I actually had a very similar setup to what you have same shocks and all even mounted upside down.

Suggestion if your going to do anything that costs money beef tubes and xr steering. Check out the Ugly Betty thread for good ideas on budget xr mod. All stock Wraith/XR knuckles and chubs 12.00 worth of brass beef tubes only money is in a set of xr uni's. If you dont feel like turning the brass down I did basically the same thing but with a drill bit. Drill the ar60 housing ends to allow the brass tube to fit inside. Oh ya reminds me you will need a wraith housing also.

Good luck and happy crawling

Excellent info, so I can use my Wraith chubs and knuckles that I replaced with VP stuff then? If so, I'll order the unis and a housing and get to it.

Originally Posted by EeePee

Looks like your front axle C hubs are on the wrong sides.

Ah, thanks EeePee. Is it from the tires leaning away from the direction of the turn I'm guessing? Just guessing based on past heavy equipment experience.

[chris.martell]

Originally Posted by hpiguy

Excellent info, so I can use my Wraith chubs and knuckles that I replaced with VP stuff then? If so, I'll order the unis and a housing and get to it.



Ah, thanks EeePee. Is it from the tires leaning away from the direction of the turn I'm guessing? Just guessing based on past heavy equipment experience.

Read the Ugly Betty thread you will see all you need to make a solid frond axle that wont break and get some bad @$$ steering at the same time

[EeePee]

If the top is tilted forward, it's wrong. No matter what. Straight up or tilted to the back.

[hpiguy]

Originally Posted by chris.martell

Read the Ugly Betty thread you will see all you need to make a solid frond axle that wont break and get some bad @$$ steering at the same time

Will do

Originally Posted by EeePee

If the top is tilted forward, it's wrong. No matter what. Straight up or tilted to the back.

Gotcha, thanks EeePee

[hpiguy]

I've been under the weather all week, and haven't fooled with this thing much. But I get back at it tonight. I also bought some parts, that pretty much blew the $200 budget, but they'll be worth it in the end.

I found this trick here, find a piece of all thread that slides into the WB8 shafts snugly



Put some epoxy on it



And once it cures, they should last a good long time without twisting for dirt cheap



I also started work on my home brew bombproof front axle tonight, thanks to Mr. Crackheads ugly betty thread

Take an AR60 housing and cut the splines off



Make sure they're straight and clean cut



Take some measurements



Got to the hardware store and pick up some 1/8 x 4" MIP plumbing fittings and machine them down to use as beef tubes. I don't have a lathe so I used a dremel in a dremel drill press with a carbide cutting bit and went slowly.



I then chucked them in a drill and used a hand file to clean them up and make sure the AR60 ends fit snugly



More to come...

[chris.martell]

Thats some nice looking work there. Welcome to team DiY!

How is does the 1/4in brass tube fit in the housing? I believe crackhead and I used 1/8.

If you want to run the bearing in the end of the housing make sure to set your beef tube back enough for the bearing to fit in the end of the housing. The bearing isn't totally necessary, I'm not running them in my setup but my uni's wont allow it because there 1/8 buggy universals with a tapper on them which wont allow the king pins to line up with the uni pins.

Nice work once again. Subscribed!

[hpiguy]

Chris, I'm an idiot, I did buy 1/8" MIP tube , and I editied my post. I'm going to try to run the bearings, as it won't be that much more work at this point, and will give the uni's another point of support. I have to say, it felt really good to start making my first part, and so far things fit properly. That's something you can't buy no matter how much money you have. Thanks for the welcome to the DIY club, and the sub, I really appreciate it along with the link to crackhead's thread for the how to.

[chris.martell]

No need to thank me my friend just seeing you doing your own fab work is thanks enough. Crackhead and I have alot of bench time into our rigs with hand made chassis' s custom axles and all.

If you get a chance to check out the 5:12 build thats my rig. Pretty much the same front axle but I run bully knuckles and ax10 chubs with 1/8 OFNA buggy universals instead of Xr parts. Same effect just different parts.

[MRCrackhead]

I like the all-thread and epoxy.

Something to consider, if you have the extra parts, would be running double female shafts and putting your beefed up male inside one of them with the same epoxy.

The male connection at the yoke itself will be the new weak point.

The female shafts are equal in diameter to the yoke and don't seem to shear off.

The male shafts appear as though they are "attached" to the face of the yoke.

That's where it will break now.

That all depends on how liberal you are with the trigger, of course....

Nice work.

I'll be watching this build.

[hpiguy]

Thanks guys, Chris I'll definitely check out your build thread. Crackhead, I don't think I have any extra shaft parts here, these were removed from my Wraith as it got upgraded. That's a good point though, pretty sure that's how the maxx shafts were done on my old SW2 back in the day.

[hpiguy]

Got a bit more done tonight.

I splurged a bit on some Locked UP RC F1 spools. I run them in my Wraith, and as my old man used to say "If that kid can't break it, it can't be broke." Beefy, machined wholesomey goodness, I love these things. Unfortunately, I forgot to order shorter screws, so I just dremeled these down once I installed the ring gear.





I then turned my attention to the housings, and shaved them down to accept the breef tubes (they're brass, so that sounds right to me)



Checking fit before cutting the tubes



Cutting...



And done. I'll drill some holes in the housings, then mark, drill & tap the tubes one night this week.

[hpiguy]

Well, fooled with a bit this morning before work and realized I didn't cut the AX housing down, so it was too wide, oops. Oh well, I'll fix it later today.

[MRCrackhead]

Don't cut it down!

2.2 class is old news.

Build the first AX10 Superclass!

Hahahaha!

[chris.martell]

Best mod ever for the swx chassis is to mod that super long skid to get a better break over angle. Dug up my old skid todayband I reminded me to show you.



Dont look like much but it helps a lot!

[hpiguy]

Originally Posted by MRCrackhead

Don't cut it down!

2.2 class is old news.

Build the first AX10 Superclass!

Hahahaha!

LMAO! Unis wouldn't reach It's all fixed up now though.

Originally Posted by chris.martell

Best mod ever for the swx chassis is to mod that super long skid to get a better break over angle. Dug up my old skid todayband I reminded me to show you.



Dont look like much but it helps a lot!

Oooh, thanks Chris, I'll be doing that for sure.

Fixed my goof up and made some headway tonight on the axles. Got one side all mocked up, and just ran out of gas. It will be torn down one more time to clean any plastic / brass shavings out also.





Did my bolts a bit different too



Kingpins lined up, holy crap, I did something right.

[chris.martell]

Nice job dude. Suggestion... button head bolts.

[hpiguy]

Thanks Chris, I didn't have any 3x6mm button heads, but I'll hit up Ace tomorrow and grab some.