AX-10 with F-150 body

[Ninjamoses]

I decided to have a crack at making my own full length chassis using a cutting board and the trusty dremel. Turned out okay for a first attempt, although the side plates arent 100% perfect and a few holes got drilled in the wrong spots. :-P

Still have enough board left for a second shot so will probably do that next weekend now I know what I'm doing. Will double the board up this time so I get exact matching sideplates instead of my dodgy "do one side first then trace it" method hehe.

Ended up using nice and short MLST shocks on it straight off the main rails since I cut the shock hoops out about an inch further apart then they should have been. It actually turned out pretty good anyway and it has just the right amount of flex I think so will probably stick with them in the next version. With the limited articulation and weight of the battery further forward and lower, it climbs a hell of a lot better and doesnt roll anywhere near as easy now.

Please excuse the super dodgy elastic bands holding on the electrics tray and battery.

Once I re-do the chassis I will be getting 1.9 rockcrushers and a new body to suit. On that note, does anyone happen to know the dimensions of the proline F650 body (also the difference in size between the 2 versions they have)?

[Ninjamoses]

The home made scale chassis was fun enough but with only a 65T motor and 6 cells it got boring pretty quickly with its reduced crawling capability.
So after reading lots of threads on here I decided to try narrowing the stock axial chassis.

Haven't measured it but I narrowed it down to the width of the stock green cross members. The trans was no where near close to fitting at that width so out came the dremel to cut out the side braces of the chassis. I'm using XTM shocks with MLST springs which are as smooth as silk, really happy with them. Ground clearance is a smidge low for my liking so I might drill some new holes in the chassis to mount the shocks further down.

I made a new skid up from the remainder of the cutting board I bought and mounted the lower links well inside to try and get this double triangulation I have read about. Unfortunately the first set of holes I drilled for the trans put to much weight out the side so I had to drill a second set. No room for the big heavy subc pack anymore so I have swapped to using some old mini-t packs I had lying around. The wires werent long enough to mount em on the axle so I strapped it on to the top links instead which seems to be just as good.

The electronics tray didnt really fit anymore either and I was sick of seeing wires running absolutely everywhere so I narrowed a plastic container to fit between the chassis and used it to throw everything in. The cross member goes straight through it which is what holds it in position. While it works wonders its as ugly as all hell so will have to buy a more suitable container soon that I dont have to cut up.

Still got a bit to do on it before I'm happy with it (2 more cross members to stiffen things up, make up new side braces so the chassis doesn't fold in half, mount a new body etc), but they all require parts I don't have at the moment so will have to wait for a week or two.

Have put 1 pack in it just around the house and I'm impressed with the difference its made. No more torque lift even at full lock with 4WS. Axle walk is pretty much non existant now as well. Can stand on its side no worries now so its side hill ability is a million times better. Its amazing the increase in performance you can get without spending a cent on hop ups.

So thanks to the guys who made posts about narrowing the stock chassis (there have been a few of you now). Info definitely came in handy.

cheers,
Ninjamoses

[Ninjamoses]

Have been using the AX-10 more just on trails the last few weeks rather then rock crawling (hundreds of trails, not that many rocks around here). Have taken all the weight out of the tyres and fitted a Tamiya Sport Tuned black can motor which made a huuuuge difference to the speed compared to the 65t lathe.

Had to add ~3mm of spacers between the trans & skid to provide clearance for the longer tamiya motor in the narrowed stock chassis. Fits like a glove now.

I've got Flat Irons, CC01 Beadlocks, Heavy duty Lockers and a 18t pinion on the way which should hopefully add to the performance as well as look a lot more scale. When the new parts arrive I will be stripping off the green and will change the fluro yellow servo horns for something a bit less noticeable :-P

After that if I keep using it for trail duties I will be stretching the wheelbase out and getting a bigger lexan body to try and make it look more scale and less monster truck'ish.

Few pics from this morning...

[farmer2]

Good looking truck, I need to get me a Ax-10 one day.

[Andrew32]

Awesome picture! Really digging the body!

[Ninjamoses]

New parts (CR-01 beadlocks, Flat Irons, heavy duty lockers, 18T pinion) rocked up in record time (highly recommend CKRC crawlers yet again) so fitted em on Friday and have been out testing it this morning. The stock lockers were absolutely knackered so the new steel lockers have made a huge difference.

The CR-01 beadlocks fitted perfectly after grinding down the lips on the axial hexes. With the lip gone as well as the wheels having a much narrower offset already the track width has reduced considerably. Still no where near tucking tires but once I get a wider lexan body hopefully it will get close.

Pretty impressed with the Flat Irons as well, they perform much better in the dirt and clear out way better as well not to mention they look 100x more scale. Unfortunately the new servos haven't rocked up yet so its still sporting those fluro yellow servo arms just to ruin the scale look entirely.

Rather then post a heap of pics in this thread again I will just link to the album instead just incase anyone is interested.

Pics can be seen here: