topher builds a Capra

[Topher Builds]

Time to get this build thread going. Originally, I was going to wait before grabbing a Capra. After seeing videos, and reading more about the updated materials and the design of the rig, I decided to back burner another project (sorry GC4) and go for the Capra.

As we're all aware now, there are a few obstacles with this first batch of instructions. Some of them are pretty simple to figure out, while others take a little head scratching and disregard for the instructions. Issues I encountered are below.

1. The rear axle no-bearing bearing-retainer slot. There's a recess in the rear axle where the shaft comes out of the housing, which perfectly fits a bearing however no bearing is intended to go there. If you install a bearing, you'll be unable to button up the portal box. Directions are accurate here, intuition can lead you astray.

2. In this first run, the hardware is not a 1:1 scale in the manual. Make sure you measure twice when picking out your hardware and links.

3. The instructions are misleading for the top shaft of the transmission. The diagram appears as though the shaft should be inserted from what would be the inner part of the transmission. However it should be inserted from the outter part, and seated into a bearing. Then the pin goes on, then the gear, then another bearing. First 3 Pics below.

4. When assembling the Dig, the manual advises to use a spacer for full time 4WD, however it does not clearly identify the spacer. Pic below to circle the plastic spacer.

4A. The order of the Dig components is not clear in the guide, the horseshoe piece goes on first, then the clip, then the spacer (if applicable). Pic below.

5. I picked up the SSD AR44 overdrive gear set with the intention on using it in the front axle of the Capra. It was not the best fit, I ended up having to use the stock pinion gear to get a mesh where the truck would roll freely. I'm not sure this is going to be viable long term but want to try it out on the rocks before going back to the stock gears. I'm unsure if this fitment issue is unique to the SSD gear, and may swap either the boom racing or the HR gears in down the road to see if there's a better fit.

6. Some of the shock internals had a little bit of parts tree plastic left over, had to clean those up before building the shocks fully.

Okay, that's it for obstacles. Now for overall build impressions.

- Materials feel much better than the previous axial offerings. The links and rod ends are the stand outs. The plastics feel better in hand, but those need to survive in the wild to be a success. Shocks also feel very good, smooth action and no issues with the install. Two O rings in the lower cap seal and one larger O ring up top. I’m using the soft springs and a 20wt losi shock oil.

- The cage was a lot wrenching to put together, probably the least fun piece. Seems sturdy enough out of the box.

- The dig wasn't too hard to set up, took me a bit to get the end points adjusted accordingly but once it was set everything works smoothly.

- Needed servo extensions for both the micro servo and the steering servo to reach the receiver box in back. A little worried about the waterproof aspect, or lack thereof, for this receiver box, but I don't plan on getting this truck wet so not a huge deal. Unless I missed it, there were not gaskets for the lid of the box, nor the area where the wires feed in.

- Steering seems pretty good out of the box!

- Interior lexan feels nice and sturdy, haven't gotten around to paint yet, more on that later.

- Start to finish it took me about 9 hours, with setting up electronics, and some breaks in between. Fairly straight forward build overall.

- My biggest worry about anything mechanical is the portal box covers, there just isn't much plastic around the 4 screws that mount the cover. Will see how it holds up.

That's about it for now. Hoping to slap some paint on it today and have some hands on wheel experience to share later this week.

[B-MOW71]

"Liked" and subscribed!

Great right up so far. Nice that you listed all the issues with the manual and pointed out what to watch out for.

The Capra looks like it will be a fun rig to wheel on the rocks. Glad to hear Axial has listened and fixed some of the issues like the plastics, rod ends and shocks.

I'm trying to hold off on getting the Capra until these are out and about for awhile, but I'm sure after reading yours and others build threads I'm going to be "peer pressured" into getting one! There are so many cool rigs that have come out this year (and I'm sure more to come) that it's getting really hard to not hit the "buy" button each time one is released!

Can't wait to see the body panels painted and some action shots out on the rocks!

[MaX-D]

SUBSCRIBED!

Sent from my LM-G710VM using Tapatalk

[BCCrawlerZ]

Subscribed.. ordering one as my bday gift to myself at the end of the month

[Panther6834]

Thanks for all the info...subscribed.

Got a few questions (actually, have quite a few, but I'll hold it to just these...for now).

1) Did you use 20wt oil front & rear, or was that just the front (or rear)? If either was different, what did you use there?
2) What kV (or turn) motor did you use?
3) Can you measure, and share, what the maximum length for a motor can (that will fit without the rear touching)?
4) Is the clearance between the portals & 1.9 wheels truly enough...or, should 2.2s be considered?

Thanks, in advance, for any "assistance" you can give this newb.

~ More peace, love, laughter, & kindness would make the world a MUCH better place

[Topher Builds]

Thanks dudes! BCCrawlerz happy early birthday buddy.

BMow I agree, this year has been brutal in the best ways possible. Still need to get my hands on a trail king and a vspro but I’ll need a second job to do that

If you do end up with a Capra I don’t think you’ll be disappointed, for the price of the kit it’s pretty stellar.

Originally Posted by Panther6834

Thanks for all the info...subscribed.

Got a few questions (actually, have quite a few, but I'll hold it to just these...for now).

1) Did you use 20wt oil front & rear, or was that just the front (or rear)? If either was different, what did you use there?
2) What kV (or turn) motor did you use?
3) Can you measure, and share, what the maximum length for a motor can (that will fit without the rear touching)?
4) Is the clearance between the portals & 1.9 wheels truly enough...or, should 2.2s be considered?

Thanks, in advance, for any "assistance" you can give this newb.

~ More peace, love, laughter, & kindness would make the world a MUCH better place

1.) I put 20wt in both front and rear, not really any rhyme or reason other than it felt good when I was building the shocks. I usually end up changing oils a couple times before I settle on one set up so tbd where it ends up.

2.) Running a Reedy 16t 5 slot brushed motor. I picked this one up mostly because I had a Hobbywing 1080 on hand, will likely go brushless in the future if I like this rig as much as I think I may

3.) it’s all buttoned up now, sorry. However, unless you shave the rear raised link mount off I think you’ll likely need to stick with a 540 can. Without the link mount, there’s quite a bit of room.

4.) I have 1.9 ssd contenders on now and it’s tight at the top of the knuckle. Maybe a couple mm of clearance. Here’s a pic of the rear, messed with the lighting a little to try and make the clearance more visible, as you can see it’s close.

[Panther6834]

Thanks for the info. Think I might try 25 front / 20 rear. For motor, I've Ben trying to decide between the ROC412 & HH PP Standard...leaning towards the HH, but worried it might be too long (60.5mm...slightly longer than most 549s). As for wheels, guess I'll just have to "play it by ear".

~ More peace, love, laughter, & kindness would make the world a MUCH better place

[Topher Builds]

Annnd all done

She’s flexy!

[indybama]

Thats purdiful danza! Cant wait to see how it does out on the rocks

Sent from my SM-J327VPP using Tapatalk

[durok]

The grey wheel centers match the rod-ends!

Sweet build, my man...

Enjoy

[Topher Builds]

Originally Posted by indybama

Thats purdiful danza! Cant wait to see how it does out on the rocks

Sent from my SM-J327VPP using Tapatalk

Thanks Bama! I’m excited to drive it as well.

Originally Posted by durok

The grey wheel centers match the rod-ends!

Sweet build, my man...

Enjoy

Haha love your attention to detail Durok, just threw up a post in the “unofficial portal buggy” thread which you may be interested in.

[bikepilot]

Looks great and really like your paint job!!! Can't wait for some video of this out in the wild!! Great job!!!

[Lashlee]

I don't need another crawler but all of these builds make me want to buy one! I'm finally getting to a point I think the Enduro may be good enough that a new project is in need...

[smog]

Thanks for posting up your goat TB! She looks ready to climb

[B-MOW71]

Beautiful! Great color choice!

I'm a sucker for orange, as you can tell from most of my rigs!

Capra's gonna look awesome out on them red rocks!

[Topher Builds]

A couple of other items to mention, the interior decals add nice detail. I painted the base of mine entirely black, then matted it, and am going to go back in later to add some detail to the helmets and jackets, but even in all black it doesn’t look too bad.

I’m able to stuff this 2200mah 3s pack into the tray. It’s a very tight fit, but it fits. The website says it’s 107mm but the packs I have in hand measure a little bit shorter.

https://hobbyking.com/en_us/zippy-co...lipo-pack.html

Originally Posted by bikepilot

Looks great and really like your paint job!!! Can't wait for some video of this out in the wild!! Great job!!!

Thanks! Much appreciated.

Originally Posted by Lashlee

I don't need another crawler but all of these builds make me want to buy one! I'm finally getting to a point I think the Enduro may be good enough that a new project is in need...

This year the FOMO has been non-stop. So many cool rigs released.

Originally Posted by smog

Thanks for posting up your goat TB! She looks ready to climb

No prob smog

Originally Posted by B-MOW71

Beautiful! Great color choice!

I'm a sucker for orange, as you can tell from most of my rigs!

Capra's gonna look awesome out on them red rocks!

Thanks BMow! I think this might be the same orange you use, it’s the Pure Orange Ps-62. I had most of the can left over after using it for stripes on the nod-to-tonka k10. Pic for good measure.

[JatoTheRipper]

Good write up. I guessed when building the dig as it's not something I had done before. But I understood the purpose of a shift fork so that made it easier to know where to put it on the shaft and hold it there with the C-clip. It also made me assume the spacer wouldn't be needed. That and the top shaft are spots that I can see stopping newbies dead in their tracks. Other than that it wasn't too bad.

The truck looks great.

How difficult is it to put those batteries into place? Do you have to force them in or do they drop in freely?

[distinctive pd]

Looks good do the shocks seem better quality than the ol icons?

[Topher Builds]

Originally Posted by JatoTheRipper

Good write up. I guessed when building the dig as it's not something I had done before. But I understood the purpose of a shift fork so that made it easier to know where to put it on the shaft and hold it there with the C-clip. It also made me assume the spacer wouldn't be needed. That and the top shaft are spots that I can see stopping newbies dead in their tracks. Other than that it wasn't too bad.

The truck looks great.

How difficult is it to put those batteries into place? Do you have to force them in or do they drop in freely?

It takes some pressure to get them in, snug fit.

Originally Posted by distinctive pd

Looks good do the shocks seem better quality than the ol icons?

Definitely. Haven’t had the chance to beat on them yet but so far so good.

[Topher Builds]

Tried to get out for a shakedown today but it was cut short after realizing there isn’t enough clearance with the wheels. They spin but once on the trail they were causing drag and even binding up when on obstacles. The motor got hot quick so I headed home to trouble shoot.

After targeting the issue at the wheels I took out the dremel to make a little room, and may be on the hunt for a different set of wheels here soon.

It did make easy work of this part that’s a little challenge for a straight axle scaled.

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Quick shakedown with the Capra was cut short after realizing the wheels have a tiny bit of clearance issues and were causing drag, and the motor to get hot. The portals and suspension made easy work of this little rocky section before retiring. #capra #axialcapra #axialracing #axialadventures #proline #prolineracing #rccrawler #scalecrawler #rc #rccar #rctruck #rchobby #rclife #rccommunity #scalebuilder #scaletruck #horizonhobbies #rccustomwheels #rctraction #ssdrc #protekrc #reedypowered #hobbywing

A post shared by topherBuilds RC (@topherbuilds) on Oct 2, 2019 at 8:15pm PDT