free/cheap mods
 

Hey, i've been doing some looking around and I've found many threads talking about different free/cheap mods that people do to their scx's. So I'm hoping this thread can act as a one stop shop for these mods.

So please post up some pics and how too's and share those cool mods that people could benefit from. Everything from scale accessories to performance mods....anything free/cheap really. "thumbsup"

I personally don't have any but I found a thread talking about making bungee cords out of stretch hair ties and paper clips. I tried it last night and though I need to work on my skill I think it was a great free mod from stuff here at the house.

if you got a honcho, you can lower the battery tray by cuting the spacers that hold up the tray, weight the wheels, take the bump stops out of the shocks, and use the angled up rod ends on lower links

I just did the inboard rear suspension mod and it made a very noticable difference, for the better, in how the truck performs. It was completely free although I did use a few longer screws and some spacers from my parts bin.

Well I can tell ya this and if ya dont believe me ask anyone who attended the Axial MSD comp this year. The stock Honcho is fully capable and did excellent in the spec class. It actually did much better thatn a lot of $500+ custom trucks. So the ONLY real help this truck needs to be comp ready is an ESC that can handle a lipo, Hand bros. steering kit, and a winch and it will do the talking. May not be free or cheap mods, but in the long run it is SOOOOO CAPABLE!

Link and pics, please?

I also would like more details and pics if possible

I do believe you "thumbsup" I had mine out for the first time yesterday and I was completely blown away at how good it did. Winch and RCBros steering are on the top of my list for upgrades as money allows.

I actually at this point am looking more for the cool accent mods that you can make yourself for scale goodies. Sleeping bags, bungee cords, tow ropes.....stuff like that.

My hope is also that this may become a sticky thread of sorts and to serve as an easy to find thread for others to see with lots of mods you can do yourself or for minimal cost.

or you can just buy that stuf from me :mrgreen:
see signature below

All I did was measure and drill two small holes through part of the rear chassis brace and attach the shocks with a longer screw, spacer and nut. It seems plenty strong but I will probably replace the brace with a delrin block. On the axle I just attached the shocks by using a longer screw and spacer. Im going to go with more of a truggy/flatbed kind of rear end in place of the bed. Works great and keeps the rear axle a lil more planted. I snapped a couple pics but the camera isnt the greatest.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...rVideo106-.jpg

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...rVideo105-.jpg

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...rVideo104-.jpg

......Hope that helped.

Ohh and I used two plastic spacers out of the spare parts from the SCX kit. The best way to describe them is that they look like a tophat with a hole in the top but anything that fits would work. I used them to fill in the void where I detached the shocks from in a stock setup. Same spot the lower links mount to the axle.

CreepinKing, how much was the ride height changed with your set up?

Not much at all. Maybe an eighth inch or 3/16 ths higher. I made a bracket at first that mounted to the top of the brace but the shocks were at too extreme of an angle and hung a lil on the chassis. When they are mounted level with the top of the chassis they clear nicely.

How about relocating the electronics box to the rear...to give the looks of a gas tank?

here's my rig...i had to remove the rear LEDs but that wasn't' a problem..I also turned around the rear cross brace so I could use the holes in it to screw in the electronics box.

http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...g/100_0054.jpg


http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...g/100_0053.jpg

team3six, was there no coverage of the MSD this year? I know last year there was some great photo from Tamiya's coverage, and I expected to see it again.

Otherwise I will check the comp section and see if I can find this year's pics. Last years were outstanding.

seriously?????????? pm the guy instead of high jacking a thread....what does this have to do with anything related to this at all....?????

your post isnt helping either....

now back on subject, i have a great solution to save you the $45 for a chassis mounted servo. All this mod will cost is a little bit of time and maybe a dremel cutoff disc or two. What ive done is copy a mod that my first scx10 had done to it (believe credit goes to WheelinKing)
Anyways all you need for this mod is
-an axial battery plate and plastic piece
-4 screws and nuts
-2-3 different size drill bits
-dremel w/ cutoff wheel

-remove the front chassis brace w/ centered hole
-screw down the battery plate assembly to the front member that attaches to the shock towers (dont use spacers, keep it as low as possible)
-starting from one of the velcro slot front most corners, cut out a box just big enough to fit your servo
-once you have that cut out, cut a small relief slit so that you can get your wires in and out easier
-then mout your servo and mark out the mounting holes and drill them

i have done this mod on all three of my scx10, only one is running atm but it works awesome.

from one of my trucks
http://i872.photobucket.com/albums/a...sbeater104.jpg
http://i872.photobucket.com/albums/a...sbeater105.jpg
http://i872.photobucket.com/albums/a...sbeater106.jpg

some from the clod
http://i872.photobucket.com/albums/a...sbeater107.jpg
http://i872.photobucket.com/albums/a...sbeater108.jpg
http://i872.photobucket.com/albums/a...sbeater109.jpg

and some from the honcho
http://i872.photobucket.com/albums/a.../honcho007.jpg
http://i872.photobucket.com/albums/a.../honcho006.jpg

Very cool! I also have a flatbed project in the works. However I am worried about the strength of your lower shock mount, I am going to think about some other way of mounting (but at your geometry as it is tested "thumbsup").

I love the creativity from all you tinker'ers.

also forgot that i have the gas tank mod done on my clod also

http://i872.photobucket.com/albums/a...sbeater062.jpg
http://i872.photobucket.com/albums/a...sbeater064.jpg
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h2...l/IMG_0329.jpg
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h2...l/IMG_0330.jpg

I have no worries at all about the strength of the lower mounts. The longer screw and spacer offer absolutely no play or movement in the mount. The top mount on the chassis brace just didnt quite sit well with me though. I tried everything to get it to break and it wouldnt but I ended up flipping the origional mount that I made over and using it as a mount. Now I know its buttetproof. Heres some pics.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...rVideo107-.jpg

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...rVideo108-.jpg

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...rVideo113-.jpg

Nice job on that creepinking, the proof is obviously in the pudding.

I did the gas tank mod but I am thinkingos setting it below the chassis for a better look, I just hope it doesn't create any rear end hang ups.

This is a cool thread and nice idea, hopefully we can get this stickied.

Thx Tex. It almost made the truck seem like it had a lower CG. Although I havnt tried it at our local crawling spot yet it feels a lot less tipsy on the lil course ive got setup out back.

How does it perform? Those lower mounts ok? :mrgreen:

so wat are the gains beside more articulation from doin the inboard suspension?

My goal is for lowering a flatbed as close to the frame as I can. I expect no suspension improvement from doing this.

Seems to perform really well and keeps the rear planted a lil better but it unloads hard when the truck reaches its tipping point. The lower mounts are doing fine. I would like to have them spaced out a lil less but that would require more brackets so Im fine with how it is for now. And yeah the biggest benefit is being able to do a dropbed or flatbed.

sweet
 

that is pretty sweet you got it to twist alot more

ya its pretty sweet. damn i want some 2.2 boggers!!!!! took my chains off so i can run in the house without tearing shit up haha

ohya those chains worked pretty good in the snow the other day

this is first I have heard of this mod. u got any pics or links as to show exactly which way you mounted them. rod ends angled up or down???

I mounted my steering servo on to the frame for pretty cheap with a couple of screws/spacers, stock servo on axle mount, and links. It took some tinkering to make it work to my liking but it works alright. The hardest part with this mod for me was to make it work with Axial behind the axle steering and Vanquish high steer. Here are some pics to better explain this.

http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x...s/IMG_1057.jpg
http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x...s/IMG_1058.jpg
http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x...s/IMG_1060.jpg
http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x...s/IMG_1061.jpg
http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x...s/IMG_1063.jpg
http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x...s/IMG_1064.jpg

So, those of you that moved your receiver box to the back for the gas tank look, did you have to extend any of your wiring or is the stock wiring long enough without extending anything?

I had to extend mine by at least a couple inches...I also left a little extra in the RX box so that the wires weren't taught.

is servo chassis mount much better than axial one?

Great idea for a thread. A mod thread like this will be very benefiting in the future. Good work everyone.

I like the rocks, mine has Pro-Line TSLs weighted front and rear with UnderDrive rear Gears. All my weight is forward on a plate I made with some cheap plastic and a frame mounted server using the stock servo mount drilled and bolted to the frame rail. Running gear is a Goat 3S 17.5 on a 2200 MHr 30C LiPo with a Castle BEC at 6V and a Hitec HS 5645 and I am using a Traxxas Stampede electronics box for the receiver.

Not free, but you can make the same move with the electronics, the battery and the servo for free.


http://i630.photobucket.com/albums/u...p/DSC_0563.jpg
http://i630.photobucket.com/albums/u...p/DSC_0564.jpg

Hi all! This is my first post. I'm new to crawling, but not new to RC. I race 1/8 scale, but with the arrival of a new baby, my racing schedule will take a beating! :mrgreen:

Decided that scale crawling will be my next venture so my brother and I ordered up a couple of RTR Trail Honchos"thumbsup" As I sit here and wait for the mailman, I decided to check out this forum, and I'm glad I did. This is a great thread, with so many helpful tips."thumbsup""thumbsup" I hope I can one day contribute something useful around here:mrgreen:

heres how i mounted my flatbed on my mog
Remove the shock towers anddrill two holes in the bed directly over the rear crossmember and drilled holes in the rear crossmember
http://i713.photobucket.com/albums/w...8/DSCF0005.jpg

Note that when you do this you will need to cut out to allow the tranny and motor to stick through the bed some as the tranny is taller than the rear of the frame. Itll be easy to cover with a toolbox, spare tire etc.
http://i713.photobucket.com/albums/w...1221102103.jpg
Now to mount the front part of the bed i found some steel L brackets at lowes and drilled holes on both sides of the bed. To make shure they dont come loose i used 6-32 bolts and locknuts. To mount the lower part of the bracket to the frame i found the longer self threading screws from the kit and simply screwed them into the existing holes
http://i713.photobucket.com/albums/w...1221102101.jpg
As shown in the first pic, you will either angle your stock shocks inward on the frame or use some shorter shocks. I have it set up now with some from a mrc which give it a level ride hight with the stock shocks in the front

I would classify this as a "cheap" mod"thumbsup" besides you might have all the hardware laying around

Hope this helps

http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n...9/c49506d0.jpg
http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n...9/d24a63cf.jpg
The first picture shows a few of my hand made scale accessories including an ax.
The second pic shows my hand made sledge hammer made from a wooden dowel and a screwdriver bit with the tip cut off and ground smooth.
Most of my scale accessories were made by hand using random items I had just Laying around the house.
If anybody is interested in the items shown here just send me a message.

Hope this useful for you guys!

ok so i like the scale looks of the inward suspension mod on the rear but if i use the stock shocks then wont that make the rear sit up alot more than the front

i lost some of the hardware to my battery tray, so when i went to crawl with a friend of mine today (creeping king) and since i was using a small lipo, i decided to try a different mounting idea.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l5...y/DSCN0697.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l5...y/DSCN0695.jpg

basically i removed the top of the electronics box, and creeping cut 2 slots in the top, from that we just ran a velcro tie through and wrapped the battery.

Here is what I did...1st I did the cutting of the spacers to lower the battery tray (already mentioned). Then I cut a space out of the Battery Tray front chassis brace piece. This piece is not really doing anything but holding the front battery tray screw. I cut a slot out (it is still very rigid when placed back in the frame) for the screw on the servo arm to travel up through. With this battery set up I have max travel the upper steering arm hits the frame which I am not too worried about they slide on each other when turning. Anyway it was free and gives me good flex with the stock set up.

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s...0129110831.jpg

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s...129110833a.jpg

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s...0129110833.jpg

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s...0129110834.jpg

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s...129110839a.jpg

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s...0129110844.jpg

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s...129110844a.jpg

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s...0129110838.jpg