Steele42's 2dr Jeep Wrangler rebuild (going for a change...)

[steele42]

I love viewing other peoples build threads, and decided to try one of my own. This will be pretty picture heavy (since those are the ones I like to view.) The story (short version): Had a traxxas summit.

Loved it. Friend (heinie_21) bought an scx10 and I loved it more. So I bought me a honcho.

LOVE IT! So I decided to trade my summit which I no longer gave attention and get a second scx10. Difflocker traded me for his jeep




Awesome Jeep. This thing was clean. Brand new, no scratches anywhere on the whole rig. Difflocker really did a nice job building this thing.
-SCX10 chassis with BOWTIE "Fat Batt" battery/electronics tray .
-TLT axles (bullet proof): Front: bearings, CVDs, Aluminum Cs and knuckles, stainless locker/pinion. Rear: stainless straight axle, RCP aluminum lockouts, bearings, stainless locker/pinion, RCP aluminum 4 link mount .
-Novak Goat 3s ESC + 18.5 Ballistic brushless motor (new)
-Eritex 1.9 beadlocks
-Proline 1.9 G8 Flatirons
-Axial Dingo bumpers front and rear
-CUSTOM roof rack, rear tire carrier and antenna by KAETWO
-Spare tire
-Proline Jeep Wrangler
-Hitec 645MG servo
I got this knowing it wouldn't perform like my honcho (which I may refer to as "Taco" because it's my TAComa honchO) and figured I would just have the Jeep be my "more scale" rig. But really in the back of my mind I knew I wouldn't be able to keep it that way. I have to tinker. So thus began the build of my second scx10. Well, since it was already built, this is a rebuild of a brand new built jeep.

[steele42]

So I couldn't leave well enough alone. In less than 24 hours after owning it I had it stripped down to nothing

I figured while I was at it I would flip the tranny around because people say it helps with torque twist.
So some of the first things I noticed that I didn't love. I figured I would give the brushless system a go, but after 1 run with it in my rock pile at my front porch I decided brushless wasn't for me. I LOVE my Tekin FXR and 55T motor I have in my honcho, so I decided to see if someone was willing to trade me something similar for my Goat setup. "Snotrocket" had exactly what I wanted, an FXR with a Tekin 45T handwound (I really wanted to try the handwound). And he really wanted a Goat. Perfect trade opportunity.

I love the classified section on here. And I LOVE how the Jeep runs now. Both my rigs have the FXR and Spektrum dx3e radios. (Thanks to limited77 for selling me the radio).

I know some people like the skinnier axle to tuck the tires in under the fenders for a more scale look, but I hated crawling with it that way. To me it looked a little too skinny (the 2dr wrangler is kind of wide anyway), and everywhere I went I would just rub the fenders on all the rocks. I set my jeep body on my honcho chassis to see what the axle width was like and I liked it alot better.

Of course it was too long, but I really liked the tire placement in the fenders better than the TLT's. Luckily about this time "ser3100" put up a wanted ad to trade some Trex 60's for some TLT's. I know Trex 60's aren't as durable as stock axials, or even TLT's, but that is a risk I am willing to take right now. Cause they look sweet.

Took me a minute to get them mounted up trying to figure out wheel well placement and link lengths for driveshaft angles. But that's half the fun.




Much better in my opinion. But to each his own, it's just how I like it.
I also decided to go back to the stock battery tray for the electronics plate. The BOWTIE one will be good if I ever do a CMS, but with the servo mounted on the axle below the plate, I had no travel. The servo would just run into the bottom of the plate. I also took the bumpstops out of the shocks. Did this in the honcho and was happy with the results on both rigs now.

[steele42]

Decided I wanted a little better approach angle, so I decided to copy someone else on the forum here and shave the stock dingo bumper up a little bit more.


I think it turned out really well. And looks alot like this real jeep bumper

I also shaved down the front of the frame brace/bumper mount so the front bumper now pushes in farther and closer to the body. Now I just need a winch and some tow shackles to finish off the bumper.

I also decided to start the "more scale" aspect of this build and picked me up some sleeping bags and pads (also from "limited77")

Also rigged me up some bungie's to hold in my gear. Made them out of hair bands, electronic plugs, and paperclips. And some heat shrink on some of them. Not the best, but turned out pretty good.

[steele42]

Added a little weight to the wheels. My honcho has 6oz extra in fronts and 4oz extra in rears. This had 3oz in fronts and 2oz in rears. I only had 2 more oz worth of weights to use so I decided to make it a even 3oz all around. We'll run it a while and decide what I think.

I also like to mount extra batteries for weight (helps keep my tires on the ground). Again this one is a personal preference thing and some people may not like it. It's just what has worked for me in my honcho. The jeep didn't come with rock rails so I posted up a wanted ad and "rockeater" is sending me some for free! What a dude. I mounted up my honcho rock rails in the jeep to see how they would fit. You can see in this pic how I shaved my stock rock rails to be more realistic, and not get in the way so much.

[steele42]

So after crawling for a bit I noticed my front axle doing alot of shifting. Come to find out I had stretched the upper links a little farther than I had threads to support it. (I know I can get more links, I was just working with what I had.)

I ended up going back to a 3 link in the front which actually helped me get a little longer for a better driveshaft angle. The Trex60's have two mounting options for the lower links, and this gave me the ability to go with the longer wheelbase option (which looks and performs way better now.) Here's how she sits now.

[steele42]

Here's some action shots on the front porch.

Before the wheelbase mod:



After the wheelbase mod: (wheelbase longer)

[ser3100]

Looks sick dude! I miss those REX 60's. If i was doing a JK build i would have used those but since that build is on the backburner for now, i needed narrower axles. Great looking jeep man. If you really wanna make it more "scale accurate" check out rcjeeps.com and find the build "SLEEK EVO JK" by Sleekster. He has detailed photos on how he did a 3link setup with panhard rod on the front using the same exact axles. yes you will have to mod a few things here and there but hey isnt that what this hobby is all about, thinking outside the box? Anyways have fun with em! Oh and you need some sliders in a bad way!

[Manfjourde]

Neighbor, I know we've talked but how close to St. George are you? I have more reasons to go there now. The truck looks great! What tire mount is that for the stock bumper? I want!

[Mr.Joshua]

Nice Jeep man, thanks for all the pics If you find that rear bumper gettng hung up you can cut the little "arms" on it that point towards the front off..I ended up liking the looks better too (just a thought). Have fun!

[steele42]

Originally Posted by Manfjourde

Neighbor, I know we've talked but how close to St. George are you? I have more reasons to go there now. The truck looks great! What tire mount is that for the stock bumper? I want!

St George is about 3:45 from where I live. My in-laws might be moving there so that will give me reason to go there too. If I understand correctly the spare tire mount, roof rack, and cb antenna were all made by "KAETWO". Hit him up and he can probably give you some more info. I really like his work.

[wally101]

Looks good

[steele42]

Originally Posted by ser3100

Looks sick dude! I miss those REX 60's. If i was doing a JK build i would have used those but since that build is on the backburner for now, i needed narrower axles. Great looking jeep man. If you really wanna make it more "scale accurate" check out rcjeeps.com and find the build "SLEEK EVO JK" by Sleekster. He has detailed photos on how he did a 3link setup with panhard rod on the front using the same exact axles. yes you will have to mod a few things here and there but hey isnt that what this hobby is all about, thinking outside the box? Anyways have fun with em! Oh and you need some sliders in a bad way!

Those are some legit jeeps! I'm not a member of that site, so I can't really search. Do you have a link to that build? I do want to check it out.

[steele42]

Because I started with the summit, when I bought the honcho I stuck with the traxxas connectors because of all the batteries I already had with traxxas ends. Now that the summit and stock summit batteries are gone, I decided to go all deans. They are so much easier to plug and unplug. With the traxxas connectors i had to pull so hard I felt like I was going to rip wires out of my batteries or esc once they finally let free. I'm definitely a deans fan now, and will also be doing deans on the motor wires so I can easily swap motors if I want to. My driving buddy also uses deans so now we can swap parts without any plug issues.

[heinie_21]

Originally Posted by steele42

...blah..blah... I'm definitely a deans fan now, and will also be doing deans on the motor wires so I can easily swap motors if I want to. My driving buddy also uses deans so now we can swap parts without any plug issues.

Finally! . Bout time I got you to switch.
I still haven't driven that beast! Stop on your way to boise. We can play cars!

60's look good bro!

[rockeater]

Slick build man, I like what ya done here hope them rails are gonna work for ya there.

[steele42]

Originally Posted by rockeater

Slick build man, I like what ya done here hope them rails are gonna work for ya there.

Got my rails in the mail yesterday. Going to shave them up to fit tomorrow. Thanks again ROCKEATER!!

[rockeater]

Hey np, they where just sitting in the boneyard.

Those axles look so good too.

I think I my get a cpl sets for my rigs.

[steele42]

Originally Posted by rockeater

Hey np, they where just sitting in the boneyard.

Those axles look so good too.

I think I my get a cpl sets for my rigs.

I love them so far. People say they aren't as durable as some other axles, but I also feel like I am a much slower and easier crawler than alot of people. I haven't had any issues yet, but I've only had them for about a week. I'll keep everyone posted on how they treat me.

[steele42]

Here's a pic of the two rigs together, just for comparison. It's fun to see where one rig will do better on an obstical, then the other rig will do better on a different obstical or line. Different wheelbase, COG, wheel weights, tires size and type, motor and pinion gear are all factors. In most cases still, the honcho will out perform the jeep.

[steele42]

Shaved and mounted up my rock rails. Thanks again ROCKEATER! He sent me these for free.