My 10.2 1/10 New Bright TJ build

[calcagno45]

This build started Christmas 2016 when I bought a 1/10 New Bright TJ for my nephew. Of course my hopes from the get go were to get it back in a condition that was still usable, but I didn’t say that. He played with it for a while but never kept the battery charged to really beat on it as much as he wanted to so it held up fairly well to a 6yr old. Recently, my brother let me know that it’s going in the trash if I didn't want it back so of course I went grab it. The only damage I see is the mirrors are missing and front driver side fender has a piece cracked off. I'll call that rock rash I should be able to find some appropriate mirrors tho.





I know I'm late to this NB TJ body builds but I had to give it a go and keep it alive. After searching this forum for a while, I found quite a few builds for inspiration:

My favorite build thread and similar to where I'm headed: Skerb's Class 1 TJ II
Of course, I'm a long shot away from this fab and build quality: Poprivet's "Lil' TJ"


Initial thoughts on the build:
Keep C1 legal
Use a SCX10II roller and adjust WB to work
May need to narrow up the axles depending on wheel choice for C1
Try a decent brushed motor setup for once
Tiny tires, as in sub 4” tall
First time using a hard body so need to figure out mounting, etc
Scale nerd accessories also, I guess...
Where to put battery and electronics????


Side note: thanks to svt923 for the insight on add a lowercase "L" before the .jpeg on imgur will automatically resize images. Saves some editing time.

[calcagno45]

Commence building:

Started off with a set of Axial AX31438 for axles. With a TowerHobbies discount code then selling off the extra universals and axles, these complete axles were roughly $75, cheaper than OG SCX axles I’ve picked up before and these have HD gears. The axles were real easy to assemble but I may have to dye those darn red shock mounts and diff cover black though, the red just sticks out. You’ve all seen these axles by now and I forgot to snap a picture of the axles alone, deal with it.

I had an Axial AX30525 chassis set here as well so I used the frame rails, skid and some braces from it to get started. Should be all similar to the 10.2 minus a few holes in the rails and different braces but it'll work. Went to the eBay for a cheap set of stock SCX10II shock towers for the integrated panhard mount. Same here, you’ve seen frame rails, I just forgot to take a pic.

I did grab this 3D printed dual servo mount from rcaddict.us. I think the 2nd servo position will make for a nice ESC or receiver mount later. But here’s a pic!



Don't mind the suspensions links or shocks in the pictures, I'm obviously a little further along than this and I'll get to it eventually. But at this point in the story, it's a chassis with braces and a servo in place.

And why yes! That’s a Savox 2290 servo in there. I do plan to crank the voltage up to 7.4v and push those tiny tires around with 694.4 oz-in of torque. Why? Because I’d hate to have these tiny 3.85” tall tires bind up.
Many thanks to that Dlux servo sale for a great price on this monster.


to be continued... maybe.

[svt923]

I was wondering what happened to your other thread, it was there this morning and then gone. Good to see another TJ build because they look awesome driving around.

Not only do I help with Imgur, I have some experience in building a New Bright TJ (cousin's truck, I just do all the hard work). The big thing is shoving the skidplate forward (ala Skerb's build) to make manageable link and driveshaft lengths on the rear.

I ended up making rear shock towers to lean 70mm shocks forward, that gets the body low enough to rest on the chassis. It may even have to go to 60mm shocks to get the ride height down. Longer shocks could work if you go with a leaned in, crossbrace type shock mount. I also made some badass front shock towers and servo mounts. Reminds me that I really need to get some pictures of that chassis to take credit for all the hard work.

As for the tires, 3.75 inches and under is about the sweet spot for tucking in the wheel wells. The 1.55 Rock Beasts are a little big but the 1.55 Mud Thrashers are spot on. 1.55 MT-Rs would be the perfect setup since they are the right size and not terrible. Of course, we made really narrow axles for that truck to get that tire tuck.



I think those ended up about 150mm hex to hex so that should give you an idea on how much the AR44s would have to be narrowed to get down to a stock TJ look. The AR44s will definitely look better than those big ass Wraith pumpkins I have to work with.

Look forward to more if that ever happens.

[Rekreant]

Very neat, keep it up!

[calcagno45]

Originally Posted by svt923

I was wondering what happened to your other thread, it was there this morning and then gone. Good to see another TJ build because they look awesome driving around.

Not only do I help with Imgur, I have some experience in building a New Bright TJ (cousin's truck, I just do all the hard work). The big thing is shoving the skidplate forward (ala Skerb's build) to make manageable link and driveshaft lengths on the rear.

I ended up making rear shock towers to lean 70mm shocks forward, that gets the body low enough to rest on the chassis. It may even have to go to 60mm shocks to get the ride height down. Longer shocks could work if you go with a leaned in, crossbrace type shock mount. I also made some badass front shock towers and servo mounts. Reminds me that I really need to get some pictures of that chassis to take credit for all the hard work.

As for the tires, 3.75 inches and under is about the sweet spot for tucking in the wheel wells. The 1.55 Rock Beasts are a little big but the 1.55 Mud Thrashers are spot on. 1.55 MT-Rs would be the perfect setup since they are the right size and not terrible. Of course, we made really narrow axles for that truck to get that tire tuck.

Ha! I was playing around with the pictures, wording etc. and thought I hit "PREVIEW" instead hit "SUBMIT" so my draft went up for a little while until I realized it. I deleted it and then finished editing before posting it up. You may have seen a little further along as well...

I was considering shifting the skid plate up like Skerb did but I looks like it was going to jam up the forward motor mount etc. and I wouldn't have been able to use that 3D servo mount. I think I have it figured out for now but some real world testing will prove either way. I'll elaborate soon.

I need a pic of those 70mm shocks leaning forward and clearing... Seems like that'd be a stretch. How high is your TJ body off the chassis rails? I may or may not have ended up cutting a hole for the shock towers to go thru and will take a page from Skerb to fashion up some styrene to cover it. Will be my first attempt at styrene as well.

With the AR44s and these 1.9 wagons, I think I'm borderline C1 legal in that half of the tire is covered by the fenders. I'll have to grab a better pic tonight but take a look. The angle here make it look worse but it covers half of the tire to me. Now if I swap out to some LURC wheels, I believe I'd have an issue.
BeefTubes narrow AR44 would solve any issues I'd have, just a little pricey for the housings. These should be about 175mm hex to hex, 150mm seems a little too narrow?



I am/was stuck on those Berserker tires. They look phenomenal to me tho I haven't seen real world feedback except for Class 1 Willys pickup The tread depth looks a little shallow which was my only concern. I'll reconsider the MT/R since they're cheaper as well. I counted them out originally since they were only 3.54" tall per specs.


I really need to build a white box to take pics in. My workbench looks like sh!t in pics. I should have enough white trim wood from this new house laying around to make something.

[calcagno45]

This is my first time making links for a whole truck so let the fun begin. Honestly, I was a little intimidated for a minute thinking about screwing this up but that was short lived as soon as I started.

I opted to go the 8-32 threaded rod, Revo rod ends, and stainless tubing method. I scored some tubing from Amazon, ordered 1 length and received 2 so can’t complain. I now have extra to test with.

I printed up the SCX10II manual pages that have the 1:1 size references of all the links and used that as a template to get all suspension links done. I did double check the printout with calipers to make sure it printed correctly and the dimensions were right.



Since I had a couple sticks of 8-32 threaded rod, I decided to make all links per the 10.2 instructions and start off with a 12.3” wheel base roller. I'd say this went fairly well as the suspension worked and flexed as intended once assembled. It was fun figuring out the different lengths of rod need and cutting them in identical paid. I didn’t run a tap the Revo ends, I just forced them on the threaded rods. My plan is when I’m happen with the suspension and I’m putting the stainless tubing on to cover the threads, I’ll tap some new Revo ends and use those.

Stock 10.2 has the steering servo gear forward mounted. With this 3D printed servo mount, I had to mount the servo 180* opposite with the servo gear in the rear. It maintains the correct position and zero bump steer.

My only issue as of now is since I didn’t use those funky offset Axial rod ends on the steering tie rod, my homemade link without the tubing is rubbing the diff cover at almost full steering lock. I’ll have to figure out a slight bend to clear this once I start covering the thread rod with the SS tubing. It’ll do for now.




I had a bug body lying around and figured I’d take a poser pic with it. I only had 2 kit shocks here since I stole the other 2 for a 6x6 project so the rear is compressed a little. I took this pic after I cut the frame rails shorter to start fitting on the TJ body. I think 90mm shocks in the front may be a little long, probably go 80mm.





But we’re not building a bug so back to the TJ. And well, that WB looks about right…. NOT. The rear axle sticks out past the molded bumper… We’ll adjust it later.

[calcagno45]

I picked up a set of RC4WD 1.9 wagon wheels and Dirt Grabbers in the for sale forum. I’ll use these for mock up and meddling around. Not sure of the compound on these tires but they’re not sticky whatsoever. If I’m feeling frisky later, I may give them a bath in the degreaser to see if that will help. The real plan is either the 1.55 RB’s or new Berserker tires and stick with 1.55 wagons. These wagon wheels are pin drives, not hexes so it does tuck in there nicely.

]

A keen eye may notice blue shocks, these are cheap 80mm shocks from the eBay. Seem nice for the price, I'll give them a whirl.

Time to shorten the wheel base down to 10”. I wanted the leave the front suspension untouched if possible to retain the correct stock geometry. So I hacked on the rear links until they were down to an appropriate 10” wb. However, the links seem to be at almost too extreme of an angle and weren’t allowing the axle to articulate freely. I did try repositioning the links a couple ways without resolution. I could articulate it manually but it wasn't smooth and it felt really notchy and tight. I think being that short was the issue. However, it does get the wheelbase where it’s needed.




Yes that’s the rear shock towers hanging there. At this point, not sure if I want to cut holes in the body to let the shocks through or try a cantilever setup.

[calcagno45]

With the articulation issues I had on the shortened rear 4 link, I decided to try a 3 link with panhard since it seems to be the rage now (ala Dlux’s amazing build and CODYBOY trying to solve the Ascender issues). Almost parallel link bars should eradicate the binding I was getting and if I can make the panhard and mount correct, there should be little side to side axle deflection.

I moved the links to mount outside of the frame rails for now. This may bite me later when it comes time for rock sliders but it allowed me to get the 2 links almost parallel and still maintain a position to mount the shocks. I tried mounting the link and shock on the outside of the mount but they mount too close and it wasn’t working. I took notice of what Erik said in Ernie’s thread about removing the triangulation from the links to allow the panhard to do its job so I center mounted the middle 3rd link and it’s nearly perpendicular to the axle and skid plate.

And now for the main challenge of my fab skills, the rear panhard. I realized I could probably use the rear lock out as a mounting point for now. That may change later if I have to go ahead and narrow up the axles as that would likely move inwards about ¼”. But I’m running with it for now.
For the upper panhard mount, I’ll start crudely and refine it after some testing. I started with a piece of aluminum C-channel and cut a short length. I then trimmed out part of the C so that I’d have a double shear mount on the chassis. I hastily drilled 2 different holes in the mount to get it together. Then measured out a link length, fashioned up and panhard and viola! The rear is now 3 linked with a panhard. It articulated quick nicely with a small amount of axle shift. I think that could be mitigated if I can raise the link mount on the axle.

I'm going to clean up the upper panhard mount and sturdy that up. I may get another front shock tower with the integrated panhard mount but I don't think it'll be low enough for me.

Pics:








Sneak peak at the T-case and axles. I'll detail that out shortly.

[svt923]

Some questionably helpful info in red.

Originally Posted by calcagno45

Ha! I was playing around with the pictures, wording etc. and thought I hit "PREVIEW" instead hit "SUBMIT" so my draft went up for a little while until I realized it. I deleted it and then finished editing before posting it up. You may have seen a little further along as well...

Oops

I was considering shifting the skid plate up like Skerb did but I looks like it was going to jam up the forward motor mount etc. and I wouldn't have been able to use that 3D servo mount. I think I have it figured out for now but some real world testing will prove either way. I'll elaborate soon.

We have the skid jammed nearly all the way up to where the chassis starts to bend up in front of skid mounting area in order to keep the rear links from being super short. We don't have the link binding issues because the link mounts are so far in.

I need a pic of those 70mm shocks leaning forward and clearing... Seems like that'd be a stretch. How high is your TJ body off the chassis rails? I may or may not have ended up cutting a hole for the shock towers to go thru and will take a page from Skerb to fashion up some styrene to cover it. Will be my first attempt at styrene as well.

The floor of the cargo area is sitting on the chassis rails so it is as low as it will go. The chassis had been sitting at my house for so long and now that I need pictures, it's back at my cousin's place. The new shock towers mount at about where your upper links are attached and rise a little higher than the highest point of the rails. The shock is also mounted on the same screw as the link to lower it a little more.

With the AR44s and these 1.9 wagons, I think I'm borderline C1 legal in that half of the tire is covered by the fenders. I'll have to grab a better pic tonight but take a look. The angle here make it look worse but it covers half of the tire to me. Now if I swap out to some LURC wheels, I believe I'd have an issue.
BeefTubes narrow AR44 would solve any issues I'd have, just a little pricey for the housings. These should be about 175mm hex to hex, 150mm seems a little too narrow?



150mm axles are 40ish more mm narrower than the AR44s. You have about half of a 30mm tire outside of the fender, 20mm per side would just pull them under the fenders.

I am/was stuck on those Berserker tires. They look phenomenal to me tho I haven't seen real world feedback except for Class 1 Willys pickup The tread depth looks a little shallow which was my only concern. I'll reconsider the MT/R since they're cheaper as well. I counted them out originally since they were only 3.54" tall per specs.

The compound and tread pattern on the MT-Rs make up for giving up a few mm in height.

I really need to build a white box to take pics in. My workbench looks like sh!t in pics. I should have enough white trim wood from this new house laying around to make something.

My scale garage is many square feet of leftover 3/4 inch plywood and some $7 stick on vinyl tiles from Amazon. Seriously overkill for a glorified photo booth but it was cheap and looks the part. I have since added about $20 in lighting so it's some fancy, big spender stuff now.

[Bananaclip]

Very nice build so far. Your proportions are spot on.

[calcagno45]

Originally Posted by Bananaclip

Very nice build so far. Your proportions are spot on.

Thanks! Appreciate it.

Originally Posted by Polkchop

Nice work so far, I admire your patience in the details. It will be a one of a kind when you're done.

Thank you sir. Hoping to keep it slightly original but taking some cues from those that have gone before me.



Should be able to continue the story today.

[lonleycreeper]

I put one of these on a Barrage gen two chassis, no fenders....
It may bring in the width just enough...

I had to do some trimming in the footwell to clear the transmision.



Chassis was perfect, width was a litle wide.

Next to my wifes hilux(Scx10)

[calcagno45]

Very cool, it fits that Barrage fairly well.

[calcagno45]

Originally Posted by svt923

Some questionably helpful info in red.

I was considering shifting the skid plate up like Skerb did but I looks like it was going to jam up the forward motor mount etc. and I wouldn't have been able to use that 3D servo mount. I think I have it figured out for now but some real world testing will prove either way. I'll elaborate soon.

We have the skid jammed nearly all the way up to where the chassis starts to bend up in front of skid mounting area in order to keep the rear links from being super short. We don't have the link binding issues because the link mounts are so far in.

I need a pic of those 70mm shocks leaning forward and clearing... Seems like that'd be a stretch. How high is your TJ body off the chassis rails? I may or may not have ended up cutting a hole for the shock towers to go thru and will take a page from Skerb to fashion up some styrene to cover it. Will be my first attempt at styrene as well.

The floor of the cargo area is sitting on the chassis rails so it is as low as it will go. The chassis had been sitting at my house for so long and now that I need pictures, it's back at my cousin's place. The new shock towers mount at about where your upper links are attached and rise a little higher than the highest point of the rails. The shock is also mounted on the same screw as the link to lower it a little more.

Pictures bro, they say a thousand words. Or so they say.

What trans did you use and how was it mounted to have a managed driveshaft to the t-case?

My frame rails in the rear are about 1/4" lower than the rear cargo area right now. I think I can lower it down but might not with this size tire.

[svt923]

Originally Posted by calcagno45

Pictures bro, they say a thousand words. Or so they say.

What trans did you use and how was it mounted to have a managed driveshaft to the t-case?

My frame rails in the rear are about 1/4" lower than the rear cargo area right now. I think I can lower it down but might not with this size tire.

We have been working with a SCX10 trans but may change to a Dlux trans for the space savings. I mounted the servo across the chassis so there is a lot more room to shove the transmission forward. It will probably end up between the front shock towers or just behind them to clear the interior and work with the t-case. It has only been mocked up so far, the permanent home hasn't been made yet.

[calcagno45]

Originally Posted by svt923

We have been working with a SCX10 trans but may change to a Dlux trans for the space savings. I mounted the servo across the chassis so there is a lot more room to shove the transmission forward. It will probably end up between the front shock towers or just behind them to clear the interior and work with the t-case. It has only been mocked up so far, the permanent home hasn't been made yet.

Got it. If you can get it between the shock towers, that does free up quite a bit of room to move it forward.

[calcagno45]

Trans, t-case and driveshafts

I picked up a cheap eBay transfer case and think it’ll work out on this build. It’s a simple 2 gear t-case(I think, haven't opened it yet) but it should keep the axles driveshafts fairly straight. The shaft to the transmission will end up straight as well due to the offset tranmission output. I can almost say I planned it to work out as such. One gripe is the t-case is a polished aluminum finish, I think I’ll dull that to make it blend in more.



Driveshafts. I fancy the Axial WB8 HD driveshafts. They’ve held up extremely well in my Bomber under 3s power on a Holmes PP3500kv. I installed these in my 6x6 project as well with great luck so far. I wanted to use these if possible.
The front driveshaft is no problem since that’s all stock 10.2 suspension and WB8 HD come stock in the 10.2. Bolted right up. The rear driveshaft and trans/t-case shaft were going to be tricky with the 10” wb and short rear suspension. So I hacked down some WB8 HD shafts to fit… not exactly the best idea likely. The center spline section ended up being ½ to 3/4” total length which is then split in half and shared on each end. There’s just not enough engagement there to be comfortable with. I’d have to resort to a single male/female style driveshaft. Good thing is I’ve owned many a Traxxas vehicles, particularly Rustlers and Stampedes which have decent driveshafts that fit the bill. So I trimmed a set of these up to fit and got them installed. We’ll see if they stand up to normal driving and abuse.




Transmission I’ll likely get laughed at but I wanted to try something different. I went with the old RC4WD R2 transmission because nostalgia, no slipper clutch, gear reduction and I haven’t seen one used in a while (probably for good reasons I'm ignoring). Not to mention, the case is 70mm wide, which happens to be the same width of the SCX10 frame rails so it’ll fit nicely on top of the rails. My simplistic fab skills can make brackets to secure it down. The R2 trans take Mod .8 pinions and comes with an 8t pinion. I didn’t pay attention to the gear ratios at first but with an 8t pinion, coupled with the 10.2’s axles at 3.75:1 ratio, I’d end up with a final drive of 114:1… WOW. I did plug in a battery to give it a test whirl and 114:1 is painful... So I threw on an 18t pinion for now and the FDR is about 50:1.

As mentioned, to secure the trans in, I cut 2 short pieces of aluminum flat bar and secure the trans to the frame rails with a couple screws. It’s secure and works for now. I’ll clean/trim these up later when I disassemble everything.






So here it is, in current glory.



I have placed electronics in it for a quick rip in the garage. The suspension is tight, I need to double check everything is still moving freely and tinker with these shocks. The spring rate may be a little stiff for this rig.


To do list:
Rock sliders
Mount body
Mount electronics, battery
Touch ups on the body
Wheels and tires

More to come:

[svt923]

May want to check if the driveshafts are fully collapsing before the suspension, that would definitely cause some suspension issues. The pics make it look like there isn't much room for the shafts to cycle.

I appreciate the R2 trans, it is a nice bit of crawler nostalgia. Those things were a revolution compared to locked Traxxas transmissions. Stick with the 114:1 ratio and run 6S through that 27T motor. Gear down, volt up, right?

[calcagno45]

Few updates, few pics, need more time.

Ditched the R2 trans.
Picked up a SSD scale trans. Super nice piece! Somewhat of a pain to set a proper gear mesh since it’s all covered up once you bolt it all back together.
Picked up a new snubnose Revolver. Tiny little booger.
Picked up a MicroX for now although I may want 4s power so would need a MambaX.
Ditched the junk eBay shocks.
Put on TRX4 shocks. Much better!
Picked up 1.55 RC4WD wagon wheels. Hate them tho and are a pain to mount the 1.55 RBs so will sell these wheels later.
Need to go back to 4 link in the rear and get the body securely mounted.
Need to make some sliders to mount the ESC and battery.
Need to mount a winch servo as well.
Need to remake the linked after its all sorted.

For now, enjoy a few pics of the SSD and Revolver

[hibbs]

Love a TJ build. Never seen one I didn’t like. Working on one myself if I could keep after it.