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Thread: OS's Elemental Cherokee kit

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Old 10-09-2019, 06:55 AM   #1
I wanna be Dave
 
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Douglassville, PA
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Default OS's Elemental Cherokee kit

So I sold some rigs and had some funds burning a hole in my pocket....what to get?

Origially I wanted a VS410 Pro... but it was pretty much my entire budget. No funds left for electronics.
How about an SSD trail king? Nice, but not quite there yet. Not sure why. (Glad I didn't as the price just recently dropped...it's on the list though)

Settled on a lowly SCX10v2.....


Why? Well, I've never built one for myself (had one in the past, got it in a trade already built) stuffing an Element trans inside and SCX10 intrigued me, and I have a ton of parts here for it already. SSD knuckles and Cherokee bumpers, Boom shock mounts, and a ton of other goodies I've picked up over the years. Just sitting in a box awaiting a home.


Originally I was going to get a builders kit, but I liked the Cherokee body, it was on sale at RPP, and I had the SSD bumpers in my stash.... so I picked up the Cherokee. Used the leftover funds to pick up some nice parts and electronics, as well as some upgrades for my other kits. Worked out pretty good.

So enough backstory, let's get wrenching. Not really going to be a build thread, everyone's seen a V2 by now. The box. Not much has changed.


It's like Christmas! Plenty of SSD goodies, including axle housings and just a bit of brass and an Element transmission!! Been wanting to mess with one for a while. Who needs OD gears in the front axle and all the issues it seems to be causing, I'll just do it here and leave the axle mesh alone. Plus a nice Holmes outrunner, and Micro max.


Old R35 and new R35. No way it's the same compound. Can feel the difference as well as see it. It's a shame, the old R35 was very good.


Fitting in the Element trans requires a bit of trimming. Best way to install it is motor forward with the outputs on the battery tray side. Thankfully, it includes both top shafts so you can built it various ways. It's mocked up here, can see how it interferes just a bit.


There's a ton of material here...I shaved the bottom of the case a bit to get it to sit lower. Also shaved the skid slightly. Now the outputs are just slightly above where the stock ones would be. Still needed to trim the battery tray, but not quite a much.


More to come...
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Old 10-09-2019, 02:49 PM   #2
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Default Re: OS's Elemental Cherokee kit

Looking good, love kits! HumboldtEF shaved the entire bottom of his Element tranny and maybe a millimeter into the case wihtout any problems, so you can go lower if you want.
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Old 10-10-2019, 06:57 AM   #3
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Default Re: OS's Elemental Cherokee kit

Hi Natedog - Greetings from the other side of the country! I could have shaved it down more, but I was so paranoid about leaving too little room, going too deep with the screws and hitting the output gear or bulging the casing that I played it safe. Can always take off more later, but you can't put it back on.

... And through the magic of the web, some finished pics. Build list:

SSD Axle Housings, brass knuckles, weights/rear, Aluminum C hubs, front and rear Cherokee bumpers
Element Transmission, 11.83 front OD
YR 20kg Servo
Castle Micro max
Holmes 1800kv outrunner
Stock tires with CI Little Nova 4.5 foams

Should be a fun little trail rig. Was tired of getting owned by my buddies Enduro - this should level the playing field a bit.

Went with a monochrome scheme I found online. I think the all white paint looked pretty clean.



Proline paint that basically falls off the body if you look at it sideways. Showing lots of scratches already just from assembly. Body dried for 2 days before I even touched it. Not a fan so far of this paint.



Replaced some of the black hardware on the axles with some stainless on the pumpkins. Looks decent from a distance imo.


Nice clean chassis layout.




Can see a bit of the battery tray where I clearanced for the driveshaft. Still plenty of room for my 2200 packs. Element trans does indeed drop right in otherwise.
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Old 10-14-2019, 08:37 AM   #4
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Default Re: OS's Elemental Cherokee kit

Got a chance to take the v2 out and play for a few hours yesterday. Ran pretty good!

On the plus side, the driveline was awesome. Smooth power and gobs of torque from the Revolver, even on 2S. (I grew to like the sound personally, wasn't as loud as some others I've heard...it does sound like a spaceship!) The Element trans worked perfect - could definitely feel the OD at work pulling the truck. Also, the SSD bumpers give great approach angles, and the weight on the axles kept the truck super planted.

On the negative side, the suspension out of the box is just awful. The front is ok, but the rear is like sloppy butter on a summer day. Way too soft, just flopped around on climbs constantly throwing the truck off balance. The tires were just awful, though they seemed to be better once the temps got above 40 degrees....not sure if it was a temp thing or if they just broke in.

Finally, I have to say I love the look of the Cherokee body (and the truck overall) - I have since they released it, but the lexan is super thin...no way it's going to survive a season of crawling. It's already deforming in spots from a single day of crawling, door handles are popping out, etc. :( It's part of the reason I picked the Cherokee over the builders kit.

Couple of shots from the run...


Jato ran his Capra, would have ran mine today if the batteries had come in. It's way capable, far more than a scale rig - I felt inferior all day.



Great suspension travel...love the stuff in the rear fender.


Easy does it....one of my favorite lines.



Steady, steady....was thinking there was a rock there, but the leaves were hiding it. Nope, it was a hole, totally stuffed the front end.


So all in all, the Chumpokee survived a day of pretty heavy duty crawling... Immediately came home and swapped the rear to 40wt oil and some heavier springs. Outboarded the rear shocks on the axles a bit as well to give a bit of a progressive shock angle. Feels much better on the bench.


Also swapped over to the tried and true Vaterra Swampers with Vaterra DS foams. Great tires. The stock tires need some softer foams for sure, and maybe some siping. Might just put them on the shelf until summer, not sure.

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Old 01-15-2020, 06:54 AM   #5
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Default Re: OS's Elemental Cherokee kit

Last weekend was almost 70 degrees here in PA. Pretty nice for January! Took a break from the TRX's and drove a few Cherokee's.... Ascender and SCX10.

Haven't had this one out on a while... runs really well. I loaded up the rig with a 5000mah pack up front and the extra weight really helps it crawl. Puts more weight on the front wheels and the OD from the Element trans seems to come into play more. I do have a bit of an issue with my steering - can't get full lock in 1 direction, I think I need a slightly longer servo horn. And the shocks are way too underdamped. Ditching the 40wt and going with 60wt... But the outrunner was laying down the power and the truck ran great otherwise!



The place we run at is a former quarry (about 100 years ago) and there's all kinds of signs of quarry work. This is a cool rock where you can clearly see the drill holes. For whatever reason, there's a chunk removed from the main rock. What's been removed is still there though, laying next to it - if you could pick up the giant chunk, it would fit right onto the huge rock like a lego piece. Such a cool place to wheel.

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Old 01-16-2020, 03:23 PM   #6
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Default Re: OS's Elemental Cherokee kit

I really like the axial cherokee kit, I have one like yours and very happy with it, good photos.
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Old 01-16-2020, 05:36 PM   #7
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Default Re: OS's Elemental Cherokee kit

Thank you sir!

Going to be changing around the power I think, the Revolver combo will be getting a new home and getting replaced with a brushed system...eventually. Snow this weekend, so I'll have plenty of time going forward to swap some things around.
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Old 01-19-2020, 11:49 AM   #8
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Default Re: OS's Elemental Cherokee kit

Last time out, I wasn't getting full steering throw and it as driving me crazy! I swapped over to a longer servo horn..


Which of course didn't quite fit. A little file time and the arm now clears the chassis. Still not quite getting full throw, I think it's the YR servo. I don't think it turns quite as much as a normal servo. It's close enough that I can live with it though, only a degree or two off.


While I had the axle ripped apart, I added some SSD link mounts I picked up forever ago. No reason other than I just hated the red parts. If they were black plastic, I wouldn't have bothered.


Decided to swap over to some TRX4 shocks. They don't quite have the same compression length as the SCX10 shocks, but they are very smooth. For whatever reason, these Icons don't feel like they are dampening enough - went with 60wt oil and they still flopped around too much for my liking. TRX shocks feel great, even with the stock oil. Will run them as is to get a feel for them and fine tune them later. I put the Axial yellow springs up front and left the stock TRX springs out back.



I had to swap around some pivot balls... The TRX lowers didn't clear the C-hub clamp. Awful tight down there.


Out back I swapped the shocks and link mounts, nothing exciting. I did mod out an old v1 radio box to fit in the chassis rails out back and added a little lead to balance the chassis. It was a bit front heavy, even with the rear axle weights. Especially with the 5k pack up front.



Who at Axial decided that they radio box screws needed to be 5 miles long? Really? Good Grief. I changed them out to 3x10 so I could get the lid off out on the trail without causing an arthritic spasm in my wrist. Note the red BL system tucked in back there...I removed the Revolver for another truck and a simple 17.5 system was dropped in for now. Great trail system when geared down properly.
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Old 01-29-2020, 07:22 AM   #9
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Default Re: OS's Elemental Cherokee kit

Tweaked the SCX a bit over the weekend. Made a front shock tower brace out of an old Axial link...


Had to ground down the end so it would clear the servo. Polished the other side to match.


Added aluminum rear shock towers out back, and tied them together with a Vaterra link.


Helped with chassis flex a bit, though it's still somewhat twisty! This truck feels so much more solid on the bench though, with the new shocks and other changes. Can't wait to get it back out!
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