Moony's Build

[MoonyJohn]

Hey guys, new to the wraith but have had a scaler scx10 and loved the things. I was limited on lots of things I could do with it and tried my friends wraith out and it was a blast! Had to get one, next day I went to go pick one up and my brother did too. Doing small things here and there as they come up. Usually dont upgrade until we need to. So far me and my brother both broke one front link so we grabbed the metal ones off the scx10 and they fit perfectly. Cheaper and gets the job done! Anyways, heres the list of things ive gotten done so far

1. Painted body - Pewter Grey Gloss
2. STRC Lower Links
3. Proline front shocks, stock scx10 shocks in rear
4. Battery relocation
5. 2.2 Swampers w/ 6-7 ounces of weight up front
6. Hi-Tec HS645 Servo w/ aluminum servo arm
7. 3600 wolfpack batteries
8. Venom Diff Cover
9. Integy 35t

Upcoming Mods

1. Venom Steering Upgrade
2. STRC Upper links
3. Venom rear diff cover

Breakage list so far: all of which have been upgraded
2 servo horns
1 front lower link

Overall im impressed with the build quality of this crawler. Compared the scaler, it feels way more solidly built. Although it is a bit harder to work on, seems like you need to take apart the whole car to get to something. You get used to it.. Crawling capability, it seems more stable.. doesnt want to flip over sideways as much but going uphills it seems to want to flip more. Once I get the new motor in it should solve that problem, but im not a throttle junky anyways, so ill just need to get used to it.

Glamor pics









Me and my brother VintageCopal













At this point my servo arm stripped (second time it had happened in two trips..) I had enough so I just got another servo and servo arm to get it out of the way. Have yet to test it out, but tomorrow I will be. Shouldnt have any problems, my brother was using his all day with no steering issues

Glad to be apart of the forums! Cool looking at all these wraiths..

[dubAron]

Nice Wraith's what wheels are on the white one?

[MoonyJohn]

Thanks! Wheels came off of some tires I got off ebay. I dont exactly remember what they came off of, its been a while since I bought those. I like them a little better than the standard 8 hole rims.

[Rock-Lockster]

what color paint did you use? looks very nice

[MoonyJohn]

Thanks, it's just a standard gloss grey. Turned out good, it's holding up good too. But today almost half of my beads on my swampers came out. I think my wheel bolts are stripped. Might have to get new rims, thinking of the standard 8 hole ones for now. Also need to install my 35t integy motor. I'll be posting up some pics from today, no damage besides the tires

[Joe Bonkers]

What foams are you using in the tires?

[MoonyJohn]

At the moment they are chisel tires that i borrowed the foams out of. I was having issues with the stock foams and all the weights in the front. Im positive its the wheels, they dont tighten all the way, ive done lots of tire swaps and its just worn out i bet.

[RCTRUX]

Wow those wraiths look great, mine is coming in two days and I got a lot of good ideas from you and your brothers rigs

[MoonyJohn]

Originally Posted by RCTRUX

Wow those wraiths look great, mine is coming in two days and I got a lot of good ideas from you and your brothers rigs

Thanks!

We like doing cosmetic stuff, just to slighty differ eachothers rigs. Even if we do the same thing, its usually always different. We have the same exact mods done, just different shocks and tires. The rok lox do pretty good when you have a smaller/softer foam in them, its just on rocks they do a little worst on than the swampers. Other than that they are pretty comparable in the terrain we run in.

Today I fixed my beads, I had 3 pop off completely, and then one bead half way off. Turns out it was the wheels that were stripped, I had a hard time getting the screws to come out. I grabbed an old set of 2.2 standard 8 holes and painted them to match my paint, and put silver beadlocks on. Love the look, its more mature looking, and I fixed the front foams to fit better with all the weights in there. The rears im running no weight, I have the spare battery in the original battery tray in the rear, so it balances some of the weight out. Plus that way I can keep track of my batteries easier!

Heres some pictures from yesterday with me and my brother. We pushed them a little harder, hence why my beads came out. I upgraded my servo to the HS645MG Hitec servo and it was great! Dont have to worry about the steering anymore!







Gettin it!









I like this shot







And this is where it shows my bead coming undone

Heres a picture of our lights we did. I just took some tissue paper and used a sharpie to get the yellow, then I just jammed it inbetween the light cover and it holds pretty good. My brother did orange, its different but it looks good with his black theme.

[Landcruiser 110]

they both look great, i ordered mine the other day, but i dont get it till christmas, also if your light covers are toilet paper, what happens to them when they get wet?

[MoonyJohn]

Then I'll just make some more

My wraith won't be doing any creek crossings or anything with water.. It should be fine id hope

[MoonyJohn]

Been a tid bit since I last posted.. figured id update!

So I supposively waterproofed my esc, to find out that it didnt work :( So I gnabbed the dx3e spektrum esc and receiver and put it in the wraith. I took out the dumb electrical box and zip tied everything together to fit all under the hood. Im thinking of putting a water balloon over the electronics just incase something does happen, but for now everything works on it again! Only thing that doesnt work is my front lights, my rears do but not my fronts. Any suggestions? I tried switching the plugs from either ends of the main plugin, still doesnt work. No big deal, it would just be nice to know how to get those working again.

So, maintenance aside.. Im thinking of getting atleast something to beef it up a little bit. Im going to try out the stock ripsaws that came with it, and if Im not mistaken its not the r35 compound that they now sell separately in stores? Either way, my swampers bead kept coming undone so ill either buy a new set of swampers/foams for them, or keep the ripsaws depending on how they do. I am wanting to do something with the steering. I will be going to our local hobby store and seeing if they have any knuckles or inner knuckles, or even steering links. Im still running plastic ones.

Anyways, just thought id stop by and check in.

[Erbing]

Originally Posted by MoonyJohn

Been a tid bit since I last posted.. figured id update!

So I supposively waterproofed my esc, to find out that it didnt work :( So I gnabbed the dx3e spektrum esc and receiver and put it in the wraith. I took out the dumb electrical box and zip tied everything together to fit all under the hood. Im thinking of putting a water balloon over the electronics just incase something does happen, but for now everything works on it again! Only thing that doesnt work is my front lights, my rears do but not my fronts. Any suggestions? I tried switching the plugs from either ends of the main plugin, still doesnt work. No big deal, it would just be nice to know how to get those working again.

So, maintenance aside.. Im thinking of getting atleast something to beef it up a little bit. Im going to try out the stock ripsaws that came with it, and if Im not mistaken its not the r35 compound that they now sell separately in stores? Either way, my swampers bead kept coming undone so ill either buy a new set of swampers/foams for them, or keep the ripsaws depending on how they do. I am wanting to do something with the steering. I will be going to our local hobby store and seeing if they have any knuckles or inner knuckles, or even steering links. Im still running plastic ones.

Anyways, just thought id stop by and check in.

check to see if one wire came out of the front lights, mine wasn't working and that was the problem.

[MoonyJohn]

Doh, i feel dumb. One wire was simply floating around. All fixed now

On a side note, I went to my local hobbytown and picked up a couple armor items. I got 1 vanquish diff cover for the front, mainly cause its already showing signs of wear and tear. The vanquish cover is made out of titanium, and has a simple design to it. Goes with my silver theme too!



I also picked up a set of STRC aluminum links for the lowers. They look like a quality product so i gnabbed a front and rear lower set. Got home, and took them out of the packaging and i noticed they are pretty short.. didnt cross my mind much so i started into the project. As i got the end links on them (im not using the pre-bent ones, i have some straight ones laying around), and noticed its about a 1/4" shorter than the stock axial link. Wouldnt this factor in with the wheelbase alot? I snapped a picture of it the best I could.





Any suggestions? I was thinking of cutting of the end links off the stock one and drilling a hole just big enough for the allthread to make itself a tap. Like so..



Thanks ahead of time!

[Pau Hana]

Nice wraith man, maybe just add a small spacer. That should make up the difference.

[andor]

Try Traxxas Jato rod ends, the throat on them is a bit longer and should make up the length difference. They are also a steel ball vs the stock plastic which got a bit sticky on mine by the time I replaced them. When you pick them up also get some tiny washers (~1mm I think) because the balls aren't as wide as the stock Axial plastic ones. It's not absolutely necessary but it'll keep that tiny bit of side to side play out of them at the skidplate.

[MoonyJohn]

Originally Posted by Pau Hana

Nice wraith man, maybe just add a small spacer. That should make up the difference.

Actually the spacer was the trick.. Now I'm having issues with the skid plate screws. They stripped so easily? I'll figure something out haha

[MoonyJohn]

Got the STRC lower 4 links put it! Pretty impressed with how much more sturdy it makes the wraith. Alot more stable and I can tell this will be a quality modification. I ended up using a bit of spacers, but there was still enough thread to make it strong enough. My pinion angle is a little bit on the positive side, which I suppose is better than having it hang lower. Looking at the front steering, I really want to get the aluminum links. Its amazing how bendy they are just from stock!

I also put in my 35t Integy motor, very pleased with the speed of it, seems perfect just driving it around the house. Will definitely help the battery life! Finally wont need to absolutely consider going to a lipo battery, although its ideal but not completely necessary atm.

Heres some pictures for you all, I ground down the frame bolts just for cosmetic purposes, looks cool! (If you havent figured out yet, I like the looks of things alot)





Front pinion angle



Rear pinion angle



Satisfied with the stance! I ordered some cheapo 98mm shocks off ebay, my brother is running them and they are nice and soft, might settle the wraith down a bit too



And for those of you in the PNW

[MoonyJohn]

Just swapped to my swampers.. holy cow they are heavy. I had some 8 hole rims laying around with some custom basic made 2.2" beadlocks.. looks pretty sweet! The fronts have I think around 6-7 ounces in each of the front tires, and the rears have about 1-2 ounces, its been a while since I put the weights in. Gonna go crawling today hopefully if the river isnt too high.

Pictures came out kinda neat

[MoonyJohn]

Went crawling today, accidentally started rolling and the links came out of the plastic end links. I didnt have enough thread into the plastic, while i had too much into link itself. Easy fix, but it got dark and cold quick so we had to leave. Only got 3 pictures lol





And then the rollover