Wrangling the Wraith

[jrkilburn]

Ordered this truck while I was deployed and now that I am back I made a few changes to make it more my style. So far I only took care of the business end of things with relocating the battery to the front and moving electronics to the rear. I struggled with a compartment for a while and decided to break into my stash of Tractor Supply gift card boxes.

Well, on with the pictures...

[Maddog Madigan]

Well first off, Thank you for your service and glad you made it home safely. Great start so far. There are many upgrades to do with these wraiths.

[fvrr]

X2 thank you for your service and welcome back. Now enjoy yourself with some scaling :thumbup:

Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk

[jrkilburn]

I am trying to contain the upgrades until I see the need for them. I had several AX 10's that went overboard very quickly, lol.

Thanks to all forum members for supporting us Military folks

[OSWHollowpoint]

Welcome back. Looks like a great project. These things don't get out of hand. They just get expensive. But not out of hand.

[stick-boy-rick]

X 3 or 4 or 5, thank you very much for your service. Glad your home safely

[jrkilburn]

Got to go down to run this rig and put it through a trail test. I must admit that I had a blast with it. From everything I have been reading about weak spots on these rigs all I have to say is....

Don't believe everything you read. I had it in the water, mud bogging, ripping up slippery slopes, on the rocks, pinched up, jumped, tearing through leaves at full speed, drifting in a gravel lot and more. Never broke a part, had to stop for anything other than a battery change (ran three 2S packs) in a four hour period.

I am a long time R/C guy so I do know when enough is enough when "playing", I think alot of newcomers to the hobby may be running the truck to find a fail point more than running it reasonable and having fun.

Thank you Axial for another great product that I will enjoy for a long time.

will pull the trigger on the 72 GMC Jimmy body from Dynamic Concepts to make a tribute to my first 4WD.

[scottanthony]

Nice rig.......Man O Man....Mini electronics are sooo nice...!

[jrkilburn]

Ordered and received (from RPP) the Dynamic Concepts Blazer body and the VP CMS and panhard kits. Woke early today to get them installed and ready for a snow run tomorrow.

The VP stuff is great and hands down accurate to say the least. The CMS changes the truck look over to a new realm of cool. The best part of it is that it retains full function and is tough.

The Jimmy (blazer) body is going to require some "free" time to get it just right not to mention collecting the paint and materials to assemble it.

[Dynamic Concepts]

Your Jimmy grill went out in the mail, along with a mask kit and directions for it.

Take your time trimming and fitting the body, and if you have any questions, feel free to ask.

[jrkilburn]

Originally Posted by Dynamic Concepts

Your Jimmy grill went out in the mail, along with a mask kit and directions for it.

Take your time trimming and fitting the body, and if you have any questions, feel free to ask.

you are the man!

[rmiranda134]

Glad to know you made it back safe. Thanks. I got a couple of those tsc boxes. That is a great idea.

[jrkilburn]

After I received and trimmed out the body set as a Jimmy I just couldn't bring myself to cutting up that grille for the stock bumper. I also wanted a winch but the Wraith bumper doesn't lend itself to that either easily. I went through the whole mock up process and had it all fitted in but I still had to cut that grille up. I scratched what I did and went surfing for a bumper....

Several offerings out there for some $$$ but I just didn't want to put metal out that far on the truck and risk breaking the chassis farther back.

I came up with an idea from a buddy (crawlin4fun) and oredered a dingo bumper. I cut the outside edges off and side hoops. Drilled two holes just inside the shackle mounts that lined up with the lower wraith bumper mounts.

Obviously the upper stock mounts had to go. I cut them off flush with the Vanquish CMS mount after moving it back as far as it would go and flipping the servo to the back side of the mount for more grille clearance.

I used the lengths I cut off and used them as spacers to lock into the wraith lower mounts.

All said and done I got what I wanted. My grille is intact, I have a winch mount that is solid, I have a bumper that fits the body style as well as lights on the bumper and its all axial factory parts with good availability.

Enough talk, on to the pics...

[jrkilburn]

Moving along with the dynamic Concepts Jimmy body I finally got it painted and put together. I like the looks even more with the new bumper.
The XR wheels and the new 2.2 RC4WD Iroks make it just over the top for me, I hope you all enjoy as well.

[BoardN88]

Love it just ordered a dingo front Bumper!!

[BoardN88]

What part of MD you from? Grew up there for 24 years!

[jrkilburn]

Originally Posted by BoardN88

What part of MD you from? Grew up there for 24 years!

Aberdeen, Moved here about four years ago for the Army thing

[Dynamic Concepts]

The front end looks really nice with that bumper.

[jrkilburn]

Originally Posted by Dynamic Concepts

The front end looks really nice with that bumper.

Thanks, I just couldn't bring myself to cover up your hard work in getting that grille perfect.

[jrkilburn]

Made some changes today.



Added headlight buckets behind the grille,
Did the roof mod to make it look a little better.
Made a tarp for the rear cargo area. Added the winch to the front bumper.
Mounted a set of alum wheels and pit bulls.
Went to a 35 turn motor.

Gave it a full once over so I can finally go do some trail running tomorrow.

Been a shelf queen for all of a year now, it's begging to get out