Natedog's Wraith Kit Build now with Cage Mods

[Natedog]

I've had some crunchy gear noise lately.

EDIT: The steel Axial trans gear set weighs 23.3 grams. I will weigh the stock top gear with RRP steel idler and hard anodized aluminum bottom gear when I swap them out.

[Natedog]

Rear Maxx driveshaft assembled and installed, didn't need the thin shim on rear pinion that I needed with the stock WB8 driveshaft.

EDIT: The stock Axial WB8 driveshaft with my CF tube insert (complete shaft with attaching screw pins) weighs 31 grams.
The Maxx driveshaft trimmed about 1/4" length (complete shaft with attaching screw pins) weighs 22.5 grams.



Opened the rear diff while I was at it and found that the ring gear teeth are getting pointy as I expected. The gears and bearings spin smooth, so I cleaned and re-greased them for now. I will weigh stock gear set and Axial HD gearset when I swap them out (after the stockers are toasted).
EDIT: Yes, the blue synthetic grease is silver from the metal shavings lol!

[Natedog]

Having a problem breaking the rear cage repeatedly, you can see it's one smack away from breaking in two pieces, looks like this all the way around the tubing:

[Natedog]

Stock Wraith kit driveshafts were starting to do this even with CF tube CA'ed in the male half.



SuperShafty parts received for tranny rebuild and bought another pack of Traxxas 4927X and Maxx shafts for the front.

[rockhugger]

mmmmm shark teeth gearing


let's go break those in a few weeks camping and crawling!!!! uh... bring the spares with you though

[Natedog]

Originally Posted by rockhugger

mmmmm shark teeth gearing


let's go break those in a few weeks camping and crawling!!!! uh... bring the spares with you though

Yes! Spares for sure too

[Natedog]

Originally Posted by Natedog

Changed my front lower links to VP ti last night and noticed that my WB is 13 7/8" on driver's (left) side vs 14" even on the passenger (right) side. I don't see anything bent or broken....any suggestions? ANybody else have this? Measured my well used Honcho and it is almost dead on same both sides...wth?

I'm not so happy with the VP bent lowers, installed one way and they limit my steering, installed kinda high clearance style and they don't really help that anymore than straight links do. They are all scraped up just as much as my straight lowers...one bend adds clearance (I put this end at belly pan) the other end decreases clearance (I put this end at the axle)...so one end is less scraped and the other end is very scraped up...about equal to a straight lower link scraped from end to end, but with a price difference.

I won't buy the doube bend VP bent lower links again, Vanqish Products should make a single bend high clearance lower link set for the Wraith!

[rockhugger]

Originally Posted by Natedog

Opened the rear diff while I was at it and found that the ring gear teeth are getting pointy as I expected. The gears and bearings spin smooth, so I cleaned and re-greased them for now. I will weigh stock gear set and Axial HD gearset when I swap them out (after the stockers are toasted).
EDIT: Yes, the blue synthetic grease is silver from the metal shavings lol!

looking back at this, it looks like you might want to go a little deeper with the pinion... I notice there is some deformation on the ends of the ring gear teeth. I think I deeper mesh would help avoid the shark tooth and sheering of the ring gear. I usually set mine in the middle, or just a tad deeper than that. I try to find that happy medium where they're spinning freely, but on the deeper side of the ring.

[Natedog]

Originally Posted by rockhugger

looking back at this, it looks like you might want to go a little deeper with the pinion... I notice there is some deformation on the ends of the ring gear teeth. I think I deeper mesh would help avoid the shark tooth and sheering of the ring gear. I usually set mine in the middle, or just a tad deeper than that. I try to find that happy medium where they're spinning freely, but on the deeper side of the ring.

Yes, looks like it but I'll have to shim under the pinion gear and then trim off the driveshaft stub to be able to get better engagement. I'll check it and see to be sure.

[Natedog]

Bought DLux pieces to tighten up some front end slop that has developed, but they don't last very long before getting all sloppy again. Brass is not a great material in this application and size.

[Natedog]

Debating on VP knuckles and some new beadlocks...I'd like to narrow the wheels to about 1.25 inches or a little less, but not too narrow and also narrow my track a little. RC4WD or Hot Racing white steelies look nice...really like the D-hole style and the round hole style too.

[Natedog]

double post website was tripping out.

[Natedog]

What's this for???



Slice and dice!



Need to do the backside piece and glue it all back together.

[Natedog]

Drilled backside "lockring" holes all the way through with 0.073" drill bit and trimmed to proper width for the narrowed wheels.

[Natedog]

Little more motivation to narrow my XR10 beadlocks, found the stock plastic pieces had machined themselves so that the outer bearing could walk inward to the inner bearing. Axial should have spaced these two bearings a little farther apart!



Hitec HS-7950TH to install for steering.

[Natedog]

Wheels are done, foams trimmed, and mounting them up! Reinforced the CA joint with a wrap of drywall mesh tape and black ShoeGoo. Wheels are now 1.25" wide (inside narrowed) to clear my new VP knuckles and ti linkage, setting up with Hitec 7950TH. 1.25" imo is perfect width for most 2.2 tires, sucks the sidewalls in jut enough they don't hang on everything, doesn't crown the tread (stays fairly flat across from one shoulder to the other)...looks great, works great. They worked great at stock XR wheel width but were going to rub on my new VP knuckles and ti steering linkage.

Modded XR10 wheel without the inner, outer locking rings or screws now weighs 21.5 grams each with the tape and ShoeGoo, about 1.5g worth of tape and Goo per wheel.

2.2 Ripsaws R35, work great and look great imo. With some home made two stage foams that came with tires I bought from classifieds here...iirc Hoosier Daddy sold them to me lol...great guy to deal with!

[Natedog]

One more

[Natedog]

Tires and wheels are mounted on Wraith and they look great, I'm very happy with the wheel mod so far! I took 0.005" off the backside of the aluminum lockrings to get more bead grip on the front side in addition to the extra backside grip.

[Natedog]

[Duuuuuuuude]

Ufo?