Wraith built via Harley's Stickies. First R/C Experience EVER/tutorial

[MattPM0000]

First a little introduction:
My name is Matt and I am a 4x4 addict. I have a 1:1 2010 Jeep Wrangler that I have modded a good deal.









The only R/C experience before this I have had was I bought a $300 3d rtr helicopter that I flew about three different occasions and gave up trying to learn it.

I had seen a little about the Wraith here and there but didn't know anyone that had it or anything, still looked kinda neat. Well, after going to Jeep Beach down in Daytona I got to meet up with a bunch of the 4x4 industry leaders, and they ALL had one it seemed like.



And since I was becoming decent friends with them I was taunted with "Now it's official, you have to get a Wraith." I brushed it off with a laugh thinking, "Great, Like I need a push."

I went home and started reading on here... a lot of it was gibberish at first and I had NO IDEA what was going on. After a while, a lot thanks in part to Harley's Stickies (ESC and Motor selection, Beginners guide to the Wraith) and his Jimmy's KOH Wraith build as well as his 4PL set up on here and YouTube. How's that for a plug Harley?

When I had about half an idea what I was getting into I figured it was time to go to the lhs (Local Hobby Shop, for the other newbies) to look more into the matter and talk to someone one on one. Well, there didn't end up being too much discussion, but I came home going, "Umm honey, I uhh, kinda bought something today..."

[MattPM0000]

My girl helps me with my 1:1 build so she was actually pretty happy and wanted to build it with me. I continued to read and became determined to build my Wraith without asking a single question on here. Only using the search bar, stickies and my lhs. The lhs was perfectly familiar with the terminology and such but seeing as I bought the Wraith Alan was going to build, he still had no experience with the Wraith, so I was a bit on my own there for Wraith specific questions and ideas. I literally read Harleys Stickies each, at least twice, from front to back, if not more. Some posts I re-visited so many times I knew the page numbers.

My main goal, as with my 1:1 was to have something that I can build from the get go that 1: Won't be horribly left behind by most and 2: Would not break every time I used it.







Haha.... It's like D bag... But different

[MattPM0000]

I saw you can do skins and I saw that there was a JK style body, and I was wanting something like Poison Spyders Ultra 4 racer, so I mixed and matched the stock body with the Jk body and sent it to Colin Davis at Active Grafix, since he was an industry friend and had done some other Axials as well (Since I have sent him another full uncut Dynamic Concepts JK body to use in order to get a perfect template for). I pretty much gave him an open slate, just that Poison Spyder was the main Logo and some of the other companies I wanted on there as well and he ran with it. A few proofs later I was stoked. I felt ahead of the game with my friends (Turned out I was on par, Meh)









And Since I was going to need a 4 channel remote (for 4ws), I upgraded that as well. I did some searching and found that the 4PL radios were pretty good with out breaking the bank completely I went that route. And it also kept up with the Futaba scheme and gave me reassurance I would not have any problems with the electronics talking.

[MattPM0000]

So, I took a lot from what Harley posted. I went with the Tekin Pro 4 3300kv. Since, I knew my buddies would be competitively crawling our Wraiths against each other I needed low speed. But I would probably get bored doing that by myself all the time so I needed speed too. The Pro 4 fit that build.

[MattPM0000]

From there went the Mamba Max Pro, it seemed like there is no other choice for that one. I love the Castle link with it. If you don't know what it is, It is like being able to dyno tune your Wraith. I read the instruction book with it to understand the features and then with playing around with it I have adjusted it a little here and there. I would say, first, make sure you have the fwd and reverse set up right. I don't know the exact name of it off the top of my head. But it comes stock set to be a 1 second delay between forward and reverse. It was tripping me out at first. Second, with this motor I pulled my throttle curve WAY back. I think at 60% trigger I am only at 30% motor. Then it spikes from there. This gives me the low speed control and I can still go ZOOOM! Then for the drag brake, if you are going to go fast with it, set it lower, cause if you set it at 100% or 210% like it suggests for crawling... while going full speed just let of the trigger.... you will flip over.... I promise... I know. I keep forgetting. I have mine on 100%, and it will flip if I let off the trigger right away but will still slide down steep inclines. So, I will go up to 210% later but right now to get to my receiver is a bit of a pain. My ESC wire just barely makes length and the box is tucked up in there so it is a later deal as well.

With the Pro 4 motor there were a few things you have to change around to get it to fit, Basically, the output shaft on the Pro 4 is larger than what normally come on the Wraith, so when you order the pinion gear you have to make sure it matches. And since it is such a strong motor I got upgraded pinion and spur as well as top shaft and driveshafts and goodies like that. By the way, MIP now has Wraith specific driveshafts. There are a few things Harely's post are a little dated on, but you can only keep up with so much.

I knew I wanted 4ws, it was something none of my friends had. So that meant 2 servos and Universals (simply put, Axials front driveshafts used in the rear axle housing) as well as VP steering all around to give it that reliability and looks. A little note, when ordering parts for 4ws go back to the Wraith Assembly directions and make sure you order everything from the C-Hubs out. Nuts, bolts, specifically the knuckle inserts... DOH!



and I swapped out for the natural color over the black.



On the Servos I bought Futaba's S9157 High Torque Digital Servos. These suckers put out over 400 oz/in of torque. For an R/C, that is a lot. Turn it or break it! I didn't know it at the time but they pull over 3 amps each.... EACH! which explained why I was "browing out" (For the new guys, basically, the servos were pulling more amps than the BEC could handle and everything pretty much just say FU, and doesn't work for about a half second) So my Castle Creation BEC was replaced with a CC BEC Pro. I ran it directly to my servos, another option would have been a y-splice/addapter but that just isn't my style. That left me with the issue of where the heck to put it. The only place I could find to put it was in the passenger floorboard.



Not very scale like but I am more worried with getting it running and functioning well than looking scale. Sorry. Scale look is sick, but I just didn't have the extra time or money to go that route, yet.



With mounting the rear servo I also had to cut the inner bracing of the cage up to be able to get full up travel on the suspension. Then using the old battery tray, stock radio box and a piece of extra lexan I mounted the receiver in the back.





Then once I had all the electronics mocked up I took them back out and "water proofed" them with liquid electrical tape, plasti dip and di-electric grease. A pretty easy little task.

On the VP drag link, with the stock wheels it will rub... I just saw this the other day, so I will have to see about getting another set of end links after I upgrade the wheels to beadlocks!!!

[MattPM0000]

And until I can get the rear drag link from VP off back order I have been using the stock drag link. It has not held up well. I found it like this after maybe two battery packs.




I also read and article on Axial's blog site about "too much flex" as well as some of Harley's post and decided to go with the Slash Proline front shocks. I have a few things to add here specifically. First, I will start with that I love how well these things are made compared to the shocks that came with it. I love how smooth they are and how well they cycle. Also, I like the two different rate spring setup. I am very happy with how they handle at speed, and this thing can move! but I had some clearance issues with the horn on my servos so I also had to flip my lower shock and control arm bracket just to get them to tuck up high enough.



It does give you a slightly lower stance when you do this but the brackets also hang down below the axle. Which hasn't been an issue as of yet but as a 1:1 wheeler it bothers me in the back of my mind. Also, it is hard to say, but I have friends that have a TON of flex, and it looks AWESOME! Which makes me very jealous! I am still learning my Wraith's capabilities and how to use everything and I haven't gone up against any other wraiths crawling so it is pretty discouraging at the flex I have. I can tackle most of the reasonable objects I have tried so far. I don't even think I have a tires worth of flex though.







Maybe if it performs well against my friends, I'll be happier with it. But right now it is kinda disappointing. The big thing to remember though, is for you, including myself, to build your Wraith, or any vehicle for that matter, to how you use it. So, we will see, maybe later I will get upgraded stock height shocks and go with a droop kit. I have also been hearing good things about more the G-made products. If those reservoir shocks of theirs turn out to be pretty good as well I may try those later.

A tip to new guys, Maybe I am just too impatient and didn't let the glue dry long enough or tuck the tire in the groove well enough but this whole glueing thing sucks. The first few times was rushed, come back an fix the spots and such, then go back out and play. Haha. Finally, I took a little time and got the tires in the groove and let it sit over night. I went thought a battery mostly on concrete doing high speed runs and I still had one tire pull out a little on me... Just another reason to get beadlocks.

[MattPM0000]

I did a battery front mount from CKRC and I am using a 5200mah 3Cell 50C battery. I think it may be a bit big/heavy for crawling. But lower mah batteries didn't seem to weight that much less. I hear there are sites you can go and put in the dimensions you have and they will tell you the batteries you can use and their weights and stuff... Maybe I will get around to it later.... later... or maybe just buy some soft celled batteries and go that route. Bad idea? I did have to modify the cage to get it to fit. I just cut off the lower of the two cross braces.





And put my switch in the grille...



Everything turned out well though, I have it running, I have been through a few battery packs and I am still playing. The first day I made an indoor course using whatever I could find in the house/garage.



I have tried to race cars on the street with it... I'd say it goes around 20mph. It is a lot of fun and I keep taking it inappropriate places with me so I can keep playing with it. It DOES NOT like sharp turns on concrete, lol. As you can tell the skins are all scratched up.

[MattPM0000]

I made myself a little quick course in the back yard the other day. I was driving to the movies and saw all this brick and concrete where a house once was.... came back later with a trailer and loaded up what I could. Then with some would I had laying around the house I made a platform. I haven't really gotten to play on it, the day I got it up it was over 100 so I could only test out maybe two lines at a time and then I'd have to turn it off and let it cool down.











Better than carrying your wraith like this....

[MattPM0000]

a little something I am working on getting. They are still in the prototype stage...











It is basically a modular back pack. The frame stays the same and you can attach your "Wraith" bag, or other bags as they come out, to it and then with the molle system you can also attach your radio bag... It is going to be padded very well and obviously has places for your main tools. A neat way to carry it around if you ask me.

The point of this post is not that I have a special Wraith. But mainly, to let the guys that are always helping out answer all the newbs questions and get sick and tired of answering the same questions over and over and over and over and over.... to know that there are SOME people that shut up and just read. So, thanks. Now if I could just check out what is in the classifieds, I'd be set. haha.

[Soulo747]

Your 1:1 is ridiculously nice man.

[Soulo747]

I like the "medicated" rubi tag too... ;) that's how we do it here in Colorado as well. You in CO?

[MattPM0000]

Originally Posted by Soulo747

I like the "medicated" rubi tag too... ;) that's how we do it here in Colorado as well. You in CO?

Thanks man. I'm in NC right now.

[buttonsHT]

Pretty awesome build thread.... i love that little backyard course.

[MattPM0000]

I was out playing with the Wraith at the All Breeds Jeep Show today over at the Poison Spyder booth. We stole some rocks from the course.... And I wanted to see what my Wraith would do... Full throttle at times... And I found the weak link.
First to go was a lower control arm, easy little fix.



And then...



So, a buddy had a spare set. And I replaced them with all metal gears.


Now let's see what breaks next?

But if you are at the event stop by the Poison Spyder booth and say hey!

[Harley]

Nice thread man! Looks like you're having quite the time with it. Mine is still the most fun of all my rigs.

[minnesotamudder]

Originally Posted by MattPM0000

a little something I am working on getting. They are still in the prototype stage...











It is basically a modular back pack. The frame stays the same and you can attach your "Wraith" bag, or other bags as they come out, to it and then with the molle system you can also attach your radio bag... It is going to be padded very well and obviously has places for your main tools. A neat way to carry it around if you ask me.

The point of this post is not that I have a special Wraith. But mainly, to let the guys that are always helping out answer all the newbs questions and get sick and tired of answering the same questions over and over and over and over and over.... to know that there are SOME people that shut up and just read. So, thanks. Now if I could just check out what is in the classifieds, I'd be set. haha.

where did you get that bag set up? Nice looking wraith