SkaldidDog's "Buck-Nasty" Wraith

[SkaldidDog]

Originally Posted by MotoSoul

Looks good. I wish I had a hobby sized mill to work with. It takes forever to cut everything out by hand.

Been there done that mang. I feel you pain. Contrary to popular belief it does not build character.

J

[MotoSoul]

That depends on how straight you can cut free hand. It might build character into the parts lol.

[Natedog]

Originally Posted by SkaldidDog

At Nats in Prescott last weekend I noticed my rig doing strange things with regard to steering. I noticed the panhard mount was loose so I tightened it up. Last night I again noticed it loose and this time looked closer. D'oh! Looks like I've been a little abusive. Such is evolution. So I spent an hour and made a new one from two layers of 7075 plate (0.125" total). I added beef along the transverse mount to further prevent a similar failure. Gotta give props to the VP mount. It was tough but I'm a 1%er when it comes to breaking stuff.

Enjoy.

J

Nice, I run axle mounted steering for strength and simplicicty...is there room to do double shear setup on yours? Looks like it might hit front axle truss on compression if you did.

[SkaldidDog]

Originally Posted by Natedog

Nice, I run axle mounted steering for strength and simplicicty...is there room to do double shear setup on yours? Looks like it might hit front axle truss on compression if you did.

It hits the truss. That's what broke it. The large hole that the chassis member goes through allows rotation around the LHS top screw and that snapped the transverse plate. I can live with it bottoming out now with the added strength. It bottoms on the rod end so it's plastic on metal which works OK. I like the look of the naked axle. It's a trade off. Next time I remove the truss I'll mill it off a little an install a butyl rubber bumpstop.

J

[Erin]

One of these days when you aren't dominating the world of rock crawling, I'm gona get you to run a G6 with this thing......

[SkaldidDog]

Originally Posted by Erin

One of these days when you aren't dominating the world of rock crawling, I'm gona get you to run a G6 with this thing......

I'd love to but she just ain't scale and got no winch. Maybe I can work out a winch with some instruction.

J

[MotoSoul]

Originally Posted by SkaldidDog

It hits the truss. That's what broke it. The large hole that the chassis member goes through allows rotation around the LHS top screw and that snapped the transverse plate. I can live with it bottoming out now with the added strength. It bottoms on the rod end so it's plastic on metal which works OK. I like the look of the naked axle. It's a trade off. Next time I remove the truss I'll mill it off a little an install a butyl rubber bumpstop.

J

I just installed the VP CMS/Panhard and I have that issue as well. I am considering buying one of the aluminium versions and cutting it up for some more clearance. I think if you can loose the top mount screw (the one that goes into the pumpkin.) With that part cut off you can gain a few more mm of travel for the passenger side if ground down all the way across.

I don't think the plastic version would have enough meat left to supply though.

[SkaldidDog]

Originally Posted by MotoSoul

I just installed the VP CMS/Panhard and I have that issue as well. I am considering buying one of the aluminium versions and cutting it up for some more clearance. I think if you can loose the top mount screw (the one that goes into the pumpkin.) With that part cut off you can gain a few more mm of travel for the passenger side if ground down all the way across.

I don't think the plastic version would have enough meat left to supply though.

I thought about that too. I just filed the back corner off the truss end on the pumpkin and the rod end drops down behind it a little better now. If I get motivated I'll devise a work-around. But it's really not an issue.

J

[SkaldidDog]

I finally opened up my VP tranny after one year. The larger output bearings were worn but rotating nicely. The bearing on the spur shaft distal to the spur was worn but still usable. The idler bearins were brand new. I replaced them all but they all could have gone another 3-4 months.

Take home point...VP tranny is hard to kill and is great on bearings.

J

[SkaldidDog]

I've grown tired of the Rock Wagon look so I'm chopping off everything rear of the rear shocks and building my own rear clip. The bent piece is made of 6061 (because 7075 snaps) and the rest is/will be 7075. I lack welding skills and tools so this will be all mill, drill and screw assembly. It'll look clean and be stout. Got many days of work left.

I made some alignment blocks to help with some of the tricky hole angles down the road.




Junctions look nice and clean.



Overview of progress. Thats's a drill blank for alignment purposes.



Enjoy.

J

[Frankenwheely]

So is this why you got the blue star? I'll take one.

[TSK]

Das kewl

Joel, I see you always mention running UD geaers front and rear. i'm actually building a Wraith as we speak. i'm running a RS & sensored 13.5t Redline on 3s.. I was planning on the OD/UD combo with it, but do you think I should just run stock ratios up front, as I still want a bit of overdrive fronts to help it crawl a bit better.

[Erin]

Originally Posted by SkaldidDog

I'd love to but she just ain't scale and got no winch. Maybe I can work out a winch with some instruction.

J

Its a wraith, scale enough in my book ;)

And the winch is simple, with all the cool stuff you've made, shouldn't be a challenge at all. You ever want some points, send a pm

[FRENCHBLUE72]

Was the jb weld the permanent fix for the front vp housing? Mine are whored out as well and are being held on my shoe goo and lock tite

[SkaldidDog]

Originally Posted by Frankenwheely

So is this why you got the blue star? I'll take one.

Originally Posted by TheSCorpionKing

Das kewl



Joel, I see you always mention running UD geaers front and rear. i'm actually building a Wraith as we speak. i'm running a RS & sensored 13.5t Redline on 3s.. I was planning on the OD/UD combo with it, but do you think I should just run stock ratios up front, as I still want a bit of overdrive fronts to help it crawl a bit better.

Give it a try. I'd like to know how it works for you.

Originally Posted by Erin

Its a wraith, scale enough in my book ;)

And the winch is simple, with all the cool stuff you've made, shouldn't be a challenge at all. You ever want some points, send a pm

Will do. Thanks.

Originally Posted by FRENCHBLUE72

Was the jb weld the permanent fix for the front vp housing? Mine are whored out as well and are being held on my shoe goo and lock tite

JB weld was a permanent fix. Do it. You'll love it. Just let it set up 24hrs with a day in the hot sun and it'll never move again. Your panhard mount will be permanent if you run one.


Made some progress on my rear clip this weekend. Put about 16 more hours into it. Sloooooow going. Maybe another 10 and it'll be done. Lots of boring and tapping. Kocked out the cross brace that'll stop chassis twist.













My alignment blocks created artificial facets on the rod so I could align and drill properly.





More later.

J

[TSK]

Nicely done. Looks real sturdy

[SkaldidDog]

Thanks man. I'm hoping it holds up.

[SkaldidDog]

Made a delrin jig to hold the cage in the appropriate orientation so I could drill the final holes to complete the equilateral triangle that is the core structure.





Success.



Shock mounting points turned out nice and clean.



Looking good but still several hours of work to go.





More later.

J

[Rock-Lockster]

Woooow

thats an awesome set of skills you have to do this so cleanly.

mad skills

[Natedog]

Wow, very clean as usual.