Die-Laughing's Monster Truck..

[Die-Laughing]

Well, after seeing a few of the guys on here build monster trucks out of wraith's, I had to have one. I basically just looked at their threads on my phone while in the garage and kinda just built it based off of ideas I got from all of them.

I started with a box stock wraith roller. The material I used is .1875" Solid Stainless rod.

I built a handful of chassis' but, I always brazed them together. This time, It'll be mig welded. It's not my first time mig welding but, the first time I'll apply it to a R/C chassis.

Here's a fresh weld:


and here it is rough ground:


obviously, I'll do some finish grinding/polishing once it's complete and it'll look nice but, I'm pretty happy with how it's working out so far. I can actually hold a short piece of material with my bar fingers when I spot it.. I couldn't get near it while brazing. I didn't have to fixture anything up to hold a part once so far.

I guess these are considered twin vertical plates? well, I got them done started:


here they are on top of each other:


They simply bolt onto the wraith skid plate:




I started out building the TVP's straight because thats what everybody else did but, I soon realized that my wraith skid was pretty wide and my shocks would come in contact with the TVP's if I didn't do something. So, I decided the easiest way out was to put some bends in the front and rear so there would be no interference. It turned out pretty good.


Then, I started the shock hoops:




Now, this is a really cool idea I got from a buddy of mine (badhoopty). I saw him do it first. I basically took two pieces of 3/16" rod and welded them parallel to each other with an 1/8" gap between them. I'll use a through bolt and some concave spacers to pinch the shock in the location I like. I put them on a severe angle so that I could move the shock forward & back as well as up & down to my liking.



I did that on the front and rear:




You can see some of the bracing I started in between the TVP's but, it'll need quite a bit more.

I'm going to set this thing up with 4WS so, I wanted to leave space for the axle mounted servos to fit up inside of there.

This is where I'm at with it so far. Not bad for a half days work.









The wheels are my mockup wheels that "badhoopty" let me borrow.. I'm keeping an eye out for wheels & tires for this thing.

Thanks for looking!

[S ARR T 8]

Very nice DL I want one this is going to be badass

[swezy207]

Looks great man! Nice start! You do some pretty impressive work, I'm sure this build will be no different. I'll be watching!

[johnnyh66]

Looking really cool man!
Is it going to have an internal body cage?

[badhoopty]

ok now that is cool!

definitely a tuber and not a tvp.

[Die-Laughing]

Thanks guys!

Yeah, I haven't really thought about what body im going to use yet so, I'm not sure if its going to have an interior cage.

Jason, I wasn't sure about that TVP thing but, I guess you're right. It's a tuber!

[JHTreyIII]

Geez dude! Nice work!

[Hacksaw707]

It's coming along nicely, really like that upper shock mount idea...........

Damn it I guess I will have to build a monster truck next....

[sally1800]

What body do you plan on using?

[sally1800]

Originally Posted by Die-Laughing

Thanks guys!

Yeah, I haven't really thought about what body im going to use yet so, I'm not sure if its going to have an interior cage.

Jason, I wasn't sure about that TVP thing but, I guess you're right. It's a tuber!

edit

did see sorry.

chassis looks super cool.

[Die-Laughing]

I think I'm going to try the HPI Mini Trophy truck body.. I think one of the other guys has/had that on thier's and it looks killer

[Szczerba]

Great start.
Be sure to brace and cross-brace that chassis good. Mine got tweaked by some light jumps before I had it braced up. The tires and wheels are over 3lbs and with a Pro4 on 3s it can go wrong quick. Lol.

I'm interested to see how this will handle with the wraith link geometry.

[xgerstandtx]

Awesome, I'll be watching this for sure unfold.

[ROLANDROCKSHOP]

great start!


i like the chassis layout so far..

[jpomenich]

keep up the good work

[Die-Laughing]

Thanks guys!

I think I'm going with a summit 2spd trans in this one.

I made a little progress. I picked up a used set of wheels/tires that somebody had modified. I'm not exactly sure what they did but, the end result was that the wheel offset changed in my favor so, I picked them up.

Then, I modified them to fit some aluminum 12mm hexes. I made the center hole fit snug around the "boss" of the hub.

(Left to Right) Stock, Drilled & Milled, Hub installed.





I had to mill the little nubs off the face of the wheel as well so, I can put my screws there!


And here it is.. Should do fine for a cheap & easy setup.

[JDeezie82]

I'm liking where this is going. Keep us posted.