New Wraith...some questions for you experts

[cooners_wraith]

Hey everyone, just picked up a Wraith Jeep today. Pretty fun RC to run! Trying to get educated on it now.

First question is the right rear tire is wobbling quite a bit. Is that normal or should I bring it back?

The place I bought this truck at knew absolutely nothing about it and was not at all helpful with my questions so here goes!

Second question that I see is asked a lot and I read through all the posts, but the technical language is over my head at this point! I have a ton to learn yet so I guess I will post this for some direction. I like the truck a lot, but I want the ability to run it a lot faster for certain situations. Sometimes I will run it in mud, water, sand, rocks etc (crawling with some speed and bottom-end). The other setup would be just flat out speed (go as fast as possible out of the gate and top-end speed. My son's truck will top 60 and I have no idea if the Wraith can do that, but I wanted to ask you guys if it is possible. I can switch out the gears, suspension, motor, ESC, tires, and battery. I don't mind switching things out when I have different situations to ride in (I assume people do this a lot unless they own multiple Wraiths). If it is possible to set it up to go that fast, what do I need? Money is no object. I want the best setup and best parts.

Heat
Should I be concerned about overheating with the stock setup or with a custom setup?

Battery and charger
If I use the stock setup, what's the best battery and charger to use? If I customize it for speed, what do you recommend? Brand etc?

Lights
I want to put night lights and blue lights underneath. What do you recommend I buy? I want it to have taillights and brake lights too if possible? What should I buy?

Tires/Wheels
I would like to put wider taller tires on it to keep it from flipping over so easily. Is that possible or does it even make sense to do that? It currently rubs on the right front fender. Do they make a spacer to push the wheels out from the body?

Waterproofing
I heard that even though they say these trucks are waterproof that we should buy better waterproofing material. I read that if I use a brushless motor that I will need to make sure it has very good waterproofing. Thoughts on that?

Sand riding
I want to bring this to the dunes. Does the sand hurt it? Should I change out anything on it to protect it from the possibility of sand damaging it or is it ok in the sand stock?

Other recommened mods
Is there anything else that you guys have found that is a must-have or a helpful upgrade? Again, money is no object with this. Just want good components and flexibility to change things out from time to time depending on the conditions I will be running it in.

Sorry for all the questions and I am sure you guys have heard all this a million times before. I read a lot on this forum, but most of it was over my head. I also understand that there are hundreds of combinations that may fit my need so I am just looking for some common setups to choose from. I may buy a few different setups and switch things in and out so I'm not necessarily looking for the perfect setup on the first try.

Thanks guys!
-Brian

[crawler nut]

Depends on how you want to use it and what your budget is. Look through a dozen threads or so and Harley's stickies and they'll answer 90% of your questions. To answer 1 of your questions, yes the stock set up will over heat unless you change the gearing (spur/pinion). An after market set up will do the same. No matter what you get you'll have to play with the gearing.

[Yardracer]

Check out Harley threads on setups. His info seems to be laid out pretty simply and he gives brand names and product names for all the major mods. Although I've just started, his information has helped me feel like I had a good direction to go.

[crawler nut]

If money is no object. MMP, Pro4 or Roc412, VP everything, SS bullet proof trans, and a HS7950 or 7980

[Billy D]

That pretty much sums it up. Check Harley's thread for gearing and your good to go.

[Lentsnh2012]

Originally Posted by crawler nut

If money is no object. MMP, Pro4 or Roc412, VP everything, SS bullet proof trans, and a HS7950 or 7980

To add MIP driveshafts

[2manyprojects]

Two speed tranny if u wanna go faster after the pro4 motor lol.

[z50king]

Money is no object? Where are all the vendors at?? Lol

Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk 4

[2manyprojects]

Originally Posted by z50king

Money is no object? Where are all the vendors at?? Lol

Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk 4

No kiddin! Lol

[cooners_wraith]

Originally Posted by crawler nut

If money is no object. MMP, Pro4 or Roc412, VP everything, SS bullet proof trans, and a HS7950 or 7980

I have heard others mention "MMP", but I guess I wasn't too clear, I just started and know nothing about this except plugging the battery in and pull the lever! What is "MMP", "Pro4", a "VP"??? Are those some gear or motor or somethin? What does MMP stand for?

And yeah, where are all the vendors? If a vendor can help a new guy get started, then I would love to hear from you.

Not sure where to find the 90% of my answers in that Harley thread. I guess I was hoping if I spelled out my questions clearly that I would get some help there. Maybe I posted on the wrong board? Wouldn't be the first time!

Thanks for your help!

[Ryan87zuk]

Mmp is a Castle brand mamba max pro. It's a speed controller or "esc". Tekin make a motor called pro4. It's a brushless sensored motor. Crawls great and has plenty of power! "vp" is vanquish products- only the best from them. If it was me, I'd do the mamba max pro esc, pro4 motor, mip steel drivelines, vanquish knuckles and c hubs, rear lockouts. Switch out the steering servo for a hitec 7954 or 7950. Other company's have good servos too such as futaba, jr and savox. Get a battery eliminator circuit or "bec". This is a MUST to power a high torque servo. Just search around on this website- days and days of information. As for gearing, a switch to 32 pitch gears will help durability. Stock is 48p. Lot of guy are geared around 56 tooth on the spur gear, 11-13 on the pinion gear. You can find Harley's thread at the top of the wraith page. Great information. Check out castle, tekin and vanquish web pages. Lots of good options. As for the super high speed thing- I'm sure you could stuff an 1/8 scale motor in there and run a high voltage battery and gear it to the moon. But you will have to hack the skid plate to fit it, you will blow out pinion bearings, and on and on. If money is no option, ya just buy everything aftermarket. Or be patient, do your reseach on here, and buy what you need. You will find the weak links as you go.

[Ryan87zuk]

3300kv pro4 I might add. 3,300 rpm per volt applied.

[Ryan87zuk]

Don't forget to upgrade the lockers and trans gears. Robinson racing products and axial make great upgrades for these areas.

[cooners_wraith]

Originally Posted by Ryan87zuk

Mmp is a Castle brand mamba max pro. It's a speed controller or "esc". Tekin make a motor called pro4. It's a brushless sensored motor. Crawls great and has plenty of power! "vp" is vanquish products- only the best from them. If it was me, I'd do the mamba max pro esc, pro4 motor, mip steel drivelines, vanquish knuckles and c hubs, rear lockouts. Switch out the steering servo for a hitec 7954 or 7950. Other company's have good servos too such as futaba, jr and savox. Get a battery eliminator circuit or "bec". This is a MUST to power a high torque servo. Just search around on this website- days and days of information. As for gearing, a switch to 32 pitch gears will help durability. Stock is 48p. Lot of guy are geared around 56 tooth on the spur gear, 11-13 on the pinion gear. You can find Harley's thread at the top of the wraith page. Great information. Check out castle, tekin and vanquish web pages. Lots of good options. As for the super high speed thing- I'm sure you could stuff an 1/8 scale motor in there and run a high voltage battery and gear it to the moon. But you will have to hack the skid plate to fit it, you will blow out pinion bearings, and on and on. If money is no option, ya just buy everything aftermarket. Or be patient, do your reseach on here, and buy what you need. You will find the weak links as you go.

This is great info man!! Thank you very much for taking the time to detail that out like that. Now I have some good direction on where to go. I said money is no object because I want to know what the best stuff is. I figured if I am going to get in to this hobby, I may as well do it right. This is really great information because I really had no idea of all the parts that were upgradeable and that there were so many aftermarket options and brands to choose from.

Thanks again man for the education and getting me jump started here!

[cooners_wraith]

Originally Posted by Ryan87zuk

Mmp is a Castle brand mamba max pro. It's a speed controller or "esc". Tekin make a motor called pro4. It's a brushless sensored motor. Crawls great and has plenty of power! "vp" is vanquish products- only the best from them. If it was me, I'd do the mamba max pro esc, pro4 motor, mip steel drivelines, vanquish knuckles and c hubs, rear lockouts. Switch out the steering servo for a hitec 7954 or 7950. Other company's have good servos too such as futaba, jr and savox. Get a battery eliminator circuit or "bec". This is a MUST to power a high torque servo. Just search around on this website- days and days of information. As for gearing, a switch to 32 pitch gears will help durability. Stock is 48p. Lot of guy are geared around 56 tooth on the spur gear, 11-13 on the pinion gear. You can find Harley's thread at the top of the wraith page. Great information. Check out castle, tekin and vanquish web pages. Lots of good options. As for the super high speed thing- I'm sure you could stuff an 1/8 scale motor in there and run a high voltage battery and gear it to the moon. But you will have to hack the skid plate to fit it, you will blow out pinion bearings, and on and on. If money is no option, ya just buy everything aftermarket. Or be patient, do your reseach on here, and buy what you need. You will find the weak links as you go.

Wow man, thank you for the detailed response here! That helps a lot. I am starting to learn a little every day about this stuff. I just don't want to make a mistake of buying one upgrade and not realizing that I need something else to go along with it. For instance, if I upgrade the motor, do I need to upgrade the battery? Do different batteries provide longer ride times, less heat, and better performance?

I suggested money being no object so I knew up front what the best parts are to buy and how my upgrade path should be. I realize it's a bit of trial and error, but I don't want to repeat mistakes that others already made so once I decide on an upgrade, I will post it here to confim it makes sense to do that.

One question I was wondering about is driving conditions. Is it ok to run these things in sand/gravel/dirt/water/mud etc? I just took it down to a construction site that was mostly sand and gravel. I beat it up pretty good, but it seemed to survive the beating ok! Will I need to waterproof the stock set up or even the aftermarket motor and ESC?

Thanks guys for your help! I will post pictures during my upgrades and let you all know what works and what issues I have along the way so others can learn from my experience.

[z50king]

Get ax10 mip drive lines and Traxxas drive pins. I can get you the part numbers if you need them

Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk 4

[NewbieRC361]

Originally Posted by z50king

Get ax10 mip drive lines and Traxxas drive pins. I can get you the part numbers if you need them

Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk 4

I would like the part numbers haha

Also with this mod can I use the stock outputs?

[z50king]

Tra5145
Mip 08101

Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk 4

[cooners_wraith]

Originally Posted by Ryan87zuk

Mmp is a Castle brand mamba max pro. It's a speed controller or "esc". Tekin make a motor called pro4. It's a brushless sensored motor. Crawls great and has plenty of power! "vp" is vanquish products- only the best from them. If it was me, I'd do the mamba max pro esc, pro4 motor, mip steel drivelines, vanquish knuckles and c hubs, rear lockouts. Switch out the steering servo for a hitec 7954 or 7950. Other company's have good servos too such as futaba, jr and savox. Get a battery eliminator circuit or "bec". This is a MUST to power a high torque servo. Just search around on this website- days and days of information. As for gearing, a switch to 32 pitch gears will help durability. Stock is 48p. Lot of guy are geared around 56 tooth on the spur gear, 11-13 on the pinion gear. You can find Harley's thread at the top of the wraith page. Great information. Check out castle, tekin and vanquish web pages. Lots of good options. As for the super high speed thing- I'm sure you could stuff an 1/8 scale motor in there and run a high voltage battery and gear it to the moon. But you will have to hack the skid plate to fit it, you will blow out pinion bearings, and on and on. If money is no option, ya just buy everything aftermarket. Or be patient, do your reseach on here, and buy what you need. You will find the weak links as you go.

Does the MMP come with a BEC? I really don't understand what a BEC is or why it's needed, but I read somewhere that the MMP has one built-in. Do I still need one of those and what is it for? What brand should I buy and who sells them? Where does it get installed?

Thanks!