New Wraith

[Force]

Received my brand new Wraith RTR in the mail yesterday afternoon.
What a blast to run!
Ran it around the yard for about 20 minutes chasing the dogs, then decided to try some rock crawling.
My joy lasted all of 30 minutes.
I was attempting to crawl up some large rocks in my yard. I made it up several times, but on my last attempt the damn drivers front knuckle broke. It looks to me like the screw on the bottom of the knuckle ,going into the Chub was stripped out from the factory. It must have completely backed out,causing the tire to bind and snap the knuckle right where the top screw goes through.
To say I was pissed is an understatement.
I had watched hundreds of Wraith videos on YouTube and assumed they could take a bit more punishment than just climbing up a rock.

Anyways, I have my brand new Wraith sitting on the work bench, unusable.
While it was down, I upgraded the servo ,and added softer springs, and weight to the front wheels. Now just need to order some aluminum knuckles and chubs.
Gonna see if the Local hobby shop (65 miles away) has anything in stock tomorrow.
I've been trolling this site for the past few weeks. Tons of good info !

[Cale262]

Very common RTR issues me thinks...I've found several stripped out screws on my RTR, none have left me ...."broken down" but build QC is certainly an issue. I used some crazy glue /ca to replace/repair the few Ive found so far.

[Awesome!]

Those screws back out all the time on a RTR.
Did you add a BEC after the servo upgrade? I didn't and my power was hit and miss.
Enjoy the upgrade process.

Originally Posted by Force

Received my brand new Wraith RTR in the mail yesterday afternoon.
What a blast to run!
Ran it around the yard for about 20 minutes chasing the dogs, then decided to try some rock crawling.
My joy lasted all of 30 minutes.
I was attempting to crawl up some large rocks in my yard. I made it up several times, but on my last attempt the damn drivers front knuckle broke. It looks to me like the screw on the bottom of the knuckle ,going into the Chub was stripped out from the factory. It must have completely backed out,causing the tire to bind and snap the knuckle right where the top screw goes through.
To say I was pissed is an understatement.
I had watched hundreds of Wraith videos on YouTube and assumed they could take a bit more punishment than just climbing up a rock.

Anyways, I have my brand new Wraith sitting on the work bench, unusable.
While it was down, I upgraded the servo ,and added softer springs, and weight to the front wheels. Now just need to order some aluminum knuckles and chubs.
Gonna see if the Local hobby shop (65 miles away) has anything in stock tomorrow.
I've been trolling this site for the past few weeks. Tons of good info !

[Force]

Originally Posted by Awesome!

Those screws back out all the time on a RTR.
Did you add a BEC after the servo upgrade? I didn't and my power was hit and miss.
Enjoy the upgrade process.

No, haven't installed a BEC yet.
Have only powered it up to check steering after the servo swap. Seemed to be ok without a BEC. Will have to wait until I get the new knuckles and chubs to take it for a spin. The server is only a 208oz MG946R with a HD aluminum dual clamping servo arm.
Ordered the Vanquish knuckles and chubs yesterday. Also a set of Axial universals.

[Force]

Update:
Got the Vanquish knuckles and chubs in the mail today.
Also installed some Axial Universals and a suicide steering kit from CKRC.
Added 2oz of weight to each front wheel and really seems to help crawling up rocks.
Ran it for around an hour this time and everything held together.
I picked up a Castle BEC at the local shop, but need to find a Y harness before I install it.
Power seems to be fine with the new servo,but it is just a hair twitchy. The BEC should cure that.
I wish the hell Axial would have put the R35 tires on the RTR.

[evan03]

I've got a few hobby shops within about an hours drive and find my time and money is better spent just ordering online. This is in Idaho . Youl live those VP upgradesburp birth plan what's so funny what's so funny kiss kiss I love you I'll check on you before I go to bed rest

[Force]

The VP parts are kickass!
Only problem so far is with the suicide steering. On a hard turn the tires rub on the aluminum lower links.
Not a problem, just annoying.
This thing is a rock crawling beast!
I can only imagine what this thing would do with some sticky R35 compound tires!
I'm in Montana and my local shop is also around an hour away.
I'll order the y-harness .
Steering

VP chubs and knuckles

In the Rocks

[crawler nut]

Looking good so far. The suicide steering is the only thing I wouldn't have done. The steering links are 2 different lengths and cause the tires to turn different angles than 1 another. I ran it for about 15 minutes and took it off. In a way it seems to put more strain on the servo, at least in a bind when its trying to push/pull on both knuckles and not just 1. Its been known around here for a while that's not a good steering set up at all.

[evan03]

I say run the suicide since you have it.

I've been rubbing the lower suspension link and I'm running a normal steering

[67mustang]

Run that steering. It works well as long as the rod end balls are smooth.

[Harley]

Any advice to run that steering is bad advice. Running that steering double the load your servo sees and also causes each wheel to steer different angles due to the swinging of the arc of the servo horn.

It is a poor design and I suggest removing it ASAP.

[Force]

Thanks for the advice!
Which steering link kit should I go with?

For sale : one slightly used suicide steering arm kit.

[crawler nut]

You can buy the VP steering links for around $26. And they're titanium.

[Force]

Originally Posted by crawler nut

You can buy the VP steering links for around $26. And they're titanium.

I've been researching the VP links.
Which tie rod do I want? One shows with Ackermann and the other doesn't say.

[crawler nut]

For a crawler the 0 ackerman set ups are best. You want the wheels to turn the same. The racing ackerman allows 1 wheel to turn sharper than the other.

[Force]

Originally Posted by crawler nut

For a crawler the 0 ackerman set ups are best. You want the wheels to turn the same. The racing ackerman allows 1 wheel to turn sharper than the other.

Got it.
Thanks!