Griz's Salvage Yard 1.9 PSC Wraith "Short Change"

[Grizzly4x4]

It was time for a new 1.9 scale build, I wanted a tube chassis but wanted something I could get going without spending months in the garage building it. The Wraith seemed like the perfect choice. I had been wishing for someone to release a plastic tube chassis crawler for many years but had my reasons for not liking the original Wraith. The look of the Poison Spyder Customs Wraith, along with many of the cage mods I had seen inspired me. The problem was I really didn't want to pay the extra money for a RTR when I knew I would end up changing out the electronics right away and I didn't want a kit because I didn't want the 2.2 wheels and tires. Yes, I know you can sell off the parts, but I never sell anything so I knew they would just end up in my parts bin.
So I started watching RPP Hobby's salvage yard section and eventually spotted my opportunity. They were parting out a PSC Wraith so I promptly ordered the cage, axles, transmission, and driveshafts. Perfect, everything I wanted and nothing I didn't.

I didn't order the body at the time because I thought I'd do up a Bronco body instead to be a bit different. Problem is that it ended up looking like a twin to Guido and my wife suggested I do something different. I went back to the salvage yard and luckily they still had the Poison Spyder Customs body so I ordered it.

As it was sitting on the workbench, Cody saw it and just loved the look with the PSC logo, so I made a deal that if he still helped me finish build the SCX10 JK kit I'd trade him and the Wraith could be his to play with. He happily agreed.

The name for this came about as I was finishing it up this past weekend and went to try out the electronics. The ESC I planned to use, and had bought used, didn't work. I thought "well I got short changed on that deal" and the name was born.



Enough back story. The goal is to get a running vehicle with parts I have laying around and then upgrade as time allows.
Rules do not apply to this build, I am going to build what I want for fun and run it in whatever class it ends up being in. However, since G6 rules don't limit tire size and I'd like to run a G6 someday this would be perfect for a big tire 1.9 build. As far as SORRCA rules based events, I suppose I will just run in class 3.

I don't have a plan for this, the only real planned items are:
A Holmes Hobbies motor
A set of reduced 2.2 Pitbull Rock Beast tires

Otherwise I am just winging it so lets see where research and trial/error lead.

Here is basically where it started.



I didn't like the 80T spur gear so I replaced it with a Traxxas 84 tooth spur (#4684) in the parts bin. The hole pattern diameter in the gear doesn't quite perfectly match but it's close enough to get the screws in if you start them very carefully. The 35T Holmes Hobbies Torquemaster will be a good starter motor for my son. It's got good punch but not too much top end speed. The 15 tooth pinion was replaced with an 18 before all was said and done.



For front links I used Traxxas Revo pushrods (#5318 ) and bent the uppers. As you can see the links came from the parts bin.



The angle of the lower links caused an interference with the skidplate but with an X-acto I was able to remove the corner and take care of that. In the second pic you can see the 3mm washer next to the rod end, this is needed to remove a little bit of slop at the skidplate mounting point. Everywhere else you can squeeze the plastic and remove the slop.





For the rear links I again used the Traxxas #5318 pushrods but put the Jato rod ends (#5525) on the skidplate side to get the wheelbase where I wanted it.



A Savox SA-1231SG servo will handle the steering duties. I normally run Hitec but Turtle convinced me to give these a try.



A waterproofed Sidewinder and BEC that I had laying around were put to use. It turns out that this ESC didn't work so I borrowed one out of my rally car for now.



You can see the RTV that fills the case. I like to Conformal Coat the board and then fill the case with black RTV to give extra protection and keep dirt/water from hiding in there.





I just fill the ends of the BEC with black silicone and call it good.



Once I get these waterproofed they will either go in the Short Change or my SCX10 JK.



A little hot glue secures the ESC to the stock mount.



Wire routing. After I changed ESC's the BEC wire was longer so it is actually servo taped under the driver seat now. You can see it in the third pic.







I had some HPI shocks (#A718 the purple ones) laying around but I only had two. I feel HPI makes the best shocks in the business and love running them. For now I am using some old Hot Bodies blue shocks on the rear but I have 2 more HPI shocks in the mail. The rear shocks have a 1/2" long piece of fuel tube under the piston to limit the extension and get the correct ride height. The front shocks didn't need any internal limiting but I put a 1/4" piece of fuel tube on to limit the compression. 40wt oil went into all 4 shocks.



Front shocks on.



I had some Wraith seats laying around so in they went.


Getting close now. Tires and wheels next.

[STANG KILLA SS]

o man. SO good to see a new griz build again!

[Grizzly4x4]

In order to get Short Change running I grabbed a set of Rok Lox I had that had been reduced from 2.2 to 1.9. I knew I needed a big 1.9 tire because of the width of the Wraith axles. The reduced Pitbulls will be wider and taller so we will see how this all works out.
I ordered a set of Axial beadlocks and a set of Gearhead Acrylic rings to try out. I was just curious how this would look and work.




I was very disappointed when I cracked two of the beadlock rings while installing them. The acrylic is very brittle and you can't use the screws to push the tire into the beadlock unless everything is just right. While the blue rings look great I can't recommend this product.

[Grizzly4x4]

Originally Posted by STANG KILLA SS

o man. SO good to see a new griz build again!

Thanks Cory. While it may not be epic I think it will be fun.

[Harley]

I'm anxious to see the full width axles with some tall 1.9's and see how they look.

[Bulldog]

Following for sure! But.... there's always a but. Even big 1.9s on wraith axles are going to be the elephant in the room. The wraith width drives me nuts even with 2.2s!

[Grizzly4x4]

Originally Posted by Harley

I'm anxious to see the full width axles with some tall 1.9's and see how they look.

Originally Posted by Bulldog

Following for sure! But.... there's always a but. Even big 1.9s on wraith axles are going to be the elephant in the room. The wraith width drives me nuts even with 2.2s!

I have driven it in the back yard with the Rok Lox and you have to be very aware of the diffs but it's not horrible. Since technical crawling is not the focus I think it might be ok. The look is really good, I gave Cody a choice of tires and he wanted the big 1.9's.

Like I said, I'm just winging it here so we will see how it works with the reduced Rock Beasts. We may end up with XR10 width axles under this thing, who knows.

More updates tomorrow.

[Grizzly4x4]

These tires measure just under 5" tall and seem to fill the void pretty well. Right now it's a bit wide, a big of a "rock bouncer" look to it.
I should be able to narrow up the width a little bit more with some Vanquish wheels with 225 hubs. I have some 350 hubs and they make the width just a hair wider than the Axial wheels. I also noticed that Locked Up RC sells a 185 hub, so that could be a possibility as well.

I am excited to see how the Pitbulls look and work. The wider Pitbulls should help fill in the width of the Wraith axles, I am expecting a bit more of a "cartoony" look with the wide tire but you never know until you try.
Stay tuned.

[Krawler Konceptz]

Awesome work always been a fan of your craftsmanship. I hope to see some of your custom scale work on this build.

Rob

[cartronicshn]

Coming along nicely Grizz, i really like that shade of blue (the blue on the rings)

[Grizzly4x4]

Originally Posted by Krawler Konceptz

Awesome work always been a fan of your craftsmanship. I hope to see some of your custom scale work on this build.

Rob

Thank you Rob. When I bought this I had planned to build some cage inserts but Cody loves the spider logo up top so I can't compromise that. I'll try to figure out some fab stuff for this but it may be limited to styrene work. We'll see, could be some custom axles in the future though.

Originally Posted by cartronicshn

Coming along nicely Grizz, i really like that shade of blue (the blue on the rings)

I love the blue rings too. Too bad they crack so easily.

Thanks guys.

[Bulldog]

The lox look killer! I've got a set for the same purpose. The axles...they're wraiths...they is what they is. It all works. Sometimes we get nutty with the scale thing. Keep us posted.

[Grizzly4x4]

Originally Posted by Bulldog

The lox look killer! I've got a set for the same purpose. The axles...they're wraiths...they is what they is. It all works. Sometimes we get nutty with the scale thing. Keep us posted.

Yea. Trying to not get nutty on this one, just something cool looking and fun to drive.

Something I've been wanting to try out are these Integy brake rotors #24094BLUE I've seen at RPP. I don't like Integy but since there are limited choices when it comes to inexpensive rotors I thought I'd check them out. If they didn't work I'd use them on my rally car. We already know how great the Vanquish rotors look but I think the diameter is a bit big for 1.9's.
First thing to note is that the slot for the axle pin is very big and it fit really sloppy on the Axial pins.


Next I noticed that the rear rotor (the smaller one) didn't fit on the Axial wheels. You can see why.

Rear rotor

Front rotor


Here you can see that the front rotor fits on the Axial wheels.

The rear rotor doesn't quite fit. There is still some engagement between the hex and the wheel and I have been running them to see if they slip. They have not slipped yet but that is only with a 35 turn motor.
The upside is that both the front and rear rotors do fit fine over the Vanquish SLW hubs.

The next issue is that they sit really close to the knuckles and in reverse the spokes can actually catch on the lip formed by the steering arm bolted to the knuckle. This is not a huge concern because a Dremel or file can take care of that lip.


A nice bonus is that if you are running 8 hole wheels the rotors have slots and holes in a pattern of 8. You can line up the wheel to show just the slots.


Just the holes. Or a combination of both.


I went with the holes. Here is the rear rotor.




Overall I give these rotors a 3/10 for functionality and fit on a crawler. The pin slop is not really noticeable once the wheel nut is tightened but it may be an issue on a high power rig. The score may be higher if these were on my rally car, this score is based on how well they work with the Wraith knuckles and stubs though.
They get a 10 for looks though because they look great. Overall a good buy if scale looks is more important than performance.

[Grizzly4x4]

Wow, how time flies.
I have been focusing on new hobbies that include the family since RC seemed to doing just the opposite. Been doing a lot of hiking, 5K's, boating, paintball, and sporting clays lately and it's been great for the family bonding.
All the while I've been trying to get out to do a Scale Adventure, put on by The Crawl Space, but it has just never worked out. Well I was finally able to do it 2 weeks ago and took Lil Griz with me for his first try at an event. He has been driving Short Change around the house and on camping trips so he was interested in trying an event.

I threw some 2.2's on so he could follow me with Guido and we had an awesome time. He really enjoyed the G6 style format and wants to do more. We are even talking about Axialfest next year.

The Wraith axles with the big 1.9's worked ok, but the width is still tough to deal with on obstacles so I decided that narrower axles were needed. I am trying to get Short Change and my new 1.9 ready for the next event on Sept 14th so I had to figure out how to do a quick axle swap.
The answer was to take the rear axle out of Guido. That axle was still an AXR10 axle with Beef Tubes and a nice low, axle truss mounted servo so it would be a good swap.
For the rear I had to steal the rear AX10 axle out of Peanut.

Last night I threw together some front upper links to see how this was all going to work out.
There is still some finalizing of link lengths and link mounts to do but it looks like this is going to work out really good and go together with minimal effort. That's good because I need to spend the time getting my 1.9 running since I stole parts off every other crawler I have to get this going.

I will show some more detail as I finalize everything but here's how Short Change looks at the moment.