Sevastra's Monster G.O.A.T.

[Sevastra]

So I've had a blast the last year or so building the Bullhide Wraith as a starter project, and finally decided that I wanted to tear it down and rebuild it as a competition rig. Problem is.. I wanted to do so much that there wouldn't be much left of the original rig, so why not start with a new build all together using the old as a base.

I've been collecting parts for a little over a month now, and as of this post the rig is much farther along than I'm letting on. However, more parts are being ordered, and some parts already installed are coming back off till the new ones arrive.. Now I've been struggling to decide on a name for this, and I've recently been able to do a test drive with some of these new goodies installed using the old Wraith Chassis from the last build. This thing crawls like a freaking goat.. Wait, why not call it a goat? Sure, its been done before.. but my.. hrm, what do you call it? Ego? Vanity? Little gremlin on my shoulder? Whatever it is, it wont let me go the route other people have gone before. This thing is going to be a monster when I'm done. Ah, thats it! the Monster G.O.A.T! (What is G.O.A.T.? Go Anywhere At Throttle. Make sense? ...doesnt matter. )

Now I've decided to take a note from one of Harley's builds and apply the same here. I'm setting aside $50 a week to put into this, not including the money I've already sank so far.

Which brings me to what I'm calling Package One:



Look at those goodies! I should note, Package One is actually a couple seperate orders. But for time's sake, I'll count it as one.

The List:
RC4WD: D44 C hubs & Knuckles, XR3 3-Channel 2.4Ghz Transmitter/Receiver Radio, Aluminum Servo Horn, AX2 2 Speed Transmission, Extreme Duty XVD Axles
Hot racing: Sway Bars (Front & Rear), Lockers (x2), Differential Covers (x2)
Axial HD Bevel Gears 43T/13T for rear
STRC Aluminum Chassis Servo Mount + Panhard Kit
Tekin Pro4 Brushless Motor, 3300kv
Mamba Max Pro ESC
RC Screwz Stainless Steel Screw Kit
Robinson Racing Slipper Unit GEN3 56T Slash
Associated Pinion Gear 32P 15T 5mm Shaft

More pics:

[IPT]

cool, looking forward to seeing it come along.

[Sevastra]

So, big update. Ready for alot of pictures and not much progress?

New goodies have arrived over the past week (or so..)!


We've got a Wraith V3 Scoop hood & drop bed box from Dinky RC
Front Inner fenders, side panels, and a Crawler innovations electronics tray from Carter Fab & Machine
10a Bec, Castle Link, 200mm Sensor cable, and a Hot racing steering link from RPP.
I love getting mail other than bills.




The BGR Sliders I forgot to mention I ordered..


Earlier today I had started trimming my R35 Ripsaws for better grip..


Finished trimming the small lugs from the tires, then spent another hour or so dismounting them from the factory Axial wheels in prep for another order..



I had forgotten about this little repair I did on a course. Stripped the center of the wheel, so ended up glueing in the hex. Will have to do something about that..


New lockers mounted to the ring gears


Look, shiny!


One front truss mod later.. I forget who I saw do this. Works well tho!



New tie-rod installed. The VP one in the previous pics had to be modified pretty good to get the toe close with the new knuckles. Still, it wasnt enough.. so a Hot-Racing tie rod fixed that issue.


I'll have to get a spacer so the wheels dont rub against the D44 knuckles.. Since I have to replace the hex's anyway, it's not that big of a deal.


My beater chassis.. Told ya'll I've already tested the setup. This is what I used. And no, it wasnt pretty.


Pro4 and the AX2 might be a little much for the plastic chassis.. Fortunately a solution for that is on its way. Ya'll catch the hint in the side panels above?


Took the shocks from the Bullhide Wraith.. These have seen better days..


Cleaned them up. Topped off the 30 weight oil, and tested for active leaks.. Sooner or later they'll get replaced. But they'll do the job for now.


Couple comparison shots of the RC4WD AX2 Transmission and the factory Axial Wraith trans.. I'm quite happy with the AX2. It has an all aluminum housing, and steel internal gears. The Pro4 mates up to it quite nicely, and it shifts smoothly with a neutral gear space in between.



When I pulled the skid I noticed one of the pinss on my MIP drive shafts was working its way out. I attempted to push it the rest of the way out, but it only moves so far in either direction before stopping. Will have to look into this issue a bit more.


I'll be waiting for the new chassis to arrive before I trim any of the new Dinky panels or fit the CFM Panels. Took a chance and purchased one of the Cappu Engineering chassys off of evil bay. Havent seen anybody else use one yet. Guess I'll play test mule and let ya'll know my opinion of it once it arrives.

[Sevastra]

Hrm.. noticed I'm missing a picture, camera must not have saved it. This is being powered by a Venom 3s 5000 mah 20c lipo battery, hence the Onyx 150 lipo charger in the first post. It'll get up and scoot in high gear, and seems to crawl well in low.

[Sevastra]

I received an unexpected package today. My Cappu chassis arrived from RC mall. Unfortunately it was damaged during shipping.. Nothing too major, but still.









I believe a little bit of heat will help bend this straight without any issues aside from paint. I'll probably end up sand blasting this and having it powdercoated.

Pretty sure this wouldnt have happened with a Mattzilla chassis. But, what do you expect? You get what you paid for. I'll get some better comparison shots tomorrow with it next to the stock chassis and BGR skids.

I should note that RC Mall on e-bay didnt even hesitate to fix this problem, great service on their end.

[Sevastra]

So the chassis is repaired. Now to clean the shop sand blaster.. I swear, the guys at work dont care how long it takes to get something done when using it. I tried to take the paint off the steel chassis, ended up embedding more dirt than anything else.. New sand going in tomorrow, then I'll finish stripping the chassis so I can do some mods to it.



Bought some goodies I'll be needing soon. 3/16 & 1/8th rod, .025 thick aluminum sheet, and a couple steel shelf holders I've got planned to cut up and use for supports / bolt on plates.

Now for some comparison pictures with a well beaten plastic wraith chassis.. The Cappu engineering chassis is steel, and is made of a combination of 3/16 and 1/8th rod. The joints are welded, not brazed.










Here's a shot with the BGR slider as a size comparison.




I have not attempted to bolt the axles and such up to it yet, but it appears to position the skid and everything else farther forward than the stock chassis. Of course with the plates the skid bolt to you will not be able to bolt / unbolt the axle links to the chassis without first removing the skid.

The rear shock mounts are slightly off position from another, one is about a hole farther ahead towards the front of the chassis than the other. It's not much, but I cant live with it like that.

Overall I'd give the Cappu Engineering chassis a rating of 6(ish) out of 10. Not perfect, but a good improvement over stock if your on a limited budget. Just dont expect to be able to use any wraith goods you've collected for the body without some work.

On a side note, my digital camera isnt saving all my pictures for some reason.. Missing about 5 other comparison shots I had with the BGR goodies and the skid.

[djjiz]

Thank you for the pictures. It might not be perfect but it looks like it's worth every penny. Really digging the servo clearance.

[Sevastra]

Lazy Sunday afternoon.. I made progress!

Borrowed a welder from my father, then dug out the dremel and proceeded to attack the new steel chassis.



Knew friday I was going to do this, but I forgot my welding helment at the shop. Turns out I cant weld very well without it. The rear bars dont look half bad, but I'll probably cut the windshield bars out and re-weld them. It's all pretty stout tho.









I plan to fabricate and weld in a chassis servo / panhard mount, but I wont start that today. My other hobby (Elder Scrolls Online) becons!

[Sevastra]

Little more work finished tonight..

Can you tell what I did from this pic?




























So if not, here's some close up's of my butchery.

I wasn't happy with the rear shock mounts on the new cage. They were welded un-even from the factory, had to space the top of the shock towers out away from the bars for clearance, and the Dinky rear tray I ordered would not fit.

The shock mounts were cut off, and moved forward / towards the outside of the chassis. This will allow me three things.. 1.) A make shift droop setup. 2.) Clearance for the shocks. 3.) Plenty room for a custom truck bed with lots of scale goodies.

[90Finder]

What's that chassis weight?

[Sevastra]

Originally Posted by 90Finder

What's that chassis weight?

Good question...

According to the digital postal scale it weighs 24.6 oz. So 1.5375 lbs at the moment. I still have some fabrication work to do for the front chassis mounted steering, but it wont add too much more.

[Sevastra]

Minor update..

Chassis is going out to the powder coater next week. Just have to tack on the body mount tabs and finish a little clean up work.

Ordered some Integy Aluminum beadlocks, a set of aluminum hex adapters, and some Crawler Innovations Double Deuce foams with the 4.5 Closed Cell tuning disks tonight.



Going to try and have this rig together and tested before the 23rd, planning on heading down state with it and thrashing it about at a planned get together for memorial weekend.

[djjiz]

Those look really nice. Looking for a 1.9 tonight.

[Sevastra]

Originally Posted by djjiz

Those look really nice. Looking for a 1.9 tonight.

Yeah, I like them. Was a tough decision between those or these tho:




And as a side note: Sandblasting paint off 3/16 steel rod SUCKS. Attacked the chassis with some automotive paint stripper which helped alot, got it about 80% clean at the moment. Will see if I can get the rest of it blasted off and finish tacking on the body mount nuts tonight.

[Odd-M]

Here's a proper goat:



Sorry, couldn't resist when I saw your title..

[Sevastra]

Ha! Love it!

[Dad,Canyoufix?]

Originally Posted by Sevastra

And as a side note: Sandblasting paint off 3/16 steel rod SUCKS. Attacked the chassis with some automotive paint stripper which helped alot, got it about 80% clean at the moment. Will see if I can get the rest of it blasted off and finish tacking on the body mount nuts tonight.

Sandblasted a friends Monster truck chassis at work once, put on a set of old trashed welding gloves and full leathers that were about ate up. Duck taped the hell out of my wrists and went at it. Still had that Black sand in my skin for a week or so. lol. Felt kinda silly when my wife asked me why my skin was all effed.

Can't wait to see it start to come together! I liked the green wheel set...

[Sevastra]

I'm lucky, I've got access to a cabinet style blaster. I work at an auto-repair shop, which is where it's at.. Naturally it see's all kinds of abuse. Rust, dirt, grease, etc.. And with the air filter system being down on it it quickly becomes a dust bowl as soon as you start using it.

I am having second thoughts about those green wheels as well, but the ones I got are more scale looking with the caps and etc, not to mention I havent seen another set like them yet either. May end up picking up the green ones later on, they're cheap enough.

[Dad,Canyoufix?]

Could always pic up a set of hubs and paint them to match later also!

[Sevastra]

Got a package in yesterday, couldnt resist opening and mounting one of 'em up before I dug out the camera.





So shiny..


Knew I needed a winch, and while this isnt the strongest out there it was cheap enough. Will give it a shot and see how it does.