bilinvic's Wraith Rock Crawler

[bilinvic]

Wow...I was just reading the first few posts from this thread, this machine sure has come a long way and has changed many times over the last couple of years.

[bilinvic]

I tried to substitute the Wraith skid for a Bomber skid that has more tuning options for the link locations, but unfortunately the Bomber skid would not work with my Wraith's configuration. I wanted to get the rear upper links mounted higher to improve the anti-squat properties. I ended getting my hands on a DCW Link Riser kit.

It's now installed; the rear upper links are on the highest mount point and the front upper links are on the lowest. The rear upper links are now 15mm higher than stock location and the fronts are 8mm higher.

Haven't had a chance to test this configuration yet, but I'm confident it will be very good.

[bilinvic]

Couple more pics. The stock Yeti trailing arms are temporary, I will be getting another pair of Wraith length T/As soon, I stole the Blue Monkey RC Yeti length T/As for the B1B Bomber build! I also changed the rear shocks to Traxxas Slash (rear) GTR shocks with 1.004 Blue Rate GTR springs...they provide awesome performance and never leak.

[bilinvic]

Just did some testing...all I can say is WOW, I conquered lines in my test area that I could never get before without bouncing, now I can crawl them at a snail's pace. Suspension geometry; it's a dark mystery, but when it's dialed in properly, it's truly amazing.

[jwall046]

Glad it worked!
Were do you get an rc jack?

[bilinvic]

The jack was gift I received many years ago.

[bilinvic]

The DMG Wraith received some love today....

New Blue Monkey RC trailing arms (Twin Hammers length). Originally, I had Wraith length BMRC trailing arms, which were given a new home on my Bomber. I was going to order another pair of Wraith length T/As to replace them but I decided to order Twin Hammers length T/As to open up options for possible future changes; I now have BMRC T/As in Yeti, Wraith and TH lengths. (Needless to say, I really like their trailing arms!)

I went with Jato link ends on the skid side and Jato link ends on the axle side. This makes them 2mm shorter than Wraith length T/As with Revo links on both ends (127mm vs. 129mm)

The upper rear links are the same VP Ti Wraith links but with Revo link ends. The upper links are actually Wraith lower links; the double curves are perfect for clearing the DMG bulkhead and the rear section of the DMG chassis.

The wheelbase is now 14 1/8".

I also swapped out the VP Ti steering and front upper links for Incision 1/4 stainless steel links; more weight up front plus I'm tired of snapping the Ti links (normally where the threads start). I still have to get the lower 1/4 SS front links.

It's been a long time since this machine has been out on the rocks, I'm pretty sure it will be my crawler of choice when I head out next.

[bilinvic]

Took 'er out for some testing tonite...this beast continues to impress me with it's outstanding crawling performance, and even more so now that the rear suspension geometry is set up with anti-squat with the link riser kit. This rig will have to pried out out my cold dead hands before I ever let it go!

Video coming soon.

[valheru]

Love your builds (both of them) and I have been following, not to say stalking for a while the forums and reading/absorbing all I can since I bought my Wraith this March.

A quick tire question since you seem to be as bad of a tire whore as I know I will be if I start down that path (I had 7 set of wheels/tires for my 2005 2.5RS Impreza !!!).

From the Sedona's, Rovers, RB2, RB XOR, Flat Iron XL and all other tires you've run so far on your beast of a Wraith, which one would you qualify as the best all rounder for trailing/crawling?

Thank you for your time


D

[bilinvic]

I'm not sure what it is abut tires that I always need to be trying new ones out! Out of that list, the Sedona and Rover tires are very high performance crawling tires, but lack in scale looks and they are also shorter in height which results in a lower ground clearance. I haven't used the RB2 tires in a very long time so I can't really recall their exact performance...I do know they are quite good though. The Flat Iron XL tires are awesome, very sticky and do exceptionally well on the rocks. The last tire remaining is the Pitbull XOR tires; IMHO, they are the best tire for my Wraith. Their performance is incredible and they also look bad-ass! They aren't as tall as the P-L tires, but I will gladly sacrifice a bit of GC for performance, they are also the widest tire in my collection (I call them steam rollers!). I have the XOR tires stuffed with Crawler Innovations Double Deuce 5.5” Comp Cut Inner / Firm Outer foams.

With all that being said, the tires are only as good as the foams inside of them, the wrong foams can drastically effect the tires performance, whether that be outstanding or lacking. I hope this helps.

[bilinvic]

[MCW24]

always a great build bill

[bilinvic]

Consider the Axial 2.2 R35 BFG Krawlers too, these tires have impressed me in a huge way.

[valheru]

Thanks for the reply.

I've been looking real hard at the XOR lately, but whish they were a bit taller/narrower, I might import a set (nobody sells RB or CI here) with 1" wheels and tall CI foams to stretch them out a bit like I've seen done in some other threads.

So far I've tried: Axial R35 Ripsaws (stock tires), RC4WD Mud Slinger 2 XL and the Prolines TSL XL, all are mounted on their own Axial bead locks with 2 oz in the front except for the Ripsaws since they are glued and I also have 3 oz added to the front axle under the servo.

The R35 Ripsays are fairly good all rounder, from snow to sub zero dry rocks, they did ok'ish, got hung-up often, this might just be me learning to crawl, but like with any new toy, daddy gotta change the rubber!

The Mud Slingers 2 XL are by far the coolest looking on the Wraith, give you that extra bit of clearance, but the thread pattern is to closed up and the thread blocks to tall/flexible to crawl well even if the compound is very sticky, the thread blocks just flex instead of hooking up and the tires spin and spin and spin. I seen alot of people on here remove every 2nd thread block to make them crawl better, but I just can't get myself to cut a tire with less than 4 pack on them.

The Proline TSL XL are a lot better than the MudSlinger 2 XL, look descent, are as tall, thread block heigth is shorter than the Mud Slinger's and about the same as the Ripsaws. They grip dry rocks as good or better as the Ripsaws for the mix we have here in the Ottawa/Gatineau region, but they tend to spin when the back wheels are looking for grip against a straight ledge and the front does the same above, the skid not hung-up.

When I compare videos of Hot Boddies Rovers and Rock Beast XOR they both seem to be able to push straight up or drag with just the fronts. I think the center thread pattern on the TSL XL might be a bit too closed up as well, but like with the Mud Slingers, I dont feel like cutting a new tire "just to see if".

Same as when I was racing my 2.5RS (hence 7 sets of wheels/tires), each thread pattern/compound/carcass design has it's specific application, where the OEM, usally spent million in R&D before releasing for sale and is a balance of key elements.

Nice video, awsome incline capability, something to aspire to in my Wraith as I upgrade components.

BTW, what's the current weight of your rig and oil weight are you using with the GTR rear shocks?

[bilinvic]

9lb 11.6oz with batteries (separate battery for lighting)

[bilinvic]

Took the DMG Wraith out for a group crawl yesterday...things didn't go according to plan though.

Within the first ten minutes I stripped out the servo horn. Mental note: never buy a "Racers Edge" servo horn again. Luckily I had spares so within a few minutes I was back up and running. At first I thought I killed my new 7950 servo.

Then about an hour in to the crawl, I took a barrel roll tumble down a rock face and snapped a Vanquish VVD stub axle (passenger front). My day was done and I commenced the walk of shame back down to my truck!

I will order a replacement VP stub axle and probably a set of Incision Wraith axles to have as spares.

[msrace]

Seriously take a look at the axial ujoint style axles, they have been holding up real well on a lot of rigs, including mine. The steering angle is great too. This is coming from a guy that runs RCV's in his 1:1 crawler so going to ujoint axles took some convincing, but at $35 a set, I'm impressed.

[bilinvic]

I have used the Axial Uni's before msrace, they are OK, but get too sloppy too soon IMHO. For only $40.00, I will try out the Incision VDI axles.

[valheru]

The Beast is down, sad day for you.

Does your LHS stock VP parts or do you need to import from the US like I have to here in Ottawa?

[allanon1965]

you have a much similar set up to my Experiment 626, I can honestly say its my best rig ever! I will never sell this rig lol... I found the trailing arm setup to be phenomenal for my terrain. This thing will crawl over and up just about anything I through at it...I do need to tidy up the wiring some though!

The best tire I have had on this rig is the Irok super swamper with CI DD Foams, no venting.. I have had such good luck with them that I stopped trying different tires after they were put on with the TSS Robby Gordon Wheels..

I havent cleaned her up yet from the last day I had of crawling...

looking forward to more from your beast!