First wraith build. Looking for suggestions.

[Slayso]

Hey guys,

Brand new to RC's, never owned one but plan on building a spawn kit. Below is my plan so far. Any suggestions, recommendations or advice I would greatly appreciate. Please keep in mind I'm a complete noob but have done a bit of research.

The build.

Spawn kit
Crawlmaster expert 13t
Br mini esc
Castle bec
Beeftubes
Upgraded steering links chubs and knuckles probably VP
Diff plates
Run on 2s as I'm new will upgrade to 3s if I find a need

What do you guys think of this as a good start up crawler. I see the spawn kits include some nice stuff the rtr doesn't so I plan on upgrading as things break.

A couple of questions

With this setup what would a typical life expectancy of the wraith be before a major repair ie gearbox, diff.?

Would you do anything else before taking her for a spin that won't break the bank.

Thanks guys, plan on seeing me round a bit!

Slay.

[68_f100]

Check out the sticky at the top about building a bulletproof Wraith. Tons of good info on what needs done first.

[351Beno]

metal diff gears, good servo over 300 oz-in if you can. Give her hell

[mikebecher]

From one noob to another...

I strongly second the suggestion of referring to Harley's Bulletproof Wraith thread. That being said, there are some upgrades you can postpone to soften the blow to your bank account. But when you do upgrade a component, seriously consider whatever Harley recommends

First off, upgrade those steering links and get a good servo. Don't skimp here! I went through 3 mid-level servos in a matter of weeks before I broke down and bought a Hitec 7950.

I was able to run the stock chubs, knuckles, lockouts, and suspension links for a couple months before getting the VP upgrades. The same goes for the stock diffs and driveshafts, although I did reinforce the driveshafts with some threaded rod and epoxy.

Looking back, I wish I would have gotten the beef tubes and GOOD diff skids sooner - it would have saved me at least one set of axle housings, an axle shaft and three or four diff covers (the lava rock I crawl on shreds aluminum and plastic).

Get that steering upgraded and you should be good to go for a while on 2s. I didn't start tearing up stock components until I went to 3s.

[bilinvic]

Take a read of my thread....My Wraith progressively went from mild to wild and now it's the best crawler I own (and bulletproof)!

BTW...welcome to this addictive hobby!

bilinvic's Wraith Rock Crawler

[Sh0rtBus]

Seems like you have a pretty good list going there, but I second saving the upgraded chubs and knuckles for later. Not a necessity right off the bat. I've had my Wraith for a couple years now and run brushless and still haven't replaced the original RTR chubs & knuckles. If it were a Yeti, they I'd say yeah replace the carriers and knuckles. But for only running 2s on the Spawn and a brushed motor, spend that money on something else, like steering upgrades. One free upgrade you can do, too, is relocating the battery try under the hood just in front of the interior. Cut the battery tray in half length-wise and mount it across the back of the engine bay on its side. Then use a battery strap to hold the battery in place. Keeps the weight more toward the front of the vehicle, which will help you while climbing. Along those same lines, add some weight to those front wheels.

Another upgrade I'd strongly sugest is replacing the factory foams with something better. For crawling, it doesn't get much better than a set of Crawler Innovations Double Deuce foams. Two stage foam that is softer on the outside to allow the tire to flew and conform more to terrain with a stiffer foam in the middle to help the tire hold its shape. Fairly inexpensive upgrade, too. Well worth the cost! As long as they're the R35 compound, the stock tires should be just fine until you feel the need to upgrade to something else.

Just make sure you take your time building everything and use blue Loc-Tite when screwing into metal. If you plan on getting it wet, be sure to use a marine grease in the trans and axle housings.

You should be pretty happy with that as a first crawler for sure! But be careful.......RC is quite an addiction!

[68_f100]

Originally Posted by bilinvic

Take a read of my thread....My Wraith progressively went from mild to wild and now it's the best crawler I own (and bulletproof)!

BTW...welcome to this addictive hobby!

bilinvic's Wraith Rock Crawler

This is a nice build. Where did you get your seat belts?

[bilinvic]

Thanxs...the seat belts are stickers that come on the factory painted Spawn interior.

[Slayso]

First of all thanks for the warm welcome guys.

Second I have check Harley's threads, his vids, etc. I. Sure I've learnt more about him than is socially acceptable in the last week.

Posts like the one from "sh0rtbus" are more what I'm looking for guys I'm not planning on making a bulletproof wraith identical to Harley's list I was more after person experience of what is suggested to upgrade. Advice like not worrying about the chubs and knuckles saves me money which I can spend on a hitec 7955tg servo.

Not only for my benefit but this could be a very useful thread for anyone new to wraiths and want to hear overall upgrade advice rather than xx vs xx threads or review threads.

Another thing to point out hearing people admit they wish they had bought servos, beef tubes and diff plates makes me feel right about my choices. It's good to hear the overall reliability of the wraith with the right upgrades is greatly enhanced. Now what would you recommend? Keep them coming guys.

Forgot to add will be relocating battery it seems very beneficial.

The foams I plan on experimenting with so will buy a few sets

Probably go for some gmade shocks, they seem a good deal from what I've read.

Everyone else's thoughts on need for he diff gears like 351 suggested? Not that I don't trust your input mate I just like hearing a broad range of views.

Thanks guys, awesome amount of replies so far!

Slay

P.S checking your build now mate sounds like it will be similar to my plans.

[68_f100]

I would go bigger than the 7955. I ended up with a 7990th for steering.

[Slayso]

May be a bit out of the budget mate can pick the 7955tg for $86 can't find the 7990 below $175. Any advice on maybe a max $120 servo.

[bilinvic]

HiTec 7950TH FTW....486 oz/in @ 7.4V

[Slayso]

The savox 1230 is another choice. What it makes up in torque 499 vs the hitec 333. It lacks titanium gears. Lots of good reviews on the savox except the noise. Thoughts?

[Slayso]

Originally Posted by bilinvic

HiTec 7950TH FTW....486 oz/in @ 7.4V

Hmm I can stretch the budget for that I guess. One thing I've learn for sure the money in a good servo is worth it.

Thoughts on metal diff gears? Keep in mind want to keep as stock as possible to enjoy it first minus the upgrades I've listed. What is nessescary?

[mikebecher]

Originally Posted by Slayso

Everyone else's thoughts on need for he diff gears like 351 suggested? Not that I don't trust your input mate I just like hearing a broad range of views.

You're going to need to replace the diff gears at some point, but stock should last for a while. FWIW, I got about 3 months out of mine on 3s. By that time you'll know if you need to use overdrive, underdrive or stock gear ratios. I went with rear UD + front stock and the improvement in climbing and steering is substantial.

When the time comes for new diff gears, you'll want to read AR60 Pinion Bushings vs Bearings vs Bushings Thread.

[sdmf]

If you shim the stock diff gears, they last long enough. Battery up front, bec, servo and alu/ti/ steel steering links. That'll keep you solid for quite a while. Probably the idler gear in the trans after the steering an weight distribution.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[68_f100]

I put standard ratio hd gears in mine. Make sure you buy axial. The rest are probably worse than stock gears. The 7950 is good. But it's 150 most places. For 25$ more you get ti gears and 611 in/oz of torque. I would do chubs And knuckles soon. I have had a few different kinds and vp are the best buy. I've done everything to my wraith with vp parts except wheels. All perfect fit and finish. You can do better when it comes to wheels.

[meatmonkey]

The best thing you can do is use machine thread screws basically everywhere except for the cage. The included self tapers basically work their way out of the kingpins and c-hubs/lock outs within a couple packs.

It's worth noting that some of the stock coarse thread hardware will not work with the beef tubes, which are tapped for 3x.5 machine thread bolts.

Since your running relatively mild brushed power the stock diff gears should serve well. Invest a couple bucks into some 5x7x.1mm and 10x12x.1mm shims to properly set them up and you'll be surprised at how long they last. Make sure to secure the sintered spools inside the plastic diff carrier with some JB Weld to prevent the locker from breaking the tangs off and spinning inside of the carrier.

The stock plastic trans gears will not last. It's possible to tear them up with stock brushed power. It is definitely worth putting in steel transmission gears during initial assembly. Take your pick of Robinson Racing, Axial, or Hot Racing.

Your likely going to want a smaller pinion gear than stock if you are going to do any crawling. Since they are cheap you should probably pick up a couple. Being a newb, you may want to leave the slipper clutch a tad loose until you learn throttle control. It's an easy way to prevent drivetrain damage.

If you plan on going slow then stock plastic knuckles and c-hubs will hold up well, but once you start jumping or smacking into things at speed they will fail quickly.

Keep in mind your new uber-strength servo will destroy a plastic servo horn in minutes, so you'll need either an Axial or Robotronics replacement.

Life expectancy of drivetrain parts is hard to judge, since enveryones powertrain and usage is widely different. If you drive in a "scale" manor then you will get many hours of use, but if you drive it like you stole it, you might get an hour.

[altd896]

Would strongly recommend a BR-XL esc, I would not run the BR mini in a Wraith with a Crawlmaster 13T, with no heatsink on it attached to that high current draw motor it's going to struggle, particularly with long run times.
Don't get me wrong, BR is a great esc got 1 in a SPM & 2 in a PRO comp crawlers, 7 minute runs in a 1.7kg rig they handle no problem, but 30/45/60 minutes in a 2.5-3kg rig & it's not going to be happy.

If your buying the kit Spawn it comes with alloy body shocks, don't bother going buying G-Mades just for the wank factor, they assemble the same & work about the same, take care building them & lube all the seal/orings with Team Associated green slime.

The plastic gears in the trans will be a weak point, a set of HR steel gears will fix that from Day 1
Hot Racing Axial SCX10 AX10 Wraith hard steel center gears set

[Slayso]

Thanks for all the suggestions and recommendations guys. Have decided based on your input and a bit more research to go with the following changes:

-Stick to stock shocks.
-Buy metal axle and trans gears to install during initial build (always handy to have plastic stock laying around if I manage to break the metal and waiting on replacements)
-Br-xl esc instead of BR mini
-Was already planning on using highest quality screws around the rig
-Definitely be re gearing probably test a few combos
-Servo horn would come with servo
-The shim trick (was unaware of this)

Still not sold on the need for a 611oz servo have read plenty of people happy with the 7955TG and for half the price And what I plan on doing it seems more appropriate. Can a few more people chime in ideally those with 7955TG use?

Great info guys keep it coming!