Steel Chassis Wraith Build and Rebuild

[adamk]

Back story:

I bought an RTR Spawn last year after loving my SCX10 so much. Did some mods here and there but never really liked it. I had the hardest time keeping a motor in it no matter what gearing I installed. Ended yup trading it for some fab work on my 1:1 crawler. Here's the Spawn right before I let it go.

Specs:
Proline 2 stage foams
120 mm shocks
High torque servo
Aluminum links
Axial universals
Lights
CC bec
STRC steering




After letting it go I found this site and started looking around and saw a bunch of 1.9 Wraith builds. Those to me looked far better than the normal Wraith so I decided I wanted to build one. I was going to just buy a stock chassis and build from but ran upon this at a local hobby shop. It's an Integy steel chassis. It came with aluminum skins and a roof basket. I also bought a 5 LED light bar at the same time.



I immediately took it home and started mocking it up. I pulled everything from under my SCX10 to go into this rig. I did have to buy a Wraith skid and some various aluminum links to set the wheel base.






The first wheel base I started with looked great. The front tires sat nicely in the front wheel well and same with the rear. I cycled the suspension to see if there was any binding.





I had planned on running the SCX10 trans but ran into clearance issues with the rear driveshaft and skid. Instead of cutting the skid I bought a Wraith trans housing. I then got it all assembled and ready for some testing.





After the first run I found a big problem with going down steep declines. The rear would unload and send it over the front axle. My solution was a center limit strap. I had some scrap wire laying around so I made the first trial with that. It worked great. Didn't limit flex but kept the rear axle from completely unloading.



I ran it like this for a month or so. I broke stuff and fixed it accordingly.





Then I got a great deal on some 2.2 VP SLW V2 wheels and Proline Moab tires. I also stretched the front. I started to run into issues with anti-squat. It was extremely high with the short front links and caused me to always lift a tire long before it should have. I wheeled it like that for another month.

[adamk]

I then decided I wanted some stickier tires since the Moabs were new-old stock when I got them and came out long before Proline introduced their current compound. I went with a set of Proline Flatiron XL. At the same time I installed a dig kit.

[adamk]

So if you have read the novel this far, you're now up to speed. I have torn the whole thing down for a rebuild. Plans are:

cut and weld new lines in chassis
new shocks(ordered some 110mm King knock-offs)
Wraith axles(stock housings on the way for mock up)
new panels(aluminum full length)
light bars
sensored brushless(unsure of what I want yet. Been eyeing the HH puller and BLE/MMP)
and whatever else I run across along the build

[adamk]

I finished up the chassis work last Thursday. Here's how it turned out.












As I am still waiting on parts to arrive I've gone through a couple different configurations with the SCX10 axles just for kicks.

[o0wiz0o]

Looking great! It's nice to see that Cage take some abuse. I have often seen it but steered clear as I was unsure of the build quality. Your new mods to it make it look even better.

[adamk]

Originally Posted by o0wiz0o

Looking great! It's nice to see that Cage take some abuse. I have often seen it but steered clear as I was unsure of the build quality. Your new mods to it make it look even better.

Thanks. It has actually been a very sturdy chassis. The weakest part was the front stinger. With a good hit to the front it will bend and so that's why I added the bracing to it. Overall I am very pleased with the quality of it(especially since its from Integy).

[adamk]

So as I am still waiting for parts, I decided I'd give a go at making steel spools for the axles. I know I can buy them for $30ea but where's the fun in that? At lunch yesterday I took some measurements of a stock locker and ring gear. I then modeled it all up in Solidworks and made a drawing of it. Headed to the machine shop at work and started on the lathe. I ended up messing this one up while trying to cut the slot for the axle shaft. The part slipped out of my fixture on the mill and now its trash. But, I'll give it another shot today. Here's what it looked like before I put it on the mill. The ring gear has a snug fit so I had to lightly press it on. I'll most likely adjust my next part so that the gear slips on easier.

[o0wiz0o]

Nice! The advantage to this is you can customize the axle slot for less slop. Ones off the shelf will have to allow for greater variance.

[adamk]

Originally Posted by o0wiz0o

Nice! The advantage to this is you can customize the axle slot for less slop. Ones off the shelf will have to allow for greater variance.

Definitely. It is a fairly snug fit for the axle shaft. I got lucky that the shafts measure exactly .125" from flat to flat so I was able to do a very easy cut with a standard sized bit. I have made a second one that seems to be just right but I won't know for sure until I get it assembled in the axles.

[Jeepfixer1]

I too enjoy making parts that I could buy for far caper than my time would pay! Even if I made minimum wage IN CHINA.

[Brainstain]

I'm glad you got a good cage. My buddy and I both ordered one. His is level, correct and mostly welded. Mine is crooked, the link/skid mount is backwards and really far forward, some of the welds are held on by fairy dust or something. So I chopped it into a truck and am cutting the brackets off to flip them around and re-weld them. It is a LOT easier starting with their base than to custom fab the whole thing though.

[adamk]

Originally Posted by Jeepfixer1

I too enjoy making parts that I could buy for far caper than my time would pay! Even if I made minimum wage IN CHINA.

It's all about the enjoyment of making the part and the accomplishment of doing it. I mean I could buy another wraith rtr that was made in china but what fun is that?

Originally Posted by Brainstain

I'm glad you got a good cage. My buddy and I both ordered one. His is level, correct and mostly welded. Mine is crooked, the link/skid mount is backwards and really far forward, some of the welds are held on by fairy dust or something. So I chopped it into a truck and am cutting the brackets off to flip them around and re-weld them. It is a LOT easier starting with their base than to custom fab the whole thing though.

There are some parts on this cage that aren't square but luckily none of them have any affects to it's function and they are pretty hard to see as well. I will be cutting off and flipping the rear shock mounts.

[adamk]

I started mocking up the suspension last night. I've got the wheelbase where I like it. I will have to redo one of the rear upper links to clear the driveshaft. What I'm not liking at the moment is the track width. It is just too wide. I'm currently mocked up with stock wraith axles, narrow hexes, VP SLW V2 wheels and 450 hubs. I'm going to get a set of narrower hubs this weekend to hopefully bring the track width down to look more scale. If that fails then I will buy a set of SCX10 axle housing and increase the width with some burly tubes I guess. I'll get pics of everything up tonight.

[adamk]

Made a new rear upper arm to clear the driveshaft. Since I still don't have my shocks yet, but I know the collapsed and extended lengths, I made 3 different sets of links. The target is 50/50 travel on the shocks so I made links at the collapsed, extended, and ride height lengths. I may have to adjust for a 46/60 or 30/70 on the shocks because a 50/50 has the ride height higher than I like. I did end up with 5.25" of total flex. I'm happy with that but it could be better. I think flipping the rear shock mounts will help so I may cut those off tonight and reweld them. I also made the spool for the axles. Because I was so busy during the day yesterday and didn't have time to make a new spool. I printed one to verify that everything is going to fit like it should. The axle has a nice snug press fit into the locker so I'm very happy with that and will start making the real one today. I have also machined some aluminum sleeves for the wraith axles. The plan is to narrow them by almost 1" so that the track width is more to scale. I will start on that tonight as well.

[adamk]

Originally Posted by 4508js

I really like looking at build threads and seeing what all people build themselves, makes me wish I had fabrication skills lol

All you have to do is start trying.

[adamk]

At lunch today I worked on narrowing the wraith axles. I have them almost finished. I cut out about .5" on each side making each axle 1" narrower. I sleeved the tubes with aluminum. All I have left to do is drill out two holes and then drill and tap for the lockouts/inner c's. I should get to all of that tomorrow hopefully.

[Jeepfixer1]

Cool. Digging the beef tubes.

[adamk]

Originally Posted by Jeepfixer1

Cool. Digging the beef tubes.

Thanks, they were very easy to make. I just wish I had a denser material so that there was more added weight.

[adamk]

Got a little more time to work on this project. I sleeved the suspension links in 1/4" brake line and then brazed it to the all-thread to ensure there would be no slop. I also started messing with the idea of a CMS. Still undecided on if I want to go that route. Space is pretty tight to fit the servo and a panhard bar. And it would me removing on of the upper links I just built haha.

[adamk]

Shocks finally arrived. The color scheme for this build is going to be a silver chassis and blue body panels. I was hoping these shocks would be a little darker blue but I can live with it. They are pretty darn smooth and I'm anxious to get oil in them and mount them up tonight. I am concerned that the springs may be a little too stiff but springs are cheap so I'll find some that'll work if these don't. I will be ordering new VP lock rings for the wheels in blue as well but that will wait until all the necessary items are taken care of.