Mugged
 

This is my first foray into the trail/scale side of the hobby.

My daughter, now 7, has shown interest in my two dusty comp rigs sitting on a shelf in the basement.

I felt two trail rigs would be more "fun" to have cuz we could drive nearly anywhere, and at the same time.

I chose the Wraith as a well rounded crawler/trail rig. I also knew it could be made to go fast and jump, if that's what it took to keep both of us entertained and/or interested.

I set out to buy two vehicles. The first rig I found was a nearly stock Poison Spyder edition. It showed up just in time for her 7th birthday and was in excellent condition. RTR with one 2s 3000mah battery and the stock electronics.

Here she is testing her new rig at the new house job site, just down the street.

Attachment 362587

Here's her rig a couple days later, same job site, little bit more fun after a good afternoon rain storm.

Attachment 362588

For myself, I purchased what was advertised as a hopped up Wraith off the classifieds. Turns out it was a used up piece of junk that didn't have any aftermarket parts worth talking about. It's a long story.

I managed to avoid making the bad deal worse by getting upset. Worked out a small, unsatisfactory refund from the perp; and now the build begins.....

Here's the rig sitting by my daughter's Spyder.

Attachment 362589

Re: Mugged
 

So here's a closer shot of the rig.
Front hood crossmember is missing.
Side panels aren't in bad shape.

Attachment 362590

Gmade shocks that look kinda junky to me.
I'm not a fan of shocks that don't have a good attachment point up top.
Fuel tubing, a screw, and some washers just seems ghetto.
Titanium links and steering are about all that I have going so far.

Attachment 362591

The interior is completely hacked to bits.
Not sure how that guy thought I wouldn't notice this????
Passenger side seat is also wasted.

Attachment 362592

Re: Mugged
 

Diff covers were really beat.
They were actually rubbing the ring gear.

Attachment 362593

This is a shot of the inside.......
Guessing the gears are wasted.

Attachment 362594

Here's a shot of the "steel geared" transmission I paid for....
Seems like a plastic main gear to me.
Bearings are all chunky.

Attachment 362595

The tranny screws are all taped up.
The housing is garbage.
Just keeps on giving! Lol

Attachment 362596

Re: Mugged
 

Sucks on the bad deal. Awesome the daughter wants to play. My kids just want to destroy each other's car after a few minutes.

Re: Mugged
 

I don't want to start out with all bad and no good.
I have some running gear from my retired sportsman rig that will be donated to this lost cause.
Holmes 400 puller 13t (I believe)
BR mini esc, Castle BEC
T maxx shafts (new to Wraith, maybe this is dumb?)
AX10 trans with upgraded outputs
Futaba BLS172HV
MT4 tx/rx

Attachment 362597

Since the interior was already wasted, I started thinking about doing a tummy tuck with the skid plate.
I tried to research the procedure; but Photobucket has erased most evidence in the threads I did find.
This whole rig is kinda beat, so I was willing to take a chance on screwing up a couple pieces of the Wraith chassis.
Pic of the rail cut. New holes drilled and countersunk.

Attachment 362598

Obviously you can't just hack up the chassis without consequence.
The frame rail becomes really bendy when you cut the lower section off.
I fabbed up these aluminum runners to counter that effect.

Attachment 362599

I needed to make a 2mm spacer to get the runners outboard so they would contact the lower plastic frame rail.
Fit up real nice...

Attachment 362602

Re: Mugged
 

I wanted to trim these down to make them all swanky and racey; but then I realized I would need to build a custom interior since I don't currently have anything.
I decided to leave them square and bulky like this until I get a bit further down the road.
I figure the aluminum may come in handy for tapping some holes to mount stuff.

Attachment 362603

Here you can see them in the chassis.
Obviously the idea was to tie into the very strong link mount area.
I may add a longer bolt through the link mount and put a locknut on for extra beef.
Not needed at this stage of the game.


Attachment 362604

Of course, this is the whole point.
They also tie into the outer cage screws in the 4 outermost corners.
This gives the frame rail back it's rigidity.

Attachment 362605

Shot from the underside.
The stiffeners don't hang down.
They shouldn't cause many, if any hang-ups.

Attachment 362606

Re: Mugged
 

Sorry to hear about your bad luck bub. I know I'd probably would have gave some very negative thoughts towards the seller for that crap.

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Re: Mugged
 

I consider this is a good read [emoji106]


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Re: Mugged
 

Just curious but have you taken any action or can you win h this forum to prevent the POS that sold you the rig from posting up anything else in the for sale section. This could be done without given out their screen name publically and prevent them from selling crap to others. This has been done on other forums I am a member of

Re: Mugged
 

I'll give you a few dollars for the remnants of that interior. I've got seats and the floor pan but no dash, shifters, or stickers.

Re: Mugged
 

I'm a firm believer that what goes around comes around.
Maybe I'm a terrible person and deserved a crappy deal.
OR, maybe I'm not so bad and that guy will get what he deserves.
Karma is a real m'fer.

Re: Mugged
 

This is my primary weapon of choice in the garage....the cut off wheel.
I use it to cut, cope, radius, etc.
Get really close to your layout lines with this, because it's super fast.
Most all rough cuts are made with this tool.
The sander next to it helps too.

Attachment 362645

I use this die grinder sometimes.
It works in corners fairly well.
Only issue is, it really likes to get away from you and make a mess of things in a hurry.

Attachment 362646

Otherwise, once the rough shape is made, I use a dremel.
I've got a bunch of different shape attachments.
This smaller drum sander was perfect to make the radius on the chassis stiffeners.

Attachment 362647

Re: Mugged
 

Dude nobody deserves that kind of crap pushed on them. That guy is a real McAsshole. I'm glad you made it a positive outcome and your daughter had a good time. I'm currently building my first wraith as well. I purchased a box of parts haha. Got lots of goodies to toss at her.

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Re: Mugged
 

Did some more chassis work.
I decided to try the fastback.
Chopped the rear supports out; but left the roof intact.
Warmed it a bit with the heat gun and put some bend on it.

Attachment 362651

In an effort to make it look slightly more "factory", I used the cut out rear posts to make the links.
Mixed with some bent rod ends and 3mm stud inserts, I have this now.

Attachment 362652

At this point, I had to get tires on the rig.
I tossed the junky Gmade shocks and swapped in my old comp big bores. I know they're not scale; but it's what I have right now.
I wanted to get a sense of where I'm at.
I'm really digging the swept roof line and the low stance.
Might look at lowering it just a bit more......

Attachment 362653

Re: Mugged
 

What version of the gmades did you toss out? By chance where they the piggy back xd's

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Re: Mugged
 

I agree the fastback look is rather nice. Might try it with my frame once I get my mattzilla

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Re: Mugged
 

They are Gmade Zero shocks.
The pivot ball in the top eye just falls right out.
It's not a true pivot ball.
Being from the comp world, this doesn't seem right.

Attachment 362657

The mounting spacer, for lack of a better term, just has an oversized washer molded onto it.
This keeps the shock from escaping; but allows it to bang all around.
That's why I'm just not digging these shocks.
I don't know squat about scale shocks; but I've had SCX10 shocks on my comp rigs.
They were very scale looking and didn't have this crappy setup.
Tell me if I'm missing something here.....

Attachment 362656

Re: Mugged
 

Sorry.
I'm going to salvage what little is left of the interior.
Planning to use the shifters and steering wheel for sure.
Maybe the dash depending on my interior fab skills, lol.

Re: Mugged
 

Looks like it's well worn out. He probably didn't take very good care of it. I know the gmade xd with piggy backs are supposedly a good shock. Basically from what I read they don't leak nearly as bad as moat. Are those a big bore? If so that would explain the oversized washer used for a spacer to put the shock out far enough so not to be up against the tower. The going is used for something or another but, lol yeah it's not supposed to fall out.

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Re: Mugged
 

So I got the bug real bad to drive this thing.
I needed to shake off the bad mojo this rig came with.
I cleaned the axles out. Swapped in some stock gears I had laying around.
I stuffed everything under the hood, in no particular order, with zip ties.
It looks good here, just don't open the hood, lol

Attachment 362658

Here's a picture of the new stance vs the stock Spyder.
Of note, the Spyder didn't have it's battery in the rear yet. May account for it's jacked up look.
Loving the look of the tummy tuck vs stock.

Attachment 362660

My 40 minute mad dash to get it ready paid off.
Not only did it actually move.......it moved very well.
I had an ONYX 3s 4000mah pack powering the Holmes Puller.
The truck was surprisingly fast, and slow, and handled very well.
It's not ready for any serious action, yet; but it was nice to get out with Addy and tear up some sand piles.

Attachment 362659

Re: Mugged
 

She looks good bub. I like the stance. I'm hoping to have mine brought to life by next week sometime.

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Re: Mugged
 

That tummy tuck does look good. Now I'm thinking....

Re: Mugged
 

I have not seen pictures of the tummy tuck to understand what you have to do to get it tucked (damn photo bucket!). I am thinking about a tummy tuck

Re: Mugged
 

Look at post #5 of this build thread.
You'll see how I cut off the bottom tube (current skid mounting position).
Before you do that, drill four new holes in the tube directly above it, then cut.
BAM.....skid is now tucked up higher.
Obviously there's more to it than that; but I did take pictures of the process.

Re: Mugged
 

Had pics of mine in my thread but PB screwed that....
Depends on what you wanted in your fastback mod but if you nick out those corner gussets at the top you can get the "roof" to bend right down to the shock mount hoop

Re: Mugged
 

I guess I am going to have to wait until I get a skid in my hand to see the difference. I assume the holes are to be drilled below the existing holes to raise it. My skid should be here no later than Monday.

Mugged
 

You trim off the lower portion of the cage where the skid originally mounts and raise the skid maybe 1/2-3/4".

Re: Mugged
 

Looks good, except your steering wheel is on the wrong side!
Hahaha

Re: Mugged
 

I'll get a few more pictures of it when I get home.
You don't modify the skid at all.

Re: Mugged
 

The Wraith Tummy Tuck has been done before; but since Photobucket sucks, there aren't many pictures.
This is just a bit more detail for those who aren't sure what it's about.
(more pics page one, post #5 of this thread).
This is the easy part. Adding structure back to the chassis, to compensate for cutting some of it away is the tricky part.

Basically you drill eight new holes (four per side) directly above the factory holes.
I used a square to transfer the hole locations.
This upper tube will become the new skid mount location.

Attachment 362712

AFTER using the factory holes to locate the "new" holes, you cut the lower tube off the chassis.
This will raise the skid about 3/4" (18mm).

Attachment 362713

What you are left with looks like this.
Skid in new raised location, lower tube cut off.

Attachment 362715


Obviously there are other considerations like link clearance, the factory interior will no longer fit, chassis rigidity, etc.
I've already addressed the chassis issue with my aluminum stiffeners.
I tentatively plan to custom build the interior, unless it kicks my butt.
The Spawn or Deadbolt interiors could be an easier solution, from what I've read.

Re: Mugged
 

DING!! Now I see it, thanks for the clarification! "thumbsup"

Re: Mugged
 

DAMN! I went back and looked at post #5 "again" on my MacBook and see the frame cut, I was looking on my phone first. DUH! I am blind in one eye and cannot see sh@t out of the other!

Re: Mugged
 

Had some time in the garage this evening.
This rig doesn't have a roof, yet.

Attachment 362724

Little clamping action....
Couple of custom bends.
Formed the rear bend on a 2" pipe I had laying around.
Small one formed using a boring old broom handle.

Attachment 362725

Rough cut.

Attachment 362726

Re: Mugged
 

All cleaned up and holes drilled.

Attachment 362731

I think it turned out fairly nice.
Too bad it won't stay this way.

Attachment 362732

Re: Mugged
 

Looks aggressive "thumbsup"

Re: Mugged
 

It's starting to flow more each day you tinker with it.

Re: Mugged
 

I Never really understood the tummy tuck but it makes plenty more sense now. Nice roof as well! Looks much better than panels I've done. It is hard to mark the hole placement on the wraith and yeti cage.(without having to rip the whole cage apart that is)

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Re: Mugged
 

I decided to mess with the front of the Wraith this evening.
I cut the tubes that came off the top of the shock mount.
That allowed some tweaking of the shape.

Attachment 362761

I used the heat gun to warm the plastic up a bit.
The aluminum spacers and screws allowed me to pull the thing together as it slowly warmed up.

Attachment 362762

I needed to put some support back in where I removed the tubes.
Drew up some brackets.

Attachment 362763

Figured tying the shock hoops together would be a good idea.
The center tubes are easily removable for access.
Three holes in the bottom of the brackets allow me to move the screws around so they never interfere with the shocks.
This really stiffened up the front end of the chassis.

Attachment 362764

Re: Mugged
 

I still need to rework the front bumper; but I like the way it's turning out.

The front end went from this big square box....

Attachment 362766

To this more sleek looking tapered version.

Attachment 362765

Re: Mugged
 

This is coming along quiet rather nicely. Looking good bub. Keep it up.

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