Stretched out my WB a bit

[mewalsh100]

I stretched the wheelbase on my Wraith a bit tonight - all at the back. 10mm to be exact. I had these Boom Racing adjustable lowers that I was going to use on another project, but went another direction.

Anyways, I ended up throwing them on the Wraith, and then used the Incision stainless lowers that were on it for the new uppers to get my diff/pinion angle right. I'll have to do some testing, but I'm definitely liking the look. I know sometimes BR gets a bad rap, but honestly these adjustable lowers are very nice in terms of fit and finish. They also come with 3 different sway-bar rates that can be installed and they integrate right in to these lowers. Due to the Wraith skid design, I was not able to use them, and probably wouldn't have regardless.

[TheLetterJ]

I had my Incision links setup with Jato ends at just one end (9mm longer) and that looked like the end of the road for the Wraith specific MIP, but with the SuperShafty exclusive length that should be good. I liked the long & low setup with 3400kv on 3s/4s with 2.8 paddles, but decided I liked it better with the standard wheelbase (even shorter would be better) since turning it into a crawler... kept it low though. What's your intended usage going to be?

[Brake Weight]

I like the stretched a little look as well. What are those links intended for? What’s the eye to eye length of them shortened up like that?

[PoorManRC]

That's definitely STRETCHED Mike!!!!
I LIKE Boom Racing Stuff! Not all of it, but some of their stuff is really good. Those Lowers look GREAT!!

I really like the Body, and the way you did the Fastback Mod. That's a touch of unique!! Which Body did you use? I want to do the P-L Ford Bronco, the old school one, with the full Interior - that I'll have to completely CUT OUT!!
..... I'll have to see how much Boom Racing Twin Hammers Rear Lowers would be.

Seriously, I really like the way you cut that Body. Really looks COOL!!

[mewalsh100]

Originally Posted by TheLetterJ

I had my Incision links setup with Jato ends at just one end (9mm longer) and that looked like the end of the road for the Wraith specific MIP, but with the SuperShafty exclusive length that should be good. I liked the long & low setup with 3400kv on 3s/4s with 2.8 paddles, but decided I liked it better with the standard wheelbase (even shorter would be better) since turning it into a crawler... kept it low though. What's your intended usage going to be?

I use my Wraith mostly as a general all arounder. Trail with it, take it to the park at the end of my street where there are some nice rocks, hills, a stone and rock filled mostly dry stream bed. My backyard course. Light crawling.

As far as the MIPS, i've still got plenty of overlap there, so should be good.

At the end of the day though, the stretch is either going to work and be functional or not. If I don't care for how it drives / functions, it'll be back to the way it was.

Originally Posted by Brake Weight

I like the stretched a little look as well. What are those links intended for? What’s the eye to eye length of them shortened up like that?

Thanks Brake Weight. These links are intended for SCX based rigs. They are typically unified / tied together with the integrated sway-bar that I mentioned in my post above. I simply removed the sway-bar to separate them and used them more as a "trailing arm" type deal. I may also see about making some shock mount holes on them.

As far as eye to eye length, I assume you mean the BR trailing arms? If so, I've actually got them at MAX extension versus shortened up. Eye to eye measurement in this configuration is about 135mm.

Originally Posted by PoorManRC

That's definitely STRETCHED Mike!!!!
I LIKE Boom Racing Stuff! Not all of it, but some of their stuff is really good. Those Lowers look GREAT!!

I really like the Body, and the way you did the Fastback Mod. That's a touch of unique!! Which Body did you use? I want to do the P-L Ford Bronco, the old school one, with the full Interior - that I'll have to completely CUT OUT!!
..... I'll have to see how much Boom Racing Twin Hammers Rear Lowers would be.

Seriously, I really like the way you cut that Body. Really looks COOL!!

Thanks Carmine! Completely agree on the Boom stuff. The wheels on this rig are actually the Boom Racing 2.2 SandStorms. Love the look, fit and finish of them. Super reasonable $ wise as far as Aluminum bead-lock wheels go, and by far and away the EASIEST bead-lock type wheel I have ever mounted or put together. So yeah, some of their stuff is actually quite nice.

The body is ProLine Jeep Rubicon. I think they're discontinued now so they're kinda hard to find. (I've got another stashed away just waiting to be painted!)

Also - I ended up selling off PROJECT AX10 Scaler to a guy here on the forums. I didn't have it in the classifieds, he just saw it under 2.2 scale rigs and reached out to me to see if I wanted to sell. Ironically, I had just been out in the garage the night before and was like "man, you really need to sell some stuff off dude". So, she went byebye. But, I still have the AX10 lexan bodies laying around. I ended up cutting up the original orange Deadbolt body to fit the Wraith. Turned out fairly well actually. I got the interior out so clean I'll be able to use it in another project, also have the roll cage to play with. Thinking that will go in to the Barrage build I've got coming up.

I'll post a pic. I need to make a new Cowl for the hood where I had to cut out for the BGR shock towers. But, she'll be a good little alternate body for the Wraith.

Re-purposed AX10 Deadbolt body.

Forgot I had these Traxxas Blue anodized turnbuckles in my toolbox. Swapped out the silver ones for these for matchy/matchy to the body!

Planning on doing a little trail run this weekend with a buddy. He has an SCX10 and he's always complaining (laughingly) that I have an unfair advantage with the Wraith and 2.2's. Since I'm working on the suspension on the 1.9 Truggy, I'm gonna bring the Wraith. But, I threw the 1.9's off of the Truggy on her so I can still school him and not hear his excuses!

Surprisingly, these tallish 1.9's don't look too obscene or outta place on the ole Wraith. I know there are a lot of dedicated 1.9 Wraiths, but without doing all the corrective work and just throwing these on, not too bad.

I will probably adjust my shock positions to gain some ground clearance though.

[TheLetterJ]

I'm running 1.9"s on my Wraith, still with AR60's. I just used narrow hex's and narrow slw hubs and don't feel that it's at a disadvantage... it helps that my 1.9"s are 5.4" tall! I ran it with 4.4" tires and it was fine for everything but real crawling, in other words, your buddy is gonna be looking for new excuses why it's not fair! Looks good!

[mewalsh100]

Originally Posted by TheLetterJ

I'm running 1.9"s on my Wraith, still with AR60's. I just used narrow hex's and narrow slw hubs and don't feel that it's at a disadvantage... it helps that my 1.9"s are 5.4" tall! I ran it with 4.4" tires and it was fine for everything but real crawling, in other words, your buddy is gonna be looking for new excuses why it's not fair! Looks good!

For sure he will! Yeah, these RC4WD 1.9's are about that tall as well. I was surprised they didn't look ridiculous when I threw them on. Also, just running standard hexes. Like I said, I know a lot of guys run 1.9 Wraiths, but they also do a lot of other mods to get the "look" right. All things considered, I think this thing looks pretty decent as it sits with these on it. Now, if I were going to run them exclusively, I'd probably do some additional mods to nail the look.

[PoorManRC]

That looks really good! You're right, the 1.9s, even on AR60s, don't look out of place at all. I hope that you schooled him well!!!!

[mewalsh100]

Playing with my new "toy". Picked up this 18" bender at Harbor Freight. My original plan was to get the combo sheer, bender and slip roller, but it was a bit bigger than I thought. I may still get it, but I've gotta take a look at how I'd reconfigure my work benches and work space. Anyway, this little sucker works pretty well.

As you saw in my earlier post above, I sold my AX10, but still have the bodies for it. I decided to salvage the original Deadbolt body and use it on the Wraith as a "thrasher". I removed the roll bar, which I'll use on another project. I also was able to remove the interior super clean so I'll be able to use it somewhere else as well. Then, since I've added the BGR shock towers, I had to cut the hood open to allow them clearance. I didn't really care for the gaping maw it left up there, so I decided to play around with the new bender and some aluminum.

Went ahead and bent up this COWL for the hood. I have been bending things up on the vice, like the Aluminum Wraith dashboard I made, but this bender is much easier to work with and provides a cleaner bend. Trying to decide if I wanna leave the cowl in just raw aluminum, or spray it flat black? Wacha all think???

Anyway, there's going to be a little bit of a learning curve when laying things out and determining which bends need to be done first due to depth, etc. But, all in all, I'm pleased with it for $28.00! My next project is going to be aluminum floor pan and trans tunnel. Need to score more aluminum stock from work though!

[mewalsh100]

Made a judgement call and decided to keep it raw aluminum. At least for now. I figure the raw aluminum blends with the BGR shock towers a bit better and won't show up the cut threw areas for them as much.

I also added this little aluminum extension to the lower windscreen area along the front of the roll cage. I had to follow the body line for the Deadbolt windshield when I cut the body interior out. Since the hood doesn't quite come up far enough to the roll cage, I decided to add this in since it hides the backside of the dash and cleans the look up.

[Natedog]

Deadbolt body fits very nice on there and looks great. I've wanted a small sheetmetal bender many times, done it by hand and never turns out as perfect and takes lots more work, might check out that nice little HF bender. Parts you bent up for hood and dash really add to the look of your Wraith too.

Those Boom Racing lower rear arms with swaybar might work well on my Ascender for TT.

[mewalsh100]

Originally Posted by Natedog

Deadbolt body fits very nice on there and looks great. I've wanted a small sheetmetal bender many times, done it by hand and never turns out as perfect and takes lots more work, might check out that nice little HF bender. Parts you bent up for hood and dash really add to the look of your Wraith too.

Those Boom Racing lower rear arms with swaybar might work well on my Ascender for TT.

Thanks Natedog! Yeah, for less than $30 I’d highly recommend it. Overall, i’m pretty pleased with it for a salvage body. I’m going to try and get some more practice in with the new bender then attempt the floor pan and trans tunnel. You’ve gotta really think about the order you do the bends in or you can paint yourself into a corner as far as how the material lays on the bender. But, the bends are definitely cleaner and sharper then previous stuff i’ve done on the vice.

[Brake Weight]

x2 on the bender.

[PoorManRC]

x3 on the bender.

That really looks great! Believe it or not, a SCX10 I Deadbolt is high on my RC Bucket List... The Body looks like it was MADE for a Wraith!! I may try to aquire a Deadbolt Body, for "Spawned". I eventually wanted a Bronco Body for her, but with a few 3D Printed Parts, I can make that represent a Bronco nicely!
These things are always cut up in some fashion anyway - so this sounds much better than cutting up a nice, high-dollar, Scaler Body.

Mike, what are you doing for a front bumper? The Scalerfab Stinger would look great, and be strong and functional as well.

Your rear end stretch looks SO good, I might copy it!!! That should give your Rig some more stability when going near vertical. On mine, my rear Driveshaft is almost CLOSED on both ends. I can certainly afford a little stretch! I'm going to be very interested in how your Rig Handles, especially in a steep Climb.

[Ninomaniac]

Wow, deadbolt body looks much better than the original. I got a Spawn but never liked it. Got the kit for the upgrades included, little did I know that you gotta throw a couple hundred bucks at it one way or another for the Wraith to make sense at all

[mewalsh100]

Thanks Carmine. I don’t even run a front bumper on this rig. I snubbed the nose area. I haven’t missed having the bumper at all, and having ditched all the scale goodies on this rig in the interest of keeping her lean and mean, no winch either.

I gotta say, the approach angle without it is pretty freak’n sweet!

[PoorManRC]

I would almost consider that Mike..... Except, at least for now, Mine's on a SEE-FOOD Diet!!! LOL And, for me anyway, that front bumper, which I had cut down for a pseudo "Stinger", gives me a convenient Handle for carrying her around!!

As my first "true Scaler", I'm going for lots of the goodies!! Although I'll probably stop if she gets too close to 9lbs.....

[mewalsh100]

If I didn't have the Scale Truggy, I definitely would have kept the Wraith with all my scale goodies, stinger, winch, etc.

[PoorManRC]

You're reminding me of how much I want to build a Truggy!!! I'm not even "DONE" with Spawned yet!
But yeah, I'm going to have lots of fun with this Build...... Ruh-Roh!! I just realized, the ONLY Scale Accessories I've got so far, are a Fuel Cell and a Radiator....... Unless I want to risk DEATH, and take the Sand Ladders and Shovel off of Cindi's Rig!!!

I understand your concept, and I can see me doing a stripped down, lightweight Ultra Crawler one of these years...

[mewalsh100]

So good to get this bad boy back out on the trails and rocks today! Weather is finally starting to cooperate a little bit. She is a total beast on 3S with the 3500kv HH Puller Pro! Just wow! So much power on tap. I'd get a little hang up and just blip the throttle and pop right out of it.

I also moved both the driver and passenger seats up as well so "Jimmy" could reach the wheel. It was an easier and cleaner solution than making the steering column comically long for him to reach. The shakedown went real well today with no broken parts, loosened fasteners, etc. I'm also liking the extended wheelbase at this point. She's definitely more stable at full speed over bumps. Jury is still out on how it will be in the rocks. Seemed pretty good on my little backyard course, but I need to get her in to some sicker stuff to make a real determination.