OS's IFS Enduro

[OSRC]

I've done the IFS thing before, both on 1/10 scale and 1/6 or so, along with a ton of CC based rigs. It's a cool setup - it's not the performance killer you might think, it puts a lot of weight down low and up front of the chassis which works out pretty well. It's a different driving style to be sure, but it's very capable when set up correctly. My old Honcho with a grafted HPI suspension wheeled great! There's a thread here somewhere, though I'm sure Photobucket ate the pics long ago.

Having said that, it's nice to not have to fab up an HPI front end as I'm getting lazy in my old age- kudos to Associated for going out on a limb with this conversion. I backordered one as soon as it was announced, though didn't have a specific rig to put it on. I figured that was as good as an excuse as any to break down and order an Enduro kit to keep it all in the family. So I did!

It's been here for a while, but with the IFS kit shipping any day now and some downtime with a sick little one at home, it's time to get wrenching! Ordered the builders kit, some SSD performance goodies, Holmes motor/WP1080 combo and a Ram body.


Haven't built an Associated kit in years, last one was a TC3 w/rally conversion. Everything went together pretty well, and nothing most people haven't seen already. I'll just point out some odds and ends as I went. Found it odd I was missing some screws during the chassis build. Some 3x14BH instead of 3x12FH, and missing a 3x3BH screw. Only place I missed any - rest of the kit went fine.


Added a few of the hard bits here and there. to stiffen up the chassis. I think the front servo mount comes out, so I'll have to do a bit of tear down when the IFS kit arrives.


I thought the picture of the real battery tray awkwardly pasted in there with all the 3D renderings was funny.. like when your watching a cartoon and they cut to live action.






Anyway, transmission ready to go, geared as low as I can. Not a fan of the plastic fantastic stuff going on here with the spur gear. It's like an all plastic slipper with no pads.


Knowing the trans tends to sit up high, I ground it down and got it as low in the chassis as possible. Has to remove a bit of the spur gear cover but now it's not sky high in the chassis. Set up with the larger OD option (of course)

[OSRC]

Well, I don't need the front axle, but I built it anyway. I'll use it somewhere eventually. Seeing as how everyone snapped their c-hub by following the directions, I just snugged mine down.


Front and rear axles assembled. Smooth as butter! A buddy of mine runs an Enduro and it's very, very quiet. I can see why when I spin these axles. I'll start out with an Enduro axle out back, though I may swap it over to an SCX axle later since the internals are the same and they are identical width-wise, and use this pair for another build.


Rear links completed...I didn't use the stock plastic balls, they are just awful. Picked up some blue HR Axial 5.8mm balls and they fit fine. Super smooth action all around. I believe the rod ends are the harder plastic compound? They feel it for sure.


Shocks are fantastic - among the smoothest I've ever build on a scale rig. They are a bit bigger in diameter than most scale shocks but wow, they feel great! (I'm missing one, my little 7 year old helper was assembling it still ...)


Rear axle mounted up, with SSD weights. Love the mirror finish on these, wow. I have the ones for the front which should fit the IFS kit.


Basically ready to go when the IFS kit arrives. I'll hold off on any electronics or body mounting until it does.

[shOyx]

Looking great! I just finished my kit last week with pretty much the same parts xD and cannot be more pleased with how it performs, I'm also waiting for the IFS to do the conversion.

Did you get brass or aluminum hexes? The plastic ones that came with the kit are a joke.

[rkj__]

Nice build so far. Looking forward to seeing this one come together.

[JatoTheRipper]

I'm anxious to finally see an Enduro in person.

The shocks look to be the best part!

[Topher Builds]

Nice choice on the ram body, that will be a cool looking build and unique. Transmission placement looks good too, much better squatted down a bit. That should help your driveline angles a tad too as they can be a bit aggressive on this truck due to the low pinion. Which on that note, I’m not sure if that ring and pinion would fit an axial housing with a high pinion, but if you give it a shot I’d be interested in hearing how that goes.

Family guy clip FTW

[B-MOW71]

Subscribed and following along!

Build is looking good so far! Looking forward to seeing what you have planned for this build!

[Shinchu]

you got me. i saw the thread and i was like WAIT WHAT THEY ARE SHIPPING??! haha well played sir.

great start and i still need to cut down the mount on my RTR trans. great call on the steel balls and SSD weights. mine still has plastic and im waiting for it to be a problem. so far so good...

looking forward to the rest of your build! (didn't they say mid-feb? ummmm…)
*okay just saw the IFS thread... gonna try RPP!

[OSRC]

Thanks fellas, excited for this one. Definitely something different.

I have a soft spot for IFS and Rams, I wanted a body that was semi 1:1 accurate, and plan to paint it like my original 1/6 build.

[Zukiiholic]

Originally Posted by OSRC

T

Love, Love Your Dodge PowerWagon. Let me know when ya get tired of it.
Really..

call me.



I received my IFS today.
Waiting for you to put yours together and work out the Kinks before I do mine.



This is for my scx10. Will I need to upgrade to scx10 II axles and gears or will the scx10 gears fit?

Silly things I Need to know.

My 1:1 is IFS. soo.. Keep it scale..

[OSRC]

It's been on the shelf for over a year now... I need to take it out and blow off the dust!

Why would you need to upgrade to SCX10 gears? I've never run mine yet, but I've seen one in action for well over a year and it seems plenty durable.

[JatoTheRipper]

Originally Posted by OSRC

It's been on the shelf for over a year now... I need to take it out and blow off the dust!

Why would you need to upgrade to SCX10 gears? I've never run mine yet, but I've seen one in action for well over a year and it seems plenty durable.

No, don't! It'll make me want a large scale rig again.

[Zukiiholic]

Originally Posted by OSRC

It's been on the shelf for over a year now... I need to take it out and blow off the dust!

Why would you need to upgrade to SCX10 gears? I've never run mine yet, but I've seen one in action for well over a year and it seems plenty durable.

I haven't looked too much into the IFS gears yet
Not sure if the gears will be the same as my SCX 10.

Yes, First Gen.

Lately, Just installed the Over drive front gears.

[soze]

Nice build so far!

[OSRC]

It's here! Been picking at it all weekend when I had time. Been a busy weekend with the family, but I managed to sneak downstairs and get some wrench time in. Be forwarded, this is not a 20 minute job. Took me almost 3 hours total until I was happy with the whole thing.


Inside of the box...pretty funky, is it arcade game templates? I don't know. Pretty cool though, nice tough that they do something interesting with the boxes.


Nice pile of decals too.


Didn't take pics of every step, figured someone more loquacious than I would do a better job. (Also, my camera flaked a bit and some of them came out terrible.) In any case, just noted some odds and ends as I went.

Comes with a nice, metal 25t servo horn. Great if your servo is 25t, otherwise kinda useless. It's 11mm from the center of the recommended holes if you are looking to use a different servo and need to track down a horn.


Found the servo holes in the mount plate weren't wide enough to accommodate my cheapo 25k servo. I thought I could sneak the screw in there, but it just started shewing the mount. I used a round file and opened up the mounts on the servo so I could bolt it in.


Note the spot for the swaybar. Definitely an option coming...


Mounted up, you'll need longer shocks for full droop on the arms. Odd.


Done! I think the only reason you had to swap around the shock towers is because the panhard mount is in the way - I can't see any other reason. I just cut mine off - saved me a lot of time!


Swapped on some SSD knuckles. I opened the holes a bit with a round file as the screw heads didn't fit. Otherwise they bolt right on. Very nice!


Built stock, the front doesn't drop down nearly as much as the rear. In fact, there's much more down travel to be had up front and frankly, I think the rear drops down a little too much. My buddies Enduro rides kinds high for my liking. Definitely in need of some tuning!

[OSRC]

First mod...either I need longer shocks or longer rod ends. I went with the rod ends, much cheaper! Found these in my stash - worked out perfect - the shock bottoms out just before the arm does saving stress on the CVD.


Also, I went back and forth a bit and put just the right amount of spacers on the shock shaft to prevent too much up travel. The swing of the arm is limited by the dogbone joint at the cup. Going too far could easily bend up the CVD as I've found doing previous IFS attempts. I've got it so that the shock stops in both directions just before the CVD binds. For my setup, I ended up using one of the factory spacers and 1 red Tamiya O-ring.


Stock downtravel on the left, modded on the right.


And total travel. Not quite the swing of a solid axle, but pretty good! There's more to be had by grinding the inside of the diff cup, but I don't think it's needed.


Since I had to front axle off and the a spare rear AR44, I decided to put the AR44 on the rear... gear ratio is the same, width is the same... No performance benefit, but now I have a matched pair of Enduro axles for another project.


I mounted the shocks on the suspension mount ilo the shock mount so the axle would be tucked up a bit higher.


Now comparing the front to the rear, they are perfect! Both drop out to about the same length, and total travel is about the same - the rears have a slight bit more travel, but not absurdly so. Love the way this all came together! Kudos to Associated, it's a way cool option and nicely done.

[shOyx]

Amazing images and walkthrough, love the way your rig is going so far.

I went out today with my right and it perform waaay better than I expected, but notice that the springs are to stiff to be compressed as needed. I'm going to try a few different softer springs and see how it goes.

[mk3jetta]

Subscribed, definitely doing the longer rod ends on my truck for the next try

[raul shabinguez]

I like how you used longer rod ends on the front shocks. But how come you didn't use the shock lowering plates that were supplied? I thought that's what they were for.

Edit: lowering plates aren't the right term I'm sure. It came with plates to give you full travel on the front. They mount to the shock tower and provide a lower place to mount shocks.

[shOyx]

Originally Posted by raul shabinguez

I like how you used longer rod ends on the front shocks. But how come you didn't use the shock lowering plates that were supplied? I thought that's what they were for.

Edit: lowering plates aren't the right term I'm sure. It came with plates to give you full travel on the front. They mount to the shock tower and provide a lower place to mount shocks.

You are completely right, with those plates and the rear shocks attached to the link mounts will give you an even down travel front and rear.