Wraith trans choices for sand/dunes
 

I'm still acquiring the last few parts for my Wraith sand toy/Foff build and can't seem to make up my mind on the transmission. I've read through dozens of Foff build threads, and all of the wraith stickies, but I'm still torn. My powertrain consists of a Hobbywing 120amp sensored esc, 3400kv (3656 sized) 4pole sensored motor, 14/54 pinion/spur, standard ratio HD front R&P, HD UD rear R&P, and 2.8 sand paws. I'm currently planning to run my existing 3s packs, but 4s isn't out of the question in the future. I have other dedicated crawlers and go-fast RC's, this one is being built with dunes/sand in mind

I'm sure I'll be playing with the spur/pinion gearing, but I want to beef up the trans before the maiden voyage. I'm kicking around a few options and would like to hear some opinions:

1) Hot Racing cases with either SSD or HR gear set (2.6:1)

2) SSD high ratio kit (1.8:1)

3) SSD 2 speed (1.8:1 and 4.9:1)

4) just throw some HD gears in the stock cases (2.6:1)

Option #1 seems to be pretty tried and true.

Would #2 be a better option given my intended use? Cost is about the same as #1 and it would give me a nice bump in wheel speed, greater than switching to 4s. Not many people seem to run this trans, but it came out after most of the builds I've been reading. This is the option I've been favoring.

I hadn't really been considering the 2 speed until recently, but it does have the same high gear as the high ratio kit, and an uber low gear (allowing me to turn it into somewhat of a "crawler" along with a quick tire change?) for not much more money than the other options. The 2 speed would allow me to gear on the tall side for open dune running without giving up anything on the low end... or is that a moot point with my sensored brushless? I'm not really a fan of adding more moving parts if #1 or #2 are BETTER options.

#4 is cheap, but I have my doubts about the plastic housing living very long so I think I should probably skip this option?

Thoughts?

Re: Wraith trans choices for sand/dunes
 

After playing around with this calculator: R/C Calculations I think I've got a plan. With the SSD high ratio kit and my current setup, I've got a theoretical top speed between 25-29mph (UD and standard gears, so somewhere in between.) If I drop just 1 tooth on the pinion, I think it will be plenty fast enough, and not be totally useless on more technical climbs. That would be closer to the speed of stock tranny gearing on 4s, but without the added drivetrain stress, and I won't have to buy more batteries.

Re: Wraith trans choices for sand/dunes
 

Anyone here run the SSD high ratio transmission in their Foff rig? Is the drive pin on the output shaft (the one that the gear rides on) going to cause headaches? That is really the only potential negative I'm seeing, but I'd like to know if it's even an issue?

Re: Wraith trans choices for sand/dunes
 

Well being that this has been a one way conversation, I might as well keep talking to myself! I'm almost ready for the maiden voyage, I just need to finalize my esc mounting and tidy up the wiring. I did run the car on my lawn last night and I was a bit underwhelmed by the acceleration, hopefully it grabs and goes better in the sand. I'd estimate actual top speed at just over 20mph, so I'll bring some bigger pinions with me when I take it to the beach... I can see 4s in this car's future.

Purdy transmission:


http://i1188.photobucket.com/albums/...swlkmmwlz.jpeg

Getting closer:

http://i1188.photobucket.com/albums/...sbldnnk0z.jpeg

Re: Wraith trans choices for sand/dunes
 

I'm thinking it's pretty safe to say that the Axial 1.04lb springs are too soft for my setup. It sits at more than 50% compressed at ride height (2 1/4" under the skid.)

I think that I'd also like to go with Dlux's U4 truss that mounts the servo behind the front axle, both for housing strength, and better bump clearance. I already have SS beeftubes in the front, but I threw the rear axle truss on the bottom of the front housing just for kicks, I think it looks good, but I'm sure it will be a plow.

http://i1188.photobucket.com/albums/...shsuoswa5.jpeg

I love the way the SSD centered D60HD looks under here:

http://i1188.photobucket.com/albums/...sfky3uevk.jpeg

Profile view showing the ever so slightly stink bug stance, which I think is appropriate here:

http://i1188.photobucket.com/albums/...sg0gzonoe.jpeg

I'm in no hurry, but I think that a K5 body would look good on here if I could get it mounted low without having to chop it up too badly. My 1:1 crawler is a K5, but this car is closer to my friend Andy's sand dragster K5... here's his maiden run on his freshly built 1400+hp 604ci bbc, I suspect that a change of underpants was in order!:

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sour...VoDNSf2uPtngJw

^^^SERIOUSLY, WATCH THAT VIDEO^^^

Re: Wraith trans choices for sand/dunes
 

I threw the stock rtr Ripsaws on for a little test and tune. 14/54 is too slow. I thought I had more 32p pinions, but the only other 5mm shaft one I had was a 19 so I gave that a go. I had to shave a little more off the right/rear link mount, and even a little bit from one of the lugs that the skid plate bolts thread into.

19/54 is the tallest gearing that is going to physically fit, and I'd say that top speed is about what I had in mind, maybe even a touch too fast... but the acceleration is pretty weak. The way I see it, I either need to go 4s and gear back down, or I need a bigger motor.

I know that a 3660 will fit if I space the trans up, but I wouldn't be gaining all that much wattage. 1/8 scale 4074 or similar would certainly gitrdun, but that sounds like it's going to come with its own set of headaches. I guess more voltage is my easiest option.

What to do. What to do. Hmmm.

Re: Wraith trans choices for sand/dunes
 

Looking good.

Re: Wraith trans choices for sand/dunes
 

I am actually thinking of using the plastic housing. I got a GPM alu transmission case for my FOFF build but all holes meant for holding bearings and middle gear shaft seem horribly large. There is considerable play in assembled gearbox, stock plastic one seems a lot more solid in that respect. Maybe not a big deal for crawling or not a big deal at all but my inner feeling tells me not to even try it on a FOFF rig. Only problem is that the plastic case is out of stock in shops from where I usually order my stuff. The one I have is already used as a trail crawling gearbox and I don`t want to wreck it and be left with a metal case that could cause excessive wear on related parts.

Re: Wraith trans choices for sand/dunes
 

My stock trans housing had only been used for 800mah of 3s before I tore the whole rtr apart only to turn it back into a kit, so it was still in new condition. I did bench test my brushless motor while attached to the stock plastic transmission and I could feel the case halves wobble separately from each other. That is what started my search for better cases and internals. I have seen someone put bushings in the stock case halves for the idler gear shaft to ride on, and that, along with lots of grease, would probably hold up for quite a while with steel gears and a sensible power system.

While I know that the Hot Racing cases are a popular and proven option, the rest of my setup would have left me disappointed with the lack of speed... had I been using a 5000kv+ motor it would have still been a good choice, but that high kv would have ruled out 4s so I'd be stuck with 3s power. If for no other reason than that, I'm glad I went with the 1.8:1 trans vs everybody else's 2.6:1

The SSD high ratio transmission kit reuses the top shaft, top gear, clutch, gear cover, and idler shaft from the stock Wraith trans. After assembling it and running it on the bench (not bolted to the skid) it had none of the wobble that the stock output shaft/cases had, it felt very solid. The bottom gear uses a pin through the output shaft, much like a wheel hex pin through a stub axle. I put a few drops of thread locker into the recess of the bottom gear/surrounding the pin, in hopes that it will eliminate any shock loading. Time will tell if it is even an issue. I'm not at all concerned about the cases at this point, and it sure does look nice! One of the most "scale" looking transmissions out there for the Wraith if you're concerned with that.

My goal with this car was to try to build things ONLY ONCE so I believe the rest of the car should be up to the power of 4s. I'm already kind of wishing that I had just started with a 3660 sized motor, but I don't think it will be worth the $$$ to get another 200 peak watts of power output at this point. My ESC can handle more motor and voltage. We'll see what 4s does with the rest of the car as-is, hopefully that does the trick, because my Baja Rey is demanding more money now!

Re: Wraith trans choices for sand/dunes
 

I made a few last minute tweeks yesterday in preparation for today's beach run. I swapped out some revo rod ends for jato rod ends which pushed the rear axle back another 9mm so I'm pretty well maxed out for wheelbase at ~365mm. I also moved the front shocks to the center hole of the upper mount. During my trial front yard pass, my last spare servo (coincidentally the original axial/futaba? from this car) died, luckily my buddy gave me a cheap JR from an old airplane to get me by for today's run.

We headed out to the Pismo dunes nice & early with the goal of being out before the holiday crowds took over. I've got to say, the Wraith performed better than expected. While it was no powerhouse, it was able to go up everything I pointed it at, starting from a dead stop at the base of the dune. I was a little concerned that I may have gone a little overboard with the forward weight bias, but it really shined on the steeper dunes where my buddy's erevo (4x 3.8 paddles and 4s) would wheelie/backflip, or dig in if he didn't hit with some speed. Speaking of speed, I'd say it was just right. Fast enough to be fun in more open sections, and carry enough speed to catch a little air off the top of the bigger dunes I tried.

Now I've got a short list of things I want to do before taking it out again, but overall, I'm pretty happy with the way this car came together. The SSD hi-ratio transmission was the right choice for this car.

Sorry I didn't get any action shots of the Wraith, but here's proof that it left my workbench!:

http://i1188.photobucket.com/albums/...shxpvougz.jpeg

Re: Wraith trans choices for sand/dunes
 

I took the wraith to the riverbed (dry 99.99% of the time) last Sunday and killed the borrowed servo on the second backflip, so I borrowed a towerpro mg958 off my Redcat. That $11 servo has held up to the abuse thus far.

I took my family out again on Memorial day and met up with a few other local rc enthusiasts. I already knew my battery was insufficient, but it got to be downright frustrating on bigger dunes. I'd be doing great and then 10 seconds later the car would "stall", wait a few seconds and it would go again... a sure sign that the c rating was too low. We still had a good time!

http://i1188.photobucket.com/albums/...syozvxvpf.jpeg

My buddy with the erevo asked me to go to the dunes again this morning and I didn't have anything else going on, so why not? Since the last outing all I did was install a Hot Racing rear swaybar using the stiffest of the 3 bars, with the links on the closest (stiffest) hole. The swaybar effectively locked out the rear suspension articulation, so it pretty much only goes straight up and down. It definitely goes where you point it now, but I might try the medium stiffness bar to keep the rear wheels from bouncing around over sand ripples.

After about 10 minutes, the car just stopped and the battery had puffed enough to split the hard case. Meh. I saw that one coming. I ran a borrowed pack with 150amp constant discharge and the Wraith did fine with no stalling. Now that I have no choice but to buy batteries, the question is: do I go with 2) 2s's in series, or 1) 4s?

Proof that it moves under its own power!:

http://i1188.photobucket.com/albums/...smqmelkld.jpeg

Re: Wraith trans choices for sand/dunes
 

I got my 5500mah 40c 4s GensAce battery yesterday. Perfect fit. It ripped up my front lawn (sorry honey!) on takeoff, so I think I'm getting close. I know I need a few more things to get this car "reliable" and I really shouldn't take it out again until I get:

A new tx/rx (still using the Axial branded one which seems to glitch a lot and has pretty weak range) Will I be happy with a FlySky GT3B, or should I hold off until I can afford a Spektrum DX4_?

Servo (so I can put this one back in my crawler) The $11 TowerPro mg958 has enough speed and power for this application, and it hasn't died yet, so maybe it's not so bad? The only other 2 I'm currently considering are the Savox 1283sg, or Promodeler 470. I don't really need more power here, but those 2 have proven to be just about as bomb-proof as they come.

BEC to help reduce heat/load on the esc. The 6v/3a built in bec seems to be adequate for the current servo, but the esc is pushing pretty hard as the motor is regularly pulling over 100amps. An external bec could only help reduce heat.

Dlux U4 truss to allow more front compression clearance, make the front housing bomb proof, and it just plain looks cool.

Extend the motor leads and reroute them (currently running OVER the battery.)

I'm kinda eyeballing the Dinky RC "wedge" cowl induction hood since it would make an air gap above the esc's fan and a much more open path for heat to escape, but I wouldn't say that's a "must have" item just yet.

I might have to shelf this until I can finish it up right (but I'll probably just continue running it, and complaining about its known shortcomings!) or sell/trade off some stuff to fund this car. We'll see. The crazy wheels in my head keep turning and the thought of selling one of my motorcycles to buy rc stuff keeps entering my mind. Must. Resist. Like I said, crazy.

Re: Wraith trans choices for sand/dunes
 

My buddy used to run the GT3C in the dunes and it had weird range issues esp if the truck was below us. I had an older DX4 and it worked fine and im futaba now also with no issues. Is there a crawler scene in Santa Maria? im in SLO and its dead here.

Re: Wraith trans choices for sand/dunes
 

My dx2e has more range than I'm comfortable putting to use, which is why I was thinking I'd buy a better Spektrum radio... until I started pricing DSMR receivers. Nope. My usual rc partner in crime runs a dx4s with his race buggies/ sct's, but runs the gt3b for everything else. The gt3b has much better range than my crappy rtr axial radio, but like you said, it still loses signal when the car drops below grade, my dx2e maintained signal when I drove my Baja Rey into a 20'+ deep sand bowl about 3-400' away.

I'm 99% sure I'm going to buy a Radiolink RC3S (4ch) as it's supposedly nearly the same functionally as a Futaba 4pl and it also uses FHSS like Futaba. I know it's still a cheap radio, but it seems like a better option than the FlySky, for about the same price. Receivers are around $11, or $16 with a gyro, so it will be more affordable for me to use with more cars.

There's not much (any?) of a crawler scene here either. There's definitely a few die hard rc guys, but with no hobby shops nearby, it's kind of hard to rally the troops. I always stop by Hobby Headquarters if we're in the Atascadero area as they seem to have a pretty good selection of crawler stuff, but it's still unrealistic for us to keep most of our purchases local or encourage newcomer's to join in when "local" is almost an hour away. I've tried to get a few of my friends interested in crawling, but that was very short lived.

Oh well, there's a few guys that always seem to be up for running some sort of rc, and my kid's are interested, so that's good enough for me! A few of the guys that I run with are on the FB group "805 SLO RC" and arrange semi-frequent meetups, but rarely any crawling. I'm not on FB, so apparently I don't exist.

Re: Wraith trans choices for sand/dunes
 

Yea i tried to meet up with them at the dunes once but couldn't find them and i don't pay enough attention to fb these days. I used to run the 2 speed setup when i had a wraith it was cool but the shift servo was too close to my sensor cable and i always seemed to have issues but it may have been the harness for my bec not being grounded properly

Re: Wraith trans choices for sand/dunes
 

Photobucket can suck it, so I've got nothing to show, but I did order eveything on my to-do list.

For the radio, I went with a Radiolink RC3S. I'll pick up one of their gyro receivers next time, it might actually be usefull on a 30+mph Wraith.

I bought (2) Towerpro MG958 servos, cheap enough to keep a spare on hand, especially since it will fit any of my 1/10 cars. I really wanted to step it up on the servo, but I was able to get a lot more done on the car by cheaping out here... it has the speed and power this car needs, and has held up well so far, so no regrets here.

Dlux U4 black anodized, remachined, front axle truss.

Castle BEC, will set at 6.6v.

12g silicone wire and 4mm bullets for my motor leads.

I won't have it done this weekend, but hopefully she'll be all set for some dune action by next weekend. I can't wait to see how it does on 4s! With my Baja Rey being 4wd again and having a new set of panther paddles, the Wraith needs to step it up!

Re: Wraith trans choices for sand/dunes
 

Not that I've finished up this round of projects, but assuming that it will all go together okay, I've already got the wheels in my head turning for the next project...

With the Dlux truss allowing more uptravel without interference, I can see that suspension should probably be my next step. I know it will never keep up with even most sct's in the suspension department, but I think it could be worth switching to a rear trailing arm setup to milk a little more travel out of this thing without gaining ride height. Remember, sand toy, not competition foff or crawler.

If I go with a bomber skid/trailing arms, do I even need to relocate the upper shock mount? It almost looks like the shock could still mount outboard on the flipped stock upper mount (instead of inboard like when running trailing arms with a wraith skid) with the wider spread of the lower links when using a bomber skid? If not, maybe with the help of a "droop kit" to get the shock up/forward a bit more all would be well?

I know that the stock bomber skid is cheap, and will physically bolt in the wraith chassis, but then I'd have to adapt my tranny to it (which is easy enough) and I'd have the big dip in the belly. But... I like how the Circle City RC bomber skid is flush with the sides of the chassis, has Wraith transmission mounting holes, and should cleanly fit a 3663/550 motor (maybe bigger?) should I decide to switch motors later. The only downside I'm seeing is that my interior may not fit without chopping it up. Either bomber skid would also have the benefit of raising my upper links at the skid end for supposedly improved anti-squat characteristics.

Anyone care to shoot a hole in this idea, or am I on a good track?

Re: Wraith trans choices for sand/dunes
 

I got sidetracked while installing the Dlux U4 truss... the VP "zero ackerman" steering arms were prematurely contacting the ends of the truss, severely limiting my steering angle.

At first, I tried spacing the arms up, but I would have had to space them up about 3/16" to get the clearance needed to hit the steering stops, even with the tierod mounted on top of the arms.

I figured that different steering arms would likely be the fix, so I started looking to see what was available. Although a few options looked like they would get me close, they looked like they would only be true ackerman with a 20" ish wheelbase. The longer arms would have cleared up my tierod interference, but would not help to correct my ackerman, so I decided to make my own.

I drew a 1:1 diagram of my Wraith's wheelbase, front axle king pins (knuckle bolts), steering arm mounting holes, and rear axle's centerline, and drew lines from each kingpin intersecting at the center of the rear axle. I knew the VP arms weren't on the money (which is understandable considering that every different wheelbase/front axle kingpin-kingpin width would need a different offset arm) but I was surprised to see how far off they really were. Their "racing ackerman" arms would have just been even further off in the same direction. My new arms have the tierod holes nearly 5mm further outboard (per side) vs the VP arms, and are perfectly in line at 0° ackerman, and 20mm from the kingpin which gives me a 1:1 ratio of the steering arms to my servo horn.

I transfered my drawing onto 1/8 aluminum plate and drilled the 3 holes. I drilled the 2 knuckle side holes to 1/8" and then counter sunk them. I drilled the outer/tierod hole to 3/32 and will tap it to 3mm once I replace my broken tap. After the holes were drilled, I cut the plate with a thin cutoff wheel and smoothed the edges with a drum sander.

With the new arms bolted down I unthreaded the revo rod ends on my tierod until I had a tiny bit of toe out. I'll switch to cut-down jato rod ends after I make sure I'm happy with the toe. After that, I cycled the steering and had a little interference when the tierod was mounted below the arms, so I counter sunk the outermost screws on the truss and that cleared it up. This setup fits inside of a 2.2" wheel with the tierod under the arms, but will need wider hubs for the top mounted draglink to fit... no problems fitting inside of my 2.8"s.

I ended up with 59° of steering at the inside tire (obviously the outer tire now turns less) and proper ackerman geometry, so I'm pretty happy with the outcome even considering that it took me a couple hours to get it there.

Slowly picking away at this!

Re: Wraith trans choices for sand/dunes
 

I've got a couple runs on 4s, and it just doesn't work like I'd expected it to. I've had problems with this ESC (and maybe the motor too?) from the get go, it never ran with the sensor wire hooked up (even when I tried it with a borrowed, known good sensored motor) cogs like crazy at anything much less than full throttle, and it just never could deliver the kind of power that I anticipated. I would say that it has about 2/3 the power that I'd expect, which likely explains the problem.

Either way, the ESC took a dump tonight, it just would not go. No overheating, no burnt electronics smell, fan still running, steering still working. Motor still works when plugged into another (non sensored SC8) ESC, so I think I'll take my chances with buying a new ESC and still running this motor. So my question is:

Which ESC?

I've been researching for some time now (knowing it will probably be a few months before I can squeeze it in the budget) and have pretty much narrowed it down to two choices, Castle Mamba Monster X, and Hobbywing XR8. The MMX has one clear advantage of being able to toggle settings with the aux wire, and from what I've been able to find, it has a 120 amp rating (which is why I'm considering the MMX and not the smaller Mamba X.) The XR8 also has a strong BEC with adjustable voltage and a 140 amp rating which would better accomodate the larger 3668 size motors (2000+ watts, or about 135 amps on 4s) that are a strong possibility if I end up replacing the motor too. I've run with a few guys that happily run the XR8 in their 1/8 buggies, but we're not tight enough for me to ask to borrow their speed controller for a test run.

I've had really good luck with all of my other Hobbywing stuff (most of my brushed and brushless systems are Hobbywing) which is why I'm still considering their products. Should I just take the uber high powered motors off the table and enjoy the wider range of use that the MMX's aux wire could give me, or go bigger and choose the XR8? What do you guys think?

Re: Wraith trans choices for sand/dunes
 

So there I was...

Digging through my rc stuff to see if I had anything worth selling to fund my new ESC. I still had my nearly new AE2 ESC and 20t brushed motor. I figured that combo was probably worth $25 to somebody... and then it hit me. I'd rather have this car up and running, even on a brushed setup, than getting just 10% the price of a new power system out of it. I grabbed a spare receiver and plugged the esc in, then plugged in a, wait for it, 4S! To my surprise, it did not light on fire!

Knowing that even if the AE2 lives a reasonable lifespan on 4s, the little 540 would die an early death pushing 4 big paddles. I asked a couple buddies if they still had their old Titan 550's laying around, so I now have a 12t in my possession. I was hoping to find a 21t, but the 12t sounds perfectly happy at full throttle. I'm gonna run it.

I have no idea where to start on gearing, but I think I'm going to start at 15/54 and see if it has enough power to pull it... or if it can survive a full pack.

Weather permitting, I hope to take it out to the dunes next weekend. If it lasts the day, it will have been worth it. If nothing else it should be a spectacular show of sparks!

Re: Wraith trans choices for sand/dunes
 

All I came up with in 32p for a 1/8" shaft was a 20t... so a little more grinding in the motor mount slots and 20/54 it was! To recap: AE2 ESC, 4s, 12t Titan 550, 20/54, high ratio (1.8:1) transmission, 4) 5 1/4" paddles.

Now, I know those of you following along knew how this would end before it even started, but it only made it maybe 30' across my lawn before smoking the motor. Lot's of smoke. Like "I hope the neighbors don't call the fire department" smoke. This is not a good application for a 550 brushed motor. Back to the drawing board... or, rather, the shelf.

Re: Wraith trans choices for sand/dunes
 

I've been playing around with parts that I already have, trying to find a new direction for this car. I'd really like to get more use out of this, so I'm going to let go of the high powered paddle tired setup and go back to brushed with crawler-esque tires. I have no desire to switch this over to a dedicated crawler, rather something I can bash around the yard, or when camping, but still be able to crawl along side my son's Redcat. Surprisingly, none of my 2.2"s clear the steering on this, but I have a set of 1.9"s that do.

Now, ar60's are too wide for my 4.4" tires even with .225 hubs, and the wheelbase is too long, but I think I like the 1.9" wheel itself. Currently considering the 5.4" tall Proline boggers and sticking with .225 hubs. I did find one build that used those tires on ar60's and it looked alright, but I'm hoping the narrower hubs will make it look more proportional. http://www.rccrawler.com/forum/2-2-s...ki-bronco.html

I determined that my AE2 doesn't like me, so I borrowed a Hobbywing wp860 out of another one of my cars. With a 20t motor and 16/87 gearing on 4s, it is just a touch fast (just over 20mph) but didn't have the grunt I wanted on 3s. Switching to a borrowed titan 21t, it's about as fast as I would want on 4s, but was still running a little hot at about 150°. I think 15-20mph is getting pretty close to the handling limits of a narrow tire Wraith with stock-ish suspension and I want to end up somewhere in that range. The way I see it, I can either go 3s with a 21t 550 (which I've run in my old Wraith with stock transmission gearing), or 4s with a 27t 550. I'll need to buy a new esc either way, so I can either go with another wp860 with CC bec (like I am currently borrowing) and run 4s, or stick to 3s and go with the ever popular wp1080. I found that 4s can easily make the tightened down clutch slip when crawling, where you'd have to be driving pretty carelessly to make it slip on 3s. Maybe 3s is just the way to go?

I feel like I have ADD with this car, too many rc projects and life distractions does that I guess.

Re: Wraith trans choices for sand/dunes
 

Woohoo! My wife picked up a set of the 5.4" Proline Boggers (among other rc goodies!) for me tonight, but I'll have to wait until Christmas to open them. I did at least get a chance (before she hid everything from me) to hold them up next to a stock 2.2 Ripsaw, the 1.9" Boggers are every bit as tall and may even be taller once I squeeze them on to 1" wide wheels. So stinkin cool lookin'! That pretty much sealed the deal for the direction this car is headed. I'm just a set of RC4WD blue/proline rings and a WP1080 away from being up and running with its own parts again.

Re: Wraith trans choices for sand/dunes
 

I got the 5.4"/1.9" Proline Boggers mounted up to my Chinese KMC 222's using RC4WD "proline compatible" rings. I didn't even try mounting them with the standard inner rings that came with the wheels, but I'm wondering if that might have gone a bit smoother? Either way, they're all mounted up, using the stock proline foams, they're too soft as expected. I'll try out my 4 1/4" Deuce's Wild foams and a layer of soft proline foam wrapped around that when I'm bored with a few hours to kill.

I also got a new SSD Dana 60 front diff cover that finished off my AR60 very nicely, just had to file a tiny bit of it down so it would play nice with my Dlux U4 truss.

I got the WP1080 mounted under the hood along with the Radiolink receiver, light controller, and ginormous brick of 3s. I switched the 1080's battery plug to Deans (even though I like the XT60 better) just because all of my other cars/ batteries already use Deans. I cut the esc's motor leads shorter and soldered on 4mm bullets so that the connection is easily accessible right under the electronics tray. I soldered on extra long leads to the motor using silicone wire and 4mm bullets, and ground a flat spot in the shaft of a new Electifly S600 19t 550 brushed motor.

I was a bit disappointed to find that neither my 10 nor 12 tooth pinions could get proper mesh with the 54t spur, so I had to go with a 14t for now. I knew that would be pretty tall gearing (for crawling) along with my high ratio transmission, but I gave it a shot anyway. With the drag brake off, the car was a hoot in open terrain, topping out right around 20mph while still being pretty easy to keep on all 4... But it got hot quick when I asked much of it in the rocks. Too hot. More magic smoke! I have another 19t 550 on its way already (giving the Redcat branded one a try this time) along with a Robinson 58t steel spur (from what I could find, this should just barely fit under the cover) which will at least let me run 12/58, and hopefully even 10/58.

Besides killing another motor due to nothing other than over gearing, the car does fairly well in my backyard boulder field. Stiffer foams, lower gearing, and a narrower track width ought to get things moving in the right direction. I don't think LURC's .185" hubs will work with my homemade ackerman arms (though I'm tempted to order some anyway) but a .225 should. I just need to find a reasonable balance of gearing between top speed and motor temperature while crawling now.

I'll try to make those changes in the coming week and report back.

Re: Wraith trans choices for sand/dunes
 

I know, I know... worthless without pictures.

I think I've finally zeroed in on my sweet spot. Holmes Hobbies Trailmaster Sport 27t 550 with 11/58 gearing, still running the high-ratio transmission.

My pieced together foams turned out pretty good, good enough that I don't want to change them. I used my Dueces Wild foams with a ~1/2" of the Proline foams around that. The closed cells do slip a little side to side on the wheel, but they keep my tires from wadding up into little balls when I hook an undercut, and the soft outer foams lets the tread conform and gets a "just right" amount of sidewall wrinkle.

I threw on a set of narrow hex's and some of SSD's brake rotor SLW hubs. The hubs fall somewhere between .225"s and .185"s and left exactly one gnat's ass between my sidewall and the rod end on my draglink. Couldn't have asked for a better fit. My track width is about 11 1/4" now, which is still pretty wide, but that's as narrow as it's gonna get without narrowing tubes or switching to short course wheels (neither of which appeal to me.) Of course I still hit/drag the diffs, but it is manageable now and I can generally drive my way around that issue, so I'm happy with the width.

Wanting more front weight bias, I got creative with some black stick on weights and now have 3oz on the back/sides of my servo (which is behind the axle tube.) I was thinking that VP knuckle weights were in my future, but I came across some $24 brass knuckles on ebay that seemed worth a look. I convinced a buddy to be the guinea pig, so he bought a set and I mounted them up for him. The idea behind them is good, but the quality control, fit, and finish all leave a lot to be desired. With a bit of effort, I got everything turning smoothly. Total weight is about 6oz. They also need a .350" hub to clear, so I'm still undecided if I'll order a set for myself. As far as I know, the VP weights will fit my narrow hex's/hubs since they mount entirely behind the pin, but is it worth paying double (not even taking into account the cost of the knuckles themselves)? Meh. We'll see.

With these changes, the Wraith has gone from my least used car, to one of my most used cars, so overall I'm happy that I changed directions.

Re: Wraith trans choices for sand/dunes
 

A few more changes...

I switched to a 4mm longer servo horn and forgot to check clearances/set end points before running the car, so I finally killed my mg958. Good excuse to try something new. I ended up going with the $33 mg959v2 which puts out 30kg @ 6v (or 32kg depending where you get your specs) and re-indexed the horn to work with a shorter draglink, no more interference. Power seems totally adequate, and the WP1080's BEC doesn't seem to complain.

I came across a used set of VP knuckle weights here in the classifieds. I'm glad I didn't have to buy new, because I had to grind the crap out of them to work with my home made ackerman arms, probably lost 1/2oz total. In the end, they work with my narrow hex's and hubs, and I'm at 54° of steering... I think I can live with that.

You know how when you go to a hobby shop and they don't have what you needed, but you feel obligated to buy something anyway? Well, I went in for a bunch of bearings, and came out with a set of overdrive gears. I already had underdrive in the back and HD standards up front, but since I was due for new bearings in the front axle anyway, it would only take 4 more screws to change the gears too.

Between the extra knuckle weight, stronger servo, and OD gears, I found myself regularly turning TOO SHARP! It seems foreign to me, NOT having to turn full lock everytime I turn now. While having both UD and OD gears positively helped turning, climbing, and descending, it makes reversing something that you want to avoid. Not that you can't back up, just that you can hear and see the drivetrain load up, and the chassis raises up considerably as the axles try to walk towards each other. Reverse wheelies happen a bit too easily if you're even slightly bound up and tap reverse. Luckily, I don't need to back up nearly as often now, so it's been a worthwhile trade off. Surprisingly it doesn't seem to have any other noticeable negative impact even running at full speed (which is probably only 10mph now) on hard terrain/asphalt/concrete.

At this point I'm pretty satified with the way this car is performing, and nothing really jumps out at me as needing attention. Maybe some shocks that don't leak? Better yet, just drive it and catch up on some other rc projects.

Re: Wraith trans choices for sand/dunes
 

A few big changes over the last 3+ months. The mg959 servo stripped the big gear on the output shaft... twice. I was really happy with the performance, but gearsets are not available separately, so I tried something else. Went with one of the steel geared, 46kg JX brand servos. It was fairly impressive performance for the price, but I'd say they were a bit on the optimistic side with the 46kg rating. That really didn't matter since it ate an intermediate gear after less than 3 weeks in service. I'm planning to buy a set of Holmes Hobbies hv500v1 gears to try to repair the jx, but for now it sits in a drawer.

Luckily, I had a few bucks set aside to put this car back on 2.2"s, so when the servo died, I decided to bite the bullet and use my tire/foam/wheel money to buy a Savox 2290. This is the first servo that has been able to lift the car by steering (think: hanging on a ledge with the inner sidewall of a front tire) or wag the ass when the front is wedged (sometimes.) Hopefully it lasts a good long time!

Since my wife is awesome, I was able to take advantage of another one of ebay's 20% off coupons to order 2.2" Proline Hyrax's and Chinese OMF style 1" wide beadlocks. I stuffed them with Crawler Innovations 6" Double Deuce soft fronts, and medium rears. These wheels were some of the most drama-free that I've had the pleasure of mounting, even with Proline tires. Having the inner and outer rings keyed for alignment made all the difference. After about 10 packs, I decided I wanted a bigger contact patch/softer foam setup on the front, so I pulled just the outer ~1/4" tuning ring and that seemed to do the trick.

Another significant change was the transmission. I'd been crawling along just fine with the SSD high ratio trans and giant 1.9"s, but I knew I'd be pushin' it with the switch to the 5.75" (actual height) 2.2" setup. Not being in a position to dump a bunch of money into a bomb-proof setup, I opted to go cheap and reuse the stock plastic transmission case. I did not want to risk insta-failure by using the stock plastic idler and bottom gear, so I spent a whopping $6 on the sintered metal gears from the newest rtr versions of the SCX10.2. They dropped right in, and have got to be a good amount stronger than the plastic gears, time will tell, but so far, so good. I guess that last change should come with a request to move this thread from Foff to the regular Wraith section huh?

Since the goal of the bigger tires was almost entirely just to get more clearance/breakover under the axle tubes, I still kept my narrow hex's/hubs. The extra diameter puts the edge of the tires hard into the lower links when turning, so I've got some of Dravtech's angled link mounts in my shopping cart to buy me a bit more room. I also plan to add some Dlux brass rings to my VP knuckle weights, and it looks like I might be able to stack 2 on each side, and keep my cool looking brake rotor hubs IF I just switch back to standard Axial hex's... I think I can handle that 0.080" of total added width.

I still think a shorter wheelbase is in the cards to increase breakover angle at the belly, without making the car any taller. I can go 11mm shorter at each end before needing to change any driveshaft parts, so the plan is to make just the front links 10mm shorter and see how she goes.

Re: Wraith trans choices for sand/dunes
 

After experimenting with a ton of different length links, I'm calling it good at 13.4" wheelbase. The front MIP driveshaft is within 1mm of bottoming out with the suspension bottomed. I used stock length titanium uppers on the rear, and made the lowers ~3-4mm shorter than standard to roll the pinion up out of harms way with a ~20° bend about an inch from the axle/link mount.

I gained a bit more steering with the Dravtech angled link mounts on the front axle, and another ~20° bend (rolled on a 45° so I get more steering clearance and ground clearance) in the front lower links. I'll shave the inner sidewalls of the front tires to alleviate a little of the grabbyness at full lock, but that's likely going to be the end of my quest for better steering.

Unfortunately the Dlux brass rings were not the same bolt pattern as the VP AR60 knuckle weights (I'm guessing they'd fit XR10 knuckle weights?) but neither Dlux, nor VP ever said they would, so I wasn't going to bother trying to exchange them. Since I didn't have another car that they would fit, I threw them on with just the top bolt holding them in place, seems to stay put just fine.

A friend needed some longer shocks that I had, so I ended up trading for a set of 4 XXLong Traxxas Big Bore shocks. I liked the idea of running Mini-T springs up front, just for the sake of tire clearance while twisted/turned, but I didn't have any on hand like I thought I did... I did have several different rates of 1/18 scale springs from Dromida 4.18's, which worked out just as well. The I.D. is a little larger than Mini-T springs, but they stay seated inside the lower seats and on the small diameter section of the shock body. They are also slightly shorter than Mini-T springs so there is almost no preload. I settled on black/"extra hard" up front, and chrome (non-color coded, only used on the "Wasteland" cars that came with dart launchers on top) that are around 10% stiffer on the rear, and I'm very happy with it. I did the cap mod on one pair (rear) to get a few mm's more length, still undecided if I'll do the same for the front. I never fully realized how much the original shocks sucked, until I mounted a set that didn't!

So now I'm at a crossroads with this thing. It already crawls better than I could expect any Wraith or Bomber to, but I find myself wanting more. Do I keep it Wraith-like and: switch to Bomber interior (I already ditched the resin seats) so I can tummy tuck along with a flat skid? That might also lead to an idea lifted from White-trash of using an SSD AR44 rear axle with .850 hubs (would end up a little narrower than my AR60 with .185's) while keeping my current AR60 up front. That would be the equivalent of running od/ud AR60's, but with standard AR60 gears up front and standard AR44 gears out back, along with more clearance, less torque twist, and lower overall gearing.

...or, swith to the BPC "Bomber" chassis, which is basically a frame rail conversion for Wraith/Bomber skids. I'd run both a short course body which will actually cover/tuck the wheels (wheelbase and width of a Slash body fits perfect), and a small comp crawler body (along the lines of the Parma Xciter) depending on the occasion. I could add a flat skid here too. This route would definitely set it apart from every other Wraith out there, but I really don't know how much (if any?) performance I'd stand to gain. This is the route I'm currently favoring.

Lastly, I could go off the deep end and start hunting for a sportsman type chassis and never fit in with the scale nerds again.

What do you guys think?

Re: Wraith trans choices for sand/dunes
 

I like your first idea of keeping it wraith like and tummy tuck, and go with white-trash's idea with the axles, saw his post and it's a good plan.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk

Re: Wraith trans choices for sand/dunes
 

There's no going back now! I figured if I was willing to ditch the Wraith chassis, I had nothing to lose experimenting with the tummy tuck first. I removed the interior completely for now, if I end up liking this setup, I'll order up a Bomber interior down the road. I've read about many people's rails breaking after the mod, so I chose to go the route of drilling through the outer rail of the chassis, and the inner, with spacers in between. I made the spacers out of 1/4" aluminum tube, cut to 22mm, then notched on each end (leaving ~20mm between) to fit nicely around each longitudinal rail of the chassis. I used the cut off skidplate mount portion of the chassis as my drill guide, ensuring things would actually line up. I then used m3x45 stainless BHCS's to draw it all together. I positioned the chassis so that the spur gear cover was touching the back of my Wertymade battery plate, but ended up needing to give the plate a little buzz with a sanding drum since there was a bit of pressure on it with things tightened down. I ended up gaining 3/4" under the skid, now at a whopping 3 5/8"!

With it all back together, I took it for a brief test run on my backyard course. I can see that I'll have my work cut out for me getting this car dialed in again... I just couldn't leave well enough alone! Here's what I've noticed so far:

First off, there is binding at the trans side of the front driveshaft. I swapped the long hub/yoke from that shaft with the shorter/standard one off the diff side of the rear shaft. That made the shaft longer from pivot to pivot, which took off just enough angle to alleviate the binding, but the shaft now rubs the spur cover. I'll clearance that later. Worst case here, Supershafty/MIP sells a really stubby hub that I could run on the diff side, which would flatten out the angle another couple of degrees.

The added height really jacked up my front suspension's geometry. I've now got a few rod ends binding, the upper links hit the bottom of the chassis long before the shocks bottom out, and I lost almost all of my caster. I can get away with straight upper links now, which would help with the chassis/link interference, so I just rolled them on their sides for now (that is the reason for two of the rod ends binding.) I'll make new upper links soon. I also need to make slightly longer lower links to get my caster back, which will help roll my shock mounts back down a smidge at the same time, and get back some of the ~3/16" of wheelbase I lost in this process.

The center of gravity is too high for me now. I've got a few sketchy descents (about 70° plus) in my backyard that I usually will wiggle my steering to shimmy the car down and just ease into the throttle as it gets near the bottom, but as soon as I dropped the front wheels over and the belly touched, it was ass over tea kettle. On the flip side, it climbed right up a few spots that usually require multiple attempts, a bit of wheel speed, and steering side to side to get the belly up and over. That being said, I'd like to split the difference here and try to further lower the suspension to get down to ~3 1/4"ish under the skid and see if that's more manageable. I know it sounds counterproductive, but that would net me 3/8" more belly clearance, and 3/8" lower roof height than what I started with.

I may try mounting the lower ends of my rear shocks next to the lower links, using a single longer bolt... ala scx10. That will probably be real close, but my other option for the rear is to make a simple plate to move the upper mounts up/forward similar to the commercially available shock keys/"droop" brackets (I do not think that means what you think it means!) The front may be a bit more of a challenge simply because I'd prefer that the shocks bottom before/at the same time that the upper links hit the chassis, but I'm sure I'll figure something out.

If you've actually been able to read through this whole thread, you have a better attention span than me! Maybe, just maybe one day I'll setup a new photo hosting account.

Re: Wraith trans choices for sand/dunes
 

It's about time to start writing a list for Santa, so I need to make a decision. I want to switch to an AR44 in the rear, and I have narrowed it down to 2 options:

#1: for AXIAL WRAITH YETI AR60 RR10 #XS-AW-2XS (FREE SHIP), ,(XS-AW-2XS) by Xtra Speed Assembled Aluminum CNC & Alloy Rear Axle

Pros:
direct bolt in
full AR60 width
looks like the upper link mount could be bolted on lower (instead of making RULR's at the chassis side)
offset diff

Cons:
still uses huge lockouts
full AR60 width (yes, I listed that under "pros" too)

#2 Pro44 Complete Rear Axle for SCX10 II

Pros:
slightly more clearance under one side of the pumpkin
Narrower overall
replaceable center section for when I inevitably grind through it

Cons:
centered diff means it will drag more often than an offset diff
will need .850 hubs minimum, which will still leave it ~3/4" narrower than an AR60, might be too narrow
no truss

I thought I was sold on the SSD complete pro44, but after following along with a couple builds (like mewalsh's rock bouncer) I see that the XtraSpeed/KYX/Integy/Chinesium AR44/60 hybrid has proven durable, even under a brushless bouncer. While I would like to go slightly narrower, I can really only afford 3/8-1/2" while maintaing tire clearance at the back of the Wraith cage, so that leaves me a little gun-shy of an SCX width axle. I'm thinking that the smaller 44 sized pumpkin, combined with the offset diff, would give me the breakover angle between the rear tires that I'm lacking, while keeping it full AR60 width. If I wanted it narrower still, it may be just as easy to switch to XR lockouts and cut the shafts, which would then put it ahead of the Pro44 in pretty much all aspects for my application. I know that an SSDlux 44 rear could get me exactly what I'm after, I'm just not so sure it's worth twice the price of the 2 axles in question for this particular car.

Anybody have thoughts on this?

Re: Wraith trans choices for sand/dunes
 

Seeing how Photobucket has been sorta kinda cooperating, I thought I'd update with a few pics:

Rear upper link risers:

http://i1188.photobucket.com/albums/...psvlc2xkno.jpg

...to which I also added a cross brace:

http://i1188.photobucket.com/albums/...psho3kcfwi.jpg

Xtra Speed AR44 (AR60 width) shown with my well used SSD D60HD (I had worn completely through the bottom, but had zero issues with it otherwise):

http://i1188.photobucket.com/albums/...ps9dzeb7uj.jpg

My current front axle setup, I had ground through the plastic AR60 housing and an SSD aluminum cover, so I'm giving an Xtra Speed pot metal housing a shot, HD38/13 gears and a LURC heavyweight FI spool installed. I also cut the bumper supports back almost 1/2" and made a small skid plate to tie them together:

http://i1188.photobucket.com/albums/...pss0xmlste.jpg

The metal axle housing may be the straw that broke the camel's back... this porker weighs in at 8lbs 10oz with a 2200mah 3s on board! Time to move to stiffer foams up front, but I'd really like to trim some of the fat without having to scrap my new axles.

I've got my Mamba Micro X, 1800kv Holmes Revolver, and Castle 10a bec all soldered up, but I need to program it all in Castle Link (which I don't have) before I make the switch from the brushed setup that's currently in the car.

Re: Wraith trans choices for sand/dunes
 

Seeing how the 2290 is basically the equivalent of having full-hydro steering, I thought it would be appropriate to put a hydraulic steering ram in place of the draglink:

http://i1188.photobucket.com/albums/...psdxikeydd.jpg

Re: Wraith trans choices for sand/dunes
 

I've got one battery through the Revolver now, still getting a feel for it. Initial impressions are

1) it's much louder under load than it was on the workbench. I think I'm getting a case of mechanical sympathy since it sounds like the dying shriek of a small animal when I have to give it a fair amount of throttle to get out of a bind. It hasn't set off a chain reaction of howling dogs in the neighborhood, so maybe I can still get away with running it in my backyard after dark (common occurance here.)

2) initial startup speed seems to be lower than my brushed motor, but not quite as smooth... very close though.

3) top speed is noticeably higher than my 27t 550, maybe gained 2mph?

4) without having watched the clock, I can already tell that my runtime has increased.

5) even pushing hard, the motor (and the mamba micro x) never got more than just a few degrees over ambient temp.

All that said, I'd like to start experimenting with taller gearing again. I may just throw the high ratio trans back in and see how she does. If it can pull just as well down low, the taller gearing will give this car some of its old personality back, and the mamba x's rock racer mode would actually be worthwhile. Right now, I have the drag brake ramp set to medium and it just barely lifts a rear tire when going from full throttle to zero with the drag brake set to 100% I'll try the next stronger setting on the ramp as well as a few other minor adjustments next time I plug in Castle Link.

Side bonus: even though I never noticed any glitches, brown outs, or much stalling all this time running the 2290 servo from the wp1080's bec, it definitely has more grunt now that it's running off of the CC 10a bec at the same 7.4v.

Re: Wraith trans choices for sand/dunes
 

Glad to see someone keeping this section alive. "thumbsup" Have accumulated some SCX10 parts myself so hoping to move on with my own project some time soon.

Re: Wraith trans choices for sand/dunes
 

Lots of small changes to this car (and my health, 2 major spinal surgeries and a stroke) since I last posted. I was just finishing up my MOA build when I had my stroke, and the reality was that I wouldn't be able to get myself to the type of terrain that car needed to challenge it, so I sold it and kept tinkering with the cars that I could run on my home course. Since it's been a dedicated crawler I finally installed dig (last year?) which has been working well. The noise of the Revolver wears me down after awhile so I ran a 2700kv Puller Pro Stubby for awhile, but it just didn't have the torque I was after, so it was back to the Revolver. When I got my Capra kit last October I moved the stubby and MicroX into that, so the Wraith finally got a more appropriate MambaX. The Hyraxes had seen enough wheel time to be rounded off in both directions and it was obvious they weren't working like they used to, so I put a set of (taller) Jconcepts Ruptures on.

I found myself running the Capra much more often than the Wraith simply due to the noise of the Revolver, so I finally broke down and bought the motor that I should have got for this car in the first place, a standard size 3500kv Puller Pro. On 4s it crawls just as smooth/slow as the Revolver did, but with MUCH less noise. It has a lot more torque than the stubby too but seems slightly noisier. It's now twice as fast as it was with the Revolver, but since I'm geared 65:1, it's still (barely) manageable on 4s... so I figured I'd better try it on 6s to be sure! That's the attitude this car has been missing! I know 6s operation is not endorsed for this motor by Mr. Holmes, but I'll do it at my own risk. It's not as bad as the 7700kv on 3s I ran in an old Slash and that lived for at least a few passes... maybe more!

All that said, with the Capra moving into the role of my primary backyard crawler, and the Wraith having some nuts again, I'm kinda wishing I hadn't sold my 2.8 Sandpaws. These Ruptures hook pretty well on dirt and will lend themselves better to rock strewn creek beds with the nice square Foff competition style ledges. Running 4s (and on occassion, 6s) with this motor gives me enough wheelspeed (about 21mph, like RIGHT NOW, on 6s) to get up sand hills and ledges without even changing any of my uber low gearing. This motor really makes the Wraith a better all-'rounder.

Re: Wraith trans choices for sand/dunes
 

Seems like the whole FOFF world has tanked. I left RC several years ago when it was just heating up and came back hoping to find it still going.
I'm curious on your final motor choice. Are you pretty much a HH motor guy, or have you run Castle? My crawler had a Revolver and I loved it. My non crawlers ran Castle. I'm trying to wrap my noggin around where things are at and build a FOFF just for fun.

Re: Wraith trans choices for sand/dunes
 

Well, around here, Foff is pretty non-existant too. We have the Oceano (Pismo) dunes nearby, so plenty of guys have dedicated sand rc's that will climb the biggest dunes, but it's just not the same to drive a 1/5 gas car or shortcourse truck or monster truck, and I can still crawl over stuff at a snail's pace with the Wraith so it's a better all 'rounder. Jack of all trades, master of none... but it's a damn good crawler and gets over all the dunes even if it's not the most graceful.

The nice thing about the Wraith's current setup is that it's just a transmission (or pinion/spur) change away from outrageous speeds so I could potentially turn it back into an out of control/40mph+ sand car in a few minutes.

I guess I'd say I'm a Holmes Hobbies guy when it comes to my crawler based stuff. I run Hobbywing in most of my faster stuff though. I went with the 3500kv to get as much wheelspeed as possible without overdoing it on 4s (6s IS overdoing it!) and it has not given up any low speed control whatsoever, in fact, it has smoother startup than the revolver or the 2700kv Stubby, definitely smoother than my sensored 3400kv Hobbywing, and is on par with any of the many brushed motors I've run in this car (which have admittedly not been high end.) I've run a few Castle motors in SCT's and I may be imagining things, but the Puller Pro feels like it has more torque than they did. I have not run a Tekin motor, but after reading comparisons over several years, it seemed like most people who had run the Puller Pro and Pro4/Roc412 preferred the HH motor, so I went with that. If you were considering larger than a 540/550 motor, the playing field is probably a bit more level.

The Castle MambaX ESC paired with the HH Puller Pro is a great combination that doesn't seem to give anything up. Smooth sensored startup without a hint of cogging, excellent programmability to make smooth (or punchy if you prefer) throttle/brake curves, the ability to turn dragbrake on/off on the fly, both are water"proof", 6s capability (obviously depending on your motor's kv) and the 3500kv hauls butt in a crawler based car. If money were no object, I'd still choose this same combo in this car.

Re: Wraith trans choices for sand/dunes
 

Makes good sense, thanks for the info.
I'm sticking with a 540 can until I build a tuber chassis.
I have a few CC motors laying around that I am going to try out, but, I am looking at the HH Puller Pro 3500 as well. I only recently got acquainted with the Hobbywing products via my Super Baja Rey with an 8s 2200kv conversion, so far I like it and the tunability... I also like the HW higher amp ESC products, good prices.

From what I am experiencing, the hard core scaler guys have killed a lot of interest in non crawler comps and outings. I'm having problems just trying out drag racing. I want to have fun and play, but keep getting crap when I make the mistake of talking to a couple guys I see a lot.

Re: Wraith trans choices for sand/dunes
 

Big changes are coming!

I finally bit the bullet and bought a new chassis. I desperately wanted a BPC Bomber chassis, but I procrastinated so long that they became unobtanium. I ended up with an Xtreme Racing carbon fiber Bomber chassis. I've got the chassis itself swapped and lost almost a full pound in the process (I didn't think the wraith cage/battery tray/body were that heavy) and am now working out the kinks with the suspension. I'm finally swapping the rear to Twin Hammers trailing arms and dropping the ride height down a little bit, so the upper links are going to need to be redone to roll the rear pinion down, and to clear the behind-the-axle servo in the front at full compression. There's a high likelihood that I will be changing the skid to a 3d printed Bomber flat belly skid and still use my Wraith transmission. I've narrowed it down to either the Circle City RC, or Dinky RC skids, they each have their merits.

The plan is to run a Proline 78 Chevy stepside short course body which will give full tire coverage and (hopefully) let them tuck inside on articulation. A Vanquish VS410 rear bumper matches the width of the stepside bed (just the bed at the tailgate, not the fenders) perfectly and the Xtreme Racing frame rails narrow after the skid to allow use of SCX10 bumpers/mounts. I've been running Jconcepts 2.2 Ruptures for awhile now and they've been pretty dang good all around (better than the Hyrax anyway) but this new body setup may deserve a new set of shoes... we'll see.

I also have a Progressive RC "Fat Barber" front diff cover/skid coming from Shapeways (it's been like 6 weeks now, what gives?) that will gain a good amount of clearance under the front end. Hopefully it'll be closer to my AR44 based rear axle.