I got completely BOM'd this weekend
 

So, how many ways can we work BOM into a thread title? :)

Not going to detail the build per-se, already several great build threads. Just going to point out a few things I found interesting, annoying, or amusing.

Starting off with a box shot of course... showed up on Saturday along with some SSD brass knuckles, Traxxas X-rings and some shims just in case. The Mountain Dew was already here and is a poor substitute for Leinenkugel.
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I'd hate to be the guy at the Gmade factory that has to deal with D-bags all day. Kinda reminds me of my old job now that I think of it.
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Really like the look of the wheels...your standard 8-hole style. I won't be using them here, but they'll find a home somewhere for sure.
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All the screws for the kit are separated into tiny bags, not with the other parts for each step. Not sure I've ever seen this before. For each step, you have to hunt through and find the screws you need. Unless you have several tiny bins, it's kind of a pain.
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Bolted on the SSD AR44 brass Knuckles and found that I had about 20 degrees of steering. They bolt on fine, but the shoulders/stops of the C-hubs restrict movement..hmm..
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I took a chance and ground down the stops on the C-hubs while watching the Brad K show/wreck fest at Vegas. Don't think it compromised strength any, but time will tell. I did add a 3mm washer to the top of the C-hub as I had a pretty good gap. Now fits perfect with no play, and plenty of steering angle.
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That's where I stopped for the night. I got both axles assembled, and the gears are very crunchy as others have noted. More crunchy than I'm comfortable with. I expect a little crunching as the gears wear in, but at certain points I cannot turn the axle by hand. Made sure not to over tighten the bearing caps, and not sure where else to buy some clearance, so I'll just let them break in I guess. We'll see if they loosen up after a few runs..

Re: I got completely BOM'd this weekend
 

Interesting note on the grinding, mainly for me as mine are both fine... People commenting on how quiet my rig is.

Re: I got completely BOM'd this weekend
 

Once assembled I spun the axles 40 or 50 revolutions using a hex driver as a lever...loosened right up and crunchiness was gone. "thumbsup"

I personally like having the hardware bags labeled individually...laid them all out on a TV tray adjacent to my bench chair so I can go right to what I need.

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Re: I got completely BOM'd this weekend
 

The other place to loosen is the shaft/gear housing side itself. I made sure not to overtighten that side as well. It's mostly smooth, but there is one "rougher" spot during each revolution. Hopefully that breaks in.

The labeling part of each piece of hardware I like very much, but they didn't go far enough.

I think the most enjoyable setup I had was the MST CFX-W where the hardware is in blister packs organized by steps, with the different pieces of hardware in their own individual blisters.

The ideal setup would be what MST did with different hardware in their own blister, and then combined with related hardware for a particular step in one strip, with the labeling of each blister that GMADE did.

Re: I got completely BOM'd this weekend
 

I did chuck each axle into my drill and spun them for about a minute or so, no real difference. I'm a bit hesitant to loosen the pinion carrier...it's just plastic, I think that might cause more trouble than the tight gears!

Once I get the drivetrain together, I'll see how much resistance there is and take it from there.

Re: I got completely BOM'd this weekend
 

Those D-bags are always good for a laugh :lmao:

Re: I got completely BOM'd this weekend
 

Nice title, lol, and nice start, sir. RC4WD does their hardware the same way. Once you get used to it, it's not bad. Nothing's as poorly organized as the Kyosho Turbo Scorpion I'm building now. There's a bag labeled "Plastic Bag" with lots of little non-labeled plastic bags in it that's different from all the other plastic bags that have letters on them. The gold standard for me for well-organized kits, believe it or not, is the TRX-4 kit. Best instructions and bagging of anything I've ever built. There...2 sentences I never thought I'd utter.

My gears were a little crunchy on the bench also, but everything seems to be working fine. I look forward to seeing what tricks you have up your sleeve.

Re: I got completely BOM'd this weekend
 

A mitigating balance for the slightly crunchy diffs is the transmission is silky smooth, with the least amount of parasitic drag of anything I've built yet.

Re: I got completely BOM'd this weekend
 

Agree here. The transmission is definitely smooth.

Re: I got completely BOM'd this weekend
 

Making a little progress. I have this set up in the kids playroom and kinda chip at it here and there while the kids play. OK, stare at Youtube watching other kids play (I don't understand that at all, but that's another topic!)

Love the links. 4mm threads and all aluminum. Very beefy!
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Chassis and shocks are done...no real pics, you've seen them before. The kids Crayola table actually works out well...plenty of little pockets and recesses to keep stuff from rolling off. Who knew? :)
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Couple of build notes:

• I used a Traxxas 11t pinion out of the TRX-4 for a bit more torque. The tooth profile is a bit different apparently, it's a little noisy. Other than that, the gearbox is nice and smooth.
• Getting the upper and lower gearbox parts together was a bit tricky. Very easy to mess up here. Just took my time and wiggled/pressed/cajoled/begged/swore/finessed them into place. Cool design, but not an easy gearbox to get into easily and the multi-piece design seems more complicated than it needs to be. I do like how it is incorporated int the skid, but if you're doing that, the motor should be lower. Seems a bit high to me.
• The included shock oil was like water. I used 30w instead, and it still seems a bit light. I'll wait until the truck is done before changing anything else.
• I stuffed some lead into the lower box like billinvic did. I like a heavier truck and it's a perfect place for it. It's about 3/4 full with some foam on top to keep anything from rattling loose.
• Decided to go with the stand up shock option for now. Built up the cantilever setup, but without bearings in the cants and all the extra mounts I'm sure there will be a ton of play before too long. Not to mention I wasn't a fan of the 2 piece cantilever design. I might give it a go with the aluminum upgrades and a swaybar at some point, it's pretty cool.

Everything is going together well overall. I think the plastic shock towers up front are a bit on the flimsy side, but other than that it seems like a solid rig so far.

I did notice the stock tires are somewhat plastic-y...Strange. Very different compound from my other Gmade tires, feels much harder. Usually I give the stock stuff a try, but I won't even bother with these.

Re: I got completely BOM'd this weekend
 

It's a lot like grown-ups watching sports instead of doing sports.

Re: I got completely BOM'd this weekend
 

Cracking right along...

This part was incredibly frustrating...it's all threaded, and trying to get the links centered up while threading the bolt through took more patience than I have. Ended up stripping the head as well, and had to use a pair of pliers to get it out. Gave up, drilled it out to 3mm and used a through bolt and locknut. Went together in 5 seconds after that.
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Got the painting done last night. Came out pretty good. I used Pactra red mixed with a bit of Fascent Red and threw some metal flake in it. I'd like to say it was some mad scientist professional mixing going on and came out exactly how I wanted it, but honestly I didn't have enough red to do the body, so I had to improvise. :) It did come out pretty good though. Now it changes from red to burgundy to light red depending on how the light hits it. Gave it a Ranger-esque scheme. I like the kit graphics, but I'm not big on flashy graphics per-se on my scalers, so I'm leaving it as is for now.
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Got the body on and noticed right away I didn't like how the wheels sat in the wheelwells. Billinvic moved his rear wheels back - mine looked ok, but the fronts were back way too far to my eyes. I double checked all my rod ends and they are good per the kit directions...No real way to mess up the body... hmmm..
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Nope, that's not going to work
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Found some 5mm spacers and drilled them out to fit over the 4mm threaded stubs. Stretched out 5mm front and back.
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Much better ... odd, I didn't notice that on other builds. I must have messed up something, but I can't for the life of me figure out what. Oh well, problem solved.
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Found that the driveshafts are a perfect match to Wild Boars. Got plenty of spares on hand if needed.
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Went to remove the hexes to put some stepped ones on, and wow! Were they on there. Had to pry them off and it was not easy.
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Final setup with TSL's and Gearheads. Love it!!
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Re: I got completely BOM'd this weekend
 

It looks much, much better with those wheels! I like it a lot. Can't wait to see it perform.

Do you have any glaring concerns at this point?

Re: I got completely BOM'd this weekend
 

Looks sharp! I got mine painted today...thought I liked the graphics until I put them on. Not so much now!

Re: I got completely BOM'd this weekend
 

The truck looks sweet with that color choice, and the tires and wheels really add something. I had the same problem with that through-bolt on the rear. Stripped the head and used a visegrips to pre-thread the hole with the old bolt.

Re: I got completely BOM'd this weekend
 

That it will look pink in the sunlight... :)

Not really, it's a solid kit. Pinion mesh is loud with the traxxas pinion, I'll see what else I have before actually running it.

Re: I got completely BOM'd this weekend
 

I just got my motor mounted up. The pinion mesh is a little tighter than I'd like it to be. I'm wondering if I should enlarge the motor mount holes so that I can have some play room with the mesh.

Re: I got completely BOM'd this weekend
 

I can't think of anything worse! :lmao:

Re: I got completely BOM'd this weekend
 

I didn't even try the stock pinion. Ratio was a little high for me, think it was around 36:1 IIRC. I try to stay around 45:1 as that seems to work best for my driving style.

On a side note, I mounted up some 4.19's and frankly love it. Do need to lower the truck 10-15mm or so as it looks a bit jacked up.
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I'll probably swap them over at some point and change the suspension around, though I want to run it with the TSL's first and see how it does.

Re: I got completely BOM'd this weekend
 

Yep, those tires fit the wheel wells much better. When you lower it the truck will look awesome.