RCCrawler Forums - Max Stone 10 Sorta Rock Bouncer

After blowing out both of my stock lockers on my Max Stone 10 I decided to do something a little different with it. I stole the knuckles, axle ends, and 12mm hexes and gave them to my Mad Torque 1/6 scale raptor build so I wouldn't have to wait a week for the parts to get here to finish my Raptor. So on a whim I threw the 17mm hexes with their really large offset (30mm) and threw on the 6.3" diameter tires from the Mad Torque. Everything bolted right up so I decided to run with it. I came up with a plan to open up the diffs, throw in a lower turn motor, and make a sort of faster hybrid rock bouncer crawler that really isn't either since it has open diffs.

I had three sets of spider gears from an AX10 in my toolbox so I bought an Axial small diff case and the diff case gasket and opened up the front and rear diffs. Opening up the diffs should help keep me from blowing anything else up in the axles especially since I'm running such large tires. I bolted stock Axial dogbones in place of the Exceed ones for two reasons One is I warped one in the front axle and I snapped another one in the rear. The second was that Exceed was out of stock of the dogbone I needed. The thirds, oh yeah there were really three reasons... since I'm running an Axial diff/spider gears anyways I wouldn't have to do any grinding to get the Axial stuff to work. Sorry no pictures of me opening up the Diff :(

I know the common mods that most every MaxStone10 owner will do is inboarding the lower links at the body and getting rid of that linkage linkage in the rear used to lock the rear knuckles. I did the same mods but I did mine differently than what I've seen done by others. First off instead of spending the $2-3 for a turnbuckle if you wanted to be a cheap bastard like me you can take the tie-rod link, take it apart, and use the link ends and 3mm rod used to built it and make your own link. No it doesn't have a turnbuckle but once you get the length set it isn't something you will ever adjust anyways.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-K...2+22+07+PM.jpg

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-f...0/P3241518.JPG

Next part is the way I inboarded my lower links. I always see where people just cut away the motor mount to clear the links mounted directly into the chassis. I wanted more triangulation in the 4 link so I didn't cut away the thick area with the mounting holes, I just cut away inside of that and mounted my link to the thick part that the screw threads in too. It moves the link another 5/16" towards the middle on each side for a bit more triangulation for free. I added a piece of 1x1/16" aluminium to help stiffen the motor mount and to act as a spacer to keep my link from hitting the motor. I originally wanted to install the screw from the outside and have a nut on the inside to hold the ball. Unfortunatly I didn't have a screw long enough so temporarily I screwed it from the inside. I added another screw on the mounting hole beside the link mount in order to hold the assembly to the frame. I threw in counter sunk screws on the bottom while I was at it.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-j...2+21+13+PM.jpg

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-e...0/P3241516.JPG

I threw in an Axial 27T motor for more speed. I want a 19-20t in there but I'm afraid to go that fast without a slipper clutch. I threw in a Hobby King X-Car 45A brushed ESC so I could run it without a drag brake. I was originally planning on running a larger pinion but the Axial motor case is a larger diameter than the stock motor and the motor is already touching the frame so I can't get a larger pinion in there. I used an old Best Buy Reward Zone card to make a triangle plate to mount the battery. I clocked the rear axle with 1/4" spacers. I've noticed since I clocked the axle the rear driveshaft never comes loose, I've had the front one back out on me twice since I made the mods (I haven't clocked the front yet).

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-N...0/P3241517.JPG

Last minute addition. You know that useless rear brush guard you threw in the trash? 5 minutes with a razor blade and 1/8" drill bit and you can mod it to brace the rear link mount without having to invest in another servo mount.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-C...0/P3241519.JPG

Losing the locked diffs hurt's it's crawling abilities but the extra wheel speed and bigger wider treaded tires really helps it blast up som pretty steep loose climbs I couldn't get up before. I know the open diffs won't help any of the real crawlers out there but some of my other mods might help some of you out threre.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-9...0/P3221489.JPG

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Y...o/P3221497.JPG