So I just joined rcc after almost a year of lurking and learning. Recently picked up an Exceed mad torque on cl for cheap but didn't like how it was 1/8 scale so I decided to shrink it down and make it 1/10. I have friends with scx10s, ax10s and similar crawlers and we've built a pretty big course to play on. Some guys in the northwest might know of Olyz Endless Trails, I plan on doin a thread about that later on but I wanna just focus on one at a time.

Ok now onto the build progress.
When I got the truck it was stock except for it had a badly cut up proline Cherokee body one ithttp://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/06/04/egypageb.jpg

It also came with 3 3000 mah 6 cell nimh batteries, a small toolkit, 3 spare servos, extra servo extenders and y adapters, and a few extra random screws and spacers.

Also had just a basic wall charger. I went to a buddies and used his charger so wouldn't have to wait to long to test it out.
Here's some first run pics of it's articulation.http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/06/04/yryme9ug.jpghttp://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/06/04/6aryguba.jpg

First impression was that the tires and wheelbase looked ridiculous with the body.

Next day wood pile test.

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/06/04/rudyze8a.jpg

And checked how it would fit through the trails
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/06/04/azy7edaq.jpg
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/06/04/atebeqar.jpg

Enough playing time to mod!
First things to go were the wheels, hub extenders and c knuckles. A couple friends had some spare stock ax10 knuckles so on they went with some 2.2 Baja claws.
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/06/04/zere7y3e.jpg

Let my friend put my stock 2.8s on his Frankenstein pangolin!

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/06/04/zubevusy.jpg
Do u guys think it's too much?
Comparison with a honcho on 1.9 tsl boggers
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/06/04/4ytu7yqu.jpg
Switched the bottom links to the inside skid plate mounting holes and the uppers the the farthest inside hole to shorten the wheelbase as much as I could and tested the flex.
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/06/04/adebenej.jpg
Next to the honcho again and my maisto tech rock crawler with aws and batt mod on 1.9 ripsaws.
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/06/04/3yhyry2e.jpg

Those maisto's are cool ass little $20 toys to tinker with!
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/06/04/ygaguny6.jpg

So play a couple days with the new set up. It sat at about 16" wheelbase. And the tires grabbed the body and folded it over in the back at full flex.
Then I found out the hard way it's probably good to go through and inspect all the internal parts on something bought on cl cuz I ended up breaking a gear in my front trans do to a rusty bearing seizing.
After gettin the axle pulled apart and inspecting the damage, I did a little research and found out was the small 3rd gear that is weakest part of these gear sets that had broke. The longer side of the shaft was the side that seized and the force of the big gear turning snapped the shaft at the dogbone.
I saw that many ppl will modify a berg gear in that gears place as part of super axle setups but I want this truck to be a low budget crawler that will out do my friends expensive rigs. I ordered a replacement and 3 spares, just incase lol, from nitrorcx for less than $20 shipped. And had them in less than a week. I wonder why these MT's ans nitrorcx get such a bad rap about their parts support and availability

In the few days that I was waiting for the gear I decided to really get this thing down to 1/10 scale
What I had to start with
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/06/04/e9yjuvys.jpg
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/06/04/yrymu5u7.jpg
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/06/04/8uqagy8y.jpg

Time to make some new bottom links. I decided to use a cutting board after looking through a lot of threads and I wanted to try something more unique than alum tube and all-thread. Rough design going for more center clearance.
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/06/04/5uremanu.jpg
And after more shaping
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/06/04/u8etena9.jpg
In the last pic the rear links are on the left and fronts on the right. I drilled 1/8" holes at both ends each link then slowly enlarged them til the stock ball ends fit in with little play. Also drilled 3 holes about 1/4" apart from each other just above the bends on the links as different mount positions for the shocks until I can get longer ones that will mount on the axle.

Put the fronts on to see how it would sit.
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/06/05/abadumuz.jpg

I had to play with the the upper y link chassis mount placement. Ended up removing the big spacer on the axle end to shorten the link.
Now with all 4 on http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/06/05/eva9a9eq.jpg
Didn't like how the axles were clocked so I played with the shock and upper link mounting positions til I was happy with it.
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/06/05/arugy5uq.jpg
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/06/05/sumyhuga.jpg
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/06/05/apa8emup.jpg
Check out the ground clearance
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/06/05/huruvy2e.jpg
Time for a test run
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/06/05/zemavavu.jpg

Body was still sitting too high. I switched the battery tray posts out with the regular body posts so it all mounts together.
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/06/05/tapapu6e.jpg

Sent from my 4gLTEvo

Next I used an idea I saw on here one night while lurking to make a skid plate/motor guard.

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/06/05/ha5y6y5a.jpg
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/06/05/6a6ysa9u.jpg
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/06/05/ba9azy4e.jpg
This was an awesome addition. When I can find the thread again I'll give credit to the right person fir the idea. Not only does it protect a lot, it added about 100g nice and low. Good for me cuz I want to keep my wheels themselves as light as possible and still stay planted to the ground.

Sent from my 4gLTEvo

The truck didn't have the back mount so I ordered that when I ordered the gears.
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/06/05/e5ynybu5.jpg
Looks better now but I didn't like how my friends Baja claws fold over so much so I added 2 1" thick rings I cut out of some Wal-Mart foam to each tire. One on each side of the stock foams.
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/06/05/y8u8ynuz.jpg
Also sealed the air holes in the rims. Seems like a more realistic tire now and doesn't ripple anymore.http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/06/05/gusepa3e.jpg
Now it's startin to look good. With my buddies Frankenstein rig with his ram body on.


Sent from my 4gLTEvo

Did all this while waitin for the gears to arrive. So most of these pics have been with me drivin around in just front wheel drive. I removed the back axle shafts so the wheels would freespin easily. Tried without doing this and it was basically just a dig even tho I slid the motor back so it wasn't engaging the trans gears. With no shafts it was surprisingly capable. I'll try to post a vid link of a trail run with this setup soon. With a little skill and effort I was able to make it most places my friends scaler scx could go. Except for a couple hills, but a quick turn around and goin up in reverse usually worked out.

Sent from my 4gLTEvo

Got the new gears 2 days ago, installed and tested. This thing can crawl like a champ on the course we got to play on.
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/06/05/ju7yjy2a.jpg
Also did amazing at my other friends natural trails.
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/06/05/asady2uz.jpg
Sidehills better with the extra foam in the tires and rolls over obstacles smoother. It can make it up about an 8-9"sheer face.

Sent from my 4gLTEvo

Yesterday the rear motor started whining so time to look into some upgrades. Also burnt out a couple servos due to another friend installing a ccbec for me incorrectly. I fixed the issue using the info in the tech section. The other 2 I got with the truck weren't any good so now I'm using a stock axial servo from a deadbolt. It's not quite enough so I'll probably go pick up a hitec645 for the time being til I figure out the dual front servo set up I plan on doing.
Was having a problem with the stock tx/rx range so using my friends stock pangolin set up. Considering getting a flysky gt3b maybe a hacked version.
Also looking for suggestions on whether to run single or dual esc's. Was lookin at the Holmes bxrl waterproof.
Any feedback would be much appreciated.

Sent from my 4gLTEvo

So I just remembered I didn't show before and after wheelbase measurement pics so here they are.
Before
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/06/05/utabequb.jpg
After
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/06/05/equhyzy6.jpg

Sent from my 4gLTEvo

Re: Exceed mad torque 1/8 to 1/10 scale budget build!
 

Its always nice to see noobs jump in and start making stuff. Good job for not making this a week long debate on which links you should buy. "thumbsup"

Thanks for the thumbsup. I've been reading and looking through a lot of threads for over 6 months so I wouldn't feel like to much of a newb before I joined and started a thread. I have seen your name in quite a few of them. Im tryin to keep this somewhat low budget other than some electronics so not afraid of tryin to fab my own parts and have friends with access to most necessary equipment to do so.

Sent from my 4gLTEvo

Also do you know of any similar builds of these MT's in 1/10 scale. I have been able to find much.

Sent from my 4gLTEvo

Re: Exceed mad torque 1/8 to 1/10 scale budget build!
 

Not really. Most people with moa's turn them into comp crawlers...and Exceed isn't a terribly popular brand around here. They are decent enough to get you hooked into the hobby, but not robust enough to make the long haul.

Basically what I'm gonna do is a comp style crawler just on a smaller scale.
As far as them being robust, I read a thread the other day by I think Dlux about how the Mt axles made the cheapest, strongest, and lightest moa axle you can use on a super so why not for a 1/10 scale. The axle itself is close to the width of a wraith or ax10 deadbolt.

Sent from my 4gLTEvo

Sent from my 4gLTEvo

Re: Exceed mad torque 1/8 to 1/10 scale budget build!
 

I have the waterproof BRXL. Works great and have taken the GMax swimming by accident without even a glitch. I don't have any proof to back it up but feel like my run times got longer after switching out the stock Max ESC for BRXL.

I bought two BRXL's and a Flysky all at the same time with the thought of making a comp Bully axled MOA. I realized that I just don't comp and two bashers would be better than one comp rig, so....BRXL to the Max x 2.

Hey mowheelin thanks for checkin out my build and for the recommendation. I'm heavily leaning towards the wp brxl. Would just a single esc be ok on moa if I have no plans for comping?

Sent from my 4gLTEvo

So yesterday I was at a friend's playin with my crawler in his yard when a guy workin on the neighbors fence asked me if I might be interested in a truck he had for sale for $20. He told me it was an axial scx10 without a motor and didn't know much else about it. For that price I said I'd take a look at it. Less than 30 min later he came knocking at my friends door with this.
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/06/07/ujesypuh.jpg
Not an scx but an original ax10. It did have a 27t motor but no esc. Sold! Lol
I split the cost with my buddy and I ended up with the axial beadlock rims, metal hex hubs, and a hitec645 servo which I was about to buy anyway. He got everything else.
Wheels and servo for $10 SCORE!!!

Sent from my 4gLTEvo

I got to work changing out the servo then started on switching tires. Off with the axial rock lizards and on with the Baja claws.
The wheels are a little skinnier and have less offset so it made my axles a little wider but I can deal with it til I narrow them. http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/06/07/y8ebegur.jpg
Also got some plastic axial rock sliders a buddy had layin around and used them to mount the body for a cleaner look with no body pins showing. Covered all the other holes in the body with e-tape so it looks cleaner. Then went out and tested on the course.
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/06/07/etyzyza9.jpg
Look they work! I kinda like em but they need to be a little longer.
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/06/07/yhepabu2.jpg
And a poser shot.
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/06/07/a2ejuvar.jpg

Sent from my 4gLTEvo

Re: Exceed mad torque 1/8 to 1/10 scale budget build!
 

Why can't I get offered deals like that? :cry: the cherokee is looking good

Cheers
Wade

It was just one of those random things. I'm startin to dig havin the scale style body on it. Kinda want to get a f250 extra-cab long bed to put on.

Sent from my 4gLTEvo