Finally starting my 1/6th Willys MB

[reddevildemo]

Awe man, sorry bro, I thought I told you where.......never meant to send you on a tracking mission.

If you want some auto parts boxes let me know, I have the files for all the ones in my Garage diorama.

[ZoSo]

like those rims...looking good

[BigSki]

Originally Posted by reddevildemo

Awe man, sorry bro, I thought I told you where.......never meant to send you on a tracking mission.

If you want some auto parts boxes let me know, I have the files for all the ones in my Garage diorama.

no worries, it's all good! I found a ton of accessory vendors while on my search.

[BigSki]

I haven't had to do any repairs to the Jeep in a long time, it's been running really great with the current drive train setup. I was looking the awesome axle kits that GCM is making, but I couldn't swallow the price of them even though they are probably worth every penny of the price. I had started to work with KCJones on some longer length Beef Toobs that would use XR-10 CHubs, steering knuckles and axle shafts.

After some trial and error, we got the new Toobs dialed in, so I set out to build a set of AX-10/XR-10 hybrid axles to use under the Willys. The upgraded WK axles were working well but there just isn't too much aftermarket support for them and I really wanted to use the uber beefy XR-10 axle shafts. There's some gearing options for the AX-10 axles and parts are very easy and inexpensive to obtain. Here are some pics of the axle swap that I finished up last night. I plan on replacing the plastic XR-10 Chubs and knuckles w/ aluminum parts, I just wanted to be sure that the hybrid axle would work before spending $$ on new parts.

I had to change the front axle to a 3 link suspension, I couldn't get the 4 link to work, the steering servo was in the way of the upper links. Once I get the aluminum knuckles, I might modify the steering arm and just mount the tie rod to the upper arm so that a straight drag link could be used to eliminate the bump steer.

The AX-10 gear sets use a 5mm diameter pinion shaft so I had to use some old style Traxxas diff. output yokes and cross drill the pinion shafts to accept the traxxas style yoke pin, no big deal really, just a bit more work than I had planned on doing!

I had one test run last night ( literally at 1am!) in the back yard, the axles seem to work ok. I'm hoping to take the Jeep out tomorrow and give the axles a good workout.


Rear axle


Front axle


The profile on the bottom of the axles is much cleaner than w/ the WK axles, less stuff hanging down to get snagged on rocks.



Overall I like the way the axles look and perform, I gained some turning radius and got some super HD front axle parts. Everything was 100% bolt together w/ easy to find parts.

[ZoSo]

nice ideas....looks great
the XR10 front universals

[ROBERT8871]

looks good need to get on my 1/6

[BigSki]

Axle update: I took the Jeep w/ me to a scale comp today just to do a trail ride with it, I ended up pounding the living snot out of the Jeep, just because it kept asking for more abuse! No problems with the axles at all, they worked flawlessly. I'm ready to buy aluminum Chubs and knuckles because I'm confident in the strength of these axles.

No pics because I didn't break anything!

[Big Mike]

Originally Posted by BigSki

Axle update: I took the Jeep w/ me to a scale comp today just to do a trail ride with it, I ended up pounding the living snot out of the Jeep, just because it kept asking for more abuse! No problems with the axles at all, they worked flawlessly. I'm ready to buy aluminum Chubs and knuckles because I'm confident in the strength of these axles.

No pics because I didn't break anything!

Excellent! That is good news...

[Atchley]

where did you put th motor on this thing with out havein to cut a bunch of stuff im doing one of these my self and i just want to get it goin then ill put scale parts on it but any help would be great and good job with it tho looks good

[BigSki]

Atchley-

I know it's a lot to read through but I have pics and descriptions of every aspect of this build in my thread.The other 1/6th Jeep builds in here also have well documented build threads.

[reddevildemo]

Thats some great info on the upgrades Big, It's great to have more options for these. Jeep is looking great too.
How wide did you make the axles compared to the WK and stock Axial width?

[Big Mike]

Originally Posted by reddevildemo

Thats some great info on the upgrades Big, It's great to have more options for these. Jeep is looking great too.
How wide did you make the axles compared to the WK and stock Axial width?

I've been researching the "AXR-10" axles myself. I probably have a lot of the same questions. I need to read the Longer Beef Toob thread again, I wasn't able to put together a concrete "shopping list" the first time through. Pertinent information scattered through 20 pages of a thread, different builders opinions and subtle parts differences, the exact list of what makes up the AXR-10's wasn't totally clear.

I've been thinking that Axial axles are probably the best choice for these 1:6th Jeep builds due to reliability and availability of the parts involved. Being on a budget I can remove the axles from my SCX-10 chassis and use them to mock up the suspension and keep this build moving until I can spend some real $$ on it.

I need something to do this weekend, since I'm gonna be on Irene Lockdown...

[BigSki]

Originally Posted by reddevildemo

Thats some great info on the upgrades Big, It's great to have more options for these. Jeep is looking great too.
How wide did you make the axles compared to the WK and stock Axial width?

Originally Posted by Big Mike

I've been researching the "AXR-10" axles myself. I probably have a lot of the same questions. I need to read the Longer Beef Toob thread again, I wasn't able to put together a concrete "shopping list" the first time through. Pertinent information scattered through 20 pages of a thread, different builders opinions and subtle parts differences, the exact list of what makes up the AXR-10's wasn't totally clear.

I've been thinking that Axial axles are probably the best choice for these 1:6th Jeep builds due to reliability and availability of the parts involved. Being on a budget I can remove the axles from my SCX-10 chassis and use them to mock up the suspension and keep this build moving until I can spend some real $$ on it.

I need something to do this weekend, since I'm gonna be on Irene Lockdown...

Thanks guys! The AXR-10 axles, as I built them, end up being about 8mm wider in the front compared to a front Wk axle and the rear AXR-10 axle is exactly as wide as a WK rear axle.

Shopping list is pretty basic:

Rear axle

Longer Beef Toobs,
AX-10 axle housing, gears and spools. A STRC straight axle kit for the rear axle, you are only going to use the lock out housings. A STRC rear straight kit for a WK, you use the shafts.


front axle:

Longer Beef Toobs,
AX-10 axle housing, gears and spool. XR-10 front axle shafts, CHubs and steering knuckles.

I had to use a 'standard' plastic 3 link upper mount for servo horn clearance on the front axle.

[Big Mike]

Originally Posted by BigSki

Thanks guys! The AXR-10 axles, as I built them, end up being about 8mm wider in the front compared to a front Wk axle and the rear AXR-10 axle is exactly as wide as a WK rear axle.

That sounds like it'll work out about right.

Except STRC seems a little short on most WK parts these days. Maybe Hot Racing makes something similar.

Excellent, thank you sir...

[BigSki]

Originally Posted by Big Mike

That sounds like it'll work out about right.

Except STRC seems a little short on most WK parts these days. Maybe Hot Racing makes something similar.

Excellent, thank you sir...

Contact ZoSo from RCP Crawlers, he still stocks the STRC kits for the WK axles or he can get them in a day or two. He is aware that I've been recommending him as the 'parts guy' for the WK stuff.

[BigSki]

OK, it's time for a minor update, I've been spending too much time posting in BigMikes thread. After a few really hard runs I noticed that I was popping the upper 3 link mount right out of the socket and I was getting too much bump steer with the 'Z' shaped drag link ( just like in a 1:1) so I had to go back and re-think a few things.

I moved the tie rod to the top of the steering knuckle then stacked the drag link on top of that so it would be closer to being parallel to the ground, then I had to do something else w/ the servo horn. I was able to find a JR servo horn that uses the 2 screw clamp design to lock down on the servo output shaft, the horn was 2" long (to the farthest mounting hole) and it was only $10.




The second mod was to make a HD upper truss/upper mount link. This truss hugs the axle housing and clears everything pretty well. If I manage to break this thing it's time to go back to model trains!




Here's a sneak peak at the next project. Remember I said I had another Jeep waiting quietly in a box??

[Big Mike]

Originally Posted by BigSki

The second mod was to make a HD upper truss/upper mount link. This truss hugs the axle housing and clears everything pretty well. If I manage to break this thing it's time to go back to model trains!

If you can break that truss, I don't know what to tell you. That looks pretty frickin' stout. I just can't see you going back to trains after turning out such good work here!!

Mine is essentially the same thing, it just doesn't hug the housing as tightly as yours does (nice work there) And while it does not have any time on the 1/6th Jeep, it has been utterly bullet-proof on my SCX10. I don't think you will have any problems.

Starting another one? I can't say I blame you. I'm already "in the habit" of looking for these bodies on Ebay and Craigslist. The one I'm building now is certainly not the last one I'll do, cause I'm the weird type who likes building a rig way more than driving it. What has completely infatuated me is that so many parts and accessories are available in 1/6th scale size. And the fact that you can find a driver that suits your build no matter what, you aren't forced to use an angry-looking half-naked WWE figure because that's the only figure you can find in the right scale. No matter what kind of driver you want your rig to have, man or woman, mild or wild, you can make him or her happen easily in 1/6th scale. Add to that the pure physics of 1/6th scale as far as actual behavior of a radio controlled rig on the trail, the affect of the bigger size and additional weight, and it's just that much more "scale" IMO (I haven't even driven this 1/6th Jeep yet, but I still know this is how it's going to be. It's hard to explain in typed words...)

I'm totally addicted to 1/6th scale now...

[BigSki]

Originally Posted by Big Mike

... Add to that the pure physics of 1/6th scale as far as actual behavior of a radio controlled rig on the trail, the affect of the bigger size and additional weight, and it's just that much more "scale" IMO

This is exactly what stops so many people in their tracks when they watch this pig run, it behaves like a real Jeep. The next one I'm building will have scale length leaf springs along with the full steel chassis. I'm leaving the orange one alone ( no more big mods) it runs pretty well and it's fun to drive. There are just so many different things I wanted to try while building the first one that I knew I'd have to do at least one more!

[BigSki]

I ordered up a pack of the Hot Racing scale diamond plate aluminum sheets that RPP is selling. I re-wrapped the quarter panels of the orange Willys, I must say that this stuff looks PERFECT on these jeeps!

[Jeepin-Paul]

Originally Posted by BigSki

Here's another small update. It needed more lights up front but I was scratching my head as to where to place the lights, I didn't want them getting smashed. When I dumped my pile of SCX-10 light buckets on the work bench, I noticed the 'canister' style buckets and it gave me an



This worked out well. The lights can't get smashed, they light up the ground in front of the Jeep ( 18 candella rating!) and it looks cool (IMO). The 3mm LEDS have a 60* view and are rated for 4Vf, so I didn't need any resistors because I'm using an old 3.7V cell phone battery for all of the lighting.

Can you tell me how you mounted LEDs into the stock headlights? Did you just drill out the stock lenses and mount the LED?

Also, can you tell me what number of turns brushed motor, pinion & spur gear you are using? I need to get stuff for my build that I am working on right now. Thanks.