OS's MST CFX Bronco

[alexleblanc]

i'm happy to see more guys on the MST CMX/CFX bandwagon, I've got 4 of them now and they are a ton of fun to build, modify and wheel.

[OSRC]

They are fun little rigs...Like a CC01 that's actually capable.

So anyway, couldn't stand the wheels....after going through all my beadlocks and finding nothing to bolt the Vaterras to, I stuck with the stock ones. I did spray them dark bronze and detailed the rings a bit. Came out pretty decent, and fits the truck much better methinks.


Put the t-case back to stock (for now) and took it out for a quick backyard test. Can definitely tell it's more stable with everything on the sliders.


The "parking ramp" test is where I kinda benchmark my trucks...mostly because it's right outside my back door. It's a somewhat tricky climb since it's a nice 45 degree or so angle up before I even get to the parking bloc, and there's a very good chance of high centering if I'm not careful. Had a little 3 wheel action, but it went right up and over predictably each time.


Seems to sidehill much better too. Probably about as good as it's going to get with the motor way up there out front. On the test tree, also within close vicinity to said door. Note the "gangster lean" of the body is not from the shocks, the body is flopping around on the mounts. Terrible design, but that's another issue for another day.


Final change I made was to play with the shocks a bit. I built the kit with the medium springs front and rear. Since I have shock mounting options due to the super deluxe custom towers, I leaned them in as much as I could front and rear to get a bit softer prgression. Felt a bit stiff when I was wheeling...I'll see how this goes before swapping to the soft springs.

[2mtech]

Wheels look way better for sure.

King 70mm shocks...just sayin'

[OSRC]

THanks!

Why Kings? Other than the "should be banned in all countries" plastic pivot balls, the stock shocks are excellent.

[JatoTheRipper]

Originally Posted by OSRC

THanks!

Why Kings? Other than the "should be banned in all countries" plastic pivot balls, the stock shocks are excellent.

I'd ban the King of leaks shocks as well.

[2mtech]

Originally Posted by OSRC

THanks!

Why Kings? Other than the "should be banned in all countries" plastic pivot balls, the stock shocks are excellent.

The China JK body I put on a CFX chassis nearly flattened the stock shocks right off, even with the stiffest springs. Two of them blew out in less than an hour trailing with the heavy body. Offerings for decent 70mm shocks are thin, and I didn't want to go longer/higher. I run the Kings sans oil, just slime, so no leaks, and the springs they came with were perfect for my application. I like the contrast of the blue shocks to the black everything else too.

Since you're running a Lexan body and have tuned mounting position you may be perfectly fine stock.

[OSRC]

The Bronco got an extended run this weekend. Did pretty good...I had Jato's CMX to compare to, and they are very similar performance-wise. I did find that I moved too much weight up front and with the drag brake and gearing, I had a few forward tumbles. All in all though, it was a great run. Very happy with this tiny tiny truck.

A few pics from playtime:







I was having some steering issues. Didn't want to center after a while and noticed that I wasn't getting full lock. Hmm. . On inspection, I realized the drag link hits the pumpkin before I get full lock. Not sure how I never noticed this before...with the stock plastic, I'm sure it gives a little, but the upgraded aluminum one doesn't. So i was way overstressing the servo and knuckle sand ended up eating a few teeth inside the servo. Finished the run though! This Tower servo has been around since my nitro days....pretty decent servo. I think I have some spare gears here somewhere, or I'll swap it out. But first thing was to make a new drag link.

Well, that's not good:


Much better. A little on the thin side, but I don't think I'll have any issues with the smallish tires


The Vaterra tires are about beat. They do better with a heavier rig....if I was running a hardbody, they'd do much better but this rig is kinda light and just didn't have the overall grip I'm looking for. Got a set of TF takeoffs on the way to swap out.


Aside from the tires, think I'll swap on the soft springs for the next run and see how it does. Also plan to fine tun the weight balance a bit. Maybe some motor mayhem as well. The 45t is fine, but I'd like to experiment a bit.

[Tim3]

OSRC
I like your layout. Thant is about the same I have in mind to do with mine.

Looking good friend.

[soze]

Samix makes a bent drag-link for the CFX-W which is what I use on my CFX-W. I don't know if they make one for the CFX/CMX and whether or not the CFX-W one will fit though.

[Nzmaximus]

I have no idea how the medium springs are too hard for you, i have a lexan body and i have hard springs with heaps of preload and the shocks are about half compressed. It works well, but i just dont see how your springs seem so much stiffer than mine, considering you have your shocks leant back too


Mst cfx
Axial wraith
Axial yeti
8x venom creeper

[OSRC]

Originally Posted by soze

Samix makes a bent drag-link for the CFX-W which is what I use on my CFX-W.

I assume it's much longer. To be clear, this is the MST steering upgrade. Should work with their own axles! But water under the bridge, it's fixed now!

Originally Posted by Nzmaximus

I have no idea how the medium springs are too hard for you, i have a lexan body and i have hard springs with heaps of preload and the shocks are about half compressed.

The medium springs are ok, just feel a bit stiff for me. Figured I'd try the softer ones and see how it feels....if it doesn't work out, takes 10 minutes to swap them back. I barely run any preload, and get about 10mm sag or so at ride height which is about perfect. Strange.

[OSRC]

Did a bit of tweaking to bitty Bronco...

Did indeed strip the gears in the servo. Had a spare Tactic laying around and dropped it in. Plenty of ooomph for the tiny tires. Wish I could get the drag link on top of the knuckles, but since the old one barely had any scratches after 2 hard runs, guess it'll be fine.


The old servo didn't hit the chassis, but this one rubbed quite a bit. Don't think I'll ever need the second set of body mounts, so shaved them off. Plenty of clearance now!


Now that the front is swinging smoothly, played around out back a bit. The plastic shock ball mounts were binding up top. Just didn't have enough give to work with the new setup, so I dug out a set of Axials and got them mounted up. I internally limited them to 85mm or so, filled with 40wt and put the stock soft springs on (up front as well) Feel much smoother, and gained just a touch of travel.


I was messing with the idea of putting the Axial shocks front and rear, set to about 85-90mm.... figured that would give me a bit more travel all around. But honestly, I think it flexes fine as is, and it's nice and plush now. Plus, I'd have to lose my knuckle weights to do it....so I resisted my inner tinkerer and left it alone for now.


Oh, remember that whole overdrive debacle? Well, I've been having a ton of fun with this tiny truck and honestly didn't want to change it all that much. So I built a similar chassis - "CMX Killer" that has the motor up front, T-case with overdrive and same overall layout and dimensions, but tweaked to put everything lower. Compared to the CFX, it should have much better performance. Maybe. I'll get a build thread going on it eventually - working on a new chassis currently - this is a mockup of sorts.

[Tim3]

OSRC, I hate to change gears on you... but the other chassis rocks and I need to now how that gear unit compares in gearing as that was one of my fist thoughts for a crawler. If you will/don't mind, keep me updated with the gearing results. sweet sweet sweet !

Wonder how much work it would be to mate-up, direct link the CFX rear transfer case to a pantry gear box? hmmmmm...

[OSRC]

I've used it on several builds...check out my 1.9 junkyard Yota.

It won't work on that chassis as it stands, but that's another story. I'll get a build thread going eventually.

[OSRC]

New ESC and bumped up to a 35T motor. Dropped a few teeth on the pinion as well - drives much better! The ESC has adjustable drag brake which is what I needed - tended to endo the minute the drag brake kicked in on steep descents. Should help.


New wheels and tires too. Wheels have a bit of weight inside, and sprayed the RC4WD wheels with a coat of silver. The white just looked off to me. I liked the look of the old wheels and tires better, but the Mud Thrashers should perform a bit better. Should....we'll see.

[JatoTheRipper]

The silver wheels look great! The Mud Thrashers were a vast improvement on my CMX when I tried them on the trail. Hopefully we can get these things on the rocks this weekend!

I really should go down a tooth or two on my pinion as well. But I'm lazy... After using the 1080 ESC I just can't go back to a cheaper, lesser ESC.

[OSRC]

Bronco no more! Since I sole the body for my CMX, I needed a new one here. I messed around quite a bit with various hard bodies and lexan bits, but in the end dropped on one it was designed for.

Painted to match the CMX. Tamiya copper is just a beautiful color - probably my favorite. Added the Boom wheels and Hustlers as the larger wheel openings in the LC40 body fit them better than the Bronco.


Still need to figure out a rear bumper. Moved the body mounts down low as the body is much more secure - with the tall rear mounts, it wobbled all over the place. Had the same issue on my CC01's - it's a really tall body. I don't like the rear taillights hanging down, so I usually trim them off. If I decide to add lights in the future, some light buckets are easily added. I'm not really worried about scale details on these MST's, they are more just for fun.


Had to redo the electronics since the LC body is much narrower. Moved the battery and electronics back to the stock spots. Probably a good idea since the truck was way to nose heavy with everything on the sliders. There was no weight out back and it was endo-city when the drag brake kicked in. Should be much better balanced.


Matching MST's. Curious to see which performs better. Other than the ESC, tire sizes, and a slightly longer WB on the CFX, they are set up fairly identical.

[gsgraber92]

I am a lover of the Tamiya Copper too. Love your color scheme on both bodies.


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[OSRC]

^^ Now you need a Bronco CMX to match.

I was debating Pactra Fiery Orange for the LC40, but I had some copper left over, so decided to match them up.

I actually sprayed the LC body red at first. Grabbed the wrong can, and put a huge spray down the side. Whoops. After much cursing and a flying paint can, I used some Acetone and cleaned it off as best as I could and resprayed with copper. Pretty sure I weakened the body somewhat, but I'll take a weak body over a totally ruined one any day. Painting has not been my friend lately.

[gsgraber92]

I really love your Bronco body. I also like that the Bronco is a little shorter. It is extremely cool.


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