Cross MC8 8x8, Now With Yota II's!

[Prop Shaft]

I have decided to split my original thread that was showing both the Capo and Cross 8x8's. The Cross MC8 will now reside here. Be patient while I create the first post on my ipad with tapatalk. For some reason I cant figure out how to create a new post on tapatalk, only respond. Whateveh, all my pics are on the ipad and its just easier to add the pics to a post using tapatalk then it is photo bucket or similar. Edit to follow.

[Prop Shaft]

I haven't had very much time for toy trucks since my last post on the Capo. My move to Canada, finding new work/house, and a certain video game have been chewing up all my time as of late. The poor Capo hasn't even come out of it's box since my move.... But im finding myself getting back into my RC's now. The MC8 was just sitting on a shelf staring at me so I figured it a good place to start. So here goes.
As we all know the original Cross 6x6 and 8x8 axles are complete crap. Especially on the 8x8 where the added weight really shows their deficiencies. Heres the solution I came up with. It started with making a pile of brackets to mount the yota's in the same fashion as the original axles. You may notice there are 10 brackets, I'm kicking around the idea of going 10x10 in the future so I made 10 now so I'll have them.

In the top of the axles I milled a 6mm flat spot, then drilled and tapped for an m3 screw to mount the ball joint. I haven't gotten to the rear axles yet, but this step will be easier as the hole will be top dead center of the diff case, as opposed to offset like the front.

The Yota 2 axles have much shorter steering arms so it was nessassary to compensate with a new servo horn. Doing some math, I whipped up a new horn.

Heres a few more shots of the process. You'll noticed I'm replacing the spring/shock towers with the metal upgrades, and also replacing the soft springs with the stiff yellow upgrades. I find the yellow springs are really stiff, I wish I could have sourced the red medium rate springs as I think the yellows may be to much. Time will tell.

[Szczerba]

Very nice innovation on the spring and shock mounts!

[rookie101]

What about running the stock springs on the middle axle and yellows on the ends? I'm in the middle of building the 8x8 and may mix and match the springs. Luckily mine came with the second generation axles.

[Prop Shaft]

Originally Posted by Szczerba

Very nice innovation on the spring and shock mounts!

Thanks. More or less just a product racking my brain for a while and using materials I had on hand. I really wanted to stick to the stock link and spring set up though because very close to the 1:1

[Prop Shaft]

Originally Posted by rookie101

What about running the stock springs on the middle axle and yellows on the ends? I'm in the middle of building the 8x8 and may mix and match the springs. Luckily mine came with the second generation axles.

A problem with doing that is that the stock springs are so soft, the axles want to twist under load. Part of the reason is the high gearing of the axle, the other is the sooper soft springs. I recall many times when a tire would lift off the ground just from some mild crawling. Not very realistic looking lol. But neither is a stiff suspension. I'll see what happens when I get it running again.

[rookie101]

Okay, that's good to know. I'll throw the yellow springs on and see how they work.
What part of Canada did you move to? Calgary here.

[Prop Shaft]

Originally Posted by rookie101

Okay, that's good to know. I'll through the yellow springs on and see how they work.
What part of Canada did you move to? Calgary here.

St. John's NL. Got some killer rocks here! Lol

[Prop Shaft]

This is how I mounted the ball joints to the axles. 6mm end mill to create a flat spot

Drill a hole for m3 tap

Then tap

Another axle down. One more left to mount. These are pretty time consuming considering Ive been tearing them all down and thread locking and shimming, greasing as I go. I used very strong thread lock on the ball joint mounts as the amount of threads are minimal.

[rookie101]

Just finished the chassis on mine with the yellow springs. Wow is all I can say, way too stiff for my liking. Ended up putting the stock springs on and although they are a bit too soft at least the wheels move now. I may keep the yellows as spares for my full size ride.

[Prop Shaft]

Originally Posted by rookie101

Just finished the chassis on mine with the yellow springs. Wow is all I can say, way too stiff for my liking. Ended up putting the stock springs on and although they are a bit too soft at least the wheels move now. I may keep the yellows as spares for my full size ride.

Yeah they are really stiff. Im hoping they soften up a bit with some use. Im guna run them and see if they do. I also took the internal springs out of the shock absorbers. Seems to help a little bit.

[Prop Shaft]

Yeah so.... i have yet another build to distract me from the handful I already have going, but omg.. I'm excited about this one! I'll be posting a dedicated build thread at some point. Need to clear the MC8 off the bench first.

[rookie101]

I'm seriously jealous!

And in other new, I finished my MC8.

[Prop Shaft]

Originally Posted by rookie101

I'm seriously jealous!

And in other new, I finished my MC8.

Love the color choice, does yours have the revised axles? Im curious about them.

[rookie101]

Thanks.

Yes, it has the newer design axles with the large bearings supporting the crown gear and shafts. Seems like they paid attention to what people were saying and did a good job fixing the problem.

[Prop Shaft]

Originally Posted by rookie101

Thanks.

Yes, it has the newer design axles with the large bearings supporting the crown gear and shafts. Seems like they paid attention to what people were saying and did a good job fixing the problem.

Good deal. Now it's just a matter of how durable the plastic is. Mine had cracks all over the place right out the box. I heard somewhere they are using different plastic for the axles now as well. Keep us informed.

[Prop Shaft]

Just took the MC8 out for its maiden voyage with the Yota axles. Initial impressions? I'm very happy with the performance. I purposely got it into some situations where there was some considerable binding issues, and the yota's powered on through. The only issue i'm having is getting belly hung a lot. The long wheelbase is not helping to crest over hills or rocks. So I'll be adding another axle to make it 10x10 at some point down the road. Im also going to be changing the trans. It needs more speed at times so im thinking ill mount up an rc4wd R3 and hammer trans and transfer I have laying around.


Flex isnt as bad as i thought it was going to be with the yellow springs. Still a bit stiff but maybe they will soften up with some use.

Comparison with a 1/35 Revell model

It has a home on the "finished" scalers shelf.

[rookie101]

Good to hear it's working well. Yeah they sure aren't the quickest truck out there, I'm running mine on three cell (sidewinder 3) and it's not terrible on the trail.

[Prop Shaft]

I considered going the 3s route with this one, but it came with the esc and i feel obligated to use it lol. Plus im running a novak 55t motor atm. Gobs of torque... But thats about it. The R3 should take care of the slowness. Might have to tinker a bit with pinions and motors but I'll get it there.

[Prop Shaft]

I finally managed to get a video uploaded to you tube. What a pita. Couldn't figure out how to get my videos from my iPhone to my iPad. Then it wasn't uploading off the iPad to you tube. Took me hours of googling before i finally managed to get it to work. But i think i have it all figured out now. Too bad tapatalk wont let me upload a video. Would be way easier.

https://youtu.be/hcbZh5STRTk