New Gen8 AXE Edition. Choices, choices, choices...

[AK KRAWLER]

I took the truck for a drive last night, ran it on 2s instead of 3s and it did great. No overheating, obviously not as much wheel speed, but had plenty of torque.

I got to thinking, could it be that the motor and esc is pulling more power from the 3s battery because it has a 50C Rating?

[AK KRAWLER]

Okay, so a few changes since the last time I was posting in this thread.

I really have not driven the truck much in the last year, but started again a few weeks ago. Man, I sure missed this thing.

I swapped out the 540 AXE system for a 550 AXE system that I bought off of a member here and I will tell you that on 3s, she moves out. I think I will drop the pinion down a few teeth and see if I like it better.
Low speed control is lacking a little. Hoping that that helps.

Last week while I was out playing in the snow and the weather was pretty cold, I ended up doing something stupid and broke an axle housing. No fault of the truck, strictly my fault.
I ordered a pair of factory replacements for $17, which I thought was reasonable and she is all back together now.

One thing I have noticed lately and this was happening before the axle replacement as well, it seems like the drivetrain is binding up on something and causing a "catch" for lack of better terms. It is hard to make it drive smooth and seems jerky and starting to get more gear noise. When I swapped out the front axle housing, I took te opportunity to grease everything up real well, but haven't taken the rear apart yet, I guess that is the next step.

When you flip the truck over and turn the tires by hand, there is a point tat you can feel it catch and lock everything up. Any words of wisdom on this, I am all ears.

[ferp420]

the spur gears arent perfictly round so they mesh really good for 3/4 of the way through the gear but that last 1/4 gets alittle sticky i would.play with the pinnion mesh and see if you can adjust that out i would start by making it real.tight and running it for a few then loosen it and repete till it smooths out if you dont notice it smoothing out after 2 or 3 trys i would look elsewere but make sure the gears are clean first
its also posable a peice of sand got in the gears too
the axe most likly has metal gears in the trans and tcase already so there probably not the problem
im guessing its the pinnion and spur gears

[AK KRAWLER]

Much appreciated ferp, I'll give that a try today.

[AK KRAWLER]

Just adding a few pics of the broken axle housing.

[AK KRAWLER]

While I was working on fixing my front axle, I decided that my daughter’s budget build SCX10 ii was going to get my Stock Gen8 tires and wheels. Truthfully, they have performed pretty well once I put good foams in them.

I mounted up a set of 2.2 Deep Woods on some cheap wheels. Boy, they seemed really narrow, were hard to get mounted up and really bulged out / rounded off the tread face. They look horrible, which is a bummer, because I actually like that style of wheel.

Obviously, these will not be going on this truck, but I had to do it anyway…


I ended up mounting up a set of RC4WD Iroks on SSD steel slot mag styled wheels. It looks decent, but not sure I actually gained any performance over the stock wheels and tires (with better foams). I'll get new pics uploaded when I get home.

[AK KRAWLER]

I started installing some Christmas goodies.

Aluminum front axle housing, as well as brass inner and outer portal housings.
I’m not a real fan of flashy/shiny brass, so I painted them black.

All taped up.


Painted satin black.


Going together.


I was going to try Brass Black, but couldn’t find it at the stores near me, so spray bomb it what it got.

My rear axle shafts and aluminum inner portal housing should he here in a few days, then I’ll blow the rear apart and it’ll get a similar treatment.

[Timmahh]

Originally Posted by AK KRAWLER

I started installing some Christmas goodies.

Aluminum front axle housing, as well as brass inner and outer portal housings.
I’m not a real fan of flashy/shiny brass, so I painted them black.

All taped up.
Attachment 398439

Painted satin black.
Attachment 398440

Going together.
Attachment 398441

I was going to try Brass Black, but couldn’t find it at the stores near me, so spray bomb it what it got.

My rear axle shafts and aluminum inner portal housing should he here in a few days, then I’ll blow the rear apart and it’ll get a similar treatment.

Glad to see you still rocking the AXE. I really like mine. been a good rig. Got mine March 2020. Broke a slider first, so went with some KYX slider for her, and then after about 4 to 5 months the right side knuckle get bent out of whack finally. so I went replaced with some Treal black brass inner housings for the F and B and ib the F Treal black rear portal covers. Recently added a set of the treal outer portal covers to the r and noname aluminum covers for the front. also added the treal +6 hexes, lower shock spring perches and adjuster collars also in black brass (guess these are now disco'd.)

Added lights and installing some rock lights soon. stuck in a reefs servo winch mount and a PRC HOG SOW winch servo.
Not as top-heavy as it was stock, but shes nearly an 11lb pig atm. lol
But it runs great. One upgrade I may do is find a V1 3300kv motor and swap out the stock 2300kv that's in it for now.

At any rate, I'm under 5 or so inches of snow at 12*f here in Michigan, so mines, pretty much shelved at the minute.

[AK KRAWLER]

Well, they don't do that great in snow for sure. Once the snow around here shows up, I generally start building a trail course through the yard and on to the snow pile the municipality piles at the edge of the yard. It takes constant maintenance to keep it open and crawlable, but still fun to go out and run


I have broken plenty of parts on my AXE, but none of them I would consider the fault of poor manufacturing, or engineering. I run my rigs pretty hard and usually have an adult beverage or two... which does not help in taming my "spirit".

To try and conquer the snow a little better, I mounted up a set of old 2.2 IMEX Swamp Dawg tires that I cut out every other lug. I can't believe I forgot to take any pictures of this setup, it looked pretty good. A little outlandish, but certainly beefy. They did decent, but I really think the wheel speed I get from the AXE 550 motor allowed me to blaze past most of our other rigs, but my sons SCX10 hung really well and the Frankenstein SCX10II I put together for my daughter crawls really well too. Possibly better than my AXE...

I am running the 12mm Club5 Hexes and extended output shafts, but I am now going to install some Treal 8mm Hexes and Hardened Hot Racing standard length output shafts. I am potting some smaller tires on the truck and going to lower it down as far as I can to get a more scale appearance. Doing this will challenge me much more and give the kiddo's a feeling of accomplishment when they can crawl places I can't.

When this happens, I can always break out the 2.2 AX10 rig I am building, then crawl right over the top of them...

I need to weigh my truck once I get it all done, as I have no ideal how heavy it is. With all the added weight down low that I am adding, combined with lowering the suspension as far as I can, I should still do pretty well.

*EDIT* Also, I am not sure I am sold on the AXE 550 3300kv motor/esc I installed. It definitely has way more wheel speed and power than the stock AXE 540, but I really am not huge into having a crawler that screams. Okay, screams for a crawler. We'll see if it does better with the smaller tires. I can't remember which pinion gear I put on, so that will be an option to possibly slow it down a bit.

More to come next week.

[AK KRAWLER]

So, I am seriously considering picking up a set of 1.55 White Spoke Wheels and some tires around 4" tall. With now having my 2.2 rig coming together, I was something that is a little more scale in size.

I like the 5 lug RC4WD White Spokes, but I am having trouble landing on a tire.

My dad's old F250 ran 35-12.50R16.5 BFG Mud Terrains, the old tread style and I would like to find something similar. He also ran rusty old white spokes...
Obviously, I am not looking for a 3-1/2" tall tire, but I would like to keep it around 4" and have a sticky compound.

Let me know your thoughts and ideas.

*EDIT*
Oh... I see Proline has a set of TSL/SX's in Predator Compound that are 3.85" tall. I might snag those and see how they look.

[AK KRAWLER]

Okay, I got home from work late last night and did some shock testing this morning.

I removed the springs from the stock shocks and installed a set on 4” tall tires. If I go any shorter on ride height, I will have to figure something out on the panhard bar, as it is currently only about 0.5mm from touching the top of the axles top link mount.









I need to get a he and wheels tucked in, axle wheels Nyerere and give it an alignment.

[AK KRAWLER]

Not gunna lie, a few adult beverages, a 550 AXE and a remote, it’s a fine time

I crawled over every dog bed we have, some kind of weird exercise equipment and my legs, I’m having fun

I’m slowly learning, I’m old… give it a minute… Smaller tires are okay and kind of fun. Don’t tell my wife…

[Timmahh]

Originally Posted by AK KRAWLER

Don’t tell my wife…

Like going to The-Rapist, your secrets are safe here. lol


Im not too much of an Adult Beverage kind of guy but do love me some Carolynns Irish Cream in my coffee.
I'll stick to my adult smokables and have just as much fun.
Maybe a bit more. lol

[AK KRAWLER]

Originally Posted by Timmahh

Like going to The-Rapist, your secrets are safe here. lol

Im not too much of an Adult Beverage kind of guy but do love me some Carolynns Irish Cream in my coffee.
I'll stick to my adult smokables and have just as much fun.
Maybe a bit more. lol

You are likely correct

Due to stringent work obligations, I cannot indulge in such festivities.

Hopefully tomorrow, I will get my new ProLine Swampers and RC4WD 5-Lug White Spokes. Now, I just need to figure out how to narrow up the stance and lower it a little bit more.

[AK KRAWLER]

Okay, the little Proline Swampers and RC4WD White Spokes showed up. I have to say, these wheels and tires were the easiest tires I have mounted up yet!!! And, I definitely need some stiffer foams, as it looks like I’m running REALLY low on air…

[Volsfan25]

That F150 body is sweet

[AK KRAWLER]

Originally Posted by Volsfan25

That F150 body is sweet

Thanks man, I bought it off of a member of this site, who unfortunately, is not active anymore.

I broke the 3D printed fender flares while bashing around outside in the negative double digits a couple months ago. That was the same time I snapped the front axle housing. The cold made the plastics pretty brittle. Not surprised at -15 to -20 degrees though.

[Volsfan25]

Wow that’s cold. I can sure see the benefits of a 3D printer in this hobby. What’s the temps there now. It’s 30 here

[AK KRAWLER]

We are warm right now, it’s 23 degrees.

[AK KRAWLER]

So, not sure where to put this, so I’ll put it in my AXE Thread…

I priced a nice wooden dog kennel for my critters and wasn’t too impressed with the cost. So… I had a couple 2x4’s and a few pallets laying around and decided to build one.









Then I decided to build a little “crawler spot” with the scraps.
I’ll move it outside later today. Way too much snow for real crawling, but the wife wants her car back in the garage.

The steeper sections are too steep for my Gen8 oops…