BluJeep builds a Toyota (Phoenix)

[BLUJEEP]

Hi all, I’m building a new crawler (after selling a couple of old ones) and wanted to start a thread documenting my progress and experience. My dad bought a brand new FJ40 back in the late 70’s and I remember riding in the back jump seats and thinking it was the coolest thing ever.

So I’ve always had a soft spot for the funny little things. I walked into my LHS with the intention of buying an Element kit for a budget hardbody build, but when I saw the Phoenix kit sitting there looking all Cruiser-y, but with big awesome tires. I couldn’t resist. A lot of rationalizing went down, and the box found its way into my Subaru, lol. Anyway, on with the build.

Parts:
VS4-10 Phoenix straight axle kit
Hobbywing Quicrun Fusion SE 1800kv motor/esc combo
Spektrum SR515 RX, DX5 Rugged TX
DS3218 20KG servo
Dig & Shift servo, not installed, TBD.
Vanquish servo horn
Paint TBD.



First off, It’s nice not having to upgrade anything right out of the box!

Starting with the axles, everything went great until I tried to put the gear carrier or third member into the rear axle housing. It just would not go. The top edge of the carrier was hitting the link mounts that are molded into the axle housing and angle outward. I could get it all the way in there with some pressure, but it was crooked and I just couldn’t get the two pieces to seal up.

An email to Vanquish about the problem yielded a quick response about 10 minutes later! A bit of back and forth trying to troubleshoot, and they mailed me a new housing and third member in just a few days. The new parts fit together much better. Very happy with this experience. Beyond that, the gears in the axles are super smooth, don’t need shimming inside the housing, and make my SCX10-II axles feel gritty by comparison.

After that I started putting the chassis together and had a spot on the skid plate that needed to be trimmed so it would fit inside the c-rail. Puzzling, but no big deal.

With that out of the way, I tackled the shocks, which went smoothly, although I'm not sure if I put enough oil in them. I used Green Slime on the threaded rod to slide it through the x-rings, and also on the cap and its o-ring. I put a bit of oil on the shock body threads to install the plastic adjustment rings and they went on fine. I finally bought a set of shock shaft pliers and they made installing the ball cups a breeze. Can’t believe I waited so long to do that.

On to the transmission, I was hesitant to start it because of the amount of gears & pieces. But, after poring over the manual it all went fine, up until I got to the part where the metal bearing plate and dig lockout are installed into the transfer case. The manual doesn’t show how to actually do this, it just shows the parts grouped together.

Easy enough to figure out how to place the bearing plate, but I had no clue about the dig lockout. Luckily I found Harley Designs’ awesome build video of the VFD twin transmission here:

https://harleydesigns.com/blog/vanqu...p-instructions

A few short minutes later and the installation order was clear. Following the video as a guide I was able to double check my work, close up the transmission and mark it off the list.

And now, installing the transmission into the chassis. As others have mentioned, I had to trim one of the top link mounts to fit the Fusion motor/esc, but that was easily handled with a sharp Xacto knife. What was a surprising pain was trying to align the holes in the skid plate and motor plate. I tried several times, methodically tightening screws and trying to get it aligned. I was tearing my hair out until I posted my question and learned from the gurus here that these holes are typically misaligned and was advised to just remove the screw. I wish now that I would have sprung for the metal motor plate and standoffs, but this will do for now.

And here's where it sits at the moment:



Up next are the links, and I’ll update this thread when I can and maybe add more pics. Thanks for reading.

[B-MOW71]

Congrats on the Phoenix purchase! These are great kits and are one of my favorites to build.

Sad to hear about the third member in the axle not fitting, but glad to hear that VP got it straightened out fairly quickly.

On the shocks, if you fill them up and then push the shaft in so that the oil comes out of the bleeder hole and then put the screw in, then you should have the right amount of oil in there. The bleeder screws make it so easy to fill shocks.

Installing the VFD trans into the chassis and having all of the screws line up probably will never happen. On all 5 of my VFD equipped rigs, I have to start all of the screws first, then slowly tighten them down. If the top screws are tightened down, then the bottom countersunk screw in the chassis is always slightly off.

Build looks good so far! Following along to see more!

[Steven McKay]

Glad to see you start your thread, I used green slime and a small bristle brush to lube the inside o-ring and the shaft. Will be following along.

[Ballistic17]

Sounds like this will be a nice build. Following along.

[BLUJEEP]

Originally Posted by B-MOW71

Congrats on the Phoenix purchase! These are great kits and are one of my favorites to build.

Sad to hear about the third member in the axle not fitting, but glad to hear that VP got it straightened out fairly quickly.

On the shocks, if you fill them up and then push the shaft in so that the oil comes out of the bleeder hole and then put the screw in, then you should have the right amount of oil in there. The bleeder screws make it so easy to fill shocks.

Installing the VFD trans into the chassis and having all of the screws line up probably will never happen. On all 5 of my VFD equipped rigs, I have to start all of the screws first, then slowly tighten them down. If the top screws are tightened down, then the bottom countersunk screw in the chassis is always slightly off.

Build looks good so far! Following along to see more!

Thanks! And thanks for the tip on the shocks, I'll do that next time. On the transmission screws, I was able to start all of them and get them all tightened, but every time I did, the bottom screw into the motor plate pulled the motor crooked. So I just left it out.

Originally Posted by Steven McKay

Glad to see you start your thread, I used green slime and a small bristle brush to lube the inside o-ring and the shaft. Will be following along.

Thank you! That's a good tip also. I'm hoping these won't leak like the SSD's I have on my SCX10-II.

Originally Posted by Ballistic17

Sounds like this will be a nice build. Following along.

Thanks!

[Valor]

Looking forward to this

[BLUJEEP]

Update! I was able to assemble the driveshafts, links and basically put it all together yesterday. Today I bound the SR515 to my TX, and trimmed out the steering. I think I'm going to get some servo extension wires and put the receiver in the gas tank, with some black heat shrink tubing to hide and protect it.

A quick run inside and I'm blown away by the slow speed of this Fusion motor. And it definitely has more top end than my Axial, so will be good for trail walks. I'm hoping it will be good out on the rocks. I love seeing a smooth truck run, it looks more scale.

Tomorrow I may go to the LHS and find some paint and think about how I want to do the body. I may get some custom stickers made with graphics, or go more rustic, not sure. I found a place that you can get a sheet of sample stickers with your artwork for pretty cheap. www.stickermule.com











I noticed that the rear output on the transmission is very loose, as in it can be pulled in and out quite a bit. ? The front is tight.

I put the shocks in with the bleeder holes facing inward towards the chassis by accident, oops.

I had some frustration putting this together, but now that it's moving, I'm stoked. It's funny, the parts that I thought would be most difficult weren't bad, and the simple things were frustrating, like link ends not wanting to slot into the skid plate, misaligned parts, etc. The tolerances on this are super tight, and it seems very stout. Can't wait to get it outside. Thanks for looking.

[Steven McKay]

Coming along nicely.

[PFongemie]

Heat shrink tubing didn’t work for me for wire protection. The size needed to fit over the connectors wouldn’t shrink enough and looked just as sloppy. The smaller size worked kinda. I had to remove the connectors to get it on and once it shrunk it was to stiff for my liking.
You can get 25’ of braided wire loom from Amazon for $6.00. Way easier to work with, stays flexible, easily removed if needed and comes in multiple colors. You can see pictures in my post “Snow Day”


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[BLUJEEP]

Originally Posted by PFongemie

Heat shrink tubing didn’t work for me for wire protection. The size needed to fit over the connectors wouldn’t shrink enough and looked just as sloppy. The smaller size worked kinda. I had to remove the connectors to get it on and once it shrunk it was to stiff for my liking.
You can get 25’ of braided wire loom from Amazon for $6.00. Way easier to work with, stays flexible, easily removed if needed and comes in multiple colors. You can see pictures in my post “Snow Day”


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hey, thanks for the tip, great idea! I saw your thread and it looks great. Did you use any kind of rubber gasket on the fuel cell lid or wire port?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[PFongemie]

Originally Posted by BLUJEEP

Hey, thanks for the tip, great idea! I saw your thread and it looks great. Did you use any kind of rubber gasket on the fuel cell lid or wire port?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I haven’t yet. I’m not planning on getting that wet.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[BLUJEEP]

Originally Posted by PFongemie

I haven’t yet. I’m not planning on getting that wet.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks. I just ordered some braided wire wrap.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[BLUJEEP]

So I went to install my SR515 receiver today and I’m not sure about putting it in the fuel cell. There’s just not a good flat place to mount it. I think I’d rather get a separate receiver box, but unsure what would be a good size to fit on the side plates with room for the receiver inside. Any suggestions on what to use?

[indybama]

Do u plan to run in wet conditions? If not, just mount it straight to the slider. Its already pretty tight space in there, let alone try to tuck a rx box in there lol

[BLUJEEP]

Originally Posted by indybama

Do u plan to run in wet conditions? If not, just mount it straight to the slider. Its already pretty tight space in there, let alone try to tuck a rx box in there lol

Not underwater, but maybe some shallow creek crossings, below the skid. Would like to keep dust out too, and protect the antenna.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Steven McKay]

You don't need a LEVEL flat spot the SR515 doesn't have a gyro. You could also make a level flat spot if you wanted too. I just took my cover off to take a look. Mount it on the lower flat surface of the bump, I might do that myself.

[BLUJEEP]

Originally Posted by Steven McKay

You don't need a LEVEL flat spot the SR515 doesn't have a gyro. You could also make a level flat spot if you wanted too. I just took my cover off to take a look. Mount it on the lower flat surface of the bump, I might do that myself.

Yeah I know, but along with the wiring it’s not ideal. Just looking for other options. I’m going to take another look at it, today thanks!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Steven McKay]

Originally Posted by BLUJEEP

Yeah I know, but along with the wiring it’s not ideal. Just looking for other options. I’m going to take another look at it, today thanks!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

If your not going to install a winch. You could put a rx box up front next to your steering servo.

[B-MOW71]

I put mine up beside the steering servo. It's in a receiver box that I found on Thingiverse. It does not seal, but will serve as a splash guard in case I get into shallow water or mud.

[PFongemie]

Originally Posted by BLUJEEP

Yeah I know, but along with the wiring it’s not ideal. Just looking for other options. I’m going to take another look at it, today thanks!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Fits fine in the box. Just need a servo wire extension.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk