Wrascenderaith?

[metalry101]

I've been toying with converting my Wraith to a 1.9 rig for a while and now I have a great reason to! New tires! No literally, I've been trying to come up w/ a reason to buy the JConcepts Scorpios, but haven't been able to since my Blazer and SCX-Exo are both happily tired right now. My Wraith on the hand was rotting on the shelf...well...rotting isn't fair, but it didn't get driven very often and I have an extra Ascender kit that I haven't been able to come up w/ a build for yet, so here we are.

I just started playing with the links and mocking stuff up tonight after I ripped all the original stuff off of my Wraith chassis. Please excuse the terribly messy workbench.

[M1tch]

Your workbench is tidy... no photos of mine as it would cause severe brain damage.

[rc2000]

You need some of these driveshaft adapters. I ordered them from the scaler store.

[josh6575]

I like mine. It is a little top heavy but a load of fun. Much more real looking with smaller wheels and a narrower track width. I was real happy with the way the pan hard worked out. I have been running the stock drive shafts with no issues. I run 3s 55 turn. Bought a set of the vaterra hd shafts and have not needed them yet.

[metalry101]

Made a ton of progress today.

Got the servo mounted vertically so the bump steer is gone.
Got the panhard mounted and the length corrected.
Got the rear sway bar on and hooked up.
Got the rear shock angles worked out so they don't hit the chassis rails
Got the drag link length corrected for equal steering left and right.
Got the Vaterra driveshafts hooked up to the Axial trans.
Got the tires vented and mounted on my new Pro-Line beadlocks.
Got the sway bar links lengthened so it didn't invert at full droop.
Got the trans regeared to 9/56 from 12/56 to compensate for the taller axle gears.
Got the broken front bumper support replaced.
Got a shorter screw and super thin locknut installed on the center mount of the rear upper link so it clears the driveshaft.
Got the panels on, interior in, electronics in, and even drove it around a tiny bit.


...But I still have a lot of things to work out.

-I think I'll probably switch the trans back to 48 pitch gears so that I can drop the ratio more (12/90 is a 7.5:1 whereas 9/60 is 6.66:1). I may even drill the skid for the Vaterra trans and install the 2-speed, but for now I'll probably roll w/ the Wraith trans since my electronics are attached to it in a very low slung and clean layout and I don't want to have to redo them.
-The sway bar is way too stiff for the narrower axles and lower weight (I have no weight added to the tires at the moment).
-I need a longer servo horn because the tie rod stuffs into the drag link on hard vertical compression (the last picture shows this).
-I may limit the shocks a little bit, especially in the front.
-I need to get my lights installed and maybe a servo winch, but if I do both I'll need to rework some electronics mounting because I'll need a 4 channel Rx instead of the super tiny 3 channel I have now.

Anyways...you're all probably bored of reading, so onto the pictures!

[metalry101]

Decided to take a couple more pics of it side by side w/ my SCX-10 and Ascender to demonstrate the size of the tires and the height of the car and such.

[Natedog]

Originally Posted by metalry101

I've been toying with converting my Wraith to a 1.9 rig for a while and now I have a great reason to! New tires! No literally, I've been trying to come up w/ a reason to buy the JConcepts Scorpios, but haven't been able to since my Blazer and SCX-Exo are both happily tired right now. My Wraith on the hand was rotting on the shelf...well...rotting isn't fair, but it didn't get driven very often and I have an extra Ascender kit that I haven't been able to come up w/ a build for yet, so here we are.

I just started playing with the links and mocking stuff up tonight after I ripped all the original stuff off of my Wraith chassis.

That's frickin hot! I love it, guy at LHS was working on same thing when I stopped by the other day to buy some parts! These Ascender axles look so scale and that small pumpkin makes them slide over rocks much better than the freakishly large Axial SCX axle pumpkins. More pics please.

Originally Posted by rc2000

You need some of these driveshaft adapters. I ordered them from the scaler store.

Those are nice, but could also just use either Ascender or MIP driveshafts for ascender? The beauty of the Ascender driveshafts is the diff end pin is captured by the outer pinion bearing and therefore won't ever fall out, plus the cvd end of the driveshaft is closer to the pinion and housing. This gives better driveshaft angles especially with shorter wheelbase and less stress on outer pinion bearings.

[fr8cture]

Very cool. I had this idea when I was originally planning out my 1.9 wraith build. My only issue was durability. Curious how yours does. I drive mine just liek what it looks like...Ultra4! lol

[metalry101]

Originally Posted by Natedog

That's frickin hot! I love it, guy at LHS was working on same thing when I stopped by the other day to buy some parts! These Ascender axles look so scale and that small pumpkin makes them slide over rocks much better than the freakishly large Axial SCX axle pumpkins. More pics please.

Thanks! I love the Ascender pumpkins for exactly that. They miss everything compared to the enormous SCX diffs.

Originally Posted by Natedog

Those are nice, but could also just use either Ascender or MIP driveshafts for ascender?

Exactly.

Originally Posted by fr8cture

Very cool. I had this idea when I was originally planning out my 1.9 wraith build. My only issue was durability. Curious how yours does. I drive mine just liek what it looks like...Ultra4! lol

Check the next post for the update on that...

[metalry101]

Got lots more done to the thing this week...

The glare makes it hard to see, but the diff covers and beadlock rings are now white, the lights are in, as are the rocklights.

The first pic is of my electronics layout before the lighting was installed.

[metalry101]

Last night was it's first trail run. It ran well. It needs a little work here and there, but overall I was happy with the way it worked. It felt a little too light, especially in the front, and the front suspension, particularly the panhard, felt like it was bound up a little bit sometimes. I'll be tweaking on that stuff a little bit in the next while.

The little diffs continued to miss rocks, the steering was mostly awesome, the tires seemed to work very very well, the gearing seemed to be spot on, run time was great (~2 hours).

The Wraith skid lived up to it's reputation of dragging on EVERYTHING, but a little alteration in picking lines and knowing when to bump it over stuff helped mitigate that problem most of the time. The steering had a few issues of just rotating the tie rod instead of swinging the tires at full droop and bound up. I'm not sure what I'll do to fix that. I may mess w/ the steering linkage angles or limit the shocks, but limiting the shocks will cause the belly to drag on even more things, if that is possible.

Anyways, onto the pics. The red truck is a friend's. It is a very very well setup and works awesome. He always does very well at the 801RCC rock races with it, so it is a solid measuring stick for a scale rig. Overall my rig kept up with his just fine. There were a few spots that his rig was better, and a few where mine was better. Overall they were pretty sixes, with a slight edge to his if you wanted to pick. Not bad for only a bench tune on a custom rig.


















5 hours into the run I bound it up HARD and this let go. It is the metal piece that slides into the plastic driveshaft. I'm not sure if I'll try another stock one or slap MIP's in the thing. I wasn't real happy that it let go, but I am running a Roc412 and a completely locked out slipper. I think I may rework the slipper assembly to help prevent this in the future, but I'm happy to report that I still haven't killed an HD pinion in either my Blazer or this rig, and both run Roc412's.

[MAXXMASHER]

That's pretty impressive that the outdrive from the pinion shaft broke and not the pinion gear. The HD's must be pretty tough! I finally got my new gears along with some HR diff covers. Will be installing them tomorrow night. I already have the Mip shafts on mine. Can't wait to get my rig back together. Nice work!

FLM BL E-Maxx - BL Slash - BL 4Tec - 1/16th Fiesta - Wraith - SCX-10 - Custom Axial 6WD - Custom Losi micro Monster Truck - Losi Micro-T Hummer - Custom Losi Micro Peterbilt Crawler - soon '65 Malibu Micro T Drifter

[metalry101]

Originally Posted by MAXXMASHER

That's pretty impressive that the outdrive from the pinion shaft broke and not the pinion gear. The HD's must be pretty tough! I finally got my new gears along with some HR diff covers. Will be installing them tomorrow night. I already have the Mip shafts on mine. Can't wait to get my rig back together. Nice work!

Thanks man!

The HD's have been tough so far for sure. I have MIP's in my Blazer and I may move them to this or buy another set, but I figured I'd try the upgraded plastic ones. Honestly this is the first stock one I've killed. Hopefully it was just a fluke, though I may try to loosen up the slipper a little bit so I can be a little less careful with the throttle.

[Natedog]

Originally Posted by MAXXMASHER

That's pretty impressive that the outdrive from the pinion shaft broke and not the pinion gear. The HD's must be pretty tough! I finally got my new gears along with some HR diff covers. Will be installing them tomorrow night. I already have the Mip shafts on mine. Can't wait to get my rig back together. Nice work!

Yes, it is. SHim your diffs will help lots too.

Originally Posted by metalry101

Thanks man!

The HD's have been tough so far for sure. I have MIP's in my Blazer and I may move them to this or buy another set, but I figured I'd try the upgraded plastic ones. Honestly this is the first stock one I've killed. Hopefully it was just a fluke, though I may try to loosen up the slipper a little bit so I can be a little less careful with the throttle.

Try the stockers again with HD plastic shafts, then MIPs. Keep the hawtness going...I was contemplating doing this to my Wraith too, hate the wide axles. Great trail pics too, thanks!

EDIT: You mentioned that the servo horn hit the drag link at full compression and were thinking slightly longer servo arm (ie. Robotronics). You could also move the steering servo rearward slightly, but since you re-purposed the STRC servo mount that may be difficult to clamp it to some tubing....hmmm...

[Dextroyer]

in contrast to your build, I put wraith axles on an ascender chassis and dubbed it "Wrender" A lot more complicated than it should have been but I like it.

[Natedog]

Originally Posted by metalry101

Got lots more done to the thing this week...

The glare makes it hard to see, but the diff covers and beadlock rings are now white, the lights are in, as are the rocklights.

Looks nice, great trail pics too. I've found that no flash on camera and angle my desk worklight towards the subject matter along with good overall shop lights on and most of my pics come out better that way.

[TROPIX]

Originally Posted by Dextroyer

in contrast to your build, I put wraith axles on an ascender chassis and dubbed it "Wrender" A lot more complicated than it should have been but I like it.

Where did you get your body? Or is custom build

[Natedog]

Looks to me like Pro-Line 1966 Ford F150 shortcourse body?
Pro-Line 1966 Ford F-100 Body 3408 for Short Course

[Natedog]

Metalry101, wassup any more trail pics, fine-tuning, etc?

[metalry101]

Nah man...been super busy with a million other things lately. I still have the rig and have been tweaking a few little things here and there, but nothing big yet. I'll get pics of my progress posted up when the progress actually exists. I'm excited to get this thing back on the trail, even more so now that I've looked through these pictures again. It's such a capable and fun rig while looking amazingly scale.