X-Factor Wheelbase Question

[radishkid]

I'm working on an x-factor crawler, and I've got a few questions.
1. What is the maximum wheelbase I can get with extended Maxx driveshafts? If I go to 18" will they bind? Is it stupid to even make the truck this long?
2. Narrowed Kongs or LST's. I'm set on beadlocks, but can't decide between the two. The LST's look evil and the kongs will increase my clearence, but will they hurt my CG too much?
3. Power. I guess torque is better than rpm, so a four stroke O.S.? Or do I try to lower my CG and run an OS .15 powerblock? I don't want to go electric.
4. Last, ditch the canti's and go for savage shocks? Or run canti's with dual shocks? If I run the savage shocks, where do I mount them? Can I run the truck low with savage shocks?

...aight. I shut up now....

[moonbuggy]

Originally Posted by radishkid

I'm working on an x-factor crawler, and I've got a few questions.
1. What is the maximum wheelbase I can get with extended Maxx driveshafts? If I go to 18" will they bind? Is it stupid to even make the truck this long?

I'm pretty sure revo shafts will be able to do 18", don't think a maxx shaft would make it unless modified and lengthened

Originally Posted by radishkid

2. Narrowed Kongs or LST's. I'm set on beadlocks, but can't decide between the two. The LST's look evil and the kongs will increase my clearence, but will they hurt my CG too much?

narrowed kongs are pretty unstable, you could use a larder rim (digler style) or run the LST's unmodified on narrow rims

Originally Posted by radishkid

3. Power. I guess torque is better than rpm, so a four stroke O.S.? Or do I try to lower my CG and run an OS .15 powerblock? I don't want to go electric.

if you're not going to make it electric don't bother with all of the other mods

Originally Posted by radishkid

4. Last, ditch the canti's and go for savage shocks? Or run canti's with dual shocks? If I run the savage shocks, where do I mount them? Can I run the truck low with savage shocks?

the stock shock positions allow for a ton of body roll, the 8 shock canti set up will only make it worse, mount one end on the axle and run it diagonaly to the cantilever pivot, to get to the pivot you have to cut part of the chassis off. And as for the savage shock they only have .75" more travel than the stock aluminum jobs so if you want 'em get 'em

[cman_1500w]

Hey welcome to the board! If you're keeping the stock tranny/engine then Revo shafts will only work for the front. The back you have to run maxx shafts b/c of the brake and you have to convert to a t-maxx brake set up also. You also need to drill a hole in the output shaft on the tranny for the setscrew for the maxx sliders. It's hardened metal so I would recomend you have a shop with a lathe do this for you. I have a 16 3/4 inch wheel base with maxx sliders on this setup and with an 18" wheelbase should be fine since the maxx sliders still have lots of room left. Here's a link to how I did my X-factor.

http://rccrawler.com/postt3995.html

[Reflection]

If your set on Savage shocks,I've got 4 aluminum threaded Savage shocks with black springs I'd trade for 4 X-factor shocks. I've been wanting to play around with some X-factor shocks but haven't found/bought any. Let me know if your interested.

I myself love my Kongs. You can see my rig in this forum under a thread named "Twin crawler pics". I don't feel they've made me more unstable. I think the key is getting the weight in the right place. Mine ain't no comp rig and is probly not the most capible rig out there but I have fun with it and it goes almost everywhere I point it. No,not everywhere,I do flop it and yes I get hung up sometimes,but hey,thats the fun of it right.

Kongs work good only after heavy modification. LST's work good right out of the box but they've got less ground clearence. Thats basically what it boils down to IMHO,the choice is yours really.

You can make a crawler out of a nitro but from what I've seen,just about everyone thats tried it has eventually swapped to electric. If it were me,I'd just go ahead and swap now and save yourself all the hastle and money spent trying to make the nitro work.

Good luck
Steve

[radishkid]

Thanks for all three tips so far. Cman, I'm in love with your truck. I already had it bookmarked so that I could do the maxx driveshaft mods. The consensus seems to be to use the Revo sliders. I take it that these are just longer to begin with. I'll try them.
As for the tires, I'm starting to lean towards the kongs just for the challenge. I've shaved down tires before, but I've never narrowed. I've tried to be a good newbie and read up on the tips for narrowing tires. Everyone seems to use CA cement. Isn't this stuff kind of brittle? Do I use the black tire CA or will any CA do? My plans are to pick up a set of kongs off rcboyz on ebay.
If I remove every other tread from the tire as my first mod, before cutting, will this increase my traction substantially? I've shaved stock t/e-maxx tires before and the traction got better, but the truck rode very rough.
-or-
Should I go for broke and cut a brand new set in half? Does anyone have cut Kongs they'll part with?
And Raptor, the savage shocks sound interesting, I just haven't decided which to go with yet.

[cman_1500w]

Thanks for the compliments!

Revo yokes are bigger and won't fit around the hex shaped collar from the tmaxx. That blue collar around the yoke for the slider is what i mean. here's a pic


That is also a 52t savage spur gear adapted on there. It barely clears the yoke and the tmaxx brakes.

Of course you could run a revo shaft on the front and maxx slider on the back. The point is you need maxx sliders to do the tmaxx brakes. The sliders and the tmaxx brakes have to work together for the longer wheelbase. So far this is the only proven method for getting a longer wheelbase out of a nitro x-factor.


If you're going electric then go with the Revo shafts but if you're staying nitro then maxx sliders are the way to go, imo. People use Revo shafts mainly for the strength they aren't too much longer than maxx shafts.

To glue tires people use IC-2000 which is that black rubberized CA glue. Your lhs may have it. Hobbytown should stock them tho. To narrow tires I used regular 20sec CA glue and put a drop every inch along the tire to hold the halves together then I went back and filled the rest in with IC-2000. The trick to narrowing tires is to cut your halves PERCECTLY straight...otherwise the glue won't hold.

As for cutting tread patterns, look around at what other people are doing to get ideas. Then try and do something different or unique Only cut a little at a time and not the entire tread at first. Take your time and you should be happy with it. It's not hard, just takes some patience.

hope this helps

[Reflection]

radishkid,

Did you get my P.M.? Let me know if you still wanna swap,I'll send them your way. Send me an addy and I'll send ya mine so we can ship.

Thanks, Steve

[Cildein]

What about using the Mammoth 153.5mm shocks? Are they shorter or longer then the savage shocks?

[Cildein]

Never mind I found the answer sorry about that.