tarpon4me
Newbie
Been hitting up the crawler track in Myrtle Beach, SC called Lets go Racing, and i've been catching hell getting over the bounty wall with my AX10. Been a while since i've posted up, but I had already done some major mods to my deadbolt, to include vanquish parts front and rear, Mickey Metal wheels, 35T motor, Zero shocks, etc...
Well I was still having an issue with getting over that wall. I crawl with my real jeep, 1:1 scale, and was in a discussion about pinion angle and bigger lift kits. Then it dawned on me, I need to have a peek at my AX10 and see what's up. I sat my AX10 beside my sons SCX10 and noticed something. The SCX's driveshaft have a downward pinion angle where as the AX10 was up. This is what causes the AX10 to bind and the driveshafts to hit at full flex where as the driveshafts on the SCX10 flatten out at flex.
I had some 98mm aluminum shafts laying around, and decided to try something. One of the ways to correct geometry on a real jeep when you add lift is to install longer lower control arms. It rolls the axle around correcting pinion angle and brings the spring level under the upper perch. So I installed the longer lowers, leaving the standard high clearance aluminum uppers as is. This is the result:
In the picture below, you can see the stock pinion angle rolling upwards, which causes binding.
With the longer lower links, you can see a MAJOR difference in the pinion angle. It's moved the angle downwards at the same degree, which will be it's maximum stress point. I'll explain.
I mentioned maximum stress point, well as you can see in the photo below, at full compression, the pinion angle is almost perfectly flat. This means a couple things. first of all, there is zero binding and when the rig is all kinds of crazy off camber, the power deliver is going to be smooth and the stress on the drivetrain is going to be minimal. The other thing is, it no longer smack that drive upper control arm, increasing articulation.
In addition, the height of the rig was dropped by what I figure to be at least an inch, which made it incredibly more stable. the only down side is the old deadbolt body no longer fits with the meaty TSL's I put on.
I have a feeling that with this simple and inexpensive mod I will have a completely unstoppable rig. May end up with high clearance lowers depending on how it goes, but it completely changed the rig. Oh, and I had to rotate the front hubs so the steering was square. Don't forget to do that. Enjoy!
Well I was still having an issue with getting over that wall. I crawl with my real jeep, 1:1 scale, and was in a discussion about pinion angle and bigger lift kits. Then it dawned on me, I need to have a peek at my AX10 and see what's up. I sat my AX10 beside my sons SCX10 and noticed something. The SCX's driveshaft have a downward pinion angle where as the AX10 was up. This is what causes the AX10 to bind and the driveshafts to hit at full flex where as the driveshafts on the SCX10 flatten out at flex.
I had some 98mm aluminum shafts laying around, and decided to try something. One of the ways to correct geometry on a real jeep when you add lift is to install longer lower control arms. It rolls the axle around correcting pinion angle and brings the spring level under the upper perch. So I installed the longer lowers, leaving the standard high clearance aluminum uppers as is. This is the result:
In the picture below, you can see the stock pinion angle rolling upwards, which causes binding.
With the longer lower links, you can see a MAJOR difference in the pinion angle. It's moved the angle downwards at the same degree, which will be it's maximum stress point. I'll explain.
I mentioned maximum stress point, well as you can see in the photo below, at full compression, the pinion angle is almost perfectly flat. This means a couple things. first of all, there is zero binding and when the rig is all kinds of crazy off camber, the power deliver is going to be smooth and the stress on the drivetrain is going to be minimal. The other thing is, it no longer smack that drive upper control arm, increasing articulation.
In addition, the height of the rig was dropped by what I figure to be at least an inch, which made it incredibly more stable. the only down side is the old deadbolt body no longer fits with the meaty TSL's I put on.
I have a feeling that with this simple and inexpensive mod I will have a completely unstoppable rig. May end up with high clearance lowers depending on how it goes, but it completely changed the rig. Oh, and I had to rotate the front hubs so the steering was square. Don't forget to do that. Enjoy!
