Ryft as dedicated rock crawler

[farmjohn42]

Has anyone dedicated a Axial Ryft to a rock crawler vs bouncer?
For the areas I drive, the Ryft's wheelbase is a little long. I was thinking of shortening the wheelbase front and rear to keep it symmetrical in functionality. Therefore with a closer wheel base in theory there is less of a chance for the skid to hang up on the prepuce of the climb. It appears the Axial Bomber rear lower links and the upper links could match creating approximately 10mm shorter rear. The front appears more difficult with an assortment of Capra and Enduro links, it would be close if the front could be shortened a noticeable difference. I found https://www.ebay.com/itm/275356494726 front shock mounts to relocate the front shock rearward slightly to help keep some vertical correctness.
If it worked I would eventually invest in the Vivaton portals for the Ryft as well as 4WS. https://www.ebay.com/itm/284435141280
Is this too wild of a theory to work or do you think its doable or more importantly helpful?

 

[OSRC]

Certainly doable. It is long, that's for sure. Shortening the WB would help breakover at the expense of some climbing stability....good trade imo.

I just finished my kit, and I built mine as a crawler/trail rig. Not sure what I want to do with it per-se, but if it stays that way it is probably getting shortened a bit.

 

[DrIsotope]

Oh, it can absolutely be done. The biggest hurdle is the near non-existent gear reduction in the gearbox-- the single speed in the RTR is the high gear, which is 1.33 : 1, and the low in the 2-speed is just 2:1, which absolutely does not lend to crawling. Portals will help with that a lot, but holy hell are they expensive. I didn't bother shortening mine at all-- I used a second set of stock links from Jenny's to get rid of the trailing arms and swaybar. It is wildly stable with a ~400mm wheelbase, and the middling breakover performance is offset by being able to get nearly vertical, and almost incomparable sidehilling. The springs from a set of Traxxas Long Arm shocks work, much to my amazement, perfectly. Mine is 4WS with a Treal rear steer axle (to keep the pumpkin in the proper place) and gearing as low as I could get... by making it. You can use a gear adapter for a Yeti to run normal spurs-- Traxxas and Kimbrough both make 32P 72T gears which can take the spur/pinion ratio from 3.53:1 to 6:1. Beyond that, it's either portals, or build your own gearbox, which is what I did. I built a 4:1 box out of MOD1 pinions. With a 12T pinion, it's almost too slow with a 70:1 FDR and a 2100KV motor.

The stock Swampers don't crawl too well. Whatever you choose, look for a tire around 6" tall. Stickies are really good where I'm wheeling, but they are almost unconscionably expensive. Go as low of KV as you can, feed it volts.

 

[AK KRAWLER]

Oh, it can absolutely be done. The biggest hurdle is the near non-existent gear reduction in the gearbox-- the single speed in the RTR is the high gear, which is 1.33 : 1, and the low in the 2-speed is just 2:1, which absolutely does not lend to crawling. Portals will help with that a lot, but holy hell are they expensive. I didn't bother shortening mine at all-- I used a second set of stock links from Jenny's to get rid of the trailing arms and swaybar. It is wildly stable with a ~400mm wheelbase, and the middling breakover performance is offset by being able to get nearly vertical, and almost incomparable sidehilling. The springs from a set of Traxxas Long Arm shocks work, much to my amazement, perfectly. Mine is 4WS with a Treal rear steer axle (to keep the pumpkin in the proper place) and gearing as low as I could get... by making it. You can use a gear adapter for a Yeti to run normal spurs-- Traxxas and Kimbrough both make 32P 72T gears which can take the spur/pinion ratio from 3.53:1 to 6:1. Beyond that, it's either portals, or build your own gearbox, which is what I did. I built a 4:1 box out of MOD1 pinions. With a 12T pinion, it's almost too slow with a 70:1 FDR and a 2100KV motor.

The stock Swampers don't crawl too well. Whatever you choose, look for a tire around 6" tall. Stickies are really good where I'm wheeling, but they are almost unconscionably expensive. Go as low of KV as you can, feed it volts.

That’s a pretty wild looking little rig!!!

 

[OSRC]

^^ Very nice! Looks real good with the shorter stance - great idea just using front links out back.

I filed down the motor plate a bit to get a smaller pinion on, I don't remember the size offhand...it's only a tooth or two IIRC. It's locked in low gear and has a Holmes Crawlmaster... mine seems to just be in the range of trail running and some light crawling. I've only test run a bit in the basement though.

I had in the back of my mind when I ordered the Ryft kit to swap drivelines with my SMT, I thought it would be a good upgrade for the SMT and work out well with a more crawler oriented driveline in the Ryft. But I haven't gotten there yet.

 

[DrIsotope]

If anyone is worried about rear triangulation when ditching the trailing arms for 4 link, don't be. The rear end has maybe 2-3mm of lateral movement, and that's probably down to cumulative slop in the rod ends.
Be prepared in every way to put in gear that can handle weight. Mine is currently sitting on 2.2" CF beadlocks, and with no "added weight" other than a brass Treal diff cover up front... is a bit over 9lbs.

 

[Nogman]

Oh, it can absolutely be done. The biggest hurdle is the near non-existent gear reduction in the gearbox-- the single speed in the RTR is the high gear, which is 1.33 : 1, and the low in the 2-speed is just 2:1, which absolutely does not lend to crawling. Portals will help with that a lot, but holy hell are they expensive. I didn't bother shortening mine at all-- I used a second set of stock links from Jenny's to get rid of the trailing arms and swaybar. It is wildly stable with a ~400mm wheelbase, and the middling breakover performance is offset by being able to get nearly vertical, and almost incomparable sidehilling. The springs from a set of Traxxas Long Arm shocks work, much to my amazement, perfectly. Mine is 4WS with a Treal rear steer axle (to keep the pumpkin in the proper place) and gearing as low as I could get... by making it. You can use a gear adapter for a Yeti to run normal spurs-- Traxxas and Kimbrough both make 32P 72T gears which can take the spur/pinion ratio from 3.53:1 to 6:1. Beyond that, it's either portals, or build your own gearbox, which is what I did. I built a 4:1 box out of MOD1 pinions. With a 12T pinion, it's almost too slow with a 70:1 FDR and a 2100KV motor.

The stock Swampers don't crawl too well. Whatever you choose, look for a tire around 6" tall. Stickies are really good where I'm wheeling, but they are almost unconscionably expensive. Go as low of KV as you can, feed it volts.

Any pics of the transmission? I'm looking to do the same for my tall tire belly dragger and I kinda know what I wanna do (parts are ordered) but can't find much for reference.

 

[casco_bay_rc]

Has anyone dedicated a Axial Ryft to a rock crawler vs bouncer?

I converted mine to a crawler by adding the three spools and gearing down at the pinion/spur. I'm also using a Mamba X to use the aux wire crawler/rock racer modes. You can underdrive the rear with gearing.

I added tons of weight down low via aluminum axles, brass, and tubes.

With these changes, my Ryft crawls as well as any of my other rigs, with the advantage being the longer wheelbase.

I'll post some pics soon.

 

[DrIsotope]

Any pics of the transmission? I'm looking to do the same for my tall tire belly dragger and I kinda know what I wanna do (parts are ordered) but can't find much for reference.

Oh, I coulda done this both different, easier, and probably better (like ordering shouldered bearings.) But it works well enough that I don't feel like starting over. Details of the build here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vla9Iuuo1xU
And some images:

 

[SteveB1]

That's pretty slick. I ended up putting a Vanquish 3-Gear transmission in mine and changing out the spur gear to a 90 and running a Holmes crawlmaster magnum.

 

[farmjohn42]

Well I finally found time to convert the Ryft to a 4ws unit to determine if the rig could be a sufficient crawler for the terrain I crawl. I have a AXE 540 RC2 2100 KV motor with the FOC and Installed a 13 tooth pinion in paired with a FlySky controller. The rear axle is the stock plastic axle.
In the first drive, I noticed the stock front axle offsets the rear driveshaft to the opposite side. Oversight on my part but for testing it will be fine. The pinion shaft is 6mm instead of 5mm so finding a longer driveshaft is tough as most shafts are 5mm or the larger rigs are 8mm. For now I have placed foam in the two halves of the driveline to center the plastic spline shaft for testing. I left the stock rear trailing arm linkage in place as I believe it will help with articulation. Time will tell if I need to follow suit like the rest of you and mount the rear shocks to the axle. With leaving the rear linkage (no sway bar) I noticed when the rear wheels are turned fully they contact the trailing arm due to the trailing arm being thicker and front connecting points are mounted towards the outside of the skid plate compared to the front which are slightly inward. The one thing that was mentioned but I ignored is the fact the transmission is extremely high geared and even with a smaller pinion it seems a little fast still. I will keep tinkering with it to determine how it will work as some of the previous comments state it can be a decent crawler due to length.

 

[5150bronco]

Any updates??? I want to get this going.

I got a Ryft for my son and it rips for sure. Way too much power so 50% option works. This thing can still go fast, but also crawl.

The Plan: I want to reduce speed and get it little slower for crawling.

1) I could switch to two speed tranny with servo.
2) Change spur gear to 90
3) Change motor pinion to 11, 12 tooth


Any other thoughts?

4)?
5?

I could change to Mamba X to control speed.

I am going to change setting and reduce drag brake on spectrum ESC to 40% and see how that goes.

*** Question: One thing I did notice is when I go forward and try to go in return, there is s lag and then the tires spin fast in reverse. So I want to reduce the lag/response when I go in reverse.

Thanks! Love to get some thoughts here. I am really loving the Ryft.

 

[SteveB1]

Change the transmission to a three gear. Lock the diffs, tune shocks, dump sway bar, scrap trailing arms for proper lower rear links, chop out the battery tray for clearance, and Bob's your uncle. We changed out the electronics to Holmes Revolver classic w/ Crawlmaster V3, and it's fantastic. That wheelbase really shines on large, steep ascents. 2.2" JConcepts Ruptures and CI foams.

 

[5150bronco]

Damn that sounds like a sick recipe. Thanks Steve. Does yours still rip? Good speed? I do need a decent speed for my son. He does not appreciate my slow crawlers lol.

I am going to make rear lower links for sure. No sway bar. Where did you put your battery? I have that big spectrum one 4s.

three gear from Axial?

 

[SteveB1]

5150,

I run the Ryft on 3s and it's a crawler only. The root of the tread was about building a dedicated crawler, and we pretty much did just that. 3s with a tiny pinion gear and a large spur gear. We also installed a Vanquish under drive in the rear along with the Vanquish lockers. Battery sits up front in the modified tray, but close to the skid. We cut away the front of the battery tray to allow the suspension to compress without the servo mount bumping up against the bottom. I'd posts some photos, but this 1995 website technology requires links rather than embedding like most other sites, so no photos for now. We will add a section to our website some time in the future.

You also might want to check this out: 1Tenth Ryft Skid 3 Gear Transmission Adapter

We made our own, but this looks like it would work. Ours is mounted more forward which required some driveshaft reworking. Our transmission is a Vanquish 3 gear, not axial, but the Chinese knock-offs on amazon look pretty solid.

 

[jes4man]

I bought the Ryft kit and it came with the 2 speed which helps gearing very little. I got the Locked Up RC axial slipper eliminator kit and a steel Emaxx 72 tooth 32p spur off of Ebay which helped lower the gearing substantially when combined with small 32p pinions. Vanquish underdrive gears front and rear, Axial locker in the center and Vitavon lockers front and rear. All together really created a lot of low speed control. I would have not done any of this except for that fact that the kit was under $300 before it was discontinued.

 

[OSRC]

but this 1995 website technology requires links rather than embedding like most other sites, so no photos for now. We will add a section to our website some time in the future.

It's a vast improvement over the 1989 architecture that was here for years. Mods are doing a fine job with what I assume are very limited resources.

Not sure what the issue is as far as the pics. Just pulled this over from the link you posted. There's always a way...

 

[SteveB1]

Most other websites allow you to just drop in a photo. This website requires a link to a photo hosting sight, and that's antiquated. The year date was tongue n cheek, but it's archaic compared to other sites. RC Talk, ARRMA forum are much better suited for sharing images and video. I'll grant that ARRMA forum has 10-fold the website traffic, and the revenue stream supports a more robust operation.. That said, links to post photos ain't my jam.

 

[bgredjeep]

You can post photos on this site if you are a supporting member. Otherwise you are correct. Gotta host elsewhere