Col_Sanders Builds of 2025

[Col_Sanders]

Winter is pretty slow here as far as competition goes, so thats when many of the locals do their new builds. Last year i got 1st overall in both classes with my main comp rigs and also got 1st with my VRD in our big team comp, so i decided not do take on a whole new build just yet. Instead, i just made a few changes here and there.

First up is my VRD Carbon. I bought this for our big team comp, which requires a bit more speed and endurance than a normal comp but I also use this as a loaner and backup comp truck. For this season, I swapped over to a rock pirates kraken chassis, some titanium links from hardcore, a BOCO BTA servo mount, vanquish stubby kit, and a new Holmes crawlmaster stubby 2200kv. Steering is handled by a bmf1095l. For now i am reusing a rhino 80a esc i had sitting around. I need to get a new winch mounting solution.




With a 650mah 4s pack, it has a 60/40 weight bias.

 

[Col_Sanders]

Next up is my main Modified Class, which is similar to fusorrca's C2. It is an Exo Half Dome chassis, Exo Alipinst transmission, F10 portals with heavy brass and UD ring and pinion in the rear (~38% total UD), Holmes motor and servo, Exo Belay ESC, Castle BEC, Reefs IS300 winch, Dlux driveshafts, Priceys shocks. The pictured tire setup is Lockedup RC wheels with JConcepts Holds. They are stuffed with BAMF inserts up front and squids in the rear. I do swap tires and wheels depending on terrain. No changes were made for this season aside from the new tires and body.


Last season's final look:

 

[Col_Sanders]

Rig number 3 is my Trail class, which is fusorrca's C1 equivalent. A hard body is required and tires must be tucked at least halfway under the fenders. SOA, angled skid, etc is allowed though. With this in mind, i originally built this as a near clone of my modified truck. The only difference was body, wheelbase, tires, and wheels. Due to electronics failures or me just wanting to try new things, this truck does have a nsdrc rs700v2 servo and rhino esc along with a few other minor differences.

Last year i ran the Mojave body. This year i got a carbon fiber Jeep body and extended the wheelbase about 1/2". Body swap knocked off almost 250 grams and gave better approach and departure angles. IIRC, my width was around 9.25" up front and 9 rear. I had to grind off a good bit of brass and eliminate some screws on the portals to get it that narrow in 1.9s.

 

[Col_Sanders]

Minor update on the Trail Class rig. Swapped over to 4.19 Megalithics. Front width is currently right under 9.5" wide with 350 hubs. Rear is just over 9" with 290 hubs.

I had 290s up front but the tires were rubbing the knuckle pretty bad. Gonna bust out the dremel again and see if i can get it sorted out.

 

[Col_Sanders]

Getting ready to start a new build. Im going to try to make this one really lightweight. Driveshafts and Transmission should be here tomorrow but a few parts are already here. I chose the Dlux OD-4 for the transmission and it will have a Hobbywing Mini 16 Fusion Pro for motor/esc. If that doesn't work, I'll swap to a 2200kv Stumpy and AM32 esc.

Because the OD4 doesnt have much gear reduction, I am going to try this set of AR45 portals that i picked up off ebay for cheap. In stock configuration they have more reduction than F10s can get with UD ring and pinion and standard portal gears. This way i wont have to run a tiny 10t pinion on the motor. Another bonus is that there are more brass options than there are for F10 portals, so i can add a little weight or a lot of weight if i want. Unfortunately, they are ugly compared to the F10s.

 

[Chingon]

Getting ready to start a new build. Im going to try to make this one really lightweight. Driveshafts and Transmission should be here tomorrow but a few parts are already here. I chose the Dlux OD-4 for the transmission and it will have a Hobbywing Mini 16 Fusion Pro for motor/esc. If that doesn't work, I'll swap to a 2200kv Stumpy and AM32 esc.

Because the OD4 doesnt have much gear reduction, I am going to try this set of AR45 portals that i picked up off ebay for cheap. In stock configuration they have more reduction than F10s can get with UD ring and pinion and standard portal gears. This way i wont have to run a tiny 10t pinion on the motor. Another bonus is that there are more brass options than there are for F10 portals, so i can add a little weight or a lot of weight if i want. Unfortunately, they are ugly compared to the F10s.

View attachment 510658

I'll be interested to see what you do with this.

Any chance you can get a weight on the OD-4? I wish Dlux Fab gave the same info on the OD-4 they do for the rest of their transmissions. It's a bit unclear whether the 3:1 ratio they state is for the front or rear output as well.

 

[Col_Sanders]

3:1 is the front output and the rear is 28% lower. It is strange they don't list weight but i saw a post that claimed 45 grams. I also wish they'd put a quick reference chart on their site for output ratios with different pinion gears. That math isn't hard that would save a little time.

I still haven't picked a chassis. The Punks 3D Anarchist is frontrunner right now. It is forward skid but not crazy far forward.

 

[Col_Sanders]

Since Trump keeps screwing around with tariffs, I went ahead and bought the NSDRC RS650 servo. Might avoid some future price increases. Ratings at 8.4v are right up there with the higher performing low profile direct power servos. 940oz in and 0.10 transit speed. The BOCO BTA servo mount already shipped. Also ordered some of the SCX10 Pro style diff covers to clean up the look of the AR45s a little.

Transmission and driveshafts made it to Little Rock on the 6th, then for some reason instead of making their way to my local PO, they took a trip down to Jacksonville, FL. Just a little 1600 mile detour. No wonder USPS is operating at a loss.

 

[Col_Sanders]

I'll be interested to see what you do with this.

Any chance you can get a weight on the OD-4? I wish Dlux Fab gave the same info on the OD-4 they do for the rest of their transmissions. It's a bit unclear whether the 3:1 ratio they state is for the front or rear output as well.

According to my kitchen scale, weight is 42 grams. At its widest point, it is 47mm wide and it is 30mm tall.

 

[Chingon]

According to my kitchen scale, weight is 42 grams. At its widest point, it is 47mm wide and it is 30mm tall.

Thanks for the measurements! I was hoping it would be a bit lighter, but it is about the same weight as a standard NOD-2. At least you get some overdrive though so you can keep the axle gears lower to achieve the same amount of overdrive.

 

[Col_Sanders]

Thanks for the measurements! I was hoping it would be a bit lighter, but it is about the same weight as a standard NOD-2. At least you get some overdrive though so you can keep the axle gears lower to achieve the same amount of overdrive.

The overdrive and size is why i chose it. If i did not want the overdrive, I'd go with Exo's boulderer. It's lighter (32 grams) and geared lower. I just prefer to have at least some of my od/ud in the transmission. Allows me to keep axles geared lower so less torque twist.



Rather insignificant update...i disassembled the axles, greased them with VP grease, ground the steering stops down, and installed the black diff covers. I really prefer F10 portals to these. These are definitely a step or three down in quality. Gearing is the only area where these have an advantage in stock form. Aftermarket support is also better.

 

[Col_Sanders]

Comp today. Got 2nd with the c2 and 1st with the c1. The guy who beat me today was 2nd place last year and his new rigs are pretty extreme. I may as well join the party.

 

[Col_Sanders]

Tomorrow is comp 2 of the hot springs scale crawlers series. Ive competed at this place several times and had mixed success. I decided to stop by this morning and do a little tire testing. I ran Megalithics and Holds on my Exo and then tried the same lines with my VRD on iron rocks.

The Holds have done remarkably well at the last two comps, but this is different rock. It is much smoother and can be pretty slick. Test results today were interesting.

The Megalithics struggled on some of the steep climbs. They did not want to hook up at all on one incline in particular, but were predictable elsewhere. Sidehill was best of the three. I messed around on one of the common bonus lines for a while and finally cracked the code to get up consistent without a winch.

The Holds went right up that steep hill with no drama, but when trying to sidehill, the rear slid way too much. A couple other steep rocks that Megs and Iron Rocks went right up, they would not hook at all. I also could not get them up the bonus line consistently.

The iron rocks actually did very well in all aspects except sidehill. Could just be because the VRD isnt as dialed as the Exo. This is the first time ive driven it since it got the stubby kit and BTA steering.



Tomorrow I'll either run the Megs or trusty old Tusks.

 

[Col_Sanders]

Class 2 courses today were brutal. Many breakages across the field and only two of the thirteen competitors finished both courses. I broke a front axleshaft on course 1 but managed to finish after an off course repair. This is the second short side shaft ive broken on this rig in the past 6 months. It was not in a bind at all when it broke. Probably time to do a good tear down and inspection.

I finished course two with 1 second to spare. Ended up in second place in both classes.

 

[Col_Sanders]

Whooo dey purty



Decided not to use the AR45s. Got a few hours of OT at work and splurged on a set of CP43s. Still waiting on the order from hardcore and a few more upgrades for these. Not sure how much brass i want to put up front so i might just run with plastic knuckles first. Need to grab a couple spare parts for them just in case.

 

[Col_Sanders]

Last night i took the rear end on my modified class rig apart, inspected everything, and regreased. Also replaced all the rod ends on the rear links. A couple of them were not smooth. Ill hopefully do the front end on Friday when more rod ends come in. The rest of my CP43 parts should be in too. Still waiting on the chassis and links. Order status changed to processing on the 21st.



Better pic of the broken front axleshaft. You can clearly see the twist here.

 

[JatoTheRipper]

What brand are these axle shafts that keep breaking? Hard to tell from the photo, but that break looks too clean.

 

[Col_Sanders]

Got shipping notification for my chassis and links yesterday. Should be here Monday. Its a busy month. Got local comps on the 3rd, 10th, 17th, and 18th. Gotta do overnights on the 2nd and 9th so I may not make the first two.

What brand are these axle shafts that keep breaking? Hard to tell from the photo, but that break looks too clean.

Vanquish. The first axle was 100% my fault. I winched through a gate and only had seconds left on the clock so instead of waiting for my winch to fully retract, I started driving and winching in. Winch line got wrapped around the tire and SNAP! This one on the other hand was odd. I drove the truck for over an hour the day before and didnt have it in any binds or anything. It broke on course 1 between gate 3 and 4 IIRC and there were no spots where the tires had gotten bound or wedged or anything. Tire just stopped pulling.

Tomorrow when the rest of the rod ends come in, I'm going to do a teardown of the front axle and make sure there are no burrs or anything on the spool. May just change the long side axle just because I now have 3 new spares.

 

[Col_Sanders]

I skipped the comp this morning and started checking out the front end. Had a couple notchy feeling rod ends and switched to a 28mm servo horn. Looks like the long side shaft was on borrowed time. It was twisted a good bit. Swapping in a newer housing too. Everything else looks good.

 

[Col_Sanders]

Chassis and links arrived!

Unfortunately, I'm not going to be able to run the mini fusion. It's just too long for this forward of a skid. Think ill be running plan b, which is the stumpy. Got another am32 esc on order. This one has a built in BEC which will only power the rx. Winch and servo will now be direct power.