OS's Wendigo kit

[johnnyluv]

Agree on that burnt orange color! I can relate to the family issues. I seldom get to spend much time with the hobby, although it's on my mind, as it can still serve as a pleasant mental escape. I'm currently at a standstill, at Page 20, stumped on what electronics to run. I wanted to use a Monster X (since this truck weighs 10+ lbs), but it's too bulky, unless I mounted it on an aftermarket plate, at the far rear, but there are no sensor wires long enough to reach it. I tried to use a Velineon motor w/ET-3S esc, but the Velineon's shaft is too long, and I don't want to cut any metal off the shaft. Might just go with a Mamba X, afterall, unless I'm willing to give up slow speed smoothness.

 

[OSRC]

Finally got some RC time and took the Wendigo out for some blood. OK, maybe just to play on some rocks, but you know. It was a hot morning and I was way hungover from a wedding the previous night, so it was a short run but plenty of time to get the feel of this truck.

Before running...giving the rear driveshaft the stink-eye. Not a lot of engagement there. It held up fine (for the record) but keeping an eye on it.

Also moved the front shocks back 1 hole. They were raked slightly forward at the top, and I can't stand that. Now they had a slight rear rake at the top, and all is right with the universe.

My partners in crime were running a little late, so I went down around the creek just to play around a bit. First impressions: fairly stable, a bit overgeared, and the steering was going to give me hives.

...after 10 minutes, I noticed I was dragging a fishhook. Not good! Axles are tough, didn't hurt a thing.

My friends rolled up, so while they were getting set up, I moved the shocks to the uppermost holes to lower the truck a bit and cranked down a bit on the preload in the back.

That steering angle... good Lord, it's just terrible. It's rare that I have a truck that my CR01's will turn circles around, but boy this is it. Not a knock on Redcat in any way, this is marketed as a Rock Racer and real sharp steering would be barrel roll city. But if your considering this truck as a trail truck or crawler, be forwarned. Not to mention the servo seemed super weak, so my steering all day was vague at best.

Having said all that, it was time for some real work. With the motor up front and big 2.2's, it's pretty darn capable, even mostly stock. Got up some climbs my other trucks wouldn't even look at, and surprised me in a lot of spots.

This ledge is super steep - I don't have a 1/10 truck that will do it. I didn't expect this one to either, but it hopped right up there, making a total liar out of me.

Made short work of my usual test rock. The tires are pretty grippy, the new compound is pretty good but they suffer from the same characteristics as the 1'9's - hop. They tend to hop on high traction climbs, which breaks momentum. Noticed it quite a bit...I'm thinking some siping might make a difference, but for kit tires they are pretty good.

Wide stance makes for some interesting lines. Can straddle stuff I wouldn't normally try with my other rigs.

Was running with a pair of TRX4's that had enough brass between them to recast the Liberty Bell. Still, I had no trouble going where they did, and even showed them up in a few places. Not bad for out of the box performance.

It's a bit nose heavy... Managed to stick the nose in quite a few spots. Maybe not ideal, but fun!

Brood motor was excellent. Handled the high gearing well and was super smooth. It and the ESC were definitely on the warm side, verging on hot. The gearing is an issue, not sure what I can do about it....it's drivable, but it needs to drop a few more teeth if possible.

All in all, very happy with round one. Only ran for about 2 hours before we called it a day, but this truck has a ton of potential. On the fix list: better steering, lower gearing, maybe a touch of brass down low. Mods to come.

 

[OSRC]

That didn't take long... let the mods begin! First thing I had to do was fix that steering. Unless Redcat (or someone else) comes out with some different knuckles, I was looking at an axle swap.

So....built up and AR60 axle with OD gears, FI spool, steel housing and a few other shiny bits and decided to swap it over. I built it the way I thought it would make sense, and whoops... pumpkin is on the wrong side and hits the transmission.

About 30 minutes later, I had it all rebuilt and started linking it up. The swap went very well, I just changed the axle side rod ends over to bent Axials for the 3 links and moved the links to the outmost holes in the chassis and it was lined up perfect.

Only issue was the stock driveshaft was now hitting the t-case. Could have done some trimming here, but I swapped in an SMT10 front MIP and it all cleared fine.

Steering looks a bit wacky, but it all clears and swings with little bump steer. More by luck than any engineering on my part. I played with some random links I had laying around until I found one that fit.

I had to swap the bend panhard out, it hit the chassis and really limited uptravel. I used the straight steering link from the kit and it was spot on!

Good caster angle... I lengthened the upper link a bit after this pic for a bit more

And finally, steering!!! Yahoo! Don't even need to test drive this to know it's going to be a huge difference.

These HR knuckles are pretty nice. They can be set up as stock or high steer.... the high steer messed with the CVD's a bit, so I left it stock for now. A little time with some files on the CVD's and I could certainly get a few more degrees out of it. We'll see how it does first.

And one more change - a slightly smaller set of PL 2.2 TSL's got swapped on, along with some brass patties in the hubs to add some weight down low and .225 hubs to keep the track width in check. Since I cannot go lower with the gearing, I have to change it mechanically. Smaller tires will help for sure, though I really liked how it looked better with the stock tires. These aren't terrible though. Dual stage foams up front and single stages out back.

On a side note, before I made the swap the rig weighed in at 3669g (8.08lbs) with a 55/45 weight balance. With the steel axle and brass hubs, it's now at 3892g (8.5lbs) with a 57/43 split. Didn't make as much difference as I thought, though it's not a bad thing - it was pretty well balanced last time out.

Gearing-wise, the Axial OD front axle is 2.71 and the stock Redcat is 2.91 giving me a small but useful 7% OD.

 

[OSRC]

Had some quiet time over Labor day weekend and decided to take the new modded Wendigo out for a run. I enjoy running with other tiny truck guys for sure, but sometimes a nice quiet day in the woods going solo is perfect...especially after a hectic weekend scedule.

I was curious how well the axle swap was going to work out. In a word - amazing!

Turning was vastly improved. Still room for some more improvement, but it was light years better than the first run. The servo was having a bit of trouble - the geometry and heavy rig gave it a workout for sure. Definitely adding something stronger, but it got me through the day without any real problems.

This is my "test rock" that I hit with all my trucks. Usually, it's a challenge to get up the left side - the initial face is steep and slippery, and there's a sharp cut in the middle that can be a challenge. This truck went up it so well, I tried it diagonally... no problem!

On the left side of the rock is a face that varies in degree... the right side is the preferred, and usually the only, way to get to the top. I don't think I've ever had a truck go up the left side. It's very steep, and there's a rock cut right at the top that will gladly send you into oblivion. Again, the 'digo shocked me.

So having the bar set pretty high, I ventured out exploring and looking for other lines up and over stuff that I've never tried before...

Usually, I follow the rock ledge up (it's about a 4' increase in elevation) which is a challenge depending on what you are driving. With big tires and a long WB, I went across the entire line instead.

Spent a lot of time running down trails and rocky creek beds. Lots of pumpkin slap due to the wider axles and smaller TSL's, but it handled everything like a champ.

Got to places I never would have thought of... this is a huge rock blasted into 4 quarters by the quarry workers of yore, and mother nature is slowly turning it into an art project. Very cool! Clambered up the side of it somehow...

Usually a creek. Not today apparently! Made for some nice trailing...

I'm not a fan of graffiti in any way, but I did think this was a cool pic.

Battery swap...ran through 3 2200mah batteries over 4 hours which is more than usual. The gearing on the truck is just too tall, and the motor is doing a lot of low RPM work which really chewed up the batteries. Trail running was fine, but when doing some slow speed rock crawling, the motor and ESC were quite hot. Never thermalled, but I think I was right on the edge. The Brood motor is super smooth, even in the low RPM range. I let it all cool down between battery swaps.

Sidehilling... I can't say enough about the performance of this truck. Shocked at how dialed it drives with just a few mods.

Super impressed overall with how the truck ran. It's very capable and balanced as a crawler by itself, and since it's larger, it opens the doors to some places my 1/10 trucks just can't go. Though there is plenty of room for improvement....

Debating swapping in an AR60 in the rear too....nothing at all wrong with the rear axle, but I want to add UD gears out back to help lower the gearing. Speaking of, the gearing needs to come down about 25%... I'm at the smallest pinion/largest spur gear I can get and slightly smaller tires than stock, so I'm left with axle gearing or t-case mods. (Would love to put the stock tires back on!) T case has a 1.39 ratio, pretty sure I can find something lower. I'm at a 31:1 FDR and I'd be much happier around 40-45ish....

Also, I'd love to get the body down a little bit...it's as far as it can go without cutting out around the rear shock towers... time to break out the scissors!

 

[OSRC]

This truck just keeps evolving, I love it.

Swapped over the rear axle for an AR60 ... it's a Redcat Wroncho at this point.

Axle was a fairly easy swap.. just changed the rod ends on the axle side and moved the links a bit at the chassis mounts. Still want to rotate it up a touch. Stuffed with brass beef tubes and UD gears. Robbed the other MIP from my SMT truck and it fits perfectly.

Shocks stand straight up on both axles... It'll do, but I like a little more angle on the shocks. I'll test drive it first and make any adjustments.

Started working on lowering the body. First thing I had to do was re-think the rear body mounts. I mounted some posts on the bumper screws.. just found some longer ones and threaded them up though the bumpers into the posts. Worked like a charm! Removed the stock shock tower brace since it was in the way and just put an aluminum post there to brace the towers.

Rear of the body dropped significantly...about 15mm. Cut holes to allow the shock towers to poke though, and trimmed up around the rear bumper.

Up front, I lowered the body posts 1 hole and dremeled out the body under the grill so it all dropped down proportional to the rear.

Trimmed off about 1cm off the body to fit the sliders, opened the wheel wells a little to accommodate the tires and sticker bombed the truck...just wanted to break up the color a little. I think it came out decent! Won't win any scale prizes, but it looks better to my eyes. Also removed the lexan roof for now, looks cleaner without it.

Didn't change the gearing yet, I want to see how it does with OD/UD first before attempting major surgery.

And my helper....always in the way! Usually when I'm wrenching, he makes himself at home right where I'm working. Couple of scratches behind the ears and a belly rub and he's on his way.

 

[SpareParts]

Loving the build OS! Dropping the body down makes it look fantastic and much more like a real vehicle. I always try getting my bodies as low as possible; I don't like the monster truck look of a chassis with a body levitating above it.

I want to get one of these kits but I am interested to see where you end up with the gearing. I already have enough bashers with high gearing, I would like something that can trail 70% of the time at a walking pace, bash at like 25mph 25% of the time, and then maybe crawl if I ever find somewhere to do it 5% of the time. I have an Axe 550 3300kv looking for a home and I hope the gearing on the Wendigo isn't too high for it.

 

[OSRC]

It's a cool truck, it's definitely got a presence. It's like a Deadbolt XL.

Not sure on the gearing - it crawls great now and can zip when needed - it's not terrible. Certainly does fine on the trail....there's just no room to go lower and that's where I like it to be.

 

[alexleblanc]

What’s your plan on gearing if anything? I’m paying attention to the build as my kit is waiting on camping season to finish.

 

[OSRC]

I'm not sure yet... got a couple of ideas floating around.

With the 9/45 pinion and spur, the trans ratio is 7.7 and the t-case is 1.39 for an overall transmission ratio of 10.7. Axles are 2.57 and 3.30 currently so I have overall drive ratios of 27.5 in front and 35.51 in the rear. I'm thinking I'm going to remove the OD from the front axle and put in the stock gears bringing the front ratio to 31.2. Still a decent OD range (13%) and overall lower gearing.

Looking at either a trans or t-case swap, just not sure which would be easiest. Leaning towards the transmission, I've got a few options in mind. OR some semi transfer cases are 2:1 which would be perfect, just not sure if I can shoehorn them into the skidplate or not.

 

[alexleblanc]

I'm not sure yet... got a couple of ideas floating around.

With the 9/45 pinion and spur, the trans ratio is 7.7 and the t-case is 1.39 for an overall transmission ratio of 10.7. Axles are 2.57 and 3.30 currently so I have overall drive ratios of 27.5 in front and 35.51 in the rear. I'm thinking I'm going to remove the OD from the front axle and put in the stock gears bringing the front ratio to 31.2. Still a decent OD range (13%) and overall lower gearing.

Looking at either a trans or t-case swap, just not sure which would be easiest. Leaning towards the transmission, I've got a few options in mind. OR some semi transfer cases are 2:1 which would be perfect, just not sure if I can shoehorn them into the skidplate or not.

I wonder if we could get some to 3D print a new Transfer case that would bolt in place of the stock one but designed for a bigger split to bring the ratio close to 45/50:1. I’m going to play with UD gears in some AR60’s I have kicking around to start with and see what else I can come up with.

 

[Curb Crawler]

Great build, I’ve just ordered kit and trying to decide on a combo, was thinking of a HW AXE 550 3300kv, but want to make sure the motor would fit??? Any chance of measuring the gap between the motor plate and servo for me? Thanks

 

[OSRC]

Any chance of measuring the gap between the motor plate and servo for me? Thanks

Welcome to the club! I measure it at 68mm.

 

[Curb Crawler]

Thanks "thumbsup"

 

[ferp420]

I'm not sure yet... got a couple of ideas floating around.

With the 9/45 pinion and spur, the trans ratio is 7.7 and the t-case is 1.39 for an overall transmission ratio of 10.7. Axles are 2.57 and 3.30 currently so I have overall drive ratios of 27.5 in front and 35.51 in the rear. I'm thinking I'm going to remove the OD from the front axle and put in the stock gears bringing the front ratio to 31.2. Still a decent OD range (13%) and overall lower gearing.

Looking at either a trans or t-case swap, just not sure which would be easiest. Leaning towards the transmission, I've got a few options in mind. OR some semi transfer cases are 2:1 which would be perfect, just not sure if I can shoehorn them into the skidplate or not.

The rc4wd clone tcase or atleast thats what i think it is lol anyway it fits the gen8 skid good 2 holes line up 2 new holes would need to be driled out on the tcase its a 2:1 reduction so it might work

Heres a link to the model im talking about

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.com/ulk/itm/133159361281


Im still having issues with pics or i would take a pic of them bolted together

 

[OSRC]

I have one laying around here somewhere...it's definitely a contender. Ratio is spot on.

 

[OSRC]

Picked up an Integy 2:1 semi transfer case. For $20, thought it was worth a shot, and it seemed close enough in dimension to fit in the stock transfer case. Plus, i had no qualms about hacking up a $20 case...

Has steel gears inside...not quite 48p, maybe metric? They are an odd pitch. Spins nice and smooth though.

Flipped the input to the opposite side, loaded it up with red and tacky and dremeled out the skidplate until it dropped down inside. It's mounted upside-down, and drilled holes and used some spacers to mount it to the stock skid.

Just pokes out the bottom. It's actually flush - hoping it doesn't cause any hang ups.

Stock battery tray bolts right over top - like it never happened!

And test drive time! The 2:1 T-case dropped the gear ratio down to 42/51:1 F/R... much, much better!! Low speed resolution was amazing, and still had decent top end. In fact, I could probably go up a couple teeth on the pinion, though I'd like to go back to the stock tires so I'll leave it be for now. ESC and motor ran much cooler too. Very happy with the t-case mod and how it changed the drive.

Unfortunately, It was super wet yesterday so some pure crawling comparisons will have to wait. However with OD/UD now and the lower gearing, this thing is officially a monster. Took on some super tough terrain and made short work of it, even with traction at a premium. The t-case hanging down a bit on the skid was a non-issue thankfully.

Since it was so wet, I went out exploring some new trails. This truck isn't set up really for long trail runs (especially now that I lowered the gearing) but I made it work. Plowed though 3 2200 packs as I rounded the mountain.

Graffiti I can get behind.....

Lots of the trail was flat, but there were some excellent creek beds and washouts. Gave the truck a good workout.

By the end of the run, it was squeaking like crazy....thinking the MIP's need some service.

Very happy with how this truck is coming along... it's not much of a Wendigo anymore though. But I like it!!

 

[OSRC]

Now that I have the gearing sorted out, decided to go back to the original tires. I think their bigger profile fits the body much better and they seem like they do pretty good.

First though, they do the same thing the 1.9's do - they tend to hop more than most of my tires in high grip situations. I tore them down and started making some changes... first thing I did was cut off the inner webbing on the face of the tire. I left the sidewalls in place for support. Then I tool a dremel and opened up the tread and siped the center and outer lugs. Tread is much, much more flexible now.

Then played with foams a bit and ended up with an odd combo of CI DW 2.2 foams comp cut with some spare 1.9 tuning foams wrapped around to match the height of the tire. The previous wheels I used were a total mother to install...so I swapped over to some Gearheads, and the wheels and tires literally bolted themselves together.

Back on the truck...the tires look and feel really nice. Very firm on the sidewalls but a lot of squish on the tread blocks. Hopefully the siping helps with the hop.

I put the truck back on the shelf, checked the mail, and boom! SSD centered rear axle showed up! Nice! Back downstairs with fresh coffee.

The rear AR60 worked fine, but the MIP was stretched out pretty far. There wasn't much spline left and while I wasn't worried about it falling out per-se, I was a bit concerned... OK, really it's an excuse for an upgrade!

SSD housing looks great! Not quite as bulky as the Axial case and feels plenty strong. I lost my beef tubes, but that's ok - I'll think of something. The housing itself is very nice - everything fit perfect and there's practically no slop compared to stock. As usual, I put some stainless screws on the diff cover so it pops a bit. Of course, the ring gear was on the opposite side, so after installing I had to swap the front to match.

MIP is much happier..

And I think it looks great under there!

 

[OSRC]

Finally got a chance to take out the Wendigo. It's a pure beast, very happy with it!

Since it's leaf time here in the northeast, I usually bust out my 2.2 trucks for a few months... it's just easier plowing through leaf drifts with a bigger truck. I started out with my Ram, but apparently I never calibrated the ESC and didn't have my card with me - rookie mistake!

So saddled up with 'digo and went out and gave it a whirl. The larger tires really came in handy - it was in the upper 40's when I started and they were a bit stiff. As the temps warmed up, they really started to hook. Siping them up made a huge difference, totally eliminated the tendency to hop under high grip conditions. Shoulder lugs still seem a little stiff, but the tread area is perfect.

Leaf hell.... Sometimes it comes in handy chewing across the top, other times I can't see what's underneath and it just falls in a hole.

Hell of a climb... pic doesn't do it justice, but it's about 15 feet straight up. Very tough climb! Wendigo ripped right up it.

Not much left to mod, still needs a rear swaybar and.....well, that's about it. Great truck, one of my favorites!

 

[RiderZ]

Got one of these for Christmas,got the axles and gearboxes built.Chassis up next.
Noticed you haven’t posted anything about it in a long while.Still have it? Any more mod’s.

 

[OSRC]

Just ran it 2-3 weeks ago, did fantastic as usual. Other than running larger PL TSL's, I haven't changed a thing.