SVT makes a Wraith into things that aren't a Wraith

[svt923]

Seasons greetings, everyone!

As a very generous and benevolent person, I have an early (or late depending on your winter holiday of choice) present for all.

A new build thread! :mrgreen:

That's right. I, Mr. SVT, am bringing you, the common reader, a fantastic new build thread to read while you count the days until your impending time off from work. Please contain your excitement however, not all are invited to this holiday party. Todd from security won't shut the hell up about his crossfit routine and Patti from HR is always like "you can't do keg stands in the conference room", they are totally out.

So let's get at it. You have that 8th eggnog and belt out "Livin on a Prayer" on the karaoke machine and I'll start with this:

It's a Wraith chassis. Well, a Wraith chassis with a few things done to it. This one has been waiting to get built for a while.

Some not very interesting Wraith stuff has been done on the past: hinged hood, a Spawn interior has been installed, Scorched Parts inner fenders from Shapeways, and some other things that I may get to later.

Now for the part where the whole "not a Wraith" thing comes in. Let's take a trip into the magical closet of wonder:

This is the cabinet about 5 feet from my workbench. I believe this clearly demonstrates I am a complete RC degenerate but this time my unnecessary hording paid off.

Let's try the box labeled "Axles". Yes, I have a whole box of assembled axle sets. Told you there is something very wrong with me.

Ahh, here we go.

A set of built Bowhouse NCX10 axles. For those who are not familiar, these are basically a AR60 shrunk down into a SCX10 sized axle with bigger pinion bearings. The front uses 2 short side Wraith universals, Wraith c-hubs, Wraith knuckles, Wraith link mounts, Wraith diff covers, etc but bolts up to a SCX10. These particular axles were built with Axial HD gears (standard ratio up front, U/D in the rear), Incision lockers, Vanquish clamping c-hubs and lockouts, Vanquish knuckles, SSD diff cover in the front, RC4WD Poison Spider cover in the rear, and a Samix titanium tierod.

These axles were originally from my GCM Skeleton but were replaced by a set of SCXII Curries. I know this is a solid setup.

As I get around to rebuilding thing that were originally built with Lucas green grease, I become less and less convinced that the typical wheel bearing grease we use on our RC gears doesn't do much of anything after a couple runs. Everything was given a coating of Vanquish grease which seems to hold up way better.

While you may be thinking "great SVT, you are building a 1.9 Wraith, why didn't you just say that in the first place?" Don't fret, this is much more than an ordinary 1.9 Wraith. Even if someone has built the exact same truck already, I don't care because this thread is better. Like right now, its already better. There is just a few pictures of a chassis and some axles and my thread is better than the entirety of your thread Mr. "I built that already". So shut your face and let me continue.

Anyway.

Axles - Check

Transmission, hmmmm.

SCX10 transmission is easy but what would make my life more difficult? Oh, I know!

A Bomber transmission. Well, technically this is the transmission from my Yeti that was torn apart to build my IFS Bomber then a Bomber transfer case was added but for simplicity sake, I'll just say its a Bomber transmission.

This particular transmission is still a single speed with a STRC motor mount. I'll probably keep the Holmes 21T 550 motor in there because hurray laziness.

I like to keep a little logic to my threads so if we have a Bomber transmission we also need....

anyone?


A Bomber skid!

Good job everyone, you all make me so proud.

So we are going to throw 3 trucks in a blender and see what comes out. Axial will be so proud of their mutant spawn when it grows up.

On to a little actual building and it only took about 11,000 words to get here. Not bad for me.

I really wanted to get the battery and all the other electronics under the hood so I picked up this Wertymade snub nose electronics tray.

There will be no servo winch on this one so I plan on sticking the receiver and ESC in that space.

Since the electronics tray wants to occupy the same space as the inner fenders, it got sent for a little bench grinder and belt sander therapy. A few MMs were taken of the edge sitting against the fender. More could probably come off but it seems good enough.

A keen eye reader might have noticed something on the front of the chassis in the first pic. Actually, you probably could have noticed a bunch of stuff but I'm going to gloss over 90% of it.

Flipping the truck over, questions are answered or more questions have come up but the important thing is we're talking.

That is a STRC Wraith CMS mount, too bad I installed it wrong. Man, I am bad at this truck building thing.

With the Wertymade electronics tray, the original Wraith radio box isn't needed and wouldn't fit anyway. The mount for the radio box serves as a sort of brace for the front end, well I got rid of that too and made an aluminum brace instead. Who says Axial's old links are terrible? I mean, they aren't very good links but they are super easy to turn into chassis braces. The front end is very rigid now, that is decidedly un-Wraith-like.

I've always been a fan of the Wraith fastback look so some choppy-choppy and a set of Scorched Parts fastback struts later:

A old RC4WD radio box was painted and bolted in to put something in the vast emptiness of the cargo area. I can fit all the scale crap in this one, it will easily be a -180 point truck in all the comps.

So I have laid it out for you: the new build, what is going in to it, what I built with the rest of the Wraith parts. Oh, umm, forget I said that last thing.

Anyway, gotta go and remember to forget.

 

[svt923]

Do you realize how lucky you are?

You, friends, are truly, truly lucky.

If this was a normal build thread, I would post something then not do anything for like 8 months, then update. Today, you get 2 posts in about 2 hours! Will this mean you will now have to wait 2 years for the next update? It very well may but let's try to be in the now.

But before we move on, there is a confession that must be made.

You know what I'm talking about, don't you?

Alright, time to get it out.

I have never owned a Wraith.

Sorry if you just blurted out a dark secret in a public place but I was talking about me (a common topic in here).

The experience of buying a Wraith then spending 4 times the price in parts may be a rite of passage in this hobby but I just have never traveled down that path. Thus I was denied all the cool parts that are made for the Wraith but times have certainly changed.

Oh, look. I see an example coming.

As my chassis was lacking a bumper, it seemed like a good time for my favorite Wraith bumper of all time: the Wertymade flat top. It is strong, has a good blend of protection and clearance, and doesn't look like a giant wang on the front of the truck. So many Wraiths with their cheap ebay bumpers look like rolling Cialis ads. I get the point of a stinger, I don't get why you need it to be like 2/3 the size of the truck.

Some screws were tightened because bolt on life, yo!

Ready for bumpin'. You also get a better look of how the CMS mount was installed, I really butchered that one.

So now I have an axle, I have a skidplate, now if only there were some kind of part that could be used to some how link the 2 parts together. Oh, how about these metal tube thingies!

Yes, I made my own lower links and no, they aren't brake line on all thread because I'm too good for that. Those links are 1/4 inch stainless drilled and tapped for M4 set screws and let me tell you how much it sucks to work with stainless. Well, there is not much more to tell other than it sucks. The upper link is a Traxxas turnbuckle which are the greatest thing for upper links. Install turnbuckle then turn wrench to adjust pinion angle. Why do we use fixed length upper links again?

As you probably guessed, the front end is going to be a 3 link/panhard setup. Here is the links mounted up to the axle, the panhard is another Traxxas turnbuckle.

A little closer look at the panhard setup, that is a Bowhouse AR60 panhard/link mount.

The front axle has been conjoined to the skid.

The transmission was also mounted but there are no pics of the very intense 6 screw installation. Sorry about that but here is a pic of a cat, no build thread can be complete without one for some reason.

Enjoy that weirdos.

Rear axle time and we're not getting into some new stuff so I really need you to follow along. A Wraith uses equal length links front and rear so the skid is designed for link geometry. We used a Bomber skid which is designed for link geometry in the front but the rear is designed for:

Trailing arms!

These beauties are a set of Twin Hammers trailing arms from JEC Racing. I am going to further complicate my life by trying to cram trailing arm geometry into a chassis that was never designed for them. Actually, none of this stuff was designed to go together so why would a little thing like that stop me now?

A quick side note about the JEC arms, the set screws would not thread in more than a turn or 2. Obviously that is less than ideal so I ran a 8-32 tap through the threads and the results were a little surprising.

All those chips came out of the threaded holes which doesn't exactly say precision machined. Lots of people run JEC trailing arms and links with no problems so I must be unlucky. All was good after cleaning out with the tap.

Remember how I was saying that turnbuckles were the greatest thing for upper links? That trend continues out back with these HB Racing turnbuckles. In order to keep rod end binding to a minimum, I used the Traxxas bend rod ends from the TRX4.

Links and trailing arms mounted up.

Then bolted up to the skid. The trailing arms are just about perfectly parallel with the Bomber skid and SCX width axle.

We may end up with some decent geometry after all.

Would you believe me if I told you this took an extraordinary amount of mock up time to get this to work? So, so much measuring, tweaking, trial, and error.

Many hurdles left to come: steering geometry, rear shock geometry, driveshaft clearance, etc. All that's boring though, let's talk about paint colors, wheels, and tires! Join in the fun and let your voice be heard! I'm taking suggestions on all fronts.

I can promise right now that the next update will come soon but it will not come this afternoon.

 

[2mtech]

HA! You're too late, I started my end of year time off already today...nice try.

This certainly looks...different. I'm sure there's some insane master end game plan that we'll see around Easter, so I'll be looking forward to that. Nice bench stock arrangement...definite couch time involved here on some level though. I'll organize my frustratingly chaotic madness equally at some point.

Oh, and having a bunch of pre-build already done before starting the build thread so you can split it into what appears to be two related but separate posts does not count as multiple updates, sorry. Should we see a subsequent update prior to 2019 I'll consider retro-credit however. "thumbsup"

 

[svt923]

HA! You're too late, I started my end of year time off already today...nice try.

Sorry for the inconvenience, please submit your work schedule prior to the start of future build threads to correct future timing inaccuracies.

Oh, and having a bunch of pre-build already done before starting the build thread so you can split it into what appears to be two related but separate posts does not count as multiple updates, sorry. Should we see a subsequent update prior to 2019 I'll consider retro-credit however. "thumbsup"

I have submitted your claim to the Internet Ruling Authority, my defense consisted of clear numbering showing 2 separate posts. The ruling in my favor was handed down in meme form.

 

[2mtech]

You realize, of course, I'll have no alternative but to appeal to a higher authority (Horizon), although your invocation of the IRA was not lost on me.
U2 and Sinéad O'Connor would be proud.

Now be honest, did you really put a lot of effort into that initial mockup or did it resolve itself?

 

[svt923]

This build has been a long time in the making. It's been over a year of working on it a little, putting it away, working on something else, get inspired then start working again, and repeat. This is the first time it has been mocked up in it's close to entirety.

As for the IRA ruling, it is your right to appeal but going against their wishes tends to make them feel a little "fire-bomby".

 

[JatoTheRipper]

This is the cabinet about 5 feet from my workbench. I believe this clearly demonstrates I am a complete RC degenerate but this time my unnecessary hording paid off.

Let's try the box labeled "Axles". Yes, I have a whole box of assembled axle sets. Told you there is something very wrong with me.

As I get around to rebuilding thing that were originally built with Lucas green grease, I become less and less convinced that the typical wheel bearing grease we use on our RC gears doesn't do much of anything after a couple runs. Everything was given a coating of Vanquish grease which seems to hold up way better.

Listen, if that is your cry for help and you're looking for intervention you are at the wrong place. I think a lot of us on here are truly addicted to RC and our houses are filled with complete RC vehicles and more parts than we will never need! :mrgreen:

What was the reasoning for choosing these axles? And what do these axles buy you that OG SCX10 axles won't - just different gearing?

Any clue what the VP grease really is? I refuse to buy RC-specific grease that is marked up 5 times simply because it is put in much smaller packages.

I do agree with you though that a lot of grease flings off of RC gears during use.

 

[svt923]

Listen, if that is your cry for help and you're looking for intervention you are at the wrong place. I think a lot of us on here are truly addicted to RC and our houses are filled with complete RC vehicles and more parts than we will never need! :mrgreen:

If you RC crap is strewn about your house, it is "junk" and you "have a problem". If it is organized in boxes in a cabinet then it is "inventory" and you "look like a respectable member of society". I'm just keeping up appearances.

What was the reasoning for choosing these axles? And what do these axles buy you that OG SCX10 axles won't - just different gearing?

You mean other than the fact I had they laying around? They use the same SCX10 gears but have the XR mod built in so you don't need axle tubes for the conversion and the pinion uses 5x13 bearings instead of the regular 5x11 bearings of stock Axial axles.

Any clue what the VP grease really is? I refuse to buy RC-specific grease that is marked up 5 times simply because it is put in much smaller packages.

I do agree with you though that a lot of grease flings off of RC gears during use.

No idea on that one, I would imagine it is some kind of synthetic grease meant for the load of being used in gears as opposed to the load of being used to pack bearings. It seems to stay on the gears much better than anything you can pick up at Autozone. Someone that deals with industrial lubricants can probably tell you what kind of grease it is pretty easily. At least Vanquish gives you a good amount of it for the money, I won't be running out any time soon.

 

[JatoTheRipper]

If you RC crap is strewn about your house, it is "junk" and you "have a problem". If it is organized in boxes in a cabinet then it is "inventory" and you "look like a respectable member of society". I'm just keeping up appearances.

Then I have somewhat of a problem! :shock: (Jato starts backing away slowly...)

You mean other than the fact I had they laying around? They use the same SCX10 gears but have the XR mod built in so you don't need axle tubes for the conversion and the pinion uses 5x13 bearings instead of the regular 5x11 bearings of stock Axial axles.

Ah how quickly I forgot that the OG SCX10 and AR60 axles shared gears.

It's always good to have leftovers. When you use them in other builds that's another sign that they aren't junk.

No idea on that one, I would imagine it is some kind of synthetic grease meant for the load of being used in gears as opposed to the load of being used to pack bearings. It seems to stay on the gears much better than anything you can pick up at Autozone. Someone that deals with industrial lubricants can probably tell you what kind of grease it is pretty easily. At least Vanquish gives you a good amount of it for the money, I won't be running out any time soon.

Cool. I might have to check it out. Maybe I'll buy some for this build.

Why didn't I have this kit when the Vanquish stuff was on sale for 20% off?! :evil:

I have a Wraith in my pile of "junk" or somewhere in my hobby room, but I'm lost as to what to do with it. In stock or even mildly modified form I just can't get into it. OSRC had a couple 1.9 Wraiths that always made me want to convert mine, but I never had the initiative. I'm sure this build will give me the same "feels" and hopefully it can motivate me. I have a set of new and pretty SSD Diamond Pro axles built with high end parts that would look great under a Wraith if I do say so myself.

 

[JSterrett]

I approve of your bins. [emoji3]

Similar setup, but on a shelf. More bins now too (this is an old picture). Sometimes it's cleaner than this pic, sometimes it's a disaster area, lol

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

[svt923]

I approve of your bins. [emoji3]

Dollar store for life, yo!

You mess looks much like my mess but I look organized through the magic of photo cropping.

Speaking of the magic of photo cropping, more work was done and pictures were taken. Alternatively, you can believe all this work was done previously and I'm just spacing it out for production purposes. Either way, you have a thread to read so be happy.

When we last left our adventure, you might recall there was a chassis and axles/skid assembly ready to be joined. Before they were attached, I installed the servo since it will be a lot easier now.

One of these Holmes V1 errrrrr 3 Bros errrrrrr JX 12V servos was used because it has good torque, eliminates the need for a BEC, and (most importantly) it was already sitting in the spare electronics stash. Notice the screw missing near the servo, there is a reason for that beyond my shoddy craftsmanship.

I also took the time to do one of the worst RC tasks known to man: build shocks. These were pulled from the parts bin.

Before you get all "but SVT, SCX10 shocks are garbage", I already know. This was not a case of me just pulling something out of a box (OK, it kinda was), there is an actual method to my choice. The clearance from a small diameter shock was needed and these aren't Axial shocks. These are a set of RC Bros Egressor shocks which mimic the dimensions of a Axial shock but use a machined delrin body that accepts the Traxxas big bore seal setup. So you have something that looks like a SCX10 shock without any of that pesky "being total crap" problem.

Getting the front together was fairly simple; bolt on skid then bolt on shocks.

Remember that missing screw? That is now the panhard mount.

The stock screw was replaced with a M3x30mm screw and a 5mm spacer was added between the chassis and the rod end. Easiest panhard mount I ever had to make.

In case you are wondering about clearance between the Bomber transmission and Wraith interior, it is tight.

No way would the much cooler, full depth Wraith interior fit in with the transmission. Even the fairly shallow Spawn interior required some minor trimming between the driver's leg and center console to have enough room for the motor.

So, the front was easy stuff, right? Moving on to the rear.

This where I make things way more difficult on myself than the standard 1.9 Wraith builder. Take a look at a stock Wraith chassis:

The shocks using the trailing arms would have to go about in the circled area and 2 bars of the chassis currently occupy that space. Cutting off the outer bar on the chassis was an option but the Wraith chassis is already pretty floppy and it would have no structure in the rear if I did that. It needed some reinforcement first so I added an aluminum rear battery tray mount/lower chassis section from one of those China-tastic brands on ebay which I'm now realizing didn't get a picture. What kind of amateur is running this show?

So the lower outer bar of the chassis was hacked off and shocks were thrown on and we get to:

Hmmm.

Doesn't look great but maybe it functions?

That would be a big, old bucket of nope.

As the suspension compresses, the trailing arm moves the shock mount in towards the center of the chassis while the angle of the shock needs it to compress in the opposite direction which you can see is actually causing some serious deflection in the shock shaft. Not to mention there is practically no down travel at ride height. Boo, bad geometry.

I came across these BPC shock relocators and thought "those will save me a lot of work" so I bought them. A guess and a few screws later we have some pretty good geometry.

There is the slightest margin of clearance between the spring and the chassis.

The rear shocks end up damn close to vertical and there is a good amount of down travel which works for me. You also get a picture of why the JEC arms were chosen over other; the shocks can be mounted further towards the end of the arm. The mounting position on the stock Twin Hammers trailing arms is about 2 holes forward which would make good geometry impossible with the Wraith chassis.

Remember that part about the floppy Wraith chassis? The stock shock mounts were like rubber after the shock relocator install. Must be something about soft plastic and forces being exerted in a location outside the original design or Axial is stupid because they didn't anticipate me changing everything about their hard work. One of those is probably right.

I made another aluminum brace out of a SCX10 link to tie everything together, the end result is actually solid.

Look how nice that is.

Just a slight rub on the spring near full compression but no binding, no shock deflection, no more racking my brain to make this stupid idea work.

A drumroll is needed for this next part, someone get on that!

Are we ready?

I said "ARE WE READY!?!?!?"

YEAHHHHH!

This is first time the not-Wraith is not sitting on jack stands and it is glorious. The Axial Wildpeaks are just for mockup, I wouldn't ruin all this work with a set of RTR tires.

On a side note, I'm taking votes on what to call this truck.

Is it a:

- WromberX-10
- RR-SCraith
- SC-Bombaith
- Something else

Rock (crawl) the Vote!

Ha! I'm so amusing.

To make up for that regrettable dad joke, enjoy this picture:

So much obvious potential here but so much left to do. Driveshafts have to be worked out, electronics have to be installed, the body has to be painted, a decision has to be made on wheels and tires, some shock tuning has to be done, and so on.

I will return with more turk building excitement.

Out.

 

[kincer]

Sweet job on the cms and panhard that's exactly how did mine on my 1.9 Wraith with AR44s

 

[svt923]

Sweet job on the cms and panhard that's exactly how did mine on my 1.9 Wraith with AR44s

Is that because you got the idea from Sneeches' 1.9 Wraith thread who got the idea from me? :mrgreen:

I don't remember where the idea originally came from but someone (who probably hasn't been on here in like 4 years) deserves credit.

 

[kincer]

Is that because you got the idea from Sneeches' 1.9 Wraith thread who got the idea from me? :mrgreen:

I don't remember where the idea originally came from but someone (who probably hasn't been on here in like 4 years) deserves credit.

I believe it is lmao!
It really is a great idea and that's who I thanked if I remember correctly.

Yep just went through my pm's that's who I thanked, but thank you and whoever thought of it.

 

[JatoTheRipper]

Turnbuckles are a great idea for links. All kit links should be turnbuckles. At least we can dream.

Your AintAWraith is looking good.

 

[B-MOW71]

Great job so far SVT! I'm dying to see more!

You have just given me the motivation that I needed to finish my 1.9 Wraith that I started a year ago.

 

[svt923]

Turnbuckles are a great idea for links. All kit links should be turnbuckles. At least we can dream.

Your AintAWraith is looking good.

Agreed, turnbuckles for all.

Make it happen manufacturers who are definitely reading this!

Great job so far SVT! I'm dying to see more!

You have just given me the motivation that I needed to finish my 1.9 Wraith that I started a year ago.

Let's see some build thread action then!

2019 will be the year of 1.9 Wraiths started in 2017. "thumbsup"

 

[svt923]

Hi

Truck updates now.

We begin.

You may remember that I installed the steering servo like a total idiot but was way too lazy to fix anything. So a servo horn and steering link were thrown on because things weren't going to get any better.

Hey, that doesn't look too bad, maybe not following instructions will pay off.

One of these simple aluminum horns were used because somehow I didn't have any other 25T horns. For some reason, there were like 8 24T horns in the box-o-servo horns and only 1 25T. I have like 2 Hitec servos, why do I have so many Hitec servo horns? My inventory manager is so worthless.

This whole 3 link/panhard thing may work out after all.

Yeah, OK. This is actually pretty spot on, not shabby for a bunch of stuff that only kinda works together and has been installed wrong.

The steering link and panhard lengths will have to be tweaked once ride height is set but the beauty of turnbuckles makes that no more than a twist of a wrench.

Guess this is good of time as any to decide where the electronics should go. Ideally, everything would fit under the hood but you can see the electronics tray doesn't have much space with the servo winch mount.

If only I had someone to make something for me. (Insert the rubbing chin in thought emoji).

As chairman/president/CEO/holiday party planner of the SVT RC Garage, I wield great power like all captains of industry. So when I need something done, I take a job from a hard working American, give it to a robot built in China, then personally reap the benefits.

The system works again.

Now my electronics have a home and they can be removed as an assembly with just a few screws.

Speaking of electronics, nothing too fancy is going on here.

Just a Hobbywing 1080 and Futaba receiver, the JX servo runs off a 3S battery so no BEC is needed on this one. Everything packs in tightly, is accessible from the hood, and is protected from dirt and splashes by the inner fenders.

There are still a few things to button up like driveshafts (you'll see why later), wheels, tires, and paint but things are progressing nicely. Wheel time should be coming soon though.

Well, I guess that's it for now.
.
.
.
Or is it?
.
.
.
No, its not!

Boom!

I promised I will build things and I deliver. :mrgreen:

There were a bunch of Wraith and Bomber parts left over and what is a better use for them than a big ass truck?

The answer is nothing because MONSTER TRUCK! That's why!

I picked up this now discontinued STRC Izilla chassis a while pack for a ridiculously low price (like $50 or something like that). There were only a few parts that I had to pick up to turn a bunch of spares into a functioning truck.

The front axle was mostly a parts bin affair, Axial housings (they are possibly Dlux modded housings, I don't really remember), Axial universals, Vanquish c-hubs, SSD old style knuckles, Boom Racing axle tubes, Vanquish servo mount, and a SSD HD diff cover. The new parts comes from the open diff with HPI spider gears in an aluminum diff cup from somewhere I don't remember, monster truck stuff. Steering is handled by a Xpert 7701 servo that I picked up last Black Friday for 50% off.

Much of the same going on in the rear axle.

The rear has a solid spool because that's what I had, not ideal monster truck stuff but 1000% less likely to destroy spider gears.

The STRC chassis has mounting provisions for Wraith swaybars but I only have the rear so far. The swaybar struts are some stainless steel links I made for something else but they happened to be the perfect size for this. Yet another victory for not throwing stuff away.

The shocks are a mixture of parts accumulated from a Wraith, Bomber, and Yeti mixed with some STRC aluminum bits. Not the best shocks but good enough.

I can tell the springs are too stiff for monster trucking but again, laziness.

The STRC chassis uses a Wraith skid so that means a regular, run of the mill Axial transmission. This one is fairly standard beefed up stuff; steel gears, aluminum case, motor plate bolted on with lock nuts. I figured a slipper clutch is probably a good thing on here and pretty much everything is better than Axial's setup.

This is a slipper assembly from a Traxxas Slash 4x4. Adapting it to a Axial transmission is a pretty simple process.

1. Get an old style transmission top shaft (AX30198)
2. Drill out the hole for the slipper drive pin from 1.5 mm to 2 mm
3. Install Traxxas unit

See? Easy.

As for what bolts to the transmission, this should provide monster truck appropriate power.

Its a cheapo Gool RC 3660 4 pole motor in 3800kv flavor, that should provide plenty of stupid fun. A Holmes extend output spool makes the transmission work with the Wraith skid.

Up top, you can find the ESC and receiver.

A Futaba receiver is inside the old Wraith receiver box and the ESC is a basic Hobbywing EZrun SCT model which gives me the option of going up to 4S. Not that I have really thought about it but one of my 6500mah 4S packs fits very snugly in the battery tray. What could possibly go wrong by propelling an inherently high CG truck with poor handling and stiff suspension to 40+ mph?

A full set of Incision stainless steel links holds everything together. The driveshafts are a combination of spare Axial Wildboar HD parts to get the right length.

The center sections of the driveshafts were reinforced by running screws the length of the shaft.

In theory, this should prevent the inner shafts from collapsing under heavy load or twisting so I should only be blowing up the outer half of the shafts.

Mentioning heavy loads is a very convenient transition to talking about what makes this a monster truck.

The ever popular setup of Jconcepts Firestorm tires on Tribute wheels. They are big, awesome, and made of a great rubber compound. Despite how great a set of big, old truck tires are, gluing tires still sucks.

The Tribute wheels use a bolt on hub system, much like the crawler wheels we all know and love. Unfortunately, Jconcepts decided to use their own hubs instead of something already on the market. This was quite lame when the only option was the included plastic hubs that many people have stripped. At least these now exist.

The Jconcepts aluminum hubs are pretty pricey at $25/set but blowing through plastic hubs sucks. The fact these were on sale when I picked them up for $18/set (I think) made things much more palatable.

And there you have it: 2 things that aren't a Wraith made from a Wraith. The monster truck just needs the ESC programmed and the body panted. It probably needs softer springs too but I'll drive it first. We already went over what the first truck needs so this seems like a good stopping point for today.
.
.

Or is it?
.
.
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No, it is.

Later.

 

[JatoTheRipper]

Everybody needs a monster truck! If you don't like monster trucks you don't like fun.

 

[svt923]

Alright all 8 of you who check out the Wraith section these days, time for a final update of 2018. I'm sitting at a computer at 10 am on a Sunday morning so you, gentle reader, best be grateful.

Or else.

Not sure how I would follow through on any threat but it sounded cool. 8)

But at least I come bearing truck pics so let's go!

There was some foreshadowing in the last post about driveshaft issues and it is time for the payoff.

This was the plan:

Good, old Axial Wild Boar HD shafts. They are light, cheap, strong, and sitting in my parts box (the overarching theme of this whole thread).

So the shafts were assembled to the right lengths using a mix and match of inner and outer shafts, the front was bolted up with no issues, the rear was installed, then porblem.

The rear shaft was slamming into the motor mount after very little suspension compression. This was clearly not going to work.

The thought of grinding a chunk out of the motor mount crossed my mind but then I would have to remove the transmission, grind, test fit, rinse and repeat way too many times for my limited commitment to these driveshafts.

A few options were tested and the winner was:

A set of Junfac shafts.

The male end installed on the transmission provided plenty of clearance for the motor mount and that is really the most important thing at this point. I guess steel shafts will hold up better than plastic shafts too but minor details. Unfortunately, a longer shaft for the rear actually had to be purchased. The rear required a 107-142mm Junfac shaft while a 95-130mm was used up front.

Since stuff actually had to be ordered, some Traxxas offset rod end were added to the RPP order for replacing the Axial offset ends original ends on the tierod. Remember, friends don't let friends run Axial rod ends. It rhymes so you know its true.

A set of springs meant for the RC4WD Rock Krawler 110mm shocks were added out back. The springs are short enough the preload collars can be ran below the chassis bar that rubbed the spring but long enough ride height can be adjusted in a decent range. A full set of 4 spring sets is also only $12 so its a win for suspension tuning and being cheap.

The last detail I wanted to hit was installing a battery stop to keep the pack from sliding around.

This is one of those optional battery stops included with the SCX10II that no one seems to install. If there is one thing I can't stand, its having the battery slamming back and forth across the chassis because a velcro strap is considered "adequate". Save your battery, use straps and stops!

This PSA was brought to you by the SVT Society for Better Battery Retention.

No elaborate reveal on this one because they have been peeking in on several pictures already.

The tire choice was Vanquish VXT tires on SSD Rock Racer wheels. It is an undisputed fact that 1.9 Wraiths look better with narrow tires but there is a sever lack of narrow options. There are the Axial Treps and Wildpeaks (just no), Pitbull Mad Beasts (meh), Voodoo KLR X4s (too tall) and probably some RC4WD ones that I didn't bother researching. I changed out the tires on my VS4-10 (another thread) so these Vanquish ones were available. They are way sticky and look good mounted up to the SSD wheels that were going to be used by any means necessary.

A better look with everything bolted together.

Kinda truck-like with a good ride height.

Guess I need to paint or something. Damn.

The original plan was to use regular, old Wraith panels and, surprisingly that is still the plan. The only kink in the plan was I loaned my air compressor to my step dad for some home improvement use so airbrushing was no longer an option.

After standing for way too long in front of the rack of rattle cans at the LHS, I finally decided on:

Duratrax metallic blue backed with silver.

It came out looking pretty good but I hate being constrained to colors that come in a can.

I drilled out most of the panel mounting points to use regular M3 hardware instead of that stupid M2.6 stuff.

Got the hood hinge mounted up. This is just the classic 1/4 inch hose clamp trick with a couple of Traxxas battery holder posts threaded in some holes that were already there.

Threw on a few stickers.

Wasn't really feeling the stickers on this truck despite having a metric $h!t ton of them to chose from.

The front seemed a little lacking so these Axial light buckets were added. Lights will probably not be added but I'm all about looks over function.

Much better.

That is a proper Wraith stance, not that 11 foot wide abomination of a stock Wraith.

It is 13.5 inch wheelbase in case you were wondering, seems to fit the truck though.

Everything tucks in nicely and the battery is easy to get in and out.

Holmes Hobbies under the hood!

Well, there is a sticker under the hood. The motor is under the driver's seat. That would be silly to have a motor under the hood since the transmission isn't there.

Would you believe this truck actually runs now?

Well, it does. So there.

It will get dirty at some point as well but not until next year. Ha, that joke still doesn't get old even after 800 million uses.

The monster truck needs to get painted and I will have both halves of the same not Wraith up and running. Either my 2019 in RC will be super productive or it's all downhill from here. The latter is opening the year as the betting favorite.

See everyone next year.

And there are still no diminishing returns on that joke.