My Wraith-Buster Bronco

A

andymac0035

Well-Known Member
I've had this a little while. It's made from the axial wraith kit.
Jugg wheels with giant tracs and TTR wideners. I've had several different brushless set-ups in it.
Diffs are open and use HPI steel gears from the RS4MT. Bronco body is the new one for the E-maxx and the mounts are made from the monster jam pede' and some e-maxx bumper pieces.









Ran pretty good in the snow last winter:






 
A

andymac0035

Well-Known Member



These are the adjustable body mounts for the monster jam stampedes.
Under them, bolted to (though) the wraith chassis are e-maxx bumper mounts.
(front ones up front, rear ones in the rear) (ironically)




I was REALLY hesitant drilling holes in the tube chassis, but after looking at all my options, it seemed like the only way (that I was content with). The rear was simple enough, but the fronts gave me fits trying to get the angle just right, and also because I also knew I'd pretty much only get one shot at making it right..........or ruining my frame....



And here's proline's new 73' Bronco body for the T-maxx 3.3:



And here it is all cut out and getting ready for paint:




There's a few other things that Ive done to this. I'll post them up a little later.
Other than popping spider gears in the cold/snow (and switching back to lockers), it runs pretty well.
 
A

andymac0035

Well-Known Member
Glad you like it. :D

Ballast to off-set torque-twist. (3 layers).



Slightly shortened t-maxx 2.5 driveshaft for the rear. Also you can see the 1st set of swaybars I used (thank nosyajg).


One of many diff gear failures from running in the cold. They get brittle and boom!


Some more snow-running, all with VXL power:
[video=youtube;oj_lGD3D3oM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oj_lGD3D3oM[/video]

It can still crawl a bit too:
[video=youtube;G8t_ACctiTg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8t_ACctiTg[/video]

But it's best at bashing around with the clod tires in place:
[video=youtube;92tKbP8ngwk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92tKbP8ngwk[/video]
 
A

andymac0035

Well-Known Member
Decided I needed heavier sway bars, and yes, those are car stereo removal tools. Drilled one hole for a small cable clamp (on the chassis) to help keep then from shifting.


Settled on this method for attachment to the links (have since added some extra zip ties further up)
This works very well.








Hey look, you can see the sway-bars.


I really liked this shot.


[video=youtube;Pt_1IbbObwI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pt_1IbbObwI[/video]
 
A

andymac0035

Well-Known Member
Put the steering link behind the servo-saver (it was binding a little).
Mounted the shocks outboard of the mounts.



I also added some zip-ties up near the far (chassis) end to make the bars flex more...and twist less. This let me back-off on the spring pre-load. Torque-twist is now a LOT less, but was able to get more droop into the suspension. The result is a lot less swaying/leaning with that body on there, and softer/smoother landings.


.....and here's how it handles, on a track. I ran it till I hit LVC, I had a lot of fun that day.
They have since changed the layout........ I wish they would change it back....
[video=youtube;IBfP2wreAE4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBfP2wreAE4[/video]
 
A

andymac0035

Well-Known Member
Shortly after this my rear gears shark-finned on me. I was surprised, as I had rotated them, putting the one that was heavily worn in the front. The one I put in the rear had almost no wear....this happened in in only 2 months time. I replaced with the steel HD gears, need to do the front too.


While I was at it I tightened up the rear 4-link. Took some tubing and made some o-rings to use as bushings to get rid of all the (side-to-side) slop. Worked pretty well, so I'll be doing the same up front.





So..... as I mentioned they changed the track, so after I got done there.... I went to the local sand pit. :D

[video=youtube;l99S3foSpt4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l99S3foSpt4[/video]

The truck currently has a novac havoc 13.5 sensored system in it, but I'm thinking of putting the VXL back in there for some extra speed. Probably should finish tightning up the suspension and put the HD gear up front first though..... LOL
 
A

andymac0035

Well-Known Member
Thank you both.

I have since pulled the novac system and put the VXL back in there.
Very happy with the added speed/power. I'll miss the smoother start-up of the novac, but the clod tires were too much for it, and with the weather getting warmer it was thermalling on me, even with a fan.
 
A

andymac0035

Well-Known Member
All the suspension tweeks I have now were not in place the last time I ran a VXL in this truck..... what a difference. Having the esc mounted under the hood is great too because I can mount the battery lower and opposite the motor to really balance the chassis out. I can't recall EVER being able to just bast up and down our dirt road and not have the truck be all over the place.

And because of all this new-found battery room...... I can even try 3S for some speed runs.


[video=youtube;uKkP1p8VuEE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKkP1p8VuEE[/video]

After that vid I finished doing all the links up with my little home-made bushings/o-rings.
I even did the steering linkage. Then I upgraded the front ring and pinion to a steel HD set to match the rear. The old gears were pretty bad, it's amazing that they were not skipping yet.

Then I got to run it again and... Wow!.......just wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That little bushing mod of mine really works!
The steering was a lot more precise too! It's just so neat seeing all the play either gone, or dampened.

I have also used nosyajg's idea of fingernail polish on the (axle end) screws that work loose from the plastic and it's holding, even after getting MUCH big-air.

I have never had this thing feel so tight and well composed. I just can't find much I want to improve on. There are a few things, but they are small details for the most part.

The pivot-balls are still the stock plastic ones....so metal one's might be nice.
Titanium rear axle shafts. There's a guy on rccrawler that makes some.

But all-in-all...... I think it has really come together now. I might actually be done.
 
A

andymac0035

Well-Known Member
So......

I went and pulled ALL those plastic ball joints out of the links and put steel ones in from a set of revo rod ends I had. I had to shim some of them, but they worked great and got rid of all the slop. the only movement is the flexing of the upper links. I also swapped out the kit-upgrade aluminum (lower) links for the RTR plastic ones. This was simply because those have holes in them which makes it sooooo much easier to attach my swaybars.

Put some spacers on those shocks to raise the ride hight back up, put the clod tires back on it, and took it for a spin. I've got pics and a vid to put up when I get home late tonight..... but it ran really well.

Really the only issue I have with it now is the diff gears being brittle when it gets cold here.
So I am undecided as to this trucks future, but at least I know I've done all I can.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top