Advice on Y-Town BJV4 Build

[cpercival]

I want to go bodiless, and after much debate, I have settled on the Beetlejuice Chassis. It was either this one or the Mantis, and being new to crawling, I got scared off by the torsion design of the Mantis. Sounds like some people get frustrated with getting it dialed and give up on it. I love the looks of it, but I just want to have some fun. If I’m wrong, convince me otherwise.
Anyway, I have read through many of the BJ builds, and what I can’t find is a “required parts” detail or any real build instructions. All the builds include upgraded axle tops, knuckles, chubs, lockouts, front and rear upper link mounts, etc. But what is actually required to build it? The only definite thing I’ve figured out is upper and lower links. I’m thinking BWD; no idea how to bend titanium Lundsfords. Is everything else stock XR10 stuff? Also, if there is something that is worth upgrading at this stage let me know.
Some basic instruction would be helpful as well. Maybe a baseline setup to start with? Shock position, wheel weight, and all that.
Thanks everyone

 

[4xFord]

Look in krawlfreaks v4 thread for shock info for the stock shocks. Upgrading the axles is really all up to you. You can get by with a lot fewer upgrades than most do.

I would suggest RC4wd cases, plates, and gears, with bushings on the shaft in the upper link mounts as a budget setup.

And then obviously all the vp stuff for an ultimate setup. "thumbsup"

Bender won the LCQ at nats with almost all stock axle parts.

For links, budget, go delrin, no budget, order pre bent ti from the vendors on this site. "thumbsup"

 

[Abe KT]

If your looking for premade titanium links: BJ4 Links

 

[TJ Steve]

I would most definitely go with Chaotic Crawlers Titanium Links, and pick up a steering link from them also. If they aren't in stock on their website when you are ready to order, or you have any questions about what to get from them, pop an email to them and they will help. Top notch service, and some great guys to deal with! You won't go wrong with Chaotic "thumbsup"

 

[cpercival]

At this point, I'm just looking for the must haves. I'll probably have to wait on ti links. Love the look, but titanium is not cheap stuff.

It seems axles are a hot upgrade. Are the stock axles that bad that I'll need to upgrade right away?

Also wondering about batteries. Don't see a lot of talk about them with this chassis. What are people doing about placement and battery size? I've seen a few placed on the front axle. Will I have the room up front if everything is still stock?

Anything else I'm missing?

 

[Chaotic Crawlers]

The axles aren't that bad, but the gears and bearings are definately a weak spot.
There aren't many people that haven't broken gears or blown bearings.
I would say the bare essentials to have a reliable axle is either a rc4wd gear set or at minimum an upgraded final gear and idler gear. You'll also want to either mod the motor plates for bigger bearings or buy one of the upgraded motor plates available. "thumbsup"

As for batteries... You'll want a smaller pack.
I would say shoot for something between 800mah and 1300mah. A lot of people will even tell you to go to a 300mah to 800mah pack.
The benefit of a smaller pack is less weight and a smaller size.

I enjoy a little extra runtime out of my packs, so I personally run 850mah packs.
(it's all personal preference)"thumbsup"

I have been very happy with the "elite" packs from CheapBatteryPacks - cheap batteries for rc car, Lipo battery and charger, airplane battery
You can also look for Hyperion lipo packs, maxamps.com has their own packs, thunder power has good packs, and a lot of people buy the cheapo lipos from hobbyking.com as well.

Check out Rowdy Racings battery mounts in the vendors section.
He has awesome products, great service, and great prices!
You can't go wrong with any of his mounts.

Hope this helps."thumbsup"

At this point, I'm just looking for the must haves. I'll probably have to wait on ti links. Love the look, but titanium is not cheap stuff.

It seems axles are a hot upgrade. Are the stock axles that bad that I'll need to upgrade right away?

Also wondering about batteries. Don't see a lot of talk about them with this chassis. What are people doing about placement and battery size? I've seen a few placed on the front axle. Will I have the room up front if everything is still stock?

Anything else I'm missing?

 

[cpercival]

Will any of the delrin links work with this chassis? I'm looking at the bwd links ( BWD0507 and BWD0508 ) but it looks like they don't have the same bends that I see in the titanium links in many of the builds.

Also, in a few builds I saw losi gold springs with jeepindoug's spring cups used on stock shocks. What do the cups do for you?

 

[Krawler23]

They don't pop off because they aren't open"thumbsup"

 

[dude26]

The BWD link is a little too big, it's gonna hit the chassis...

look a the crawler innovations link for the lower
and Axial 30° for the upper

 

[concretejungle]

I "think" you are asking what do i "have to have" to make this chassis work. I think the answer is you "have to have" new links since the stock xr10 links will not work and you have to have either other shocks or limit your stock shocks.

 

[AreCee]

The shocks are fine and Losi gold springs work well. I would get the Jeepin spring retainers to keep the springs in place.

Crawler Inovations High clearence links work as upper links with the Revo ends. Their really Curved high clearence link works in the rear with a combo of Jato and Revo ends. I made my own front lower links from threaded rod and delrin tube wirh Revo ends.

You can use the stock XR10 uppers but they are quite flexible.

If you want to save a little weight you can get the Chaotic Crawlers Ti Link set for $95.00. That isn't a bad price because if you were to buy the Lunsfurd rods it would cost about $80 and then you would need to bend them and still supply the rod ends.