Fallen's SCX10 iii Bronco

[Fallen]

Sorry, should have included this in the last post:

A photo from the front of the axle to show how the linkage connects to the arm. A ball stud goes into the original lower shock mount, and another ball stud in the sway bar arm.

Then a link I made by connecting two ball sockets with a 1.5mm all-thread. That link connnects the arm to the axle.

 

[RudyF6]

The sway bar drives that front, driver's side wheel back down and holds it there.

That's awesome, believe it or not I was just thinking about what rear suspension tweaks might help that situation...

 

[Fallen]

Glad that could help. There's lots of ways to do a home made sway bar, but at least we now know a way to do it with the Losi LMT sway bar.

Unexpected change: since I now won't have too much flex at the rear axle, I removed the internal limiters for the rear shocks returning them to 100mm in length.

I'm still using the springs from the 90mm shocks with the same pre-load settings so my ride height stays the same. And since the sway bar is there, the extra down travel only really kicks in when the truck is airborne or at least very light on the suspension.

I've kept the front shocks limited to 90mm.

My Bronco won't keep up with your Element on the rocks, but it'll toast you in the desert!

 

[Fallen]

Well, I finally made the jump to brushless. That's because I took the Bronco out for some crawling, and after several torque heavy situations, my Bronco had smoke pouring out of the front fenders. Fortunately, it was just the stock, 35t motor finally dying.

I drove from the crawl spot to my hobby shop and got the Spektrum 2 in 1, 2300kv system.

Since the 10.3 came with that ESC / RX 2 in 1 unit, that meant I also needed a new RX. In went the Spektrum SR315, 3 channel RX. Since I was already buying a new brushless system, I didn't also want to buy a new 4 or 5 channel radio.

So my new electronics layout has the battery centered between the chassis rails on the rear tray. The RX is on one fender, power switch on the other fender and nothing on the sliders.

After it was all back together, I finished the crawling session the toasted motor cut short:


https://youtu.be/nDv8kedREnI

The end of the video will hopefully show you that this Bronco is NOT a shelf queen.

 

[JimrC]

How's the Bronco holding up? Looks good "thumbsup" and nice vid which got a like "thumbsup"

I just got one of these "thumbsup"

 

[justinart24]

Cool build! I think this is my favorite body Axial put out, love the interior."thumbsup"

 

[Fallen]

The Bronco has held up great! 2 years in (I think) and I've never broken anything on it, except for toasting the stock motor eventually.

And mine spends a lot of time in 2WD / 2nd gear. The suspension is tuned to look very scale (10WT oil), so driving it is quite satisfying. I spent 2 years adding scale details and driving it. I thinks you'll find it to be a fun project truck that's great to drive.

And to justinart24, I agree. I think it's the most scale looking truck Axial produced. And they gave us everything with this model; roll cage, inner fenders, full interior, lights... I was always surprised that it didn't sell better. But everyone who waited and scored them for $300 lucked out.

I'll post a few photos eventually, as I have made a few changes. Most notably, a winch.

 

[JimrC]

The Bronco has held up great! 2 years in (I think) and I've never broken anything on it, except for toasting the stock motor eventually.

And mine spends a lot of time in 2WD / 2nd gear. The suspension is tuned to look very scale (10WT oil), so driving it is quite satisfying. I spent 2 years adding scale details and driving it. I thinks you'll find it to be a fun project truck that's great to drive.

Cheers Fallen "thumbsup" Has always looked a fun project this Bronco for sure "thumbsup"

 

[Fallen]

I got the ol' Bronco out again. I actually take it out quite a bit, I just don't usually take pictures of it anymore.

Since the last post, I've added a winch. That winch recovered me twice today. I bought a set of ARB straps and an RC4WD folding land anchor. They're all floating around in the bed.

I took my 6 year old son to the Elfin Forest and did some crawling today. He drove the Miller Motorsports and I drove this.

I replaced the shock towers with silver, aluminum shock towers. I think they're made by Samix, but I can't remember. Now they stand out in the wheelwells better.

I ditched the SSD manual locking hubs. The stub axle is held on by a snap ring, which kept failing and causing the wheels to fall off. In all fairness, I had them on for over a year of offroading. That snap ring probably just wore out. SSD probably would have sent me new ones if I'd asked, but I decided to ditch the complexity.

These Toyo tires did good work today. I had them buried in soft sand up to the beadlock rings today. But they kept pulling the Bronco forward, even up hill.

For trailing / crawling I still like this more than the Miller Motorsports. But if there's room for some speed, then it's the other way around.

 

[OSRC]

Great looking build, one of the nicest Axial Broncos I've seen. Looks like a fantastic spot to wheel also!

 

[Fallen]

Thanks OS. That spot is pretty killer. I've only briefly explored it after a member on this forum posted about it. There's a wide variety of terrain there; rocks of all sizes, deep sand, hard packed dirt, mud, tree roots, water...

 

[hnoroian]

That spot is pretty killer. I've only briefly explored it after a member on this forum posted about it.

Care to share round about coordinates?

 

[Fallen]

It's the Elfin Forest Preserve in North County San Diego. Park at the Recreational Reserve Trailhead and explore from there.

There's a lot of tree cover so it's shady on sunny days. And a large river (for San Diego) runs through it.

Both times I've been there rangers were present, but looked the other way regarding my RCs. A lot of "hikers" in North County are climate snobs though, so getting wild with RCs at this spot would probably draw too much attention for the rangers to ignore.

 

[Speedy-Triple]

Your Rig just keeps getting better and better with all the details and the proven miles it has, I still have one of these from the sale a couple years back I have yet to crack open ... sadly I was only able to snatch the teal. North San Diego / Temecula area have some gorgeous terrain and is somehow far away from all the commotion. Perfect weather and scenery for hiking and RC crawling.

 

[Fallen]

Thanks! This is my favorite RC car and one I'll likely never sell. The reliability / simplicity + scale detail is what makes me want the Axial CJ-7 over my Miller Motorsports truck.

My 6 year old son really likes scale crawling and I want him to have a good truck he can scale out over the years. But I'm not ready to give him my Bronco yet.