First vanquish suggestion please

[dirtslow]

Hi, recently trying to get back into the hobby after a long rest period. I started and still own axial wraith I built from a kit as well as lost mrc pro roller.

I would like to get either a VRD carbon or phoenix portal kit. I totally understand they seem to be at both end of the spectrum. I don't comp and I am not a scale person though I enjoy looking and marvel at someone's build. I normally take my rig with me on walks and crawl what ever I find during the walk. I rarely drive somewhere just to crawl. I have watched a lot of YouTube on both and well... the carbon is like super duper and phoenix is porky! Basically I want a rig that crawls really well and able to handle long trailing walks...

for carbon, do I need to do anything to tame the overdrive to save the drivetrain for long trailing yet still good enough to crawl well?

for phoenix, I will attempted to get it as vrd carbon crawl as possible right from the start. Meaning, I will do the SOA/4 link front or even stubby kit and SBA right from the start if they are possible and build on after market chassis. I assume the skid is same hole pattern as vrd carbon and I can use vrd compatible after market chassis? I strongly consider phoenix due to the twin trans as I never experience one before. I know there will be weight penalty compared to carbon.


this is getting too long. very sorry. been out of the game for a long time and attempting to learn what's compatible with what...etc.

TLDR: vrd carbon -has concern if it can trail for long time... phoenix - not "comp" enough stock and willing build as comp as possible right from the box if possible.

thanks for any/all inputs/suggestions.

 

[Col_Sanders]

The Phoenix is pretty capable for a trail rig, especially with a little tweaking and a lighter body, but if your plan with a Phoenix already involves swapping chassis and doing a servo on axle, I'd just go with the Carbon kit. It would definitely save you some $$. If you were set on using the VFD twin transmission, there are some capable chassis out there for the Phoenix. Zoku is highly regarded and Rock Pirates chassis are too.

If using the VRD I think 37% OD might be a bit much for trailing. I like to have 10-20% on a trail rig but that is personal preference. To tame that down you could just swap the front and rear portal gears to end up with ~5% OD, which would almost be unnoticeable, or put OD gears in the rear portals, which would put OD at 21%. Not sure if a stubby kit with an outrunner is a great choice for a strictly trail rig due to the amount of dirt/dust/water it could see and the exposed position that it is in.

 

[dirtslow]

Thank you for your insight. everything you said make sense. Do you know if the twin and carbon transmission use the same bolt pattern? both the mounting on skid as well attaching to rail? I am wondering if they are interchangable (dig/2 speed servo mounting aside). I am still 50/50 on either. I am trying to learn what is compatible and what is not. There seems to be aftermarket chassis for vrd carbon as well.

thanks

 

[twade984]

VP has four different skids, the origin 3 gear style skid, the pro/ultra/fordyce standard vfd skid, the Phoenix vfd twin skid, and the VRD skid.

All but the VRD skid are interchangeable in the chassis, any version of the standard vfd (pro, ultra/fordyce/vrd stance, or vrd carbon) will fit in any skid except the origin 3 gear skid or the twin skid.

Twin has different mounting points than a regular vfd, and the vrd skid has slightly different mounting points to the chassis.

My personal opinion is I’d rather use a VRD carbon than a phoenix as a base.

If a Fordyce was an option, then I might choose that first for convenience.

Ultimately what I ended up doing is building a Fordyce with vrd carbon axles and transmission, so I got best of both worlds.

You can swap the portal gears front to rear on the vrd and with the transmission gears you still end up around 5% o/d I believe


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[diezel666]

My personal opinion is I’d rather use a VRD carbon than a phoenix as a base.

If a Fordyce was an option, then I might choose that first for convenience.

Having build a Carbon, and tinkered with the Fordyce. I completely agree with you on this.

 

[SteveB1]

VRD Carbon kit, knock the OD down as mentioned above, run the Hobbywing Fusion Pro 2300. It's an excellent setup.



s

 

[B-MOW71]

VP has four different skids, the origin 3 gear style skid, the pro/ultra/fordyce standard vfd skid, the Phoenix vfd twin skid, and the VRD skid.

All but the VRD skid are interchangeable in the chassis, any version of the standard vfd (pro, ultra/fordyce/vrd stance, or vrd carbon) will fit in any skid except the origin 3 gear skid or the twin skid.

Twin has different mounting points than a regular vfd, and the vrd skid has slightly different mounting points to the chassis.

My personal opinion is I’d rather use a VRD carbon than a phoenix as a base.

If a Fordyce was an option, then I might choose that first for convenience.

Ultimately what I ended up doing is building a Fordyce with vrd carbon axles and transmission, so I got best of both worlds.

You can swap the portal gears front to rear on the vrd and with the transmission gears you still end up around 5% o/d I believe


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Having build a Carbon, and tinkered with the Fordyce. I completely agree with you on this.

VRD Carbon kit, knock the OD down as mentioned above, run the Hobbywing Fusion Pro 2300. It's an excellent setup.

s

I agree with all of the above. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

[dirtslow]

Sorry for the late response... got busy all the sudden. I will look for a carbon kit when it goes on sale and go from there. Thank you all for your input and info.

 

[JatoTheRipper]

Did you post the same question on Facebook? If so, I responded there as well.

The Phoenix is cool, but with the stock body and setup it isn't going to be that capable. It is also overly complicated IMO. It is also unfortunately RTR.

I'd suggest the Carbon because you get to build it, the performance will be much better and it can also be run as a trail rig.

 

[dirtslow]

Thank you @jato for the response. I am not on Facebook so that's not me. As for Phoenix, I would be getting the portal kit as I would like a portal rig...

 

[Fricker08]

I think you’d be surprised what the stock vs4-10 chassis is capable of. Especially if you swap out the shock towers. I built my version of a “phoenix” using f10 portals and the transmission from a pro with all the machined goodies and 21% overdrive. Then [mention]twade984 [/mention] had some carbon fiber shock towers cut out and I mounted those up. Swapped the phoenix body for the proline coyote and the truck is a killer. It’s got a fusion pro 2300kv in it now also. But everyone’s made some good points

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[dirtslow]

I just want to thank everyone for all the info here. I have been trying to find a deal for either vrd or phoenix and ended up with an open box unbuilt phoenix portal kit sold a bit less than retail. Hopefully it will arrive safely in a week or so. I really wanted the vrd but it is just too costly for now. I feel I will end up with one in the future though. As for the twin vfd, I watched many YouTube videos and there seems to be a ticking sound in the trans... is there anything I need to watch out for during the build to avoid this or the ticking is minority? For electronics, I will use my existing castle mamba max pro (2012) in brushed mode with the 20$ Holmes 550 8t crawl sport to start with.

thanks