LJD RC's AX10 Ridgecrest

[VoltSCX]

Recently I picked up a fleet of crawlers with the intention of starting up a crawler club at my high school. The fleet consists of 3 Everest 10s and 5 AX10 Scorpion RTCs.

I'm going to make the build thread for the Scorpions tomorrow after I talk to my sponsor. Anyway, an extra truck that was thrown in with the deal was this old Ridgecrest, which actually seems to be fairly complete.

There are actually a couple upgrades on it already, such as metal links and diff covers from Yeah Racing. Hopefully I can get this thing working again. I've already got an old rx/tx for it, though sourcing a body is gonna be a pain. I'm hoping all of the gears are in decent condition so I won't have to replace them.

 

[JatoTheRipper]

Great idea trying to start a crawler club! I hope it works out for you and gains some new RC fans.

 

[hnoroian]

Good score on the trucks. Hopefully you have better luck than I did at my school. I was turned down by my admin even when independently supplied with everything. Now I drive around in my gym and some excess rubble on the back side of campus.

 

[VoltSCX]

Good score on the trucks. Hopefully you have better luck than I did at my school. I was turned down by my admin even when independently supplied with everything. Now I drive around in my gym and some excess rubble on the back side of campus.

Oh dang, that's rough man. I was turned down last year by the drone club sponsor, but I think this year I'm good to go. But still, that's so stupid. Schools are ridiculous sometimes.

 

[hnoroian]

Keep this updated about the club in the schools. I have a “Better than most” relationship with my admin at my school level and DO, I was bummed when they told me so, I’m guessing it conflicted with toys on campus and our robotics club, but who knows. maybe you can share some tips when yours is fully going.

 

[VoltSCX]

Keep this updated about the club in the schools. I have a “Better than most” relationship with my admin at my school level and DO, I was bummed when they told me so, I’m guessing it conflicted with toys on campus and our robotics club, but who knows. maybe you can share some tips when yours is fully going.

Will do! I put the main thread for the club is in the 2.2 category and I'll try to keep it as updated as possible. I've almost got everything worked out, though I need to work on the details. I'm hoping I don't get turned down again like last year.

 

[high plains drifter]

If you get turned down, anyway you could do this or something similar independently? Like off school grounds? Seems like a club to be born out of this regardless of school admin. Good luck.

 

[VoltSCX]

If you get turned down, anyway you could do this or something similar independently? Like off school grounds? Seems like a club to be born out of this regardless of school admin. Good luck.

I might could try something, though I'm not 100% sure what I'd do just yet. I'll cook up some more ideas as backups just in case. Thanks!

 

[VoltSCX]

Finally started digging into this thing. I pulled the diff covers off and added a bit of new grease since everything looked fine (I don't have pics tho since I did that a week ago and it slipped my mind, lol). Today I pulled the ol' 3 gear out to take a look at.

I pulled the spur cover off and it actually looked pretty alright. Definitely nothing compared to how nice the Scorpions were (they were immaculate), but it seemed alright.

I got the 20t pulled off, and it actually looks alright. I won't be using it since I have a 35t out of my 10.2 that doesn't have questionable wiring.

Pulled the gearbox apart, and... zero grease or oil. It wasn't horrible (I've definitely seen worse), but there were a decent amount of shavings in there.

The drive gear (I'm still a newbie when it comes to part names, forgive me if that's the wrong name) had all 3 of the bolts barely screwed in, which was fun to see. I tightened them up and tossed some grease on everything before putting it back together.

I used a Spektrum ESC I had sitting around to test it (I also threw on a new battery strap because it didn't have one).

I tried to use the old Axial AX-2 tx that I had since I figured it'd work with the AR-2 rx that I had. It probably would have, if the remote actually worked. The remote was dead, and I don't have a bind plug because I've never had to use one before. I do have a working AX-3 though, so I might try to pick up a bind plug and an AR-3 to see if it works.

For now I'm just going to leave this thing in the corner until I can pick up either a working AR-3 or AX-2. Maybe while I'm figuring that out I can get some ideas for a body since I can't get ahold of a used Ridgecrest body.

 

[nightcrawler48]

If you have an old non-working servo, or anything else with a servo plug on it, you can make your own bind plug. I usually remove the center wire (the power wire, usually Red) and then strip the ends of the ground wire (usually black) and the signal wire (usually white, yellow, or ?) and twist the ends together so you make a complete circuit when it is plugged into the receiver. Works in a pinch.



If you get a new receiver that needs to use a bind plug, the bind plug should come with the receiver.

For the drive gear (also known as the output shafts assembly), you would usually put a dab of threadlocker on the screws holding the output shafts to the gear. Its fairly common for the screws to come loose if threadlocker is not used and I've heard of the screws snapping when they become loose. I've never seen any broken screws but I have seen loose screws.

 

[VoltSCX]

If you have an old non-working servo, or anything else with a servo plug on it, you can make your own bind plug. I usually remove the center wire (the power wire, usually Red) and then strip the ends of the ground wire (usually black) and the signal wire (usually white, yellow, or ?) and twist the ends together so you make a complete circuit when it is plugged into the receiver. Works in a pinch.

View attachment 508066

If you get a new receiver that needs to use a bind plug, the bind plug should come with the receiver.

For the drive gear (also known as the output shafts assembly), you would usually put a dab of threadlocker on the screws holding the output shafts to the gear. Its fairly common for the screws to come loose if threadlocker is not used and I've heard of the screws snapping when they become loose. I've never seen any broken screws but I have seen loose screws.

Thank you so much! I'll definitely try that out, I've got a couple broken servos out of my SCX24 that I can use for that. I'll try to pick up some threadlocker too, I probably need some of it anyway for my 10.3 build. Thanks for the help man, I really appreciate it. (Also, I really like your AX10 build, super cool to see another one ongoing right now. Will definitely be taking notes lol)

 

[nightcrawler48]

If you can find it, I recommend purple threadlocker. Purple is designed for use with 1/4" or smaller fasteners. In our case, as most RC stuff is metric, that would be 6mm or smaller. Purple will allow you to remove the fastener with less chance of stripping out the head of the screw. If you can't find purple, blue can be used but really sparingly. I don't know if it was on here years ago, I saw a trick to apply blue thread locker to small fasteners. Instead of applying the threadlocker directly to the fastener from the container, put a drop on something like a metal lid from a jar and use a toothpick to apply the threadlocker, Just touch the end of the toothpick in the drop and touch the toothpick to the threads. You don't need the threadlocker to go all the way around the threads, just a short "line" will be enough. I've seem people who used blue destroy their part trying to get the screw out. NEVER use red or green. These require heat to remove them.

Threadlocker is now available in gel form as well as liquid and from what I understand, the gel is easier to control the amount applied to the threads.

 

[89Industries]

If you can find it, I recommend purple threadlocker. Purple is designed for use with 1/4" or smaller fasteners. In our case, as most RC stuff is metric, that would be 6mm or smaller. Purple will allow you to remove the fastener with less chance of stripping out the head of the screw. If you can't find purple, blue can be used but really sparingly. I don't know if it was on here years ago, I saw a trick to apply blue thread locker to small fasteners. Instead of applying the threadlocker directly to the fastener from the container, put a drop on something like a metal lid from a jar and use a toothpick to apply the threadlocker, Just touch the end of the toothpick in the drop and touch the toothpick to the threads. You don't need the threadlocker to go all the way around the threads, just a short "line" will be enough. I've seem people who used blue destroy their part trying to get the screw out. NEVER use red or green. These require heat to remove them.

Threadlocker is now available in gel form as well as liquid and from what I understand, the gel is easier to control the amount applied to the threads.

I'd also recommend the blue loctite stick (loctite part number 506166). It is less messy than the liquid for sure. I have not used the gel. The stick is the blue but in my experience it is not as strong as the normal liquid blue stuff either.

Also, many times these loctites never hold quite as strong as people think they will because to get full cure strength both the male and female threads are supposed to be clean, grease free and dry. In that case the blue could be too much. I just don't bother to fully clean and degrease the bolts so the blue still cures and prevents loosening but doesn't "cure" like it will on a full properly prepped threaded joint.

Also, be careful with the loctite on plastic. I have never used it on a plastic thread but someone on here mentioned it can melt plastic so that would be no bueno. CA/superglue/krazyglue works ok as loctite in plastic.

 

[nightcrawler48]

I'd also recommend the blue loctite stick (loctite part number 506166). It is less messy than the liquid for sure. I have not used the gel. The stick is the blue but in my experience it is not as strong as the normal liquid blue stuff either.

Also, many times these loctites never hold quite as strong as people think they will because to get full cure strength both the male and female threads are supposed to be clean, grease free and dry. In that case the blue could be too much. I just don't bother to fully clean and degrease the bolts so the blue still cures and prevents loosening but doesn't "cure" like it will on a full properly prepped threaded joint.

Also, be careful with the loctite on plastic. I have never used it on a plastic thread but someone on here mentioned it can melt plastic so that would be no bueno. CA/superglue/krazyglue works ok as loctite in plastic.

Good call 89Industries. I did a little more checking and the gel isn't available from Loctite but I did find Permatex gel.

 

[VoltSCX]

Thanks for the tips y'all, I really appreciate it. I'll definitely be looking into it sometime soon. I've never really messed with this stuff before so this is all extremely helpful. Thanks again!

 

[VoltSCX]

Small update on the Ridgecrest. I got the original wheels and tires back on since they looked better, and I pulled a rx/tx off of one of my inoperable Everest 10s to get it working.

Threw in one of my 2s lipos and this thing rips. It actually runs extremely well, I might not have to do much of anything else to it other than a body. Speaking of which...

I think I might have an idea...

 

[hnoroian]

I know we can still find those bodies occasionally but I’d love to find one without the holes complete.

 

[VoltSCX]

know you can still find those bodies occasionally but I’d love to find one without the holes.

Yeah, they're really sweet. I've seen a couple clear ones here and there, but I honestly can't remember how long ago it was. I wasn't much of a fan of it when I bought it (I didn't even know Axial made a Blazer), but it's definitely grown on me lol.

 

[hnoroian]

I have the early Bronco that my son runs, this one would fill in that other side. I’d probably print out an interior if I had one for the detail. You have my mind working right now…

 

[VoltSCX]

I have the early Bronco that my son runs, this one would fill in that other side. I’d probably print out an interior if I had one for the detail. You have my mind working right now…

Lol, go for it! The details on this body are really nice, and I think it'd go perfect with that Bronco. It unfortunately doesn't have any light buckets for the taillights, but the grille has buckets for the headlights and turn signals/running lights. Those Broncos are awesome by the way. I've seen a few at Axialfest and I was definitely tempted to grab one last year.