I just copy pasted this from
my build thread
Lowered tranny/motor mod:
I've been staring at the tranny and skid plate all morning thinking about how I can lower the tranny. I even started a new skid CAD design. I ended up settling on just modding the stock parts because without making a skid thats lower than stock with link locations that are also lower I couldn't get the tranny any lower.
So this happened (I used a fine toothed hand saw) a new tranny case is $12.99 BTW for those that are timid.
Then I took it to my belt sander for a little clean up and maybe another millimeter or so.
Then I carved up (and filed) the skid where the tranny mounts at an angle. This is because the outer most holes cant rally be thinned out any while the inner holes can be. I took off maybe 2mm here on the inner portion.
The motor plate and cover also need some trimming
You'll need to use shorter screws to mount the tranny after this, for the short screws I used 6mm and the longer screws were 12mm though 10mm might be safer (12mm is pushing it). I'm happy to report theres still a good amount of thread grab even with these shorter screws.
Whether you can go as low as I did may depend on what motor and pinion you use. I'm using a 14t pinion and a smaller 500 series motor.
So I think overall the tranny is 4.5-5mm lower now and I think since it was rotated a bit the motor is likely a touch lower than that.