New Member - Wraith Build

[Lavigna]

The stock ESC crapped out finally. While everything was apart, I decided to beef up the transmission. I added Robinson metal gears and a VP mount. I am keeping the stock spur gear, so it can act as my weak link point.

I got a good deal on a Tekin G2 RX8 ESC. I was thinking of combining it with a Holmes or Tekin ROC motor. Will this be a good ESC for this rig? Is the internal BEC of this ESC enough for a high powered servo?

 

[Rock Farmer]

Not sure offhand of BEC limitations, but I've got a G2 RX8 paired w ROC 2300KV motor on 2s, nothing too aggressive on gears, pretty close to stock ( if memory serves me.correctly) and LOOOVE me some Tekin brushless goodness in my wraith (11 lbs- tanky lil fella!) Hope that gives you a little insight "thumbsup"

 

[Lavigna]

Not sure offhand of BEC limitations, but I've got a G2 RX8 paired w ROC 2300KV motor on 2s, nothing too aggressive on gears, pretty close to stock ( if memory serves me.correctly) and LOOOVE me some Tekin brushless goodness in my wraith (11 lbs- tanky lil fella!) Hope that gives you a little insight "thumbsup"

Good to hear. I have Tekin in many of my other non crawling vehicles, and I love them. Their stuff is ultra smooth and easy to work with.

 

[rngrchad]

Hey Lavigna. Real clean functional looking Wraith you've put together there! The low stance looks good and I'm sure makes it a lot more sure footed. For a first time wraith build you seem to have done your research well. All the right parts in all the right places!

 

[Lavigna]

Hey Lavigna. Real clean functional looking Wraith you've put together there! The low stance looks good and I'm sure makes it a lot more sure footed. For a first time wraith build you seem to have done your research well. All the right parts in all the right places!

Thanks for the kind words. I spent a lot of time reading and researching before I bought the parts and made the mods. Thanks again!

 

[Lavigna]

Tekin RX8 and a ROC motor installed. I had a hell of a time making room for the RX8 in a clean layout. I went back and forth between mounting in the front or rear. I ended up choosing front. I created a simple CF plate to mount the ESC and receiver on.

This is bad battery, just for mock up. Once I have a good battery, I will shorten the leads to clean things up. The way the ROC mounts to the VP motor plate barely gives enough room for the wire leads to clear the transmission. Has anyone else had this issue?

I like how the ESC almost looks like a motor under the hood. However it is not linking with the Hotwire no matter what I do, so it is possible it may be bad, which means more soldering.

 

[malickie]

Looks very nice, as for the ESC powering a High Voltage Servo, it does appear that it "Should" be able to power 7.4v through the BEC though you'd need the hotwire to set it up. At any rate looking really good, eventually should get my Wraith Spawn RTR setup correctly, I just hate working on it because of all the darn screws I have to go through just to do simple things. Unlike my SCX10.2 which is really quite easy to wrench on.

 

[soze]

Looks like a nice build. Will be watching for ideas!

 

[1st pass tommy]

Very nice rig! Love the color scheme!

 

[Lavigna]

Thanks for all the nice comments.

I recently added a second link to the servo arm, to delete the long cross link. I am going for a cleaner look, that shows off the beautiful VP axles better.

I am not sure if I like the look better. Any input or suggestions? Dont mind the missing headlight.

 

[Brake Weight]

I'm no geometricist, but I think you'll get a little bit of toe in when turning.

 

[Lavigna]

I'm no geometricist, but I think you'll get a little bit of toe in when turning.

I think you may be right, but what is the reason? I still need to install the panhard kit, so I have not run it yet, but it does want to toe in.

 

[Brake Weight]

As the arm pivots it rotates away. This causes the separate links to also raise up and pulls the tires together. May be not enough to matter though.

 

[Cknox0315]

This is a awesome looking rig! I use to race a lot of nitro street rc back in the day so i am new to the crawler scene. I will be keeping a close eye on this build because i too am leaning toward building a Wraith. Again man great looking rig keep it up!

 

[Lavigna]

I think I will be putting the front steering back to the traditional setup.

Thanks for the nice comments.

I finally got around to installing the RC4WD F & R inner fenders. Because of the trailing arms and relocated shock position in the rear, it took a lot of fitting and cutting to get them to fit. In the front, it makes the under the hood look nice, as it fills it in nicely. I hope to get some good pictures tomorrow, but here are a couple quickies.

 

[NWHavok]

I think you may be right, but what is the reason? I still need to install the panhard kit, so I have not run it yet, but it does want to toe in.

I have tried this also and what I found with the wraith knuckles and their positive camber (might have wrong term there) anyways, the inside tire when turning doesn't turn as far as the outside and you end up loosing steering radius in the process. You could have made your links longer to counter the toe in you're describing but you're giving up turning radius for "looks"
I would look at getting a panhard kit and a Vanquish tie rod because their tie rod you can adjust the rod ends so it runs high on the axle and out of the way.
Cheers

 

[Lavigna]

I have tried this also and what I found with the wraith knuckles and their positive camber (might have wrong term there) anyways, the inside tire when turning doesn't turn as far as the outside and you end up loosing steering radius in the process. You could have made your links longer to counter the toe in you're describing but you're giving up turning radius for "looks"
I would look at getting a panhard kit and a Vanquish tie rod because their tie rod you can adjust the rod ends so it runs high on the axle and out of the way.
Cheers

I swapped the front links back to the conventional setup. As you say, the steering was less, and it just wanted to toe in. I have a VP panhard kit I need to install. I have been delaying this, as I prefer the look without it.

I was expecting the inner fenders to look more prominent than they do, but I am pretty happy with the outcome. I still want to get a set of 3D printed fenders that a member on here makes. They look so nice. I just don't think I could use his rears, as I needed to cut a lot of material to make these work, and his are much thicker.

Still have lots of ideas and details I want to add, but here is how she sits now.

 

[Lavigna]

I finally added the panhard kit. I didn't really want to put this on, as I didn't like the look of the black clamp on the silver axles. VP doesn't offer this in silver. I decided to strip the anodizing on the clamp piece. The silver is not a perfect match to the axles, but it is pretty close. I think this looks much better than leaving the clamp black.

The panhard link and steering link are not totally parallel, but close enough I hope. Any suggestions on tires for this rig?

 

[mikl]

Very good looking rig! Really like it. I have always been partial to the Ottsix Voodoo tires. I have them on my Wraith and they work well for a trail truck that I also do light crawling with. I have also been digging the Proline Hyrax tires. I think both have a great look to them and the Hyrax have been getting good reviews. Whatever you choose, let us know and also the tires foams. I have CI single stage foams and want to make them softer with some Dual stage and am having trouble deciding what ones.

 

[mooman]

I am a huge fan of the HPI rock grabbers because of how soft they are to grip any rocks and the V-shaped design makes them alot better in mud than you would expect. They have a bit more roll in fast corners than i would like but thats also just foams. MY only real complaint is how they preform in the snow. They just dig and dig and dig. But i love them anywhere else and would deffinitly recomment them for those wheels. It would look amazing