Resurrecting a classic wraith

[Jfrisch1]

It feels weird to say that because when I got into actually crawling, it was over saturated with wraiths. Not that there was anything wrong with that but where are they now?!

I’ve had plenty of them but have none left, unfortunately sold them off or parted them out. One all vanquish and supershafty, the worx. Miss that one.

Enough sap. After looking for a long time I snagged up the one I’ve been looking for.

A blue poison spyder!



Bought it off another member. Already had plans for it as soon as I saw it and purchased it. I honestly should have started with just a blue panel set and complete cage because I already had the skid, ar60 axles and a 2 speed trans (it’s Amazon but I had it on another scx10 platform. Works well for the price!

Stripped it down to parts I don’t need for this and parts I do need.

Parts not needed:


Fast backed cage and partial panel set



Rc4wd locking diff axles (going to a buddy for a trade on some pitbull 2.2s)



Chinese kings, Chinese shafts and a stripped trans. Opened it up to two stripped gears, glad I had an extra. I’ll rebuild that one in the future. I have 3 ax10s in the house that can use it and maybe I’ll add dig to one of the others.

 

[Jfrisch1]

Parts I’m gonna reuse for this:



Decent interior, has one crack but I can fix that and it’ll be hidden. One seat and rx box. I’ll have to source another seat for the passenger side.

I’ve also been holding onto a set of ar60 axles for over 4 years. It has a couple decent bits but they’ll probably be removed to be rebuilt with quality stuffs, ie- vanquish





Plans for this will include trying to keep the exterior “factory” with some healthy internals. Most likely won’t use it much but when I do I want it to be tough.

I’ll also throw in:

-Fusion pro system
-Nsdrc front servo
-rear steer with nsdrc rear servo
-micro nsdrc servo
-2.2 pitbull rockbeasts


I did find a mint blue panel set and complete cage for a good deal, that’s on the way. Have a couple bits coming too.

I’ve looked forward to this build for a long time. Surprises me how expensive these things have gotten over the years. Panel set and complete cage cost me $50 + shipping. I see them on eBay and a chop shop for $200!

I’ll do some trading to get things as my overflow of rc junk is piling up lol

 

[HumboldtEF]

Nice! I've got a soft spot for 2.2 Wraiths, it was my first real crawler if I ignore my CC01 lol. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

 

[Jfrisch1]

Nice! I've got a soft spot for 2.2 Wraiths, it was my first real crawler if I ignore my CC01 lol. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

Wraiths are one of my first crawlers as well. Had a monster energy wrap (lol now) and that thing just walked everything. Almost made it not fun to trail with lol.

Yeah, it’s gonna be fun. Been wanting to do this for a while but never had enough energy to source the stuff to make it og again

 

[Gula]

Nice, and looking forward to what you have in store for us. I wish I still had my interior. I did a "tummy tuck" and don't recall what happened to it afterwards.

 

[Jfrisch1]

The wraiths tires were delivered by a buddy today. Don’t think I’ll keep these cheap wheels but it’ll make the rig a roller. Love me a set of rock beasts.

These add to the nostalgia of this wraith build as this set of tires were had at a G6 in 2016. The ol Parker toss up. My brother in law got them, had them for years and his buddy had them for a few years as well. Now, they are back in my lap and going on the rig!

 

[bgredjeep]

Ive considered doing a fastback on mine, but like you mentioned, an uncut cage is hard to find these days if I ever wanted to undo that. I just want to show off the bed I made a while back. Lol

 

[Jfrisch1]

Complete cage and panel set arrived! Pretty clean considering its age. Few scratches here and there but a good cage to build off of!

Also got the spawn body in the deal, so that’s a plus.

 

[grob23]

When I was building a wraith a couple years ago, I too had to have and uncut chassis! There's something great about a full roof panel...

 

[twade984]

I got into the hobby at the tail end of of wraiths popularity I think. The spawn rtr was still available but I never got into the ar60 rigs myself. I always did like the looks of them though

Thanks for sharing the build, I look forward to seeing more

 

[Ragenwraith]

I seen my first OG Wraith at the Parker 425 off road race back in 2010. one of the vendors had it in their booth on contingency row. I found mine at Scottsdale Hobby Store in 2011. Someone had ordered it but never picked it up. It's the kit version. To this day it's my go to crawler. I put in a Hobbywing Just Stock brushless motor and run 2s 5000k batteries. I have Gumby as a driver and Mr. Bean co-dog. I gets lots of attention when I take it to the local G6 runs.

 

[Jfrisch1]

Making progress with the rebuild. Missing a few things, front truss and rear link mounts. I need another pair of factory wraith shocks.

Doesn’t have rear shocks on right now, the squatted truck is not staying lol

Everything is gonna get fitted and then removed for a deep cleaning. These shocks have years and years of buildup on them.

Dig trans is in but I need to put the interior in to trim that as needed. Gonna try to shim it up so I don’t have to cut but we’ll see.

Decided to keep the rear tray that was on the other cage, likely stick some scale stuff in there. I also need to source some original wraith light buckets. I think they had two light buckets on the bumper and two red reverse lights.

 

[Jfrisch1]

When I was building a wraith a couple years ago, I too had to have and uncut chassis! There's something great about a full roof panel...

Absolutely! I don’t mind them but they look better imo when complete.

 

[Jfrisch1]

Did I mention I can’t follow any kind of plan?

Well now it’s on Capra aluminum axles, vanquish 600 slw hubs. Put the hobbywing ezrun system in it as well, but it is a 4000kv and not sensored. So that’s just temporary. This thing deserves that smooth low speed torque that is best had with a fusion system.

Did toss on a savox 1268 black edition I had laying around, and I cannot stand savox servos. They are so loud, now I remember why I take them off and put something else on.

Little test n tune on the backyard course that needs some manscaping around the rocks…



Still lots to do with it but I just wanted to see how it ran.

-Need to change pinion to a 16-17 right now it’s a 10
-needs a stronger dig servo bracket and tune the remote for that
-interior fit and trim
-still plan on doing rear steer


Haven’t given up on ar60 axles I just need to order a bunch of parts. Most places don’t have two sets of blue vanquish knuckles and c hubs.

 

[MAC FAB]

Nice. One of these days I’ll pick up a Wraith, loving your rig with those axles.

 

[Jfrisch1]

Went to a local swap meet and ended up with a TON of scaler fab bumpers, sliders, etc. along with vanquish and incision stuff (guy bought out a hobby shop) so I decided to toss the scaler fab front and rear bumpers and sliders on the wraith. Looks pretty good, however, that front bumper just doesn’t do it for me. It needs light hoops or something…





also, worked up a deal for my son to trade his ascent as a roller for a wraith as well. Ended up pretty good in the trade with the upgrades already on it and he kept his fusion system, that is now in the wraith.

He does have a stinger style scaler fab bumper that he took off for some reason lol

 

[Gula]

Share what you got, we want to see the spoils too!

 

[Jfrisch1]

Share what you got, we want to see the spoils too!

I can do that! Also have another $500 box to pickup I got for buying these parts (made a deal for 3 raffle tickets for the box) left the swap and got a message I won it lol. I’ll get that in a few weeks at another swap meet.

 

[Gula]

That's awesome sauce and a nice stash! Can't wait to see the other box then.

 

[smog]

This is great, the Wraith might be my favorite of the 2.2 Axial rigs. As awesome as the Bomber was, the Wraith always seemed like the beastly brother. A fusion pro will be fun in there, good choice.
Now I feel like blowing the dust off of mine. There is no doubt I could improve it's performance a bunch