Harley's Little Jimmy - Wraith

[Harley0706]

I received a RTR Wraith from Axial as a part of being a Media Partner with them. It has been a long road of upgrades I have done to the truck. Most parts have been upgraded at least once, even parts of the plastic chassis were replaced with TIG welded aluminum parts.

Well I finally decided I was ready to move on and replace the stock style chassis for something that I could choose the style of. I'm really surprised I didn't do it sooner being that I have a strong distaste for the full size rig it was modeled after.

Here are some pics from along the road to where we are now.

[Harley0706]

So now, skipping ahead to the decision to build the new chassis. Typically I prefer the Campbell and TC style rigs, straight and strong. However I have recently begun to really like several of the Jimmy's 4x4 chassis builds.

I searched out every Jimmy's chassis build I could find. Saved a ton of the pictures and started picking out things that I wanted. Now I wish I could tell you which rigs I picked all these off of... but I can't. I know the Bent and Twisted build was a lot of what I looked at, but the pics are from others. I think it was Ashman's who I pulled the a lot of small details from.

[Harley0706]

That is a small sample of the images I used to drive the build in the direction I wanted to move. For the most part the only thing about this truck that will still be from my original Wraith will be the skid plate and possibly a piece or two from the transmission. By the end almost everything else will be new.

All the stuff can be detailed later. On to the construction of the chassis. The DMG is well known in the crawling world for building killer scale chassis's. He is local to me here in KC and a friend of mine. So I always go to him for things of this nature.

Here is the start:

[Harley0706]

A little more progress:

Front bumper



4s Lipo pack up front






More on the speaker later

[Harley0706]

Finally getting the shape more dialed in.


This hood is a temp, the final one will be custom for the chassis.

[Harley0706]

The shape locked in and rear sub-frame done.

[Harley0706]

One of my sponsors is Vanquish Products. They machine with such high detail I think it would impress any of you guys.

Well I wanted something a little different then what was available. As you guys know, an offset rear center section is not standard in a front engine buggy. However the Wraith doesn't have a centered rear, so I had to make one out of two billet pieces from VP.

Narrowing the VP Housings





Here was the start




Gotta start somewhere.... this hurt!

[Harley0706]

Faced the housing for a true surface




Did the same thing on the pieces we cut off and the other side of the housing.







If you were curious, you aren't going to bend these housings!



All the housing work is done.

[Harley0706]

Next up was to make sleeves to reassemble the housing.




These two tubes are 1.5" long. We made 4 of them, two are for me to mock up the axles and be able to disassemble them and the other two are made for a press fit once the axles are anodized. Since these are steel you can't put them in and then anodize them. I didn't take a picture but these are also notched for the link bolts to go through.



Centered.



Here is a shot to show the new axle next to a stock housing.




Here is how it all goes together. These are just the mock-up sleeves.

[Harley0706]

Difference in the distance between the link mounts. 116.55-98.2=18.35mm (~3/4")

[DRIVNMF]

Oh MY! Harley is doin' work and I won't lie, cutting that housing made me cringe like a mule just kicked me in the balls.

Great build and I like it!

Is it a driver or shelf queen?

[Harley0706]

Originally Posted by DRIVNMF

Oh MY! Harley is doin' work and I won't lie, cutting that housing made me cringe like a mule just kicked me in the balls.

Great build and I like it!

Is it a driver or shelf queen?

It'll be a runner, 4s and a big power brushless motor system. It's still going to get a bunch of scale extras but it should be able to tumble down a hill without acting like a I just dropped my iPhone on the concrete

[DRIVNMF]

Originally Posted by Harley0706

It'll be a runner, 4s and a big power brushless motor system. It's still going to get a bunch of scale extras but it should be able to tumble down a hill without acting like a I just dropped my iPhone on the concrete

I figured as much, but I've gotta bust your balls until you G-Rate it in a G6!

Keep the pics coming, Harley, the cage work is SICK!

[frdtrkguy]

It would have been so easy for Axial to make the rear centered to begin with. The build is looking awesome

x2 on the axle cut nut kick cringe!!!

BTW, why did you make it narrower than stock?

[Harley0706]

Originally Posted by DRIVNMF

I figured as much, but I've gotta bust your balls until you G-Rate it in a G6!

Keep the pics coming, Harley, the cage work is SICK!

I plan on it, Axialfest. I've actually got something else with an Axialfest deadline as well!

[Harley0706]

Originally Posted by frdtrkguy

It would have been so easy for Axial to make the rear centered to begin with. The build is looking awesome

x2 on the axle cut nut kick cringe!!!

BTW, why did you make it narrower than stock?

It's narrower because I built it around Axial XR10 universal shafts. I didn't want to mess with custom length shafts so this seemed like a good option. I'll be able to easily make up for it with VP offsets.

[DRIVNMF]

Originally Posted by Harley0706

I plan on it, Axialfest. I've actually got something else with an Axialfest deadline as well!

Uh-OH, I might be a little scurrrred to know what's behind that curtain!

[KDRproductions]

I LYKE.....

[Harley0706]

Originally Posted by DRIVNMF

Uh-OH, I might be a little scurrrred to know what's behind that curtain!

It's for one of our favorite guys over at VP so he can join the fun.

Originally Posted by KDRproductions

I LYKE.....

[crwln93]

Killer build thread! Will it be done in time for KOH??

[Harley0706]

Originally Posted by crwln93

Killer build thread! Will it be done in time for KOH??

Thanks man, it's going to be down to the wire Lets just hope my custom Poison Spyder boat cable super secret steering passes tech...

[cody knoll]

you know speeking of KOH ive always wanted to do a G6 type event during the week of. with the course going up one of the trails, to bad my dad never liked rc carsXD

[Harley0706]

Originally Posted by cody knoll

you know speeking of KOH ive always wanted to do a G6 type event during the week of. with the course going up one of the trails, to bad my dad never liked rc carsXD

I know what you mean, it would be quite the venue to hold that type of event. I still hope to make it to the Hammers, but it isn't going to be this year

[Harley0706]

Bolted together the rear axle with parts I had laying around. I'll get this over to the DMG soon!

[Harley0706]

Another chassis update from the DMG.

Plate steel boat sides added




Full inner fender wells





Dash top since the A-pillar slants so much more than the stock Wraith chassis.





The current stance is looking amazing. This isn't the hood that will go on this rig in the end. I'll have a whole write up on that process.