1/10 ECX Ruckus 4x4 Build

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Haven't updated this in a bit. We have been mostly concentrating on James 2WD car. The 4WD is under a major renovation. Most of the major architecture has been laid out to move forward, we need to pick and mount batteries and finalize the steering servo mount in order to continue moving forward. Realistically, with the weather we have here in NJ it's likely going to make its first test hits in spring with a goal of 75mph on 6S.

I did end up replacing the blown capacitor with some help from my brother who is a robotic engineer and is generally much more knowledgeable about how electronics works and how to service them (my background is all electrical). Long story short, the exact replacements for these were 2 months away in China so we found a Panasonic capacitor of the same capacitance, voltage, and diameter. It's a little longer. Very, very carefully removed the epoxy that holds it in, broke the old one free from the board, soldered in a new one, and poured new epoxy. I had to dremel away part of the outer housing to get enough room to get even my smallest pencil tip in on my Hakko.

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I don't have a vehicle currently capable of throwing this and the motor in to see if it works. I bench tested it with a motor, and it seems fine via the DVOM. I really didn't notice any problems running on 2/3 capacitors, they are really there to just stabilize the voltage going into the board it doesn't "boost" performance in any way.
 
Haven't updated this in a bit. We have been mostly concentrating on James 2WD car. The 4WD is under a major renovation. Most of the major architecture has been laid out to move forward, we need to pick and mount batteries and finalize the steering servo mount in order to continue moving forward. Realistically, with the weather we have here in NJ it's likely going to make its first test hits in spring with a goal of 75mph on 6S.

I did end up replacing the blown capacitor with some help from my brother who is a robotic engineer and is generally much more knowledgeable about how electronics works and how to service them (my background is all electrical). Long story short, the exact replacements for these were 2 months away in China so we found a Panasonic capacitor of the same capacitance, voltage, and diameter. It's a little longer. Very, very carefully removed the epoxy that holds it in, broke the old one free from the board, soldered in a new one, and poured new epoxy. I had to dremel away part of the outer housing to get enough room to get even my smallest pencil tip in on my Hakko.

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I don't have a vehicle currently capable of throwing this and the motor in to see if it works. I bench tested it with a motor, and it seems fine via the DVOM. I really didn't notice any problems running on 2/3 capacitors, they are really there to just stabilize the voltage going into the board it doesn't "boost" performance in any way.
Awesome! Nothing like resurrecting a piece of electronics :)
 
nice build man! I'm gonna build something like this soon

Spent the remainder of the season on James 2wd off road speed car and it’s undergone a huge amount of changes. His twin brothers are limiting our time and money to run two cars. I’ve mostly got mine mocked up and doing little things like side skirts and servo mount.

James went 50mph GPS on 4S and one motor, becoming the fastest known off road 2wd RC (any scale, any surface, any powertrain). We are still shaking down the two motor setup, and the window for speed running for the year appears closed weather wise. It’s becoming apparent that his has also reached the point mine did of needing a chassis designed from the ground up.


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Hot dog! Really great seeing and reading about your progress.

Following your lead on this thread am converting both my MT10 4WD and Rustler 2WD as dual-sport on road speed runners and off-road grass runners.

Thanks for all the build tips you have here. I'll keep checking back. Cheers. 'AC'
 
Hot dog! Really great seeing and reading about your progress.

Following your lead on this thread am converting both my MT10 4WD and Rustler 2WD as dual-sport on road speed runners and off-road grass runners.

Thanks for all the build tips you have here. I'll keep checking back. Cheers. 'AC'
real quick what does it mean when you say Cheers. 'AC'?
Spent the remainder of the season on James 2wd off road speed car and it’s undergone a huge amount of changes. His twin brothers are limiting our time and money to run two cars. I’ve mostly got mine mocked up and doing little things like side skirts and servo mount.

James went 50mph GPS on 4S and one motor, becoming the fastest known off road 2wd RC (any scale, any surface, any powertrain). We are still shaking down the two motor setup, and the window for speed running for the year appears closed weather wise. It’s becoming apparent that his has also reached the point mine did of needing a chassis designed from the ground up.


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i wanna see under the hood of that thing.
 
real quick what does it mean when you say Cheers. 'AC'?

i wanna see under the hood of that thing.

Each 3674 is fed by its own Max10 SCT and 4S 100c. Power is sent through a SSD Wraith transmission with Robinson Racing guts, a custom RR gen 3 mod 1 clutch, and finally MIP X-duty axles. Arrma 6S shocks, custom springs and valving, belted Proline Badlands. Most of the rest of it is just standard aftermarket ECX Ruckus parts.

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Tranny gears and mounting plate look bulletproof. Interesting adaptation. Doing additional duties as wing mount and vertical stabilizer too. Nice.

Real quick, Luke. "Cheers" is a way of ending a conversation with an air of levity. Similar to using 'Best Wishes.' Brits use the term a lot-think I picked up the habit from various UK forums. 'AC'
 
Tranny gears and mounting plate look bulletproof. Interesting adaptation. Doing additional duties as wing mount and vertical stabilizer too. Nice.

Real quick, Luke. "Cheers" is a way of ending a conversation with an air of levity. Similar to using 'Best Wishes.' Brits use the term a lot-think I picked up the habit from various UK forums. 'AC'
i meant what does 'AC' mean?
 
Tranny gears and mounting plate look bulletproof. Interesting adaptation. Doing additional duties as wing mount and vertical stabilizer too. Nice.

Real quick, Luke. "Cheers" is a way of ending a conversation with an air of levity. Similar to using 'Best Wishes.' Brits use the term a lot-think I picked up the habit from various UK forums. 'AC'

yup. since it was originally using a ax10 style transmission we had some generic ax10 dual motor plate on it and then had to fab up our own mount to the rear shock tower. it was just a flat plate of aluminum and it would literally bend every single time one of the motors took the slightest impact. this is 1/8 plate steel and we built it out three dimensionally in the same manner you'd gusset something. it includes its own mount to the rear shock tower, the rear lower 6 motor/bumper mounts, and sort of surrounds as much of the motors as we could. as you pointed out the wheelie bar and the wing mount off of this new platform. The penalty is weight. The second motor alone almost doubled the motor/trans/mount assembly (with the aluminum plate) and all this weight is in the worst possible location...behind the rear axle. We are running almost a pound and a half of tungsten ballast in the nose (even before the dual motors as antiwheelie). This is where a custom chassis really starts to shine...we can ditch a lot of that excess weight by moving components around and making the weight we are required to have (like two batteries, two ESC, two motor, etc) work for us a lot better instead of work against us. This thing has enough power and gear in it to do a lot lot lot more, it's just a matter of effectively getting it to the ground.

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that is fricken awesome!
yup. since it was originally using a ax10 style transmission we had some generic ax10 dual motor plate on it and then had to fab up our own mount to the rear shock tower. it was just a flat plate of aluminum and it would literally bend every single time one of the motors took the slightest impact. this is 1/8 plate steel and we built it out three dimensionally in the same manner you'd gusset something. it includes its own mount to the rear shock tower, the rear lower 6 motor/bumper mounts, and sort of surrounds as much of the motors as we could. as you pointed out the wheelie bar and the wing mount off of this new platform. The penalty is weight. The second motor alone almost doubled the motor/trans/mount assembly (with the aluminum plate) and all this weight is in the worst possible location...behind the rear axle. We are running almost a pound and a half of tungsten ballast in the nose (even before the dual motors as antiwheelie). This is where a custom chassis really starts to shine...we can ditch a lot of that excess weight by moving components around and making the weight we are required to have (like two batteries, two ESC, two motor, etc) work for us a lot better instead of work against us. This thing has enough power and gear in it to do a lot lot lot more, it's just a matter of effectively getting it to the ground.

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where are you located?
 
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Sorry guys, since I’m a member I can’t see that. Lame, it’s a sister forum in the same network. I’ll try to move them over with posts starting tonight and then go back through

The YouTube videos show/link ok?
YOU WILL NOT BELIEVE WHAT I JUST FOUND!!!!!!!!
https://www.lprcs.com/cars-trucks/parts/replacement-parts/ecx/1-10-ruckus-4wd
CLICK THE LINK AND YOU WILL BE SO HAPPY
yup. since it was originally using a ax10 style transmission we had some generic ax10 dual motor plate on it and then had to fab up our own mount to the rear shock tower. it was just a flat plate of aluminum and it would literally bend every single time one of the motors took the slightest impact. this is 1/8 plate steel and we built it out three dimensionally in the same manner you'd gusset something. it includes its own mount to the rear shock tower, the rear lower 6 motor/bumper mounts, and sort of surrounds as much of the motors as we could. as you pointed out the wheelie bar and the wing mount off of this new platform. The penalty is weight. The second motor alone almost doubled the motor/trans/mount assembly (with the aluminum plate) and all this weight is in the worst possible location...behind the rear axle. We are running almost a pound and a half of tungsten ballast in the nose (even before the dual motors as antiwheelie). This is where a custom chassis really starts to shine...we can ditch a lot of that excess weight by moving components around and making the weight we are required to have (like two batteries, two ESC, two motor, etc) work for us a lot better instead of work against us. This thing has enough power and gear in it to do a lot lot lot more, it's just a matter of effectively getting it to the ground.

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could you help me build the exact same car as yours? the 4x4 one that is?
 
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YOU WILL NOT BELIEVE WHAT I JUST FOUND!!!!!!!!
https://www.lprcs.com/cars-trucks/parts/replacement-parts/ecx/1-10-ruckus-4wd
CLICK THE LINK AND YOU WILL BE SO HAPPY

could you help me build the exact same car as yours? the 4x4 one that is?

I’m in NJ I didn’t see your previous question. Which version do you mean the original one that was mostly stock/stock replacement stuff on 2S/3S? Yes that wouldn’t be impossible to duplicate.

The second version using the stock chassis pan towards the end of this thread is completely custom. I think I still have that pan, but it would require a lot lot lot of custom work on your end. Being that most of the parts on that one are not ECX, you’d need to prepare yourself to spend some coin.

The newest version I haven’t really put into the thread yet because it’s not done but it starts with a cnc drilled aluminum pan, so that might actually be easier to duplicate as I could just have a second made. I don’t think you’re going to want to spend the kind of money that’s in this thing though. Not to mention it’s completely untested.
 
I’m in NJ I didn’t see your previous question. Which version do you mean the original one that was mostly stock/stock replacement stuff on 2S/3S? Yes that wouldn’t be impossible to duplicate.

The second version using the stock chassis pan towards the end of this thread is completely custom. I think I still have that pan, but it would require a lot lot lot of custom work on your end. Being that most of the parts on that one are not ECX, you’d need to prepare yourself to spend some coin.

The newest version I haven’t really put into the thread yet because it’s not done but it starts with a cnc drilled aluminum pan, so that might actually be easier to duplicate as I could just have a second made. I don’t think you’re going to want to spend the kind of money that’s in this thing though. Not to mention it’s completely untested.
okay, thanks for the reply. did you see the link that I posted? it takes you to a website that has some ECX ruckus 1/10 4x4 stuff for sale. i thought that you might like it.
 
okay, thanks for the reply. did you see the link that I posted? it takes you to a website that has some ECX ruckus 1/10 4x4 stuff for sale. i thought that you might like it.

I did. Mine doesn’t use stock or stock style replacement parts anymore, but it’s good to see the link posted to maybe help someone else. There was a company over in Australia that I found sitting on a bunch of parts, but they were unwilling to ship to the US. I offered to buy out their entire inventory
 
I did. Mine doesn’t use stock or stock style replacement parts anymore, but it’s good to see the link posted to maybe help someone else. There was a company over in Australia that I found sitting on a bunch of parts, but they were unwilling to ship to the US. I offered to buy out their entire inventory
Damn, that's a commitment.
 
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