50 shades of green ~ AX10 Restomod

[Takumi_slayer]

Picked up this mostly original Ax10 RTR off of Evilbay in January

Been stocking up on NOS and used parts and recently started the refurbishment and upgrades on it

Here she is as purchased

The goal is to modify it to be a green version of how the ARTR kit came out in 08 or 09, plus/minus a few changes of my own

 

[Takumi_slayer]

Disassembly time

The truck was actually purchased as a roller, but the original 55t motor was still in it, from what i can tell this truck has very little use

I had actually tossed some old electronics in it to go run it through a battery pack for the giggles, an AE5 and a tactic servo of some type, 125oz in. kinda fella

Heres a pic of it on the rocks, i ran my old ax10 body and some RTR lizards to really sell the awfulness

Alright, back to work. Gearbox removed and in quite nice shape, but I'm gonna be changing out those grub screw style outdrives eventually

Down to a slider with no gearbox, dirty mike poking his head in for inspection of the build

Two of the shocks are leaking decently bad, i havent found a seal kit so I'm not sure how to approach that yet. I noticed one of the springs was blue band and the other 3 are red (stock) .. someones attempt at controlling torque twist would be my guess

Fully disassembled the rest but didnt snag a pic, ready for the axle build now

 

[Doom!]

Good thing Dirty Mike is there to keep you honest!

 

[Takumi_slayer]

Good thing Dirty Mike is there to keep you honest!

Dirty mike is a unit, keeps the NOS parts safe from intruders

 

[Doom!]

Dirty Mike knows a good thing when he see's it. Good to have back up on a build.

 

[Takumi_slayer]

Front diff was clean and well greased, nice to see

However the two main carrier bearings were slightly scratchy feeling, so out with the old (left) in with the new (right)

Original housings cleaned up decently. Snagged some used aluminum c-hubs and knuckles from my stash for a little upgrade

These didnt have any kingpin bushings with them, so a new set of vanquish ones go in

Planned to counter sink the screws so I was curious how much knuckle travel that was worth, very common "free" or cheap mod in the day to gain some extra steering

Looks like it will be about 2mm

Oh yeah.. grease shot

Heres the knuckle freshly counter sunk

And installed. A keen eye will notice the scx10 style 4 link mount was added too

Gave these servo mounts a quick pre tap

S664 servo, takeoff from a stock coyote. Plenty for this trucks need with a 7.4v BEC. (200 some odd oz.in?) .. I removed the orange decals so it wouldnt clash with the theme of the truck

Onto that lovely OG green

And a complete front axle

The rear was basically the same process, with one major difference being it got an Axial hardened 43/13 underdrive gear. (I dont think I mentioned i added a through pin style pinion shaft to the front axle) it also got the scx10 4 link mount and some countersunk stainless screws to match the look

And there we are, two refreshed axles awaiting their chassis

 

[Lukedavis]

Lookin good!!!

 

[Takumi_slayer]

As is usual.. I'm a terrible documentarion

got to building and didnt take many pictures

Heres where the 50 shades of green is really starting to come into play, look at those shades, haha

Since i DIDNT take pictures, let me lay out what were lookin at here

Trying to emulte an ARTR 09 version ax10 but in green, so its rocking axial 98mm front straight links and 101mm 30° rears. For uppers, since it has the scx10 style 4 link trusses, i had to go with 65mm uppers vs the standard 55mm. Unseen here, the skid has been given my "TIE fighter" mod to inboard the links

Heres a better look at the modified skid, also, assembled the battery tray and green 55mm stand-offs

From here unfortunately your going to just see it as an assembled slider

I re-used the original gearbox, pulled apart to clean and grease, but mostly went in there to replace the main gear and out drives with an RRP hardened main output gear, which allows me to use through pin style modern driveshafts

Speaking of driveshafts, it got a used set of face lifted scx10.1 driveshafts, i believe these were the dawn of WildBoars (2014 ish?)

I had a fusion 1200 that came out of a project i built, never used, and parted out lol So that went in with the original 14t pinion, turned the BEC up to 7.4v to give that spektrum servo its best life.

I ended up playing with rod ends on the rear uppers, used the longer m3 rc4wd curvies to give it more length and kick that driveshaft up in line with the lower links

And heres some shots of the slider in her semi-situated glory

 

[dustyroller]

Nice find and work. Wish the prices were not going up on OG kits and such.

 

[Takumi_slayer]

Nice find and work. Wish the prices were not going up on OG kits and such.

Thanks!

Man i agree, i havent had alot of luck finding used kits in Canada, so shipping has really driven up the price for me.

I love these old trucks though, so I'm always on the hunt for more

 

[Takumi_slayer]

Alright, body time. Heres just a reminder of how rough the OG body was. It had the foldable sides cut off, a very poor cutjob on the front flares and the hood scoop was also cut out poorly

I managed to track down a new/used take-off body

Not perfect, has a crease above the natural fold line on the drivers side, but its really clean for 17 years old

And as usual, comp cut. I've always thought these looked great without the flares, they get in the way when flexed and turning anyway

Wheels! These are the same 2.2 -10 beadlocks i did on the my other Ax10, i just opted for the all silver version to add some pop

Ideally, i would have sourced some oe plastic beadlocks, i do have a few sets, but unfortunately i havent been able to locate a set of the OE beadlock rings in green

I also sourced some Pro-line Hammers used, but in good shape, which is the correct OE tire for this truck

 

[Takumi_slayer]

And heres the final 360° reveal

For anyone interested heres a short video breakdown on the build as well

 

[Takumi_slayer]

Treated my boy to some period correct RC4wd X-locks

 

[CertifiedMike]

Treated my boy to some period correct RC4wd X-locks

View attachment 277102

It looks GREAT!!! Looks like it needs a surf board mounted on the roof for some reason. Ready to party!!! Lol!

I really like that tire and wheel combo!
The green highlights too. Tasteful, not overdone.

Beautiful restification!

 

[Takumi_slayer]

It looks GREAT!!! Looks like it needs a surf board mounted on the roof for some reason. Ready to party!!! Lol!

I really like that tire and wheel combo!
The green highlights too. Tasteful, not overdone.

Beautiful restification!

Thanks man! I'm loving how it turned out

 

[Doom!]

Thanks man! I'm loving how it turned out

Me too, I had never actually seen one, until I saw your posts. Really is a great looking rig, and a great restoration.

 

[Takumi_slayer]

Me too, I had never actually seen one, until I saw your posts. Really is a great looking rig, and a great restoration.

Glad i could share them with you, they really are responsible for the crawler craze we have now

 

[RudyF6]

I had my SCX24 Deadbolt for a couple years before I started wanting the SCX10. I've had my AX24 for a couple years and now you have me wanting the AX10!
Nice rig!

 

[Takumi_slayer]

I had my SCX24 Deadbolt for a couple years before I started wanting the SCX10. I've had my AX24 for a couple years and now you have me wanting the AX10!
Nice rig!

Do it! Their quirky character makes them a ton of fun, and some mild setup makes them quite capable

Heres two more for inspiration