Aww shoot, here we go again... new crawler build starting soon.

[ABabyEater]

It is time:

Opened and splayed out.

Bag A: Front axle

That's a bunch of small parts. Interesting to note the 3 different types of bearings: rubber shielded, metal shielded, and unshielded.

Front spool assembled.

Front spool carrier. It is pretty near to me that the spool sits in a carrier and is subsequently mounted to the housing cover rather than simply sitting in the axle housing.

Aaaand front housing completed.

Steering hubs and portals assembled.

Front axle fully assembled.

To be continued...
... right now!

Bag B: Rear Axle

This assembly was largely the same as the front axle, so I won't really go over it. Both axles included a couple of shims for the input gear on each, but they really didn't need any swimming, so I held onto them for later, just in case.

Moving on to Bag C: Chassis.

Steering servo installed (Holmes SHV500).

Rear fuel cell/receiver box assembled as well, although I don't think I'll be using the rear box at all. The electronics just don't quite line up how I'd like routing the receiver all the way in the rear.

And the basic chassis assembly! The nose and tail are both a little pinched, so affixing the center components from one side to the other is actually important to ensure the proper flex in the chassis rails.

On to Bag D: Transmission.

Mounting up the motor plate and slipper assembly.

And mounting the motor.

I am a little concerned with how the motor leads ended up facing, and may have to pull and reorient the motor to avoid the front driveshaft. Getting the orientation right is always tricky on the first install of a new kit.

With the scale transmission housing going together, installing the first few gear comes next.

And more gears!

Here is the transmission all closed up:

And the dig lever installed.

As well as overdrive.

And the transmission mounted to the chassis.

Here is where the option and spare parts really started to appear. This is from the transmission bag alone.

Moving on the the shocks in Bag E:

These tiny e-clips are a pain in the butt...

All four shocks built.

...

Unloaded length comparison. The desert lizards don't quite compress as far, but they do articulate quite a bit more than stock. Depending on how they do, I may get a set of 80mm shocks instead of the 90mm ones I did pick get.

 

[ABabyEater]

Bag F: Driveshafts.

Again, this one included a bunch of spare bits, for different length driveshafts. Otherwise this bag was really easy.

You can almost see where the motor wires may interfere with the front driveshaft in this picture. Rotating the motor 90° should work to rectify the issue, but if it ends up being routed higher on the same side, or down low but on the passenger side, will come down to the spacing of the motor underneath the transmission.

On to Bag G: Links.

I had to give my wrist a short break after threading on all the link ends. This Vanquish plastic is quite tough.

Front links installed on the chassis.

Front axle prepped.

Front axle mounted.

The top hole for the shocks was a little weird to deal with. Since the upper shock housing is a single piece of aluminum, and the ball hole is a smidge smaller than the Vanquish balls, I had to use the ones that came with the Desert Lizards. Unfortunately, they come with standoffs on only one side, so I had to use a washer to bridge the gap they left in the mount. Each one could probably do with a second washer, but even with just the one, they seem to work fairly well with articulation.

Same process to mount the rear axle: Chassis prep, Axle prep, mount.

Bag G: Chassis finish.

Front and rear bumpers mounted up nice and easy.

As did the sliders.

And the inner fenders.

Notice the hole on top the fenders. It looks like the rock lights are the same pattern as TRX rock lights. Unfortunately, the kit I have does not mount the same way. Once the body is complete, I can check spacing and possibly dremel the hole a little larger to accommodate shoe-goo'ing my rock light housings.

The radiator was super easy to mount as well, and even includes tiny scale fans and fan shrouds on the engine side!

The micro servos, however, we're kind of a pain to figure out, and I am still not quite sure if they are going to work. I discovered that standard size servo horns do not fit on micro servos, and I cannot find an adapter to run the proper 24mm horns for the shift linkages. However, I was able to get near to the same connection point with the included aluminum micro horns. Once I get everything wired in, I'll be able to check and see if they are close enough to work.

Additionally, I may end up snagging a tray for mini batteries instead of the big one that comes with the kit, but once again, we will see once I get all the electronics installed how they fit.

 

[WickedFog]

Looking great so far man! You need a link twister. These are what I made to assemble the links on our Ryft. They went together like a breeze, and I didn't even have to use a pin in the link hole to spin the ends on.

 

[Tunedfrog]

Awesome looking kit. Vanquish has some really nice high-quality stuff but their kits are out of my range as far as price. Someday maybe.

 

[ABabyEater]

Awesome looking kit. Vanquish has some really nice high-quality stuff but their kits are out of my range as far as price. Someday maybe.

Their plastic is way higher quality than on the TRX4, that's for sure. Cleaning up sprue and cut marks as I go, I can feel the glass fiber reinforcing in the nylon, whereas in the Traxxas kit I built, I couldn't feel it at all. Curiously, it is very similar the Vaterra plastic I have been working with, in terms of quality.

 

[Doom!]

Awesomeness! Nice thorough build. Looks great! Looking forward to seeing the rest.

 

[ABabyEater]

Looking forward to seeing the rest.

Me too! I'm thinking about commissioning a trade for painting the body and interior to a good friend of mine who is really good at detailing.

 

[Doom!]

Sounds like a plan!

 

[ABabyEater]

More progress! May be final update for a bit...

Some wire control. Not nearly as clean as I typically like, but there are a TON of wires going a whole bunch of different places.

Swapped the stock shocks back on, minus springs, collars, and perches. The Desert Lizards were unfortunately just too long.

And swapped tires back onto the stock wheels. The RC4WD stamped steelies suck. Not only did they not fit the axle hole, but they also didn't fit over the portal covers, and just mounting them to the truck, the bead came unseated. Yes, there were installed properly, they just aren't good.

 

[Doom!]

She looks great, sorry about the wheels and shocks. sometimes things just bite you in the ass. At least the shocks are still usable.

 

[ABabyEater]

Took the Phoenix out today and yesterday, with mixed results... the flatter crawls performed wonderfully, with amazing articulation, tons of clearance, smooth belly drags, and insane (I'm talking like 50° or more of sidehill), but climbs were incredibly lackluster. The factory wheels are so narrow that the Pitbull foams pressed out onto the wheel and became really rigid. A friend was out crawling at the same time and I swapped in a set of his 3D printed "foams," and performance improved drastically. Unfortunately, it just can't climb well, but it may due to the full droop setup I am running. The next step will to spring the rear shocks and see what changes.

 

[JPWSRC]

Thread revival!
I just purchased the straight axle version of this kit and am in search of recommendations for the non-steer servos. I see you used miro servos, but was wondering if any low profile servo would work? I don't want to spend a ton on these two servos and was looking at 9kg JX servo for the dig and OD combine with the recommended Vanquish horns.
What motor did you end up with? I didn't catch it listed?

 

[ABabyEater]

Thread revival!
I just purchased the straight axle version of this kit and am in search of recommendations for the non-steer servos. I see you used miro servos, but was wondering if any low profile servo would work? I don't want to spend a ton on these two servos and was looking at 9kg JX servo for the dig and OD combine with the recommended Vanquish horns.
What motor did you end up with? I didn't catch it listed?

Anything light should work fine. The micro servos I picked out work great largely in part to the transmission and how smooth and easy it shifts.

As for motor, I have a Holmes 2200kv Revolver, and as much as I love it, I am going to be swapping it out for a similar KV Slate, just because the whine is so annoying. If I went with an AM32 based BLHeli, Crawlmaster, or Silent Assassin ESC, I'd stay with the current motor, but it sucks trying to have a nice day out with it screaming all the time.

 

[JPWSRC]

Anything light should work fine. The micro servos I picked out work great largely in part to the transmission and how smooth and easy it shifts.

As for motor, I have a Holmes 2200kv Revolver, and as much as I love it, I am going to be swapping it out for a similar KV Slate, just because the whine is so annoying. If I went with an AM32 based BLHeli, Crawlmaster, or Silent Assassin ESC, I'd stay with the current motor, but it sucks trying to have a nice day out with it screaming all the time.

Thanks for your reply. Servos I was looking at weigh in at 1.5 Oz each for the shift mechanisms. Is the HW Fusion too long for the space?

 

[ABabyEater]

Thanks for your reply. Servos I was looking at weigh in at 1.5 Oz each for the shift mechanisms. Is the HW Fusion too long for the space?

The Fusion is definitely too long, the Fusion Pro is most likely short enough to fit. Rumor has it the Spektrum rebrand of the Fusion is a couple mm shorter than the regular one and barely fits, but I can't say for certain.

 

[JPWSRC]

I have a castle system and a fusion 1800 system in two different rigs. I like the fusion set up alot more. Not sure how different the pro set up is by comparison?

 

[ABabyEater]

I have a castle system and a fusion 1800 system in two different rigs. I like the fusion set up alot more. Not sure how different the pro set up is by comparison?

 

[JPWSRC]

Did you replace the unshielded bearings with shielded?

 

[ABabyEater]

Did you replace the unshielded bearings with shielded?

Nope. All stock bearings.

I ended up with stock wheels and shock back on it. The 90mm Lizards were just too long, and the portal covers are large enough that you have to be really careful about which weels you use.

 

[JPWSRC]

Nope. All stock bearings.

I ended up with stock wheels and shock back on it. The 90mm Lizards were just too long, and the portal covers are large enough that you have to be really careful about which weels you use.

Good to know if I decide to get the portal axles later on.
Where do those unshielded bearings end up?
I was contemplating desert lizard for this application but I'll give the S8Es a go 1st.

I just pulled the trigger on the pro system.
I actually watched RC reviews a few days ago on crawler ESC/ motor combos. It was really helpful.
After watch this video you referenced, I saw a q/a that indicated this system does indeed fit. Should be here in a few days.

Have you found a way to improve your issues with climbing?