Bubba02STi’s SCX10 II Deadbolt

[Bubba02STi]

This is my first crawler so the plan is to learn and have a modest build. I have absolute no intentions on this being a shelf queen either. So let’s get this thing started.

Nickname
Lil Yeti

Chassis
Axial SCX-10 II

Bodies
Deadbolt 2

Drivetrain
Holmes Hobbies TorqueMaster Expert 540 30t
Incision Metal Transmission Gear Set
Xtraspeed Metal Axle Housings
Fast Eddy Bearings

Suspension
Incision Link Kit
Xtraspeed Metal Strut Towers (Fronts)
Boom Racing Servo Horn
Traxxas Big Bore Shocks w/ Upgraded caps, Losi soft springs, The Crawl Space lower spring mounts, 10wt oil (Fronts)
Traxxas Big Bore Shocks w/ Upgraded caps, Losi medium springs, The Crawl Space lower spring mounts 35wt oil (Rears)
Hot Racing Brass Knuckles
Hot Racing C-Hubs
SSD Rear Lockouts
STRC Aluminum Lower Shock/Link Mounts

Wheels and Tires
1.9 Injora 4Pc Beadlocks
1.9 Nitto Trail Grappler
1.9 Proline G8 Hyrax’s

Electronics
JX-Servo
Hobbywing Quicrun Waterproof ESC
Spektrum DX5C Transmitter
Spektrum SR415 Receiver
ECO Power 2s LiPo 4000mah
Powershift RC Technologies PST-125 Servo Winch

Scale Accessories
Yeah Racing Light Kit
eBay D Rings
Axial Headlight and Taillight Guards
Yeah Racing Fire Extinguisher, Fuel Can, Shovel, Axe, Hi-Lift jack.

Current Pic

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[Bubba02STi]

First night I brought him home I couldnt help myself but to go find some where to test it out. Here in Colorado almost all landscaping involves some sort of large rocks or boulders. The following day was the real test. I took it to an open space trail area where I really put him to the test. Needless to say I was rather impressed with how he performed out of the box.

 

[Bubba02STi]

I’m not one to leave things stock. So after my first initial runs and getting an idea of what I wanted to improve I decided to take a trip over to The Crawl Space South. I was referred to this place by the cashier of where I bought the rig from, so I figured this was a good time to check it out. I ended up learning quite a bit during my visit which was very appreciated.

One of the first things I noticed was the plastic links that are equipped on the Deadbolt 2 took one hell of a beating, and before I just flat out destroy them I decided to upgrade them with the incision link kit. I also picked up a pair of Xtraspeed metal strut towers to replace the plastic ones. I’ve also purchased some beadlocks which should be here Friday and plan on picking up some new tires as well. I actually like the stock tires and they seemed to do quite well. I just like the idea of separate sets of wheels. See: beingtoolazytomesswithbakingoffglue

I’m going to take it out and see how much of a difference it makes running the same route as the other day. One thing I have noticed right off the bat is that the metal links greatly reduced the slop i was seeing in the suspension. Not all of it but it definitely seems to a lot more rigid.

 

[Bubba02STi]

New parts installed today. I’m not really a fan of the CRC bumper. It’s always getting hung up on crap. So I opted to replace it with a theraffeeco bumper. It needs a bit of tweaking as it came loose and popped some screws loose. I like the way it looks though so it’s definately something I’ll work at getting to fit properly. In the mean time I’ll trim down the CRC one to fit a little more flush.

New wheels also came in today. I’m too impatient to wait for new tires so I baked off the old ones and mounted the stock tires to new Injora wheels. I love the way they look. And being a heavy bead lock wheel they should work great. I need to get some weights to put in them but like I said. I’m impatient. The axle caps don’t fit flush so I decided to reuse the stock ones. They fit great. When I upgrade the diffs and axles I’ll see if they will fit then before I decide to modify these ones. Also I need to vent my tires a little more.

I took it on an adventure today in Palmer Park. I ran the same route I did the other day. The new links and wheels made a difference. The new bumper has its pros and cons. It needs to be tweaked and reinforced and I’m sure it will do great.

I know I said I wasn’t going to enter in any competitions. Well a week into this hobby and I guess I really can’t have anything with a motor and throttle. After our adventure in Palmer Park I went to The Crawl Space South with the intent of only watching for a bit. “Did you bring your truck?” was all it took. A crash course in the rules and up second for my first ever run. I go my a** handed to me but I didn’t even care. It was a blast. I definitely be back. Received plenty of tips and a warm welcome tonight. Plenty of work ahead of me with all the input. It is going to be a busy weekend.

 

[Bubba02STi]

Weekend update. Lowered and trimmed body. Kinda farked it. The front bumper took a huge beating and is bent to all hell. I’ll need to figure that out. So I trimmed down the stock one. It’s not the prettiest but it works much better with it pushed back. Added the D-Rings to it to give it a personalized touch. Swapped the rear towers and pushed them forward. Definitely made a huge difference.

I’m in the middle or relandscaping my backyard so I started a shake down course with all the broke edging stones. I’ll work at it a bit more with adding better (more boulder like) rocks.

Trying to decide on my next move here. Shocks, diffs, lightbar/LED in existing light bar?

 

[Bubba02STi]

We have light! Picked up a couple Yeah Racing light harnesses today. Also ordered a new deadbolt body. Figured with this one I might as well see what works and what doesn’t. Ya know hack it up. Then have a clean body to start from scratch. I wish the race car was this easy. All I have left to do is add the lenses and guards to the headlights and tail lights.

 

[Bubba02STi]

Got the headlight and tail light guards installed tonight.

For the fronts I mounted the guards with lenses in them to help even out the light. I used the “Axial” guards that came in the spare parts bag. For the rears I was originally going to use a rectangular guard (which are really hard to find btw) or trim down the round ones that came in the bag. However, after holding up the round ones with the lenses in them on the rear I decided that it looked kinda funky with LEDs in the bumper being exposed. So I mounted the rear guards as is leaving the bulbs open. Honestly I kind of like the way the rear guards look on it now that I have them mounted. With the guards mounted I feel more comfortable with the LEDs being protected. I really don’t want to have to solder in a new one because I smashed a bulb.

I mounted some new schackles to the front since I lost one of the ones I originally had. I really preferred the first style I had on there, but I couldn’t find another set. So I went these block mount styled ones. I’m so-so on them. The mounting hardware isn’t long enough to go through the CRC bumper and they are little more red than I would like. I’m going to pick up some longer hardware to finish off the look, so for now they are just mounted with some epoxy. I also figure once I get it out and bash them up a bit they will dull out a bit and blend in a bit better. For now they will work. I’m starting to figure out the whole front bumper situation anyway. So if anyone has some ideas on a metal bumper that is streamlined with a good approach angle I’m all ears.

For now I’m pretty much done with the cosmetic side of things, so other than some mad max/death race accessories I have in mind it is time to switch my focus back to the suspension and drivetrain.

Next on the list:
Rebuild leaky shocks (going to replace later)
Front and rear diffs with axles
Front knuckles
Rear shock towers
Drive shafts (I could use some recommendations on where to find some for the RTRs)
After that I think I’ll be good until electronics, gears and tires start to wear out.

I’m having a blast with this and I’m already looking for another 10.2, but this time doing something more along the line of a true scaler and more oriented to trails rather than crawling.

 

[Bubba02STi]

This evenings work:

1. Rebuilt the leaky stock shocks. Used new seals and green slime. Much better!

2. Replaced lost screws for the bead locks and loaded them up with locktite.

3 Figured out the bead lock screws are a perfect fit for the new shackles.

Before Friday’s comp I’m going to try and get out to really test everything out. Everything seemed to work out well on my shakedown course but I figure getting out on larger terrain isn’t that bad of an idea huh?

 

[Bubba02STi]

Went out and played in the snow and mud yesterday after the storm that rolled through. Was curious to see how well the recent overhauls would do and I was rather impressed. Sad note though. Pretty sure I chewed up a few teeth in the transmission. So I have a new motor and trans gear set waiting for me to go pick up at the crawl space.

 

[Bubba02STi]

Goodies! Yaybia! Picked up a new Holmes Honbies Torque Master motor and Incision trans gear set this evening. Love having a local shop that specializes in crawlers. Hopefully I can find some time to get these installed this weekend.

 

[Bubba02STi]

Got around to installing the Torque Master and the gear set this weekend. Pretty straight forward with the install. Definitely chewed up some teeth on the stock gear set. The incision metal set should hold up fine. The factory motor seemed to be in good shape when applied power directly to it, but I still installed the 540 cause why not.

Still having an issue with the ttx200 not connecting to the receiver. Tried to re-link them and all that Jazz. Nothing. Messed around with the plugs and was able to get it to respond for a brief second but then it cut out again. Steering seems really weak and what ultimately looses the connection. I have my LEDs powered through it, and when I connect the battery they will power on. Kind of stumped at this point. I created a thread about it but that doesn’t seem to be gaining any traction, so I think I’m just going to replace both the receiver and esc. Maybe the steering servo also. Really wanted to finish the suspension first but oh well. It is what it is.

Here are some pictures of the new gear set with the old ones, and the new 540 motor installed.

*Note: the gear set is dry fitted in the picture to make sure it was good. Grease was added later.

 

[Bubba02STi]

Figured out the no response issue today with the help of The Crawl Space. After some tinkering around, we figured out that it was a bad servo, and that was making everything act weird. Here is where I should probably mention that I shouldn’t be left unsupervised. So we replaced the bad servo with a JX-Servo and a Boom Racing Horn, and while we were in there we also upgraded the ESC with a Hobbywing Quicrun. We also made sure that everything had deans plugs. After all that I decided it was also time to upgrade the shocks. So I purchased a set of “The Crawl Space Specials” (this is what I am referring to them as) basically they are Traxxas Big Bores, upgraded caps, soft and medium Losi springs, light weight oil upfront, heavier weight oil in the rear, and solid lower spring mounts. Before I went to pick up my son from school and head home to build the shocks I figured it would be a good idea to go break in all the new parts. So I went and played on the rocks in Palmer park for a bit. The shocks were pretty easy to build after the overwhelming amount of parts that I wasn’t going to use were shifted through. Lol. Needless to say today was a bit expensive. And after the past week or so now I probably could have just bought another truck. But today we built a beast, and it was entirely worth it. Enjoy the pictures below.

 

[Bubba02STi]

Fun video from today. Wish I could just embed it here.

 

[Bubba02STi]

Picked up a new Spektrum DX5C radio today from the crawl space. I dropped the factory tactic one like a dumb a**. The old one still “works”, just has a problem with the throttle trim button sticking.

 

[Bubba02STi]

Went out for a bit of fun today on the rocks. I need better tires for the snow and sandstone. Not sure if they make anything for the snow. Next upgrade I guess.

 

[Bubba02STi]

Picked up a set of Proline G8 Hyrax’s the other day from the Crawl Space. I need to get them scrubbed down, insert new foams and get another set of wheels. So much softer than the nittos. Can’t wait to get these on the rocks.

 

[Bubba02STi]

Different than my usual morning routine. Still at the lake though. Lol. New wheels should be here later today so I can mount the Hyrax’s.

 

[Bubba02STi]

Tonight I mounted the Hyrax’s to a new set of wheels. Very impressed with them. So soft and sticky.

 

[Bubba02STi]

Loving these tires. Had a little fun this morning breaking them in.

 

[Bubba02STi]

Haven’t posted any adventures lately. Meet up with some people today and did a bit of crawling in the snow and mud on the sand stone.