spoonman1979

Thanks! The tires seem to work well, I haven't gotten too hardcore crawling yet. The chassis is a Crawford Performance Barbarian. I took it to my usual clay track for a few laps in "short course" mode. It ran well with the rear steering locked down but the suspension was pretty stiff. I just installed the kit to relocate the shocks up onto the four link bar, this has made a dramatic difference in the jumping ability of the truck.

JRR1285

Very nice truck and it looks exactly like what I am hoping to build soon.

Do you have any other pics you can post? Any upgrades to the stock AR60 axles and what type of transmission did you choose (AX10 or wraith)?

Can you explain the kit that relocates the shocks to the four link bar?

I am having a hard time deciding on what parts/chassis to build. I am definitely leaning towards the Barbarian now. Trying to get the most durable truck for the money.

spoonman1979

I didn't do any upgrades to the AR60 axles yet, but I will need the hardened gears soon due to the wear I can see already. The stock plastic steering rods are junk, but you must use heavy duty servo savers with metal rods. I stripped out a steel gear servo proving this. If you are only crawling then use an aluminum servo arm to leverage the truck around rocks. The transmission is a RC4WD 2 speed that I can operate with another servo, it s rock solid. The MIP wraith driveshafts didn't quite fit, I did have to buy two standard drive hubs because the extended hubs in the package would bind at full suspension compression. The suspension kit will allow the 4 link bars to have more travel and make the suspension softer. When jumping with monster truck tires there is a lot of bounce from the tires. I went as soft as possible with low weight shock oil, but it wouldn't settle quickly off of a large jump. With the shock relocation kit the truck can now absorb the landing due to the longer travel and less bounce due to the softer suspension. The axle has more leverage on the shocks. I have had to replace on of the 4 link bar ends during the aforementioned servo killing crash. Stock they are plastic and CPE carries metal replacements. I also had one of the proline wheels partially stripped the hex. I had replaced the stock AR60 hexes with thin ones to get more threads into the wheel nut. Since then I have simply filed off the "nub" on the stock hex which will allow more threads to be used as well as more contact between the wheel and hex. What parts of the truck would you like to see?

JRR1285

If you could post a pic of the current suspension setup it would be appreciated.

That 2 speed transmission looks awesome. I did not even know it existed. Any idea on what your top speed is?

Thanks for all of the other information, it will be very useful for when I finally decide to start picking up parts. I have had a hard time deciding between an Axial based monster, a TXT-2, and a Clod based truck. I am getting more confident that I can build an Axial rig that can take the abuse of backyard monster bashing.

spoonman1979

Here is the shock relocation kit. I am using shocks from a 1/10 buggy therefore the different mounting positions



I had it out on the track again, the shocks were a definite improvement and I moved up to a 18 tooth pinion for more speed and probably will increase even more. It is not a short course kit on the track but I want to see how good it can get with solid axles...