Odd question about axles

[JennyC6]

I've been in RC for quite a while, but I've tended to not really look towards this corner of it because of my very strong preference for glow and gasoline power over electric. But increasingly I find myself drawn to the idea of building a trail rig anyway, perhaps even attempting to shoehorn a stonkin' great OS smallblock in the nose of something in the future(Would necessitate either a van body or modelling something like a Unimog/Tatra/Oshkosh/et-al, have eyeballed RC4WD's 6x6 Beast II and Tamiya's Globe Liner for this on more than one occasion) when I've got access to a micro lathe and micro mill to machine the mounting brackets and such.

I've got a few requirements for the axles in particular...from what research I've done it seems the rest of the parts used for these models are already plenty strong enough for what I want to do...and I'm wondering if ya'll know what I could buy to put under the rig:

* Needs to be super strong. Any RC I build is gonna be pretty quick and I'm definitely going to be cracking the throttle WFO fairly often. This goes whether I've converted it to glow or am still running electric(Likely BL). Last thing I need is to be shearing off C-hubs or cracking pumpkins wide open every time I get into the meaty end of the carb because I clipped an acorn at 35MPH. I'm not overly concerned with the strength of the rotating components, however, as I've watched plenty of them on YT shrugging off so much torque that when something binds the wheel up they sooner shear the C-hub than strip a gear or snap a driveshaft.

* I want working diffs. More of my runtime is going to be spend hauling ass than will be spent crawling around and I want it to handle reasonably well at speeds far in excess of the typical trail/scale rig. Locked diffs/spools are particularly bad about understeer and unpredictability, especially at high speeds, and that's something I'd like to avoid.

* I want to build a rig that's more in line with what a factory fresh pickup would be, insofar as ride height, so having the ability to mount the axle on top of the leaf springs instead of underneath it is a huge plus. Or, failing that, getting springs that would let the weight of the rig bring it down to the height I'm after. Lookin' to run 1.55 rims and tires no larger than a scale 33" so body rub shouldn't be a concern.

* I wouldn't object to an un-powered beam axle in the front. 2WD would be fun too, and especially challenging to try to run a trail with(And a great representation of the typical person's daily driver pickup when coupled with an open rear diff!)

* Would prefer not having to spend a small fortune on this thing. I'm...not exactly flush with cash, after all. Quality costs money but I'm not in a position to disregard sticker shock.

Any pointers for what axles to use to build the sort of rig I want to build? Lookin', ultimately, to end up with something that's great fun to blast around at high speeds, yet can do some off-roading as well, all while looking like the real thing.


Thanks for your time!

[Fourth Protocol]

There are many here who know more than I so keeping that in mind, I'd suggest Axial AR60 axles. They're used on trucks like the Yeti SCORE Trophy Truck. In fact based on how you say you're intending to use the truck, I'd just go with the tropy truck kit. You mentioned cost - unassembled it's $350, which isn't THAT bad given that most of mine exceed $1000.

Note though that the trophy truck has independent front suspension, which I think is more suited to the high-speed thing anyway. And if the polycarbonate shell doesn't cut it for you in terms of scale cred, jury-rig a hardbody (it has a 14.2" (360mm) wheelbase). Although I don't imagine a hardbody would survive the first run on a truck as fast as you're suggesting...

Like I said, I'm not a pro and hopefully someone who knows what they're talking about will weigh in with an opnion.

[JennyC6]

Those axles do look nice, but they seem to be pretty wide. Was looking for something along the lines of a narrow RC4WD D44. In fact, I spent a fair bit of time pondering the D44 axles themselves, as I think I could get a differential into them. And if I could do that they'd work. Ideally I'd be able to get a diff in either the K44 or D35 axles from RC4WD, as they've got leaf spring perches cast right into the axle tubes which would greatly simplify the suspension side of things, but from what I can tell they're sold as spools only. Mm, working diffs in the D35 or K44 axles would mean I could throw 'em underneath a Trail Finder 2 LWB chassis and be off to the races. Flip 'em to get the springs underneath instead of atop the axles, reverse the motor rotation to get it running forward again, and I'd be cruisin' pretty happy.

I'll look into the Yeti trophy truck, does look like fun and I've always liked trophy trucks in general. And the Yeti gets props over the majority of short course trucks on the market on account of having the live axle in the back that the real ones use! May not be exactly what I'm looking to build here, though. Major sticking point with using this truck would be a future glow conversion. I'd run the model electric for a while, but I honestly have little love for e-power(It'd be the only model larger than 1/28 scale in my collection so propelled!) and will eventually attempt to stuff an actual engine into the front of the thing. This is MUCH easier to do when it's on a metal ladder chassis instead of a composite plate like the Yeti SCORE uses. I've looked into it and it seems like the only issues I'd face when trying to do this to a traditional ladder frame trail rig are A: Reverse, B: clutch-to-trans interface(RC4WD's 2-speed is very appealing here as it has a slipper clutch, 32 pitch gears, and two speeds so it'd probably be what I used here), and C: Getting a body mounted that will clear that huge cooling head and protect it from tumbles. I'm not overly concerned about such a conversion breaking the rotating parts, oddly enough, people run electric powertrains in these things that output orders of magnitude more torque than any two stroke I'd ever stuff into one and these gearboxes, driveshafts, axles hold up amazingly well. On that front it'd be bulletproof, probably less likely to break after conversion than it was before conversion.

I've no doubt that one single rollover would obliterate a hardbody at those speeds. Might do two bodies, a lexan one for when I'm out to haul ass, and a more detailed hardbody for when the urge to throw 'er in low range and hit the trail overrides the urge to do donuts. Or maybe I'll run a hardbody the whole time and use it as an excuse to not let myself wreck the thing! Nothing improves one's ability to drive their RC like having a bit of risk associated with that crash, after all. Or perhaps I could put an aluminum or steel tubing exo-cage around it, which is a fairly common modification done to real life trail rigs and something I see pretty often on RC models therein.

[crawlin]

I can say from my time tiny trucking none of the axles you mentioned will hold up to what you want out of them except built ar44 or built scx10 axles that's just the facts certainly no scale truck will take what you plan on inflicting on it for very long I believe a lad has a vid of a scale truck with nitro conversion on youtube with a Cherokee body on it check it out

[JennyC6]

I find that rather hard to believe given the amount of abuse I see them taking on the RCSparks YT channel. They shrug off 4s lipos and mudbogs so heavy they burn out $150 motors. I'm never going to push them anywhere near that hard.

If their videos are anything to go by it takes >4s lipos and brushless power thrown into sticky Canadian clay-mud while trying to turn heavy 2.2" aluminum beadlocks clinging onto 5 inch tall mud tires to truly threaten these axles, and someone who occasionally wants to run one up the street at 35MPH and drift around in their driveway from time to time is never going to harm them. At most I might pop the occasional C-hub during a rollover but those are NBD to replace.

[JennyC6]

Huh. Doing my own digging, I found these things:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Complete-Al...item33ca93d90d

They're slightly narrower than an RC4WD axle, won't directly bolt onto the TF2 or Beast 6x6 chassis without adapter links(And it seems no leaf springs at all), and they cost a small fortune, but they will fit an SCX10 and they'll do what I want.

Might just get those axles and some C-channel rails, build my own chassis completely from scratch. That RC4WD CVT and X-fer case would work well regardless of how I power it.

Found that jeep you mentioned too. Guy who built that was somethin' else. Water cooled engine, and for a transmission he took a page straight out of EMD's playbook. Turned a generator with the glow engine, which in turn fed power directly into a traction motor. Don't think I'd get anywhere near that complex on anything I built! Fanciest I might get is a thermocouple controlled computer fan pointed at the cylinder head and a CVT transmission borrowed from the 1/14th truck hopup scene.

[crawlin]

giver a go start a build thread ill be watching very interested