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OSRC

All the cool guys are building China Jeeps now with fancy Skeleton chassis but I'm still stuck back in the New Bright era... I've had a poorly painted but nicely flared NB JK I picked up from a member here on the shelf for years now, and since I'm looking for ways to keep occupied until my Achilles tendon re-attaches itself, figured it was time to get busy.

As mentioned in my Junkyard 2.2 build, I have a pile of parts here from some previous rigs, but very little funds, so this is another "use what I got" build. Good thing I've got a lot crap around here. Expect a lot of mismatched parts and some poorly machined add-ons since I used most of the good stuff on the 2.2.

Truth is, I did have some cash in the RC happy fund, and I was looking at a few chassis to stuff under the NB body. GCM, Toyzuki, and an MST CFX-W were all on the list. In the end, I just used a leftover Axial chassis I had and picked up the SSD transmission. Figured it put the motor up front where I wanted it and saved a bit of coin over the other choices. Plus, I just thought it looked cool and I wanted one. Disassembled and re-greased with R&T and bolted to a cheap-o 35t motor. Figured for $9 I couldn't go wrong and it's an open endbell instead of a closed can like my standard cheap-o motor from RC4WD.


I had to go CMS, and in a fever of overexcitement I bought the wrong one from SSD - it looks great (in the package anyway), but didn't fit since the servo has to go crossways on the chassis. I debated trying to customize the right kit for my axles but in the end I decided to piece it all together. I picked up some v2 shock mounts for the panhard mount and a VP bumper mount for the servo. Having officially exhausted my happy fund, the rest has to come from my parts pile. Found a Rampage JK bumper in my bumper box and started putting parts together


Test fitting the body - works really well with the transmission. just had to trim a slight amount away from the trans tunnel - won't even see it from the interior as it was all behind the dash. I found some body posts (in the body post box..I have all kids of mystery boxes around the shop) and just used the stock mounts to attach the body. Not very scale, I know, but I'm old school and I prefer body clips. Plus, it was fast and easy.


Temporary mount in the hatch area..Just for mocking up, I'll make some more sturdy but still old fashioned ugly body posts later.


Got the front axle hung with some red tubes, a turnbuckle, and a prayer or two. Not only am I stuck in the New Bright era, but I still rock big pumpkins. Which is handy around halloween, but other times, not so much. While I'm rocking these old pumpkins, you'll notice they are attached to an equally low rated Integy axle housing. I must have gotten lucky as mine has been trouble free with good tolerances. I don't like the silver for sure though...might give them a coat of black, not sure yet. Stuffed with OD gears, HR locker and STRC goodies at each end. Very solid, if not pretty axle setup.


I will say these axles do not play nice with the V2 style panhard. Note the bend needed just to clear said pumpkin. I managed to get it semi-working, though I still have some bump steer issues to work out. I had a set of Boom racing complete AR44 axles in my cart, but just couldn't pull the trigger - an incredible feat of self restraint. Would have solved a lot of problems with clearance and what not, but created some new ones (like paying the non RC bills on time...) They will be a future upgrade...for now, I'll live with the spaghetti linkages and big axles and keep the budget in check. Note - I used the thinnest links I could make up front for a reason. First off I needed the clearance, and second I think the standard diameter links look a bit out of scale. (Body clips I can live with apparently, but fat links - no way! Go figure)


And that's as far as I got. More to come

PS: If you are reading this and I bought this body off you, I was just kidding about the bad paint job...it's great. Really!