Axial Based Grave Digger #12

[87lc2]

Finally decided to give my Grave Digger some love.  This was the first Axial (AR60) based truck I built back in 2015.  Unfortunately shortly after I built it I had a bad wreck and completely twisted the chassis and it's been sitting waiting for repair since.  I bought a replacement chassis right away, but just recently got it powdercoated and starting putting the truck back together with some upgrades.  The first few shots are of the original truck and twisted frame, it was a pretty nasty wreck...

The truck was originally running a 3660-sized 4600kv brushless motor.  I decided that since Crawford is not making this chassis anymore and the axles/driveshafts are basically stock I would step down on the power to avoid what happened the first time.  Went with a Reedy Radon 3-slot 17t brushed motor and Hobbywing 1080 ESC, basically Sport Mod spec.  Gearing is 16/56 at the moment and it runs good.  Transmission does have metal gears and running open differentials at both ends.  Shocks are G-Made reservoir shocks and they are nice pieces, have them a quick rebuild when I had the truck apart.  Went with 4-hole pistons and 20wt oil, nice and soft.

Body is an original Parma Digger body, but I do have a new ProLine Panel body that I plan to paint along with a second set of original Parma decals.  Updated the wheels from Proline Brawlers/Destroyers to JConcepts Tributes with Renegade tires.  It's obviously not an exact replica, but Digger #12 was one of the first to run the aggressive cut tires for some time and I thought they fit this truck well.  Painted the wheels in metallic aluminum and happy with how they came out, nearly exactly like the original truck.  Haven't glues the beadlock rings on yet, I really like how they look but also like it without them, depends on the day I guess.  

The truck works extremely well with the shock/sway bar setup, and the aluminum chassis helps add some weight when compared to the SMT10 chassis which helps the suspension work as it should, much more realistic.  I proably won't run this one as much as others, but it's nice to have it back in good shape.  Definitely wont be shelfer (I don't have many of those...), but won't beat on it either.  When I originally built this I was quite proud of it, kind of sad that I let it sit on a shelf out of sight/out of mind for so long before repairing.  Feels good to get it going again.