Chubs Holes Beef Tubes Dont Line Up Scx10

Today we will talk about one of the most underestimated mod until you use it then it becomes a nessecity. That is the XR steering mod. Novice builders usually shy away from it because of the words grinding and cutting is involved….today it can be done without all the fabrication skills needed with many companies providing items and services to help you get it done right.

First off, let's talk what is the XR mod. Simple terms, it's fitting AR60 (wraith axle) chubs and knuckles onto a AX10 (SCX10 axle) housing using custom cut down long side AR60 or XR shafts. This will greatly improve the steering not only the angle but scrub radius. Ideally you want the axis of the tophats in line with the center of the tires contact patch. This makes for more controllable steering and the rig won't push the front end during steering. Also you'll have many strong shaft options available along with many chubs and knuckles options.

But why not do a 8 degree? I have a few concerns in doing this over a XR mod. One is you have to run the smaller/weaker axle shafts. Not many options out there for parts. The high steer knuckles with the kit is tough to squeeze the steering links under a stock chassis without interference. The costs are pretty similar to a XR mod so why not get what your end goal would be eventually anyways??

So how do we do this?? I'll step through in my opinion the easiest and cost effective way of pulling this off. At the end if the cost scares you I'll talk about other ways to get this performance without breaking the bank.

Tools needed:

•Drill
•#39 drill bit
•m3 tap
•Body Reamer (optional)
Parts I suggest:

Vanquish Products Wraith Chubs and Knuckles. No I'm not a Vanquish fanboy. I do believe in supporting American business but a Vanquish knuckle has many aftermarket knuckle weight systems out there. This will allow you to try different setups or run the weights if comps you're attending allowed them. $70-$90 New.

Axial Racing XR Universals. The short side of Wraith shafts are not long enough for this mod. The XR shafts use the same axle joint it's just a longer shaft. Either long side Wraith or XR will work. TJ RC Products provides amazing service in cutting and putting new flats in the shafts. I also believe DLUX Fab would also do the same, they will also provide a service in shaving the ears on the axle joints of axial universals for greater steering angle. $30-$45 depending on service.

TJ RC Products Narrow XR Tubes. These tubes are the heaviest and most precise on the market today. The splined brass tubes provide amazing fitment of the chubs to insure they stay tight on the trail. I am convinced I could run mine without any screws holding them on, defiantly no problem with just one. You can get these in aluminum as well. $45 new

RC4x4 Performance narrow XR steering links. To my knowledge this is the only "bolt on" steering on the market today. They are made of heavy stainless solid rod and utilize the popular revo rod ends. $20 new

Again $165-$190 will be a little high for some people. Once I step through putting this together I'll touch base on things to make it a little cheaper for you and be able to upgrade down the road when money allows.

First thing, you'll want a bare housing. Make sure it's as clean as possible. Take that housing and cut the tabs where the stock chub goes. I find using lexan scissors for the rough cut and then taking my hobby knife to clean it up works great. You can leave them on the bigger side.

At this point I like to drop my carrier (locker, ring gear and bearings) in and placing the tubes in. All I'm doing here is to make sure I have the tubes as far in as I can. This is why I like to leave a little on the stock chub tab. Once you've trimmed enough away to be happy remove the carrier. (Disregard the threaded holes, pic is for reference)

I like to assemble the housing with the tubes in place. No need to tighten it down a ton, just enough to close the 2 halves of the case. Now you'll need to line up your threaded hole on the splined part. On stock flat pinion angle straight up and down will be fine. If you like to run your pinion kicked up you'll want to clock the threaded holes back a hair. Once you're happy it's time to drill.

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I drill the housing and tube in one shot. I like to take a body reamer and start a slight hole in the housing. This will keep the drill from wandering. Now it's time to take the #39 drill and drill your first hole. I like to tap and bolt the tube in after each hole, this keeps everything aligned as you go. I usually only do 4 screws total, 2 on the front (1 on each side) and 2 in the rear (again 1 on each side). Higher powered rigs you can do more. To save you time, a m3 X 6 panhead seems to be the perfect fit for this.

Once you're done with all the drilling and tapping, it's time to disassemble and clean all the brass chips and shavings out of the housing. Then it's time to build it for good, get your locker and differential all in. Close up the housing, blue lock tight the hardware for the tubes. Setting you chubs, you'll want them sloping back. This will make the rig track better and steering easier. Install the shafts and knuckles. Put your new steering links on and there's your new high performance axle. You have better steering and more weight up front and low which will help with the center of gravity. Also it's quite the beefy axle too!

There's some ways you can cut the cost with different knuckles, chubs, tubes and steering links.

Knuckles: They don't have to be Vanquish. STRC, Hot Racing and even the cheaper China brands will do. Even the stock plastic knuckles are strong. They are still metal steering arms and the new revised knuckles are double sheer. Remember you're steering a 1.9 vs a 2.2 tire.

Chubs: Again just like the knuckles, there is much cheaper options than VP. The stock plastic ones are much stronger and beefier than a scx10 chub. I know a couple guys that have been running stock plastic XR mods for over a year with no issues.

Tubes: While TJ RC Product tubes are top notch, there is other brands out there like Beef Tubes and RcBros that have very similar products but they are priced similar. One way to  go cheaper here is what I call a OG Beef Tube. The basic steel tube insert that will provide something solid to bolt too. These are available from Beef Tubes, BPC and a few other places. They are roughly half the price as the brass splined tubes. I know someone who isn't even running tubes, again for about a year now with no breakage and on 3s.

Steering Links: The only option is brake line and all thread. This is a much cheaper option it just takes a little bit of work. All you need is 3/16 straight brake line, 6/32 all thread and a few Traxxas revo rod ends. Be sure to make sure it clears the pumpkin during steering. This is a good way to make suspension links as well.

These are all major ways to save money for this mod. Unfortunately the shafts you can't. Dog bones isn't worth the time due to horrible joint angle. To close this up I'll step through what setups I had and issues I've seen personally.

I started with OG beef tubes and plastic knuckles and chubs. Worked great, tons of steering and it never broke. But silly me wanted to throw some VP parts on and I started running into trouble. Due to the nature of filing grooves into the housing for the splined chub to slide on, it didn't offers much from it rotating. With the aluminum chub when tightened down it didn't provide a good static load on the threads like a plastic one. This caused my chub to come loose and rotate constantly. To the point I had the truck sitting at home instead of running it. Finally I purchased TJ TC tubes and haven't had a issue since.

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Source: https://crawlerjunkie.wordpress.com/2016/03/28/got-steering/

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