Axial SCX10ii Unimog – Project Cheap-Skate
So as I’m sure may of you do; I was browsing my local Facebook marketplace while doing my daily throne duties in the royal room of relief.
When I stumbled upon a gem that is no longer in production. An Axial SCX10.2 Unimog! I messaged the seller, and it was still available. So I went ahead and picked up as the price was right.
The truck came with the following items:
Flysky FS-GT2E radio
Holmes Hobbies 21t trailmaster sport
Stock hexfly esc
Light kit
Changuish wheels
Deep woods CR duratrax c3 tires
Amazon servo
Doing an initial overview I had a million thoughts running through my head; new motor/esc combo, reefs servo, and the list kept going. However I’m taking a little different direction with this truck, and going to leave the components it came with in it for now, and just enjoy it.
That however didn’t stop me from turning the motor and transmission 180 degrees to improve weight ration and climbing performance.
Stock image below; shows the factory configuration of the transmission and motor mount.
The next image shows the upgraded location of the transmission and motor to shift a majority of the weight to the front.
This change has made a huge difference in crawling, and I would highly recommend it to anyone looking to do a cheap; yet competitive crawler for trailing or riding with friends!
The motor and transmission movement was accomplished by some 3d printed parts, and while I would love to take credit for them I simply can’t. The designer on thingiverse named MaxxDesigns had everything needed to get this swap done. So huge should out to them, and please remember to tip your fellow community members!
NOTE: Bowhouse RC also prints and sells these mounts; however I’m not sure if they’re the same or now, but worth looking into!
Lastly everything was being buttoned up, but there was one issue where the passenger shock tower didn’t have a place to screw the back side into. I created a quick and simple block insert for the chassis which can be found here. To ensure the shock mount was stable and not going to move.
Overall I’m very happy with the truck as this time, and will probably continue to make small changes here and there as I get more experience driving it.
I will leave you all with a short clip of it doing a 58 degree incline; which I thought was rather impressive!