A good starting point would actually be to catch up on my original WILD DAGGER project and see how that went. The Wild Dagger is one of a kind in the MT world. It is 1/10 scaled, has 4 wheel-drive with 2 motors, independent suspension and has the footprint of a 1/10 stadium truck. No other truck really has that kind of spec sheet. In the original Wildfang project I had a custom chassis and Clod-sized tires on it and it looked cool... but on hindsight I think a good project would actually be to enhance the Dagger's strengths - it is lightweight, powerful and handles well with it's independent suspension.

It's my plan to try to turn this truck into my backyard bashing machine... something that runs fast, handles great and takes all the jumps to catch some big air without breaking a sweat. What's in the pipeline? I'm thinking custom chassis, improved suspension geometry, steering optimization and if possible, I'd really like to re-work the weight distribution on the truck to eliminate its nose-diving tendencies. We'll see what else pops up along the way.

The blank canvas...

Bought this baby second hand and here it is fresh out of the plastic bag it came in. It really needs a good cleaning and that's going to be step 1. The previous owner also decided to paint some of the steering pivot screws an ugly blue so that has got to be polished off too. A strip-down should also give me some idea of the truck's detailed condition. Oh yes... bearings need to be installed too.

The clean-up

Lots of de-greaser later, the gears are clean... lots of motor-spray later, the bearings are clean... lots of detergent and scrubbing later, the chassis and all components are clean and ready for the project. The truck was actually in decent shape although the rear diff and some axle cups needed replacement.

I've also got the stock truck's measurements done so the design phase is ready to start!

Stay tuned...

Back To Top