Ok this thing is about done. To recap this truck started as an XL nitro and I have converted it to the new XL Flux. Now had I done proper research to begin with I never would have went this way as there is a fair bit of difference between the rest of the savage line up and this new XL.
Parts needed:
Flux XL TVP’s (same as the octane)
Motor plate (unique to XL)
Motor mount clamps (same as flux lineup)
Front drive shaft (unique to XL and octane) shorter that the old xl shaft
Rear brake hub cup- unique to XL and octane. Its longer than the reast of savage line up and is required or the rear drive shaft will fall out
Radio box (unique to XL)
Battery boxes-same as flux hp
Servo mount (XL flux and octane)
Transmission (same case as octane but internals are unique to XL)
New dual slipper cluch and spur gear (unique to XL)
Esc mount- I made my own out of an old savage skid plate.
Steering rod- (unique to XL and octane) I couldn’t locate this part so I ended up having to make it. I used a piece of threaded rod and a couple old shock ends.
And of course the electrics. I went with the Mamba Monster 2 combo with castle 2200. I wanted the mamba X but my LHS only had the 2. Oh well it was cheap. For batteries i went with gens-are-spammers 5000mah 50c
The build was pretty simple, hardest part was locating the parts. If it wasn’t for JRC on ebay it would not have been possible. Also thanks again to nadboo on this forum for sending me the servo mount and radio box, much appreciated! I phoned hobby shops all over north america, I couldn’t find a single one who has ever had a single part in stock for the XL flux, nothing not even a spur gear or slipper pad.
Overall I like the truck its handles extremely well, almost doesn’t seem like a savage anymore. No rolling over and cornering is much improved. Credit the lower centre of gravity for this, you can see in the pictures that everything is mounted deep in the tvp’s. While this helps in the handling department its at the expense of suspension travel, not much mind you but its closer to the ground than it was before. Also you can see in the photo of the bottom that the transmission is even or even slightly below the tvp’s. Heavy bashers will want to create some kind of skid plate here which I plan to using an old nitro motor mount. Another major difference is the front servo mount and radio box. The new servo mount has the steering servo mounted right side up rather than the old way. This is why the new longer steering link is needed. The radio box is nice, waterproof as well. I didn’t like how the ESC is mounted in the XL so I chose to make a mount and position it at the back down low where it is protected. Also there is no roll bar/handle on the XL so I took the one of the old XL and modified it to fit. Some dremeling is required but it was easy. There is only 3 screws holding it but it seems solid enough. Also a concern is the new slipper clutch setup. It seems solid enough but I don’t like how its only used on this truck and there is only one spur gear available right now. The whole spur pinion set up looks limited and like there won’t be much room to fit different gear options with how the trans/spur is positioned. Stock is 16 tooth pinion and 43 tooth spur.
Anyway thats it for now.
