How to run modern rubber on your JRX series car

[RCveteran]

For B4 wheels on the front you do need a spacer to clear steering ball end. I just used two of the rear axle spacers, the ones that go between the drive pin and hub bearing. They fit and worked perfectly.

[fredswain]

My XX rear wheels bolt onto the JRX just fine. I didn't measure the offset though. They look like they might be a tad narrow. I doubt they'll work with the 5 link suspension. I've got RPM rear arms and they clear everything just fine.

[fredswain]

Has anyone tried running the XXX-cr VLA rear hubs with the H-arms? I'm curious if running the inner hole on the hub would push the hub out farther resulting in a correct or near correct offset so XX/XXX rear wheels can be used. These can't be made to work with the 5-link though. If no one knows the answer them i'm going to just go ahead and try it. If it works it will also give top mounted ball studs.

[losiXXXman]

Thinking in my head, seems like this would work. I've thought of using those VLA hubs to widen before as well- but never tried it out. The only problem I could see, would be the drive shaft length. I read you other thread about the XXretrofit tranny, and I think you'd be right on about making it work by using the slider D/S. Plus, if they ended up short, you could always source a set form the LXT, and cut them down to length easily. Post up some pics of this when you get it together.

[fredswain]

I pulled the rear wheels off of my XX and put them on the JRX to measure them. I don't know why I didn't measure this earlier. It looks narrow and I trusted my eyes. However with the B4 axle spacers behind the kingpins I got an outer to outer measurement of 9.75" That's about as close to perfect as anyone could ever expect. I did try some B4 rims and they sit inward just ever so slightly more than the XX/XXX wheels. It doesn't need the XXX-cr VLA rear hubs although there could still be an advantage to using them for other reasons.

Keep in mind these work fine for H arm setups. For 5 link rears there will need to be some spacing done to the forward links.

On the front end the solution for running 2.2's is quite simple. Run Thunder Tiger rims (B3 fronts) or JC front RC10 wheels.

If a B4 rim is desired then wider axles such as the wide RC10GT inline axles can be used.

I may just take some before and after pictures of some different options so we can start a new thread with those pics and instructions at the beginning.

[bearrickster]

Fellas keep in mind my car ended up with the xx wheels and the Truck front arms because the more you widen the rear, the more the car pushes. when I first did the xx conversion the car would not turn at all. the front is the problem not the rear, the front needs to be wider or the same as the back. unless your building a drag racer.

[fredswain]

If you run the Thunder Tiger/B3 style rims on the front then the front end width stays the same as stock which is very close to the rear width. When using B4 front rims, if all stock suspension components are to be retained then wider axles must be used to push the front end width out due to wheel offset. B4 fronts also come in wider sizes so 4WD front tires can be used. This is what I am running.

I only suspect but haven't verified the the XXX-cr VLA front steering blocks and hubs could be used to push the front end width out enough to use B4 style wheels with stock axles and stock arms. This too may be an option.

If using the RPM wide truck front arms, B4 rims will work just fine with an outer to outer distance of 10.75" (ish). The other option is as you did it which is to use XX front hubs drilled out to 1/8" and then use Trinity wide front axles.

The problem I have found with the wide arms is that due to the location of the shock mounts downward suspension travel suffers a little bit over the standard length arms. This is when using the shorter length fronts and not the long shocks though. Right now I'm not sure if I'm going to keep the rpm arms on mine or not. I've still got some tinkering to do with it but with 4 different types of arms available to me, I've got options. The rpm truck arms do have the furthest out shock mounting hole of any of the other options though so I'm trying to make them work the way I want them to.

[bearrickster]

All of that makes alot of sence. but the problem for me with the B4 wheels is their ASC, I wanted to use as many Losi parts as I could. just to keep it true. and I wanted the wheels to match front and rear, I dont like dish wheels at all. I really like the look of the Losi 5 spoke wheels. so looks over preformance won over for me a little on this build. I was kinda going for what if Losi were to build a whats old is new kinda of Buggy.

I am reworking a few things on it here and their. I am redoing the shocks and have xxx cr threaded ones going on. I cut the rear bulkhead down and removed alot of meat from areas that arnt used anymore. it feels like a brick compaired to my xxx cr. so its going on a diet. I reworked and replaced the rear Wing, it now has a better fitting and easer to find Kyosho hard plastic wing. I know I broke my own rule on that wing but Losi doesnt make a nice hard wing. I raced it a few times and was haveing a real problem with the wing tubes and the wing falling off if it turned over. so I drilled the rear tower and added xx bolt on wing mounts, no more problem

[fredswain]

I am toying with the XX front hubs on the wide rpm arms now as I want to run the JC 5 star wheels. I really want to buy the white ones and dye them orange but supposedly they can't be dyed. They only offer the fronts in the standard width and I'd like to run the wider front tires. I could run standard Losi wider dishes but with dish wheels I may as well just keep the standard axles. What happened to the good old days when there was a wide selection of wheel styles to choose from?

[bearrickster]

What happened to the good old days when there was a wide selection of wheel styles to choose from?

I really miss all of the Bodies !!!!!!!!

[losiXXXman]

Hey Fred -

Have you read all through this thread? Please don't take that to be condescending, I was just asking. On page two in the second post, I described a way to get 2.2 wheels, in white nylon (dyeable to orange). Kind of looked like you want it to LOOK true to the original JRx2...

I haven't even started my vintage Losi yet, but this is a subject I have thought a lot about. (for my Ultima Pro) The way I see it, a Losi buggy should have spoked wheels, none of this dish stuff. (I LOVE the original JRx2 5-spokes!) I've seen the Rulux wheels and the look nice on the car.(Not faithful,to the original, but better than a dish). The XX 5-spokes I also like despite the width issue.(I campaigned a XXcr for many years.) Her's what I think I'm going to do. RB5 carriers and axles and such, and then these wheels: I think a nice light orange dye job would be good too .

FRONT5.jpg

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXXSA0&P=7

Oh, you'll need a 12mm hex on the rear as well, and a set of these:

REAR5.jpg

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXXSA1&P=7

I've heard that the RB5 carrier adds a little width, so that should help the problem with the XXcr wheel, and if more width is needed, you could use the rears up front, cut to width of course. (You can see that the rear has a little MORE offset than the front.) Also search for the Ultra 7 wheel from HPI - it's a combination dished/spoked wheel, looks good, nylon material, comes molded in a few colors already. (A little more like an Ultima wheel.)

REAR7.jpg

Sorry the Pictures didn't copy, in the quote - guess you'll just have to go back to page two for a visual.

[chriswolfson]

So... Just to clarify - I can run an AE B4 wheels on the car? I'm thinking I have to run a different front axle and maybe use a spacer in the back? Yes?

[fredswain]

I did see those pictures but I don't want to run the hex style wheels. I have decided to use JC Racing RC10 front wheels with JC Racing XX Rear wheels. Both would allow the correct offset and the car would require no modification. They are also 5 star style although only in white or yellow. I am running these wheels on my RC10 which had a big factor in the choice as having everything compatible is a nice thing.

You can run B4 rear wheels but they end up slightly narrow, somewhere between 9-1/2" and 9-5/8". The XX/XXX wheels have a slightly different offset and the rear end width ends up very nice when used with them. It is around 9-3/4". It's not much wider but all the better within the rules. As for the fronts you can use B4 wheels with wider axles but again the overall width may end up slightly narrow. It really depends as there are a couple of different wide axle options that you can use. One may work out perfectly.

[PhatDad]

First off I just want to say hey, me being the new guy and all. I have been trying to tackle the same issue and dug up the following adapters on tower. The rear adapters aren't due until the end of the month. If this is already common knowledge ecxcuse me.

HPI rear adapters # HPIC6120
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXN057&P=V

HPI front adapters # HPIC6115
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXN055&P=V

[fredswain]

Yeah those popped up on page 1 or 2 of the thread. Since I am trying to keep my costs down, I am trying to run the exact same wheels on my RC10 and my JRX.