I purchased an XMOD Evolution Nissan Titan a while back and began to discover all the cool accessories available, from tire kits to light kits, to 4wd kits. Once I began messing around with it and adding accessories, I decided I wanted to turn my Titan into a mini rock crawler.
I knew it may not have been the easiest task to accomplish but I was determined and began looking around the internet to see if anyone else had done similar projects with their XMODs. To my surprise there were a few videos up on YouTube of guys who replaced their motors with Servo Motors. These little motors are very slow but can provide just enough torque to get the job done. I usually like to do things my own way to make them original so I began devising a plan to get plenty of torque without the use of a servo motor. Before I get into that let me first give a bit of an overview of the XMOD Evolution Nissan Titan.
The first thing I noticed that needed to be changed was the limited amount of clearance that the battery tray provided. To solve this I carefully removed the battery tray from the underside of the truck and relocated it to the top of the chassis.
Next thing that needed to be done to make this an excellent rock crawler was to design a custom gear system that would create a tremendous amount of torque. I accomplished this by purchasing a small gear set and adding in two larger gears in line with the motor. I then relocated the motor to allow room for the additional gears. This creates a tremendous drop in the RPM’s, but increases the torque substantially. This particular gearing created a drop in RPM’s from 30,000 (Stage 2 motor upgrade) to 300 RPM at the wheels.
The last thing that was necessary was to upgrade the stock tires to a much larger crawling-capable tire. For the tires I just scrambled around the house to see what I might have. I remembered a big container full of Legos that I used to play with when I was little. I dug through there and found the perfect match for the Crawler. Initially trying to find a way to make them work on the truck seemed difficult, but then I realized the tire itself would fit perfectly over the stock tire and wheel.
Now that the Crawler chassis was complete and I realized that the stock components (dog bones, gears, control arms, etc.) would need some serious upgrading if they were going to withstand the tremendous amount of torque that the new motor setup would be producing. It didn’t take long at all before the dog bones started to shear right off under the pressure.
So now I needed to see find a good source where some higher quality components could be found. After getting on the internet I began searching and looking through a few message boards. Eventually I came upon AtomicMods.com. I discovered they not only stocked enough aluminum billet components to replace just about every stock plastic piece on the XMOD, they also have any other upgrade you could dream up available. Whether you’re trying to make your XMOD into a speed machine (faster than you ever thought an RC Car that small could go- seriously check out some of the videos on the site!), or your trying to build a to scale bullet-proof rock crawler like I am, they have the parts and extras necessary to get the job done. Not only that, if you have any questions about customizing your XMOD, just jump over to the FAQ section or simply give them a call.
I went through the parts list and replaced just about every drive train component I thought necessary that would be under direct pressure from the torque of the motor and gears. Speaking of gears, they would be some of the first parts to get replaced.
I replaced the 3rd Unit Gear with a new GPM Composite Gear. These GPM gears are made from a self-lubricating composite plastic which is much stronger and precise than the stock plastic gears.
The next and most important gear was the differential. The stock diff gear is made entirely of plastic and is probably one of the most likely to break as it is the last in the driveline and will be receiving the most torque. I replaced these with the GPM SuperDuty Ball Differential. These diffs are as strong as they get with the main shaft constructed of billet aluminum and the gear itself being Delrin. More than likely, the area where the dog bone slides in and out of the stock plastic diff gear will eventually split and break as it would not be able to handle the continuous pressure. The aluminum shaft on the GPM diff will be more than a sufficient upgrade over the stock plastic.
With the gears replaced in the rear section of the XMOD I then proceeded with the dog bones. The stock plastic dog bones are by far the weakest and most susceptible component in the drive train. I will tell you first hand that we broke all 4 of the stock ones before I finally upgraded. GPM’s Billet Aluminum Axle Stubs and Captive Dog bones would be a perfect solution for this.
Along with replacing the dog bones I also replaced the components that directly held the tires, which included the control arms and knuckles. I replaced the control arms with GPM Billet Aluminum Control Arms and the knuckles with some of GPM’s Billet Aluminum Knuckles. This new configuration holding in the new GPM dog bones would prove to be unstoppable. Aside from being stronger, the new GPM Knuckle is also adjustable and will allow you to remove that annoying wheel wobble that the stock XMOD setup has. Comparing the stock configuration vs. the GPM setup side by side speaks for itself. It’s like comparing a piece of poster board to sheet metal. It’s obvious which will be stronger.
With that I moved to the front, satisfied that I had replaced all the components that would be most likely to break. On the front I replaced everything as I did in the back plus the addition of a new GPM Billet Aluminum Tie Rod.
Now that the weak stock components have been replaced, the drive train is virtually bullet-proof.
I decided once the chassis was complete to change the body since I was going to need to raise it to allow clearance for the new tires anyways. I went up to a local hobby shop and picked up a 1/26th scale Hummer H1 body. It was a perfect fit and was made of metal, which in turn gave the crawler added weight and traction. I mounted up some 1/4" plexi-glass to the sides of the chassis and drilled some holes to support the new body.
Last I drilled holes in the sides of the metal body to match the holes in the plexi-glass. With that, it was time to hit the trails and put these components to the test. As expected, they held up fantastic and the XMOD Crawler was able to tear up any of its competition!