You say rock-racing, I hear Axial Bomber!
This amazing rock racer champion has the industry’s first all-plastic tube chassis. So good, but can be improved to better. Maybe even the best! How do you do that? How do you mod the Classic Range Rover bodied racer to do better?
This article tells you exactly how to do that! So buckle up, get some snacks and let me explain to you the upgrades and costs of an Axial Bomber.
Upgrades and Costs At A Glance
| Part | Reason of Upgrade | Cost |
| Servo | Smooth performance | $50-100 |
| Motor & ESC | Faster speed | $70-200 |
| Trailing Arms | Protection and durability | $30-50 |
| Tires and Wheels | Protection, smooth drive etc. | $30-40 |
| Axles and Dogbones | Protection and durability | $30-140 |
| Shocks | Protection and durability | $30-50 |
| Battery | Power supply, compatibility with mods. | $40-60 |
How Much Does Its Cost to Upgrade?
The entire upgrade will cost you about $280-640.
You can upgrade the servo at $50-100, $70-200on Motor & ESC, up to $40-60 on batteries etc.
Axial Bomber Upgrades:
Listen, I could be giving you a long list of upgrades. But most of them aren’t absolute necessaries. The rig is brushed and awesome already! But this is what I can suggest you: A change of motor and servo. Maybe some rod ends, spool lockers and spacers for accessory upgrades.
I will also be suggesting some more upgrades, don’t worry. Here it goes!
1. Servo
The stock servos in these racers are pretty forgettable. A good metal gear servo is what you can consider as a replacement. The MG959 (Full CNC Alloy) TowerPro Digital Metal Gear Servo is a good choice. It is cheap too (50 bucks or so)
You should change the steering servo too. I would suggest getting a Power HD 20kg servo.
While you’re doing this, I suggest you get some CVD’s fit on the front. Get one from the Axial brand. They last longer than the Vanquish ones. Or the RC4WD ones too for that matter.
Meanwhile, also take a look at the steering links. They might be bendy. The best steering link option is the Vanquish titanium one.
2. Motor & ESC
The st`ock motor and electrical unit is quite good. But you can get an upgrade anyway.
If you’re looking for a good brushless motor and ESC combo, I suggest you get the PCtech Hobbywing Ezrun G2 3652SL 3300KV Brushless Motor + Max10 60A ESC
But I must warn you that going brushless is not cheap. If you are going to spend all that money, might as well go for the Castle Creations Mamba X ESC. Go with a Holmes Hobbies Puller Pro V2 motor with that.
Until then, an affordable combo will be the Holmes Hobbies TrailMaster Sport 27T 540 Brushed Crawler Motor with a Hobbywing QUICRUN WP 1080 ESC. This combo runs great on a 3S battery.
Or you can get a bunch of Turnigy sensored motors of 17.5T, a 13.5T, and a 10.5T.
3. Trailing Arms
Trailing arms and a lot of the parts of the bomber are plastic in stock form. This is not a strong setup.
Especially the rear trailing arm faces a lot of force. It contains shocks and when it bounces, it faces a lot of force from the suspension below. So the stock arms have a tendency to bow out due to this pressure or force.
You can use the Vanquish trailing arms. These are an all aluminum design trailing arms with an integrated rod end. These integrated rod ends are a huge benefit to the performance of the truck.
4. Tires and Wheels
The stock tires are Falcon Peak tires. These tires are probably quite fine. However, you can always upgrade those with Proline Hyrax ($30-40). The 2.2 market is getting somewhat limited on tire choices. But the Proline Hyrax is a steady and consecutive performer. This size of a tire in the Axial Bomber works well.
Rather than the predator, you should go for the G8 compound. This should be the preference on the 1.9 side.
You can try new foam set up from Crawler Innovations inside these tires. They are 2.2 heavyweight single-staged foams. They do work well in a heavy crawler and are quite firm. High-speed drifting is also controllable with these tires. This will also not give too much tire roll either.
5. Axles and Dogbones
A very easy upgrade to do (avoiding the need to replace C hubs and knuckles) is replacing the front dogbones with universals. Vanquish Universals can be used in this case.
Universals spare you from broken shafts, broken dogbones, bent dogbones or shafts etc. The VXD universals from Vanquish are what you should go for!
Now while you are changing this, don’t put the stock gear ratio ring and pinions. Get the Incision stock gear ratio ring and pinions. 38/13 or 43/13 should be your gear ratios.
6. Shocks
You can replace the stock shocks with Pro-Line Pre-Assembled Pro-Spec Shocks. Its around 80 bucks and goes in the rear side along with any high-altitude cage construction.
The front springs should be much softer, giving it more ability to move around.
For the shock fluid, use the 35wt fluid.
7. Battery
The trickiest part is to find a battery that fits well for the bomber. Here is my suggestion: Turnigy Graphene 3000mAh 3S 65C packs. This works well with the HH Puller Pro Std 540 3500KV with 10/64 gearing.
If you are looking for a proper 3S, I suggest you go for anything ranging between 3000-5000mah and in the 50C range. Or better!
Axial Bomber Accessories Upgrades
When you are doing tires and foams, the next logical step is to go for bead locks. The stock wheels are bead locked but those are made of plastic. They may not be able to withstand the high power you will be adding as of this article. The Vanquish Method 2.2 105 Beadlocks will go fine. They are available in blue and red.
The truck comes with a rear spare tire mount, which should be removed. This will bring down the weight of the truck.
A go to upgrade would be upgrading the C hubs and knuckles. Upgrading the front axle arm is actually pretty common.
An advanced upgrade is a high-altitude performance back half installation. It is a carbon and aluminum construction that replaces the big half of the rear cage.
Conclusion
As you can see, the Axial Bomber offers a lot of creative upgrades. But the tricky part is to selecting the combination of the upgrades. Some upgrades like the Motor and ESC combo or the trailing arms, universals etc are quite expensive. But I have tried my best to provide the best quality parts under a budget!
Hope this article debunked your upgrading queries. Cheers!
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