Where to START?

Where to start?  You want a General Lee and you’re ready to build one, but what do you need? What you need is a starting point, there are many different ways/styles to build these cars, but not all pieces/parts work well together.  If there is a fork in the road, it is the type of GL vs. the $cost$ of your GL…you must choose one of these roads.   Unlimited budget?  Build whatever kind of GL you desire.  Limited budget?  You can still build a fun, good looking GL.  Being that these cars require some amount of technical assembly/modification skill….that will also weigh in on your build, but even the easiest build if pretty cool!

 

Below are a few examples of what some dudes have used for parts and what they’ve paid for them, this can give you a rough idea on what your GL might cost.

 

For a car like mine, here’s a list of parts along with their general price ranges you might pay:

  • General Lee Body/car $40 – $200
  • Duratrax Vendetta car complete $100 – $200 ( with a radio )
  • VXL 3M $150 ( motor/speed control, upgrade)
  • $40 ball differential
  • $50 Battery
  • $50 – $100 Battery Charger
  • $60 Tires and wheels
  • $15 Pinion 12T
  • $40 CVD driveshafts
  • $20 Custom Chassis  ( if you have the tools to do it yourself , figure maybe $100 if you do not. )
  • $100 multiple shipping charges and or tax ( cause you can’t get this stuff from one supplier )

About $650ish’ – $1050ish’  ( Parts only )

If you already have a radio, battery and charger…do the math, it’s less dough.

OR….

another route is:

  • RTR on-road car from hobbyshop or Ebay, etc…$350
  • RcCarKings or whoever, 190 – 200mm wide Charger Lexan body $45
  • Paint $10
  • Decals $20
  • Wheels n’ Tires $60

about $500…and this will get you a solid General Lee r/c car.  Check out my “Builds” page for some examples.

OR:

Email sent to me by a fellow General Lee builder with his build plan, ( Rohn on the “Builds” page )

Subject: Wanna Share My General Lee Build

Message Body:

I was so inspired by your jump videos that I started to acquire a Malibu body and once I did, I started hacking away using existing what I had laying around.

I ended up cutting a Helion Animus in half and mounted them to an old HPI RS4 aluminum plate.  I then replaced the wheel hex nuts from the proprietary Animus to the Traxxas 1/16 hex adapters so I can mount 1/10 wheels on the car.

Once I did that, I began to mount the shell onto the custom chassis. This probably took the longest as I had to get it perfectly measured along with the height. It’s mounted on and looks fantastic. I’d love to share it.

Build Cost: ~$250-ish

Helion Animus: $100

Traxxas wheel adapters: $5

Malibu Walmart Shell: $50

HPI Alum plate: $25

HPI Wheels/Tires: $60 (waiting for them to ship: using old HPI Wheels/Tires)

 

I hope this helps.