Axial AXP8 Gilamon upgrade guide.

The two problems — and the fix order

Problem one: side-hill tipping. The Gilamon stands tall on 5.5" tires, and in stock form too much of its roughly 7 lb sits high and in the middle of the truck. Traverse a slope and the weight transfers, the uphill side unloads, and the truck rolls toward the downhill side — often before the tires run out of grip. The cure is not “more weight” in general; it is weight low, forward, and out at the wheels, where it lowers the center of gravity and widens the truck's effective base. That means brass at the axles — steering knuckles, C-hubs, portal covers — and tire inserts with real sidewall support, so the downhill tire doesn't fold under and lever the truck over. Our weight balance guide covers the theory; this page is the shopping list.

Problem two: reluctant articulation. The Gilamon's 4-link suspension has the geometry to flex, but stock it feels bound up — the tires' soft stock foams squat instead of supporting, and two-wheel steering makes the truck feel like it's fighting every ledge. The levers, in order of effect: supportive inserts that let the tire work as a suspension component, shock tuning, and ultimately rear steering, which changes what the truck can do more than any other single mod.

The fix order matters because each step changes what the next one needs to be. Brass first — it transforms the truck and increases the load on everything else. Inserts and tires second, so grip matches the new stability. A proper steering servo third, because it now has to turn weighted wheels with real traction. Brushless power after the chassis behaves. The winch and four-wheel steer are the victory lap.

Recommended build sheet — $518.60 core

These are the parts the reference builds run, at the best verified prices we could find. Prices are totals landed to a US address (item plus shipping where the retailer publishes it); where a retailer only calculates shipping at checkout, the item price is counted and flagged.

Every brass option we track for this truck lives on our brass & weights page; tires and wheels are on the tires page and servos page.

Optional add-ons

Lowest cost build sheet — $190.12 core

Same fixes, cheapest parts that genuinely work, keeping the stock brushed motor. The two surprises in this table: the budget brass is good brass, and the aluminum “budget” wheels are currently beaten on price by the carbon set in the recommended sheet — buy the carbon if every dollar counts, the aluminum if you want metal durability from INJORA.

Budget adders: the Hobbywing QuicRun Fusion SE 1800KV ($89.99, shipping at checkout) brings brushless FOC control to the budget sheet — a 540-class unit working hard in a 1/8 truck, but half the 8IGHT's money — for a $280.11 total. The INJORA INJS022-360 servo winch ($21.98 landed) adds suck-down duty to the core sheet for $212.10; core + brushless + winch together run $302.09. Four-wheel steer and a new radio are skipped at this tier — the stock DX3 stays. One honest caveat: its third channel already runs the ASD, so even the budget winch wants a spare channel or a standalone winch controller to be truly useful; brass, inserts, tires, and the servo carry this sheet.

Weight bias: where the brass goes

Weight bias is a ratio, not a pile of parts. You're aiming for roughly 60% of the truck's weight over the front axle and 40% over the rear, with as much of it as possible below axle height and out at the wheels. Check your work with four cheap scales (one under each tire) or two scales and a pair of blocks — our weight balance guide walks through the measuring methods.

On the Gilamon the placement menu is short and effective. Up front: steering knuckles and C-hubs are the heavy hitters — MEUS's set puts 512.6g there — and portal covers (Treal's TLHAXP8-12 set adds 281g across the axle, a legitimate middle step at $39.98) stack on top. Out back, restraint is the skill: MEUS's 144.4g stub axle carriers are deliberately about a quarter of the front set's weight, keeping the back end planted on descents without dragging the bias rearward. Resist symmetrical thinking — equal brass at both ends raises the total weight while barely moving the ratio, and it makes the truck worse on climbs.

The AliExpress trap, spelled out: the LJF RC Store listing in the budget sheet is the best cheap brass source for this truck piece by piece — counterweights $20.15, rear axle seat $30.39, steering cup $43.49 if you want knuckle-side weight later. But its “Full brass set” option costs $126.79 — more than MEUS's front set and rear carriers bought together ($98.98), for a lighter result. If your cart drifts toward the full set, stop and buy the MEUS pair instead.

Mid-step option: Treal Brass Outer Portal Covers, $39.98 at Adrenaline RC — 140.5g each. All Gilamon brass lives together on our brass & weights page.

Articulation: inserts, shocks, and the 4WS lever

Start with inserts (effort: an evening). A tire is part of the suspension. When the stock foam collapses, the truck sits down on the rim, the contact patch goes vague, and the suspension never gets to work. Silicone inserts (recommended sheet) or dual-stage foams (budget sheet) hold the tire's shape so the links and shocks can do their job — this is the cheapest articulation improvement there is, and it doubles as a tipping fix.

Tune the shocks you have (effort: an hour, honestly labeled). The Gilamon's internal-spring shocks respond to the usual work: fresh oil at a sensible weight, preload set so the truck sits slightly nose-proud at rest, and a check that nothing binds at full droop or full compression — a link or driveshaft binding at the extremes reads exactly like “not enough articulation.” Work one change at a time and drive the same line between changes; our geometry guide explains what each adjustment is actually moving. Browse the wider shock range on our shocks page if you outgrow the stock units.

Four-wheel steering is the big lever (effort: high — a weekend). No shock tune changes a truck like rear steer does: the back axle stops dragging the truck wide, ledges get crabbed across instead of climbed head-on, and side hills can be steered into rather than endured. There is no turnkey kit — Axial's own parts are the path, which is why our sheet prices them as a package: the AXI-2206 assembled steering axle ($129.98 landed) swapped onto the rear, the AXI-2207 titanium 4WS links ($42.98 landed), a second strong servo, and a radio that can mix it. Adventure AZ's build followed this recipe, and their follow-up on the fiddly part — setting up the transmission ASD servo — is required viewing before you start, because the ASD system and its micro servo share the truck's channel budget and endpoint setup with everything you're adding.

Brushless: Fusion install notes

The Gilamon's stock Boulder 550 brushed motor is torquey and honest, but a FOC brushless 2-in-1 is a different driving experience: silent startup from zero throttle, a crawl speed you can hold indefinitely, and a drag brake that parks the truck on a face. The reference build runs a Hobbywing Fusion, and the sheet's spec pick is the Fusion 8IGHT 2300KV ($169.99) because it's the one actually built for this truck's size — a 550-class can (42×69mm), a 5mm shaft, 2–4S, and a 6A continuous BEC. A 540-class Fusion Pro also fits and works — plenty of owners run one — just know it's the smaller unit working harder in a 7 lb truck, and the middle path in our catalog is the Fusion Pro Elite 2300KV ($131.99).

The pinion warning, because it bites everyone: the Gilamon's gearing is 32 pitch — 14T pinion, 34T spur. The Fusion 8IGHT's shaft is 5mm. If your stock pinion's bore doesn't fit the 5mm shaft, you need a 32P 14T pinion with a 5mm bore: the Robinson Racing RRP8614 ($10.99 at Platinum Hobbies). Do not buy the similarly numbered RRP1214 — it's a Mod 1 pinion, a different tooth profile that will chew up the spur. Set mesh with a strip of paper between the gears, threadlock the set screw, and re-check mesh after the first pack.

New to 2-in-1 FOC systems? Our brushless crawler motor guide covers the whole landscape, and our servo guide explains the torque numbers behind both sheets' picks.

Buy order: fix it in stages

You don't need $518.60 — or $928.68 — all at once. Bought in this order, every stage makes the truck measurably better and sets up the next:

1. Front brass — AliExpress counterweights ($20.15) to start, MEUS knuckle & C-hub set ($69.99) to finish. The tipping fix begins here.
2. Tire inserts — silicone ($32.98) or dual-duro foams ($31.98). Sidewall support for the brass to lean on.
3. Rear brass — MEUS carriers ($28.99 with the front set) or the AliExpress rear seat ($30.39). Balance the bias toward 60/40.
4. Tires — Baja Pro X pairs ($55.98) or the Ruptures-style set ($21.64). Grip to match the stability.
5. Steering servo — INJS235 ($37.98) or RS800 v2 ($124.99), before the stock servo dies turning weighted wheels.
6. Wheels — carbon ($30.69). The stock wheels work until now; that's why this is step six, not step one.
7. Brushless — Fusion 8IGHT ($169.99) plus the RRP8614 pinion ($10.99) if needed. Control, once the chassis deserves it.
8. Phase two — GT5 radio ($49.15), then the winch and 4WS package when you're ready for the big-lever mods.

Follow that order and there is no point in the build where the truck is waiting on a part to be good again — it just keeps getting better. That's the whole philosophy of this site, and it's why the sheets above are split the way they are.

A quick note on links

Some links on this page are affiliate links. If you buy through them, the retailer may pay us a commission at no extra cost to you — it keeps the lights on and the deal verification going. Prices were verified Oct 13, 2026; the live deal pages always show the current verified total. RC Crawlers Seek currently tracks 3,545 hand-verified deals.