My Class 1 Rig-The Tracker

[mississippirocs]

I have like this build from the start. My Tracker is my favorite rig ever and I would love to have a full set of the bumpers and roof rack for mine.


ON a side note is your chsssis alum or delrin. I have a delrin chassis on mine and I was unable to run a chassis mounted servo due to chassis flex. just a thought.

[EEM-CrawlinMachine]

Now thats some badassness right there!

[@tw!ll]

Originally Posted by Jer

That paintjob is absolutely awesome. Just enough flash.

Yah it is an amazing job. I couldn't be happier how it turned out.

Originally Posted by Mr. Ed

Won't be long now, I know that close feelin, towards the end of a project and I know your getting there! Looks good, and I like the cargo rack!

Thanks! I still have quite a long list of things to do, but got more than a few of them tackled today. Still have many more to go before this thing has to be boxed up and handed off the fedex guy.

Originally Posted by mississippirocs

I have like this build from the start. My Tracker is my favorite rig ever and I would love to have a full set of the bumpers and roof rack for mine.


ON a side note is your chsssis alum or delrin. I have a delrin chassis on mine and I was unable to run a chassis mounted servo due to chassis flex. just a thought.

Mine's an aluminum. I can def see how the delrin ones would flex. Maybe when i have some time for custom work we can talk about some stuff for yours.

Originally Posted by EEM-CrawlinMachine

Now thats some badassness right there!

Thanks!

Originally Posted by jasontsai

Looking nice & good tube work!!!

Thanks!

[@tw!ll]

So worked my butt off today to make up for spending the day at the hospital waiting for my new nephew yesterday. He arrived all safe and sound btw

First up got the roof rack and cargo rack all sorted and ready for paint.


Then the sliders. I wanted to enclose the bottoms, but i didn't want to just run a single sheet of metal across. So...


Then cut those out and transferred to 21awg steel.


Then welded them on.


Then I needed lower body mounts. I'm out of threaded tabs, so I took my large tabs and welded nuts on the back.


Welded those onto the sliders


Time to test fit the batteries. Lipo is the rig's batt, and the little nimh is for the winch


Bottom view


Needed a gas tank, so out came an axial rec box. Did a little trimming, filled the bottom holes, and drilled new ones. Best part is this is also acts as a frame crossmember.



Trimmed a little more on the servo mount, and put on an arm. Still have to trim the end of the servo horn.


Installed the Team3six fairlead on the front bumper. Slotting steel is NOT fun.



What's this?


Why inner fenderwells of course.


And at the end of the day. I ran and picked up servo extensions, and some wire to extend the wires on the winch.



Still gotta get the bumpers and body fully mounted so I can get going on the interior.

[@tw!ll]

I need opinions, I'm trying to decide wether or not to add a stinger to the front bumper. What do you guys think?

[Jer]

Originally Posted by @tw!ll

I need opinions, I'm trying to decide wether or not to add a stinger to the front bumper. What do you guys think?

No, everyone has a stinger. Unless your driving style requires a stinger, leave it off, it keeps the front beautifully clean.

[chino63]

You need to ditch the stock driveshafts and get yourself a couple bags of these.



That way you can run the Stampede shafts for bulletproof performance. The Mongoose setup will kill the stockers.

Tower link: http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXGBH2&P=7



Oh yeah, no stinger.

[@tw!ll]

Originally Posted by Jer

No, everyone has a stinger. Unless your driving style requires a stinger, leave it off, it keeps the front beautifully clean.

Yah I made one today and held it up. I really didn't like it. Maybe after montana i'll play around and build a full tube front bumper with a stinger as an alternate. But for now I'm gonna stick with it as is.

Originally Posted by chino63

You need to ditch the stock driveshafts and get yourself a couple bags of these.



That way you can run the Stampede shafts for bulletproof performance. The Mongoose setup will kill the stockers.

Tower link: http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXGBH2&P=7



Oh yeah, no stinger.

Dean you are the man. I've been really dreading taking it to nats with those puny little stockers on there. I ordered tower's last 2 pairs. I'd really like 2 more pairs as spares, but i'll have to live. Thanks for the idea.

[chino63]

Originally Posted by @tw!ll

Dean you are the man. I've been really dreading taking it to nats with those puny little stockers on there. I ordered tower's last 2 pairs. I'd really like 2 more pairs as spares, but i'll have to live. Thanks for the idea.

No problem, I'd hate to see you break on course. Doubt you will need any spares, I've been running them on my '57 (Mongoose on 3s) for over a year and have no issues to date.

[Mr. Ed]

Originally Posted by chino63

No problem, I'd hate to see you break on course. Doubt you will need any spares, I've been running them on my '57 (Mongoose on 3s) for over a year and have no issues to date.

I run the same thing with no issues either.. Seems like I had to shave just a sliver off the tranny case but otherwise fit very well. Nice upgrade for drive shafts for sure!

[@tw!ll]

Originally Posted by chino63

No problem, I'd hate to see you break on course. Doubt you will need any spares, I've been running them on my '57 (Mongoose on 3s) for over a year and have no issues to date.

Originally Posted by Mr. Ed

I run the same thing with no issues either.. Seems like I had to shave just a sliver off the tranny case but otherwise fit very well. Nice upgrade for drive shafts for sure!

Glad to hear it guys, thanks!
Unfortunately ran into some electrical issues with this rig. I finally got to the point of hooking everything up, only to find out about the 4th channel blunder on the new traxxas 2.4 radios.
Then to make things worse I hook up the mongoose completely as per instructions, turn on the switch and POOF big puff of smoke out of the esc. By the time i got everything unhooked, the motor was hot enough to cook off of. Why do I suddenly here Alanis singing Ironic. I finally break down and buy a brushless setup, and I get the lemon
So now calling novak to see if there's anyway they can get me taken care of in time for nats, then off to Radio Shack to find a fix for the winch control.

[chino63]

That sucks! Novak seems to have that problem. I had that same issue with a Goat Crawler and a Rooster. If you can't get the brushless situation squared by Montana, I will be bringing an extra Mongoose setup you can borrow.

[@tw!ll]

Wow Dean, thanks! I talked to them, they said if I could get them the old one at the beginning of the week they could get it tested and replace it same day. So I just paid $20 to overnight it to them Man this is turning into an expensive brushless.
Went to the shack and got a 3 position center off toggle, and replaced the 3rd channel single action switch. At least the winch control works right now

[@tw!ll]

So it's update time. This is actually a couple days worth of updates again.
Got the gas can mount on the rear bumper.


With everything installed.


I strongly considered whether or not to put a stinger on the front. I went as far as bending up a few different ones just to see. in the end I think it looks much cleaner without. I might decide to build a tube style front for it at a later date with a stinger, but we will see. Added the brackets and close off panel.


Added the mount brackets and a trim panel to the rear.


Hey look, it's got bumpers and sliders and all.



There's a space between the body and the rear bumper. I added a trim plate to the bumper that fills it in. Didn't get pics of it though.


With the roof and luggage rack.



What crawler build would be complete without flex shots right?



Nekkid shot


Got the fenderwells somewhat figured out. Still have to mod the rears due to the shape of the rear fenders. These will get sprayed with rubberized undercoating.




Sprayed all the metal work hammertone black.


Seriously can't wait to be done with scale nats prep. My work area is a disaster area.


As far as the radio problem, at least that was an easy fix. Picked up a 3 position center-off toggle switch at radio shack for $3.49, removed the original 2 position 3rd channel switch, and drilled a hole on the backside for the new toggle. Quick and easy, and my winch works correctly now.



The switch for anyone wanting to know.


So my wife and I had a little talk this evening. Basically I've been eating, drinking, breathing, and even sleeping scale nats. She's at her wits end, so I'm no longer making this thing the priority. If it's done in time for the big show, great. If not, I will still finish it and enjoy the heck out of crawling it. But I'm not gonna kill myself, or piss off the women of my dreams for my own rig. The funny thing is, as soon as we finished with that talk, I felt much more relaxed than I have in a couple months. So at this point, not a whole lot to do until the brushless shows back up, so it'll be a few days at least before any more pics.

[team3six]

Its all in strides Dave. call and ask my wife. She has been dealing with me working out of state for a year now every week and working on my rigs non stop for MSD's for a few months. We make Friday nights movie and or Dinner night to get out together. But I am back at it when I can. But I promised her after Nat's, She will have my attention for quite sometime.

Then its back to Team3six Business as usuall

[Mr. Ed]

After a Big GTG I useally won't touch my crawlers for atleast a week, Keeps me outta the Dog House but it gives me time to think of the next upgrade or how to fix what I broke

Now, I love the way that truck looks! Spray the fenderwells, fix the electronics, and just go crawl it, Yes it would be cool to win at the scale nats...but deep down, it's just a good time with friends!

[boob dude]

Awesome bumpers they look great keep it up can't wait to see it in Montana

[Robe]

man nice work so far! i just found this bild! lol

[chino63]

Now why does this look familiar?
























Aaahaaa!!!!! I knew I saw it somewhere before!


The U.S. Apollo Lunar Roving Vehicle from Apollo 15 on the moon in 1971

[Mr. Ed]

Now thats Funny! I Don't care who ya are!