Yet another New Bright TJ build

[SFT2]

I've been wanting to build an RC TJ similar to my 2k TJ for a while, and I'm finally getting started on it. I found a New Bright TJ without a transmitter on Ebay and got it for $10. When it got here I discovered it's in great shape, not a scratch on it, so I immediately disassembled it and tossed the chassis, roll cage, light bar, spare tire, and bumpers in a box. Then I ordered a YJ chassis from TSS since it looks to be about the right dimensions. I think I'm going to go with RC4WDs black steel wheels and Rock Crushers on TLT axles. The wheels are a hair small (14.5", roughly) and the tires a bit large (34.9"), but I'm going up to 35s in a couple of months and the wheels are close enough. Haven't decided on running gear yet, but I suspect I'm going to have to put the motor and a planetary box under the hood with a 1:1 geared transfer case on the skidplate. I have rear corner and rocker armor coming shortly for the real one, so I'll add that, which will give me a chance to make the rear wheelhouses the right size/shape. Since I have flat fenders up front that part will be easy, just cut off the fenders and add an 1/8" lip around the edge. My front bumper is a cut down Smittybilt that shouldn't be tough to copy and the rear is a fairly standard 2x4 box tubing and swingarm tire carrier arrangement. Piece of cake with 1/4" square brass tubing. Roll cage will be stock shaped, bent out of 1/4" brake line and brazed, then wrapped with black cloth tape to simulate the padding. The rear shock towers are obviously not going to clear the floor of the tub, so I'm going to cut it to clear them, then build a toolbox to cover one and an ice chest for the other, and pack the area between them with sleeping bags, tent, etc. No idea how I'm going to replicate my Spiderweb Shade bikini top, possibly window screen.

Now the part I'm a bit concerned about. I rarely have the top up or doors on, so I'm going to cut the doors out of the NB body. That means I have to fill the gap between the interior and tub. Does anyone have any advice on what to use to do that? I'm guessing the body is ABS, and I have a 4'x4' sheet of 1/8" ABS in the garage, but how do I get it to stick? I'd rather solvent weld, but I'm not sure what solvent to use. Methylene chloride, maybe? What has everyone else used on these bodies?

No pics of the project yet, it's just another black New Bright TJ tub sitting on a disaster of a work bench, surrounded by 1/35 HMMVWs and Blackhawks, but here's a few pics of what I'd like to end up with:

Side view. Magpul skull stickers in front of the doors will be copied. A friend has a vinyl cutter and made those, so he won't have a problem shrinking them to about an inch.


Front bumper, winch, turn signals, etc. I may make the winch myself and hide a servo under the hood since all I've seen so far are Warn replicas. Turn signals will be LEDs with the end sanded flat mounted in grommets.


Spiderweb Shade. If I can't get window screen to look right I might lose my mind and weave something myself. I'm really hoping it doesn't come to that.


More later as things progress. Now I need to order some 1/4" delrin round for the control arms. That'll be a 20 minute job on the lathe.

[Tommy R]

Nice idea and nice 1:1, but I guess I'm pretty partial to TJs myself. Looking forward to seeing this take shape!

[scale-bronco]

If you have not cut the body yet don't. I did that with one of thoughs body's and there is no glue that bonds the plastic together.

[Tommy R]

Originally Posted by scale-bronco

If you have not cut the body yet don't. I did that with one of thoughs body's and there is no glue that bonds the plastic together.

Bondene, Pro-Weld, or any of the other bonding agents out there worked on it? I figured being ABS it would bond to styrene fine, but perhaps not?

[TJ Steve]

Hey Tommy, good to see you doing another TJ build. You might check out some landscaping cloth for the sun shade. Your 1 ton TJ build inspired me to build one too. Thanks for all the info you provided, it helped me a bunch. I'm still not done with the body, and need to get some pics on a build thread. I'm going a bit further than you did with the body, and would be done by now if not for that. I started it back in February.
Anyhow, I'll be watching this build for sure! You do some great work!

[Tommy R]

Originally Posted by TJ Steve

Hey Tommy, good to see you doing another TJ build. You might check out some landscaping cloth for the sun shade. Your 1 ton TJ build inspired me to build one too. Thanks for all the info you provided, it helped me a bunch. I'm still not done with the body, and need to get some pics on a build thread. I'm going a bit further than you did with the body, and would be done by now if not for that. I started it back in February.
Anyhow, I'll be watching this build for sure! You do some great work!

Steve, I appreciate the kind words, but this build belongs to SFT2, not me.

[TJ Steve]

So sorry SFT2, I was blinded by the light!
I Love those TJ's! I got a 1.1, and like I told Tommy, I'm building a 1 ton 1.9 YJ to TJ conversion on an XCS10 chassis.
Even though I directed my post to TommyR, you might try the landscaping cloth. I think it might be the ticket for the sunshade. I will still be watching this build! Carry on, brother.

[SFT2]

Originally Posted by Tommy R

Nice idea and nice 1:1, but I guess I'm pretty partial to TJs myself. Looking forward to seeing this take shape!

Thanks, she's getting there. Found out last night that I might even get my 8.8 this year! When that happens I'll be shopping for a Dana 44 front end and 37s. Which means I'll have to find some 1.9s and new tires for this project since the only affordable 37s are for 17" wheels.

Originally Posted by scale-bronco

If you have not cut the body yet don't. I did that with one of thoughs body's and there is no glue that bonds the plastic together.

Glue is the wrong way to go about this. It has to be done with a solvent of some kind. I'm about to head out to the garage and experiment with some of the parts I'm not putting back on and some methylene chloride.

Originally Posted by Tommy R

Bondene, Pro-Weld, or any of the other bonding agents out there worked on it? I figured being ABS it would bond to styrene fine, but perhaps not?

Is it ABS, though? It's not marked and feels a bit more brittle than I'm used to. I know it's not HDPE, UHMW, or any of the other common types of polyethylene, which is a very good thing since nothing on this planet will stick to that stuff.

Originally Posted by TJ Steve

So sorry SFT2, I was blinded by the light!
I Love those TJ's! I got a 1.1, and like I told Tommy, I'm building a 1 ton 1.9 YJ to TJ conversion on an XCS10 chassis.
Even though I directed my post to TommyR, you might try the landscaping cloth. I think it might be the ticket for the sunshade. I will still be watching this build! Carry on, brother.

Hey, just to confuse things more, I'm a Steve, too! Yeah, landscaping cloth sounds like a plan. I need some for the yard anyway, so I'll fetch some next time I'm down there. I'm planning on building a "flowerbed" in the front yard and then "realizing I have no horticultural ability" after filling it with large boulders. Gee, wonder what that's gonna be used for.

I had planned on going down to the hobby shop to fetch a new razor saw, but ran out of time/energy. I'll attempt that this weekend at some point. Anyone know where I might find some kind of electronic gizmo, preferably controllable by a spare channel, that'll run flashy red/blue lights? I have an on/off switch that'll work, but nothing that'll do the flashing. Suppose I could figure out a way to make it work with a couple of transistors and a 555 timer or two, but I've slept a couple of times since messing with circuit design. Jomar, or whatever they're called, maybe?

[SFT2]

Yeah, I know, Google is your friend...

http://www.rcpolicelightbars.com/WebStore.html

There is potential here.

[SFT2]

Yeah, I know, I know, multiple replies to my own thread is post whoring, but I'm heavily medicated. Yeah, that's it. Meds. Sounds good, I'll go with it.

Ok, opinions are needed from those who know more about this than me, which is basically anyone on the planet since I've only done buggies, touring cars, and comp crawlers to this point. I'm still debating what axles to use. Should I go with bare TLTs and order the parts needed to lock out the rear axle steering, lock the diffs, and attach the control arms, or should I go buy a Mini Rock Crawler RTR and start tearing it apart? I'm going to be using my 3PKS in it, but I don't have a motor, tranny, etc. lined up yet. With either choice, what wheels will give me the right track width? Remember that things are a bit deceptive when looking at a stock New Bright body since it has very wide pocket flares on it and my TJ has no flares at all up front. However, just to make things more complicated, MCE (who makes the flat fender kit) is about to release the 3.5" flare version of the flat fenders, which I plan on getting and, naturally, replicating.

A bit of a decision on the front bumper. I'm going to attempt to make it out of square tubing and flat stock, all torch soldered brass (not brazed, there's a subtle difference I'll get into later if anyone is interested). To do that I'm going to have to make a brake to bend the sheet. CAD drawings will be posted when I get that far, and if anyone wants to make one I'll turn the steel and delrin parts of the guide rails for ya. It's going to be much less complicated than the brake I desperately need for 1:1 work, just a cam to provide the pressure needed. Should be good for up to about .080 brass 4" wide. On a related note, I'm hoping my mini miter saw will cut brass box tubing. It'll make life much more accurate and much less complicated.

Now for an interesting idea. I badly need a trailer for the real one. Anyone that's driven a CJ, YJ, or TJ knows there's barely enough room behind the seat for a gym bag. If you're camping and need the back seat for kids... yeah, God help you. So I want to build a roughly 4'x4' trailer that uses the same wheels/tires as the Jeep, at roughly the same track width and ride height. It doesn't need to flex as much since, well, it's a trailer with a single axle attached with at least a 2" ball, possibly a lunette/pintle hook. However, this isn't something that a poorly paid public servant on disability can just go buy somewhere so I have to build it. Fortunately I like welding. However, there are some geometry issues I just can't work on in my head or get onto paper/CAD, so I'm going to build it at 1:9.35 scale before I spend a good bit of cash on the real thing. Since I need the trailer fairly soon for vacation the end of next month I'm going to start on it first. Literally putting the cart before the horse. First I have to figure out an axle. It doesn't have to be a perfectly scale beam axle, but I need the length right, so I'm going to start with some 6061 tubing, throw it in the lathe, and bore the ends to accept suitable bearings, such as the ones in AX10 steering knuckles. Alternatively I could hunt down some 12mm hex stock (all I have is 7/8" right now) and make some hubs with bearings. I'll figure it out.

Ok, I've written yet another book. I'll go work on something for a bit.

[SFT2]

A little progress. Got the frame from TSS today and threw it together. Then I found a set of MRC axles on Ebay, so those are on the way. Next I'll work on getting the body modified to fit on the frame and figure out how to bolt it down. I think I'm going to have to build a transfer case to squeeze between the skid and body. But at least it's progress. Here's a pic:

[SFT2]

More progress. Ordered wheels and tires from RC4WD. Went with the black steel wheels (close enough to my 1:1's Soft 8s) and Rock Crushers (as close to BFG KM2s as I've seen for 1.55s). Now I'm going to go pass out. Just got home from getting stabbed in the spine with a needle. I suspect there's more surgery in my near future, which means I'll have about a year of free time to finish this TJ before I can get back to chasing bad guys :(

[SFT2]

Axles got here today and they look absolutely brand new, but this is going to be a bunch more work than I expected. First, the shock mounts are way farther in than I had planned on. In the back that's fine, the 1:1 TJ has the shocks inboard of the frame, so I'll go with it. Up front, however, it just wouldn't look right, and there's really no way I can think of short of making new mounts to put the shocks on the outside of the frame. So what I'm considering is clamping the frame rails in the vise and bending them in until the shocks will fit. Seeing the shocks sticking up above the tires is a pretty important aspect to the look of a flat fendered TJ since they're so obvious. Besides, making some tiny little scale Rough Country shocks with tiny little stickers might get me brownie points next time I need something from them ;)

So, to pull this off I'll need to bend the rails in very precisely, then cut the front crossmember and drill it. Since the frame rails are a bit short (a 1:1 TJ frame sticks out close to a foot past the grille, leaving enough room to bolt down my winch) I'm thinking I need to add a section with a round tube crossmember brazed in just behind the bumper.

Next axle related problem. The control arm bolts are TINY. I hadn't expected that. Crap. Ok, new plan on the control arms. I'm going to have to make them from delrin round stock so I can use tiny little rod ends on the axle end and the usual Traxxas rod ends on the frame. Yes, I'm cheating at the frame and putting both upper and lower arms on the same bolt. I had considered doing radius arms in front, but since I HATE panhard rods/trackbars (pick the term you're comfortable with) on the 1:1 due to the messed up geometry they force the axles to follow and the huge amount of room they take up, keeping me from moving my axles out 4" each (grrr...), I'd rather avoid them, so double triangulated it is. Might even stick with a 3 link since this thing isn't going to flex like my Creeper in any way, shape, or form. If I can get one wheel 2" off the ground before another one follows it I'm doing better (in scale) than the real thing.

I haven't decided what I'm going to do about steering yet. I want to put a servo on the frame with a drag link/tie rod arrangement like the full scale, which is totally different than what we usually use on crawlers. The drag link goes from the pitman arm on the steering box to the right knuckle, the tie rod goes from the left knuckle to the drag link about a foot from it's end on the knuckle. I have no idea why... well, that's not true. I suspect it's to make the geometry work with the blasted track bar (which I still hate). There will be a very small, completely non-functional Rough Country steering damper between the axle and... I think it goes to the drag link, not the tie rod, but I've taken my meds and it's raining out there. This one part will take a LARGE amount of time to make since it will wind up being roughly .24" dia with shaft about .050" dia. Like I said, completely non-functional.

Hmm, I just had a thought. That damper is roughly the same size as a shock (a bit shorter, but same diameter). I could make 3, 1 steering damper and 4 shocks, and mount them where they belong in plain sight from the outside. Then it would need coil springs in front of the shocks, which shouldn't be too horribly tough. To handle the real damping duties I could use pushrods and bellcranks to connect to functional shocks stashed somewhere under the hood.

Am I obsessing with this a bit too much?

In less OCD news, the wheels and tires shipped today. I'm going to attempt not to put them on the Creeper, and will likely fail in that attempt. Utterly.

[rckjeep]

Any updates on this build? I'd like to see more as I'm researching and collecting parts for TJ build myself.

On a 1:1 note, I own and wheel my CJ7 with my family of 4. I bought a small trailer for the exact same reason and have wheeled it on some rubicon-esque trails. My box is 4 feet wide, 3 feet long and 18" deep. It's got a lid so I can keep stuff inside if it rolls which it has done numerous times to the previous owner. It tows pretty well but has a long tonque. I'd like to honestly make it at least 2 feet longer. I've added a rack to the lid to fit more stuff so the extra length would be helpful in keeping the COG low. It's common sense but make sure the trailer wheels have the same bolt pattern as your TJ so you only have to carry one spare. Try to make the track wide of the trailer the same width or narrower than your TJ so the trailer will fit on any trail your Jeep will. Anyway, not trying to hijack just have some experience and thought it might be helpful to you.

Good luck with both your TJ projects and let me know if you have any questions about trail trailers.

[BGGruff]

Yea I am curious too if there any updates? I just recently got a Tamiya YJ body and the same TSS chassis for it. I'll be watching to see what you come up with. Very nice TJ you got there.

[hotrodsonoma]

and X3 on the updates.

[ScaleFreak93]

This thing better have coil springs and not coil overs Awsome idea though and can't wait to see it take shape