BlueBronco budget build
 

My GF's Bronco continues to blow me away every time I see it do somethin it should NEVER have been able to do.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...ekFalls032.jpg

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The fun factor is over 100% with this little rig and I quickly got the itch. Unfortunately the paint didnt hold up in a couple places and I knew that I would have to strip it completely down to make it "pretty" enough to make Kathleen happy. After some careful and rather easy negotiation, I had a new Tamiya Bronco body and some paint on order and the rough old blue body was mine. I took apart the now dusty TrailCourier and donated the rolling chassis to the new budget minded build, BlueBronco.

I dont have any pics of the teardown or initial build up but I decided to keep it as simple and strong as possible so that I could have fun, bash it and not worry bout tearin stuff up all the time. On Kathleen's chassis I kept the front links stock length and shortened up the back of the chassis and rear links. I didnt like it much and said I would change it but the danged thing crawls so well I decided not to touch in...would hate to loose whatever magic its got goin on lol.

On mine I wanted to keep the links as even all around as possible, maybe a tad shorter in the front. I did this by moving the skid forward and redrilling the chassis.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...coChassis5.jpg

Now the skid is essentially in the very center of the chassis. I brought the steering servo in towards the center of the chassis enough to allow for a winch mounted to the frame. This will allow the body to sit nearly perfectly centered on the frame and not have to cut as much off the back.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...coChassis8.jpg

I had some nice 1.55 wheels on the TrailCourier but the Irons I had on them were way too tall. I dont wanna hack the fenders on this rig so smaller tires were needed. I took the opportunity to put together some 3.8" TSLs for it. This way me and Kathleen can both run smaller tires and have fun. I think they look great and add up to about a 38" tire on this rig.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...coChassis6.jpg

I still have to fab up a battery plate/esc mount, winch plate and bumper, trim the rear chassis and mount the body. Im currently stripping the old paint off and then I can get to work on layin a couple new coats down and see where it sits.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...coChassis1.jpg

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So far I have only had to buy a pack of Revo rod ends for my custom links, the rest I have either had layin around or snagged from a buddy. Technically $$$ wise I have about $50 spent on the new body and paint for Kathleen. I love spare part builds and cant wait to see this one hit the trails!

Matt

Lookin' good. Keep up the good work!

This paint stripping takes forever but I should have it decent enough to paint today or tomorrow. Itll look the same outside as Kathleen's pics but with different bumpers and wheels. Im pretty much just gonna make it look how I picture my future Bronco to look like lol. Ill hopefully have some updates tonight.
Matt

I finally got the body stripped to the point that I was happy and got it prepped for paint. I drilled holes for mounts and cut the chassis where needed so its ready to go! Heres a couple really cruddy shots of the progress.

Mounting the body

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...int6/025-7.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...int6/029-4.jpg

Rear frame cut and drilled for mounts

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...int6/041-3.jpg

Ready for paint

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...int6/042-5.jpg

Couldnt get all of the old paint off so I went with the same color. Was gonna try to go with somethin different but Ive always wanted a dark blue Bronco so here it is! I backed it with a bit of silver and it turned out a
little more shiney than last time but itll work for now.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...int6/048-8.jpg

I now need to finish up mounting the electronics, fab up a front winch bumper and a rear tire carrier/bumper. I may try to get it runnin as it sits for the big trail ride in Alabama this weekend.
Matt

Looks killer"thumbsup" I think I'm goin with a SCX10 chassis on my "Bandwagon Bronco"

Its a great chassis and super easy to work with. Ive had to do alot of drilling, repossitioning and cutting and the chassis still looks like it was meant for this rig lol. Ide like to lower it down a bit, and may mess with the shocks to do so, but the tires already rub the fender flares and I dont wanna do anymore cutting at the moment. Once I get the bumpers and sliders together Ill be able to better tell if I like the stance or not. Im lovin this truck already, just wanna get it out and try it out!
Matt

i agree with you, dail it in a lil lower and it would look great! cant wait till i get to where i have enough spare parts to do a build with them! good job.

I lowered the body a bit more in the front to even it out, but I cant go any lower cause the tires hit the fender flares as it sits and limits flex. I kinda like the way it sits now tho so it might stay this way.

Out for a shakedown run.

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Im actually quite pleased first time out. Obviously its no surprise itll crawl well cause the suspension is nothin new, but the wheelbase, skid location and links really were the biggest question in whether or not it would be stable, sidehill well and climb at all. It did everything I wanted it to with ease. The 3.8" TSLs were wonderful and she climbed really well thanks to an underdrive rear/stock front gear setup and good weight distribution. My battery and electronics are all super low on the chassis.

After the shakedown I got to work on some detail work and mounting the winch. Heres a terrible pic of what I did

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...int6/018-5.jpg

I took the factory end-cap (thanks Jmel!) and cut it down a bit. I then screwed some servo mounts to it and drilled them for the winch mounting plate. All I need to do now is make a simple stinger bumper to protect it!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...int6/020-6.jpg

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I still need to finish up some fine detailing and put together some bumpers and sliders but its done enough to take to Alabama for an STR Trail Ride so Im happy. Cant wait to see how it does!
Matt

Man I like that truck "thumbsup" Wish it could of made the trip to Alabama but I will get to see it soon. I really like the CompCourier bumpers I'm curious to see what you come up with for this one.

Man, it actually DID make the trip but we were so exhausted that we didnt bring it out after the first big run lol. Im plannin on doin a really simply bumper thats tucks right up against the winch to protect it while not taking away any more approach angle if possible. I will hopefully get to play with it here soon.
Matt

Here a couple shots from the nastiest shake down run Ive ever put a rig thru. Jmel helped me put together a bumper to protect the winch and off we went to beat the piss out of it. Ive never been so pleased with a rig on its first big run!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...kedownrun2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...kedownrun4.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...kedownrun8.jpg

Wish I woulda got more pics but I forgot my camera and got these on my phone. This thing went just about everywhere I wanted it and then went a couple places I woulda never figured. With the shorter tires I had to watch out a bit more for punkin grabbers and had to really mess with how I approached certain obstacles but if I got my tires on it, she went over it!!! LOVE this rig. Now I gotta clean it and get started makin some inner fenders.

Matt

i have to say, that tire rim combo looks pretty good on tht body, i jus think u need to lower the body a lil bit so they sit higher in the wells

The body is as low as Ill be able to get it at the moment, it already sits at the bottom edge of the chassis front and back. The tires hit the fender flares which I will eventually figure out a way to fix and then I might try to lower it by drooping the shocks some. I wish someone made some flares that fit this body but Ill come up with somethin. I love these wheels/tires. They work like a charm too and other than havin to watch out for axle grabbers they will go anywhere and everywhere!

On a side note, she's packed up and ready for a 12 hour drive down to Florida. Gonna take a week and visit family and relax a bit, couldnt help but bring it along and crawl some lol

Matt

i have the same problem with the tire rub on the fenders but it doesnt seem to do much damage so im just gona leave it

I trimmed the fenders in the rear and hope to figure somethin out when I get back from Florida. The tires were ribbon the paint off and limited flex by almost an inch but I don't mind.
Matt

The reduced TSLs are awesome!

They work wonderfully and look awesome at this size on these wheels.

I forgot to mention that the all-thread front links didn't survive the shakedown run so I put together some solid steel links to finish it off. Much stronger now and the wheelbase should stay put lol. I've crawled it some here in Florida and will do more shortly and post up some pics if I can.

Matt

Just got back from visiting family in Florida and thankfully decided to drag the BlueBronco along to crawl during any downtime I might have. I didnt have much, but just about every evening I got to crawl for a couple minutes while dinner was bein put together.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...ida2011033.jpg

There is a small dock on the property thats got a line of Mangroves on one side and a long row of corral rocks on the other. It isnt the best for scale crawling, made up of rip rap thats very sharp and abusive but I made the entire row without touching except to winch in a couple spots.

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This pic was taken with my phone, but the second evening I crawled a nasty storm was blowing in off the bay and the wind was unbelievable...I couldnt help but try to get a couple minutes in but had to run for cover when the lightning started flashing

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...-00-37_995.jpg

Continued...

On Fri night, second to last evening I spent out there, I took the GF out for dinner just the two of us. She really wanted to see the sunset over the beach but thanks to the danged weather we hadnt had the chance so we went to a beachside restaraunt for some food. While we were there I discovered an amazing pile of rocks sticking up outta the sand right on the beach and quickly started putting together a scheme to try and crawl it. Wasnt that hard, she said if she could lay out I could do whatever the heck I wanted...YES!!! Next mornin we hit the spot and I went to town on the beach rocks.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...ida2011116.jpg

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Sand makes even the easiest lines nearly impossible but made for alot of fun.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...ida2011123.jpg

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My fun in the sun was cut short thanks to poppin a driveshaft loose from the yoke and not havin any tools around, but I still had a really good time.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...ida2011129.jpg

Now that Im back Im gonna tear it down and clean it up a little better then get to work on more detail work along with a little more tubework.
Matt

Had to shake out the FL sand and replace it with some TN creek mud today lol. Did really well as usual until the servo went on the fritze. Its since dried out and is actin right but itll be taken apart to be waterproofed soon. Heres a couple pics

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...nt6/007-11.jpg

Whoops...

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The puddle that killed the servo and ended the Bronco's day

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...int6/015-6.jpg

I got some parts ordered up to try out some leafs in the back. Not sure if Ill like it but its worth a shot!

Matt