Tommy's Class 1 Jeep

[R2j]

Turning out awesome Tommy! Love the color!

[Tommy R]

Thanks, Steve. It's another step closer as of tonight. While I'm waiting for the LEDs to arrive I decided to start working on installing all of the other electronics...and the critical components are waterproofed now.

The ESC, receiver, BEC, winch control unit, servo, motor, and winches are all installed. I'm now in the process of shortening all of the excessively long wire leads. I hate having to bundle up all of the excess wiring so I'm shortening them to minimum lengths. Should provide a much cleaner install when all is said and done. But I ran out of JR connector leads and will need to run to the hobby shop tomorrow to get more. After that, it'll be a runner....but I'll likely wait to run it until after the LEDs are installed.

I nearly forgot that I need to make some inner fenders for the front so I'll knock that out soon, too.

[Tommy R]

Originally Posted by R2j

Turning out awesome Tommy! Love the color!

Thanks, Shon! I'll hopefully get pics outside soon to really show the true color. I'm diggin' it.

[boosted4lyf]

Outstanding build Tommy.

[Shinjari]

Looks great Tommy!

Whats the wheelbase at now? Pics without boddy to see the chassis layout, mainly the servo winch? =)

Seeing the Voids on it makes me need to keep my voids instead of selling.

In regards to the DDK setup did you get the aluminum or delrin skid? I'm torn for my TJ build.

Love the color. Can't wait to see pics of it in action.

[Tommy R]

Originally Posted by boosted4lyf

Outstanding build Tommy.

Thanks, Steve!

Originally Posted by Shinjari

Looks great Tommy!

Whats the wheelbase at now? Pics without boddy to see the chassis layout, mainly the servo winch? =)

Seeing the Voids on it makes me need to keep my voids instead of selling.

In regards to the DDK setup did you get the aluminum or delrin skid? I'm torn for my TJ build.

Love the color. Can't wait to see pics of it in action.

Thanks! Wheelbase now is approximately 11.25" and the DDK is Delrin. I didn't want the extra weight of the aluminum since I knew I would be adding a lot of weight to this rig.

Here's some current "body off" pics. The first three are of the birds nest of wires I'm currently cleaning up. I think the locations of the items is pretty self-explanatory, but the front winch control unit is the box just in front of the t-case (underneath where the battery Velcro is shown). And the HeyOK light control module is the thing near the passenger side shock tower.






Once everything is done and cleaned up, I'll get a lot more detailed pics showing how everything is mounted. And here's the rear winch mount. If you have any questions or need more info, just ask!

[Tommy R]

Oh yeah, Shinjari had asked me about the link mounts I used on the front truss. Those are just cut down TLT mounts. I use the heck out of these things on my builds!

[Shinjari]

Thanks for the info Tommy, i thought they looked familiar. If only tamiya didnt discontinue those mounts ><

Hows the steering on those new yota axles?

[STANG KILLA SS]

wow killer build Tommy!
keep in mind on the LEDs with the filament so far back and actually inside the body, your lights are going to look like eye balls. ie only a center dot of light and the rest of the lens dark. hope that makes sense.
rest of the truck really looks incredible. love the 1.55s too.
damn clean work as usual.

[Tommy R]

Originally Posted by Shinjari

Thanks for the info Tommy, i thought they looked familiar. If only tamiya didnt discontinue those mounts ><

Hows the steering on those new yota axles?

I didn't know they were discontinued 'til you said something. That sucks! Anyone have a part number for the link mount package? I'd like to search around and pick up some more.

The steering is actually pretty impressive. Here's an overhead view. It's the best angle I could get with half-way decent lighting.


It would actually steer just a bit better, but the "behind the axle" part of the knuckles are contacting the lower shock hardware. It's only barely limiting travel, but it appears there's more to be had than what I'm showing. Also, note the tires are getting into the lower control arm at full lock. Not sure I want much more steering anyway.

Originally Posted by STANG KILLA SS

wow killer build Tommy!
keep in mind on the LEDs with the filament so far back and actually inside the body, your lights are going to look like eye balls. ie only a center dot of light and the rest of the lens dark. hope that makes sense.
rest of the truck really looks incredible. love the 1.55s too.
damn clean work as usual.

Thanks, Cory! Yeah, I see what you mean. Not sure I can do much about that, though. I guess I could cut out the entire light area and install some Tamiya buckets. Hmmm....I just checked and I have some that look like they'll fit if I ream out the current ligth area in the grill. Thanks for getting me to think about that, Cory!


Did a little more detail work with the Locked Up RC scale hardware.


Now here's a small problem I've run into. Here's a pic of the rear Yota II axle. Note that the pinion shaft has a through-hole in it and there is no flat spot. No worries, 'cause a Traxxas set screw/dowel pin fits in there nicely. The set screw is shown in the MIP shaft for reference.


However, the front is different. It has a flat spot, but also a through-hole. However, the through-hole is quite a bit smaller than the one on the rear. Not sure why the front and rear would have different pinion shafts? So now the question.... Do I drill out the pinion shaft to accept the Traxxas set screw? Or do I attempt to turn down the dowel pin portion of the set screw? Or is there something out there that would work unmodified? A conventional set screw looks like it may also work since there's a flat spot on the shaft. Open to suggestions here.

[justinart24]

Looking good! Scale bolts are a nice touch. I am not a big fan of the holes Axial and RC4WD are putting in the output shafts. The old UD/OD axial gears used to not have a hole(much better IMO). Looks like you need to bust out the dremel(to make a flat spot for set screws) or get the Helical Gears(>LINK<). BTW, nice clean pics.

Also, that sucks they discontinued the Tamiya brackets....I am glad I have a bin full..lol.

[Tommy R]

Originally Posted by justinart24

Looking good! Scale bolts are a nice touch. I am not a big fan of the holes Axial and RC4WD are putting in the output shafts. The old UD/OD axial gears used to not have a hole(much better IMO). Looks like you need to bust out the dremel(to make a flat spot for set screws) or get the Helical Gears(>LINK<). BTW, nice clean pics.

Also, that sucks they discontinued the Tamiya brackets....I am glad I have a bin full..lol.

Thanks, Justin! I don't mind the through-holes if they fit readily available set screw/pins. What really throws me off is the fact that they're different front/rear. What gives with that?? I considered buying their helical gears, but I'm holding out either 'til I need them or they hopefully come out with OD/UD gear ratios.

I appreciate the compliment on the pics. Those are with my camera, but I'm really wanting to build a photo booth or diorama for pics. Something with very good lighting!

Fortunately, I have a couple bags of Tamiya brackets, too. Just found a couple!

[stef91]

very cool job

[Rodarbal]

Looking good, Tommy!

Any updates on the lighting?

[Tommy R]

Originally Posted by Rodarbal

Looking good, Tommy!

Any updates on the lighting?

Not yet! The LEDs are on the slow boat from Canadia. Hoping they'll come in any day now and I can get to soldering.

In the meantime I was able to cut/trim all of the leads going to the receiver and install new connectors. Just trying to clean up the install since there's going to be a LOT of wires in a very small space under the hood!

[Rodarbal]

Neato benito, man. How are you powering them? Direct off your LiPo? Dedicated battery? Or are you going to use a channel off the Rx?

[STANG KILLA SS]

Hey Tommy I was thinking about your headlights yesterday
it reminded me I have some low profile wide angle LEDs that may work in your situation. I used them in a drifter.

because of the wide angle, they don't light up as much, but look more realistic/show up more when not viewed directly from the front(eyeball look I posted above) ie standing off the to side

let me know if you want a few to play with.
http://www.powerledworld.com/images/...3149657531.jpg

[Tommy R]

Originally Posted by Rodarbal

Neato benito, man. How are you powering them? Direct off your LiPo? Dedicated battery? Or are you going to use a channel off the Rx?

I'm just going to power them off the 6v output from rx. I thought about using a 9v battery like I've done in the past, as well as considered running right off the 3s LiPo. But the 6v output from the rx should be constant so I won't have to worry about lights ever fading through the course of the battery running low. More importantly, though, it's a lighter weight option than the 9v battery and I may run 4s on this thing one day....and that would require all new resistors for the LEDs. Blah!

Originally Posted by STANG KILLA SS

Hey Tommy I was thinking about your headlights yesterday
it reminded me I have some low profile wide angle LEDs that may work in your situation. I used them in a drifter.

because of the wide angle, they don't light up as much, but look more realistic/show up more when not viewed directly from the front(eyeball look I posted above) ie standing off the to side

let me know if you want a few to play with.
http://www.powerledworld.com/images/...3149657531.jpg

Those look good, Cory! I would definitely be interested in some. They also look shorter than most 5mm LEDs I've seen.

[boosted4lyf]

That hardware looks great!

In my experience turning down the dowel/pin is a lot less of a headache than drilling the output/input shaft.
I usually Dremel it a bit, check the fit, Dremel some more etc till it fits but with a tight tolerance.
Breaking drill bits off in that hole, or even breaking the output itself is a big pain in the ass

[STANG KILLA SS]

Originally Posted by Tommy R

Those look good, Cory! I would definitely be interested in some. They also look shorter than most 5mm LEDs I've seen.

will do, send me your address.
yeah that's what I was referring to as low profile, front to back depth I thought could help in your situation.