6x6 Peterbilt Semi Truck

[Tommy R]

I was able to get it down to a 5mm hex with a washer on the outside to space out the wheel just a bit more so probably equivalent to a 6mm hex overall. I could try to grind down the material around the hex, but best case that would maybe allow me to run a 4mm hex.....or a 5mm hex with no washer. Best case scenario I'd get them tucked in 2mm per side. Really not sure it's worth it considering I don't have a mill so I'd have to just freehand it with a Dremel. What I may do is look into other wheel options to see if something out there exists that has more backspacing.

[STANG KILLA SS]

out of curiousity, what happens if you take one of the stock (plastic?) rear wheels (just the inside one) and mount it to the front? any better offset?

[Tommy R]

Originally Posted by STANG KILLA SS

out of curiousity, what happens if you take one of the stock (plastic?) rear wheels (just the inside one) and mount it to the front? any better offset?

I sold the stockers some time back, but here's a mock up of one of the Lesu rears on the front with a 1.5 tire stretched over it. I think the offset is better, but the wheel is too narrow. I definitely want this truck to have the wider "super single" look up front.

[chino63]

Originally Posted by STANG KILLA SS

out of curiousity, what happens if you take one of the stock (plastic?) rear wheels (just the inside one) and mount it to the front? any better offset?

That's exactly what I did. Used the lug nut ring portion of the outer rear for the look of a front wheel.


For a wider wheel, you can cut and glue part of another wheel to it.

[Tommy R]

Yeah, but I want to run aluminum wheels on this thing....

[Tommy R]

I decided to try a spring to keep the 5th wheel at a better angle. I cut a paper clip and just glued it in place.


Then I reassembled the 5th wheel.




Now it sits better. The angle should be more aggressive and the super glue will likely not hold long term, but it's a good proof of concept that I can tweak.

[Huber1918]

Tommy, Looking good! I ended up purchasing the Lesu Fifth wheel and mount. I wanted to get rid of the plastic one. I will keep it in mind for future builds! What type of trailer are you going to go with?

[Tommy R]

Originally Posted by Huber1918

Tommy, Looking good! I ended up purchasing the Lesu Fifth wheel and mount. I wanted to get rid of the plastic one. I will keep it in mind for future builds! What type of trailer are you going to go with?

Thanks! I'll go with some sort of flatbed.....either Tamiya or Hercules Hobby. Whichever one is longer is likely the one I'll choose (TWSS). I'll most likely plan to haul bricks or other heavy stuff, but may set it up to be able to tow a crawler or two from the parking lot to the crawl site if the paths are easy enough to drive down.

[Huber1918]

Sounds like a good plan! I broke down and ordered one from Coastway.. a little spendy, but a nice looking trailer!

[Tommy R]

Front end progress... I remade both sides to include the lower section at the bottom of the fenders. They're mirror images of one another so the left/right sides match.


I trimmed some of the hood sides inside the fenderwell. I didn't want to cut it out entirely and lose strength, but didn't like the look of leaving it intact.


And bonded to the truck's body.


I know a Pete 359 would have the front axle all the way forward, but that wasn't going to work well with my driven front axle so I had to take come creative liberties. I also tweaked the fender location for a bit more up travel.


At full droop:


And at full bump. I'm very pleased.


I still have some finishing work to do, but overall I'm really happy with how it's coming out! Soon it'll be time to fully prime/prep the body for paint. I guess I'd better decide on my colors and paint scheme soon!

[Tommy R]

It's been bugging me how far out these Lesu wheels sit. Here you can see part of the problem. The recess in the wheel for the hex is a solid 6mm deep. So best case, you're running a pretty wide 6mm hex just to keep the wheels off the axle. Pictured is a 5mm hex with a 1.5mm washer acting as a spacer. In this configuration, just more than half of the tire stuck outside the fenders!


So I decided to take matters into my own hands. I wanted to shoot for the ability to run a narrow 4mm hex to bring the track width inward 2mm per side. I stacked 4mm of washers into the wheel and took out the Dremel and my metal cut off wheel.


Using a steady hand I kept the blade flush to the washers as best I could and proceeded to cut down the recess in the wheel.


After the initial cut, things were functional, but kinda ugly.


I took a flapper wheel to it and it looked much better afterward.


It's hard to capture on "film", but now more than half of the tires are covered by the fenders with a 5mm hex. I have some 4mm hexes on order so we'll see if I can narrow it down just a bit more.

[Tommy R]

Got a bit more work done. I removed all unwanted tabs from the axles to clean them up and also gain a bit more uptravel (in the rear axles). I also noticed the rear shocks were limiting downtravel so they're gone. Fronts were removed some time back. In addition, I drilled through the front TLT axle and secured it with some long screws.


On the bottom side I sacrificed a stock Hi-Lift spring to provide a bit more strength. It feels VERY secure now! You can also see some of the rough clean-up work I did on the axle. And yes, I know the hardware doesn't match. I need more panhead hardware in the correct length.

[Tommy R]

Sadly, this is max steering lock. It's currently limited by the stock dog bones/drive cups. I may modify them for a bit more angle or I may look into some CVDs and aluminum knuckles.

[chino63]

Looks good man. Glad you were able to modify it for the narrower hex. CVD'S will help noticeably, I'm running the ones from RCP that I got years ago, I wonder if they still sell them.

[Tommy R]

Thanks! Yeah, RCP still looks to make the CVDs for the TLTs, but they're $60. I'm just not sure it's worth it for this rig since....let's face it....it'll never be a hardcore crawler! So if I have to reverse it here and there, I think it'll be okay. I may look into modifying the drive axles for more throw, though.

[justinart24]

Who needs to subscribe to a RC magazine when you get great pictures and tech for free, like this thread. Keep up the great work, thanks for sharing.

[chino63]

Originally Posted by justinart24

Who needs to subscribe to a RC magazine when you get great pictures and tech for free, like this thread. Keep up the great work, thanks for sharing.

Who needs Facebook when you have a great site with threads like this.

[Tommy R]

In my quest for a narrower front track width, I picked up some Hercules Hobby wide wheels for the front. Aesthetically, I like them, but I think I prefer the Lesu wheels a bit more. Here's some pics.


One interesting thing to note is that with the Lesu wheels, all 10 screws need to be removed in order to access the wheel nut. On the HH wheels, you unscrew that black center section to reveal the wheel nut. Much easier, yes, but it doesn't look as clean to me. And no, the outer cover from the Lesu wheels won't fit the HH wheels.


The backsides.


Side by side. Same width, but the backspacing is different.


Here's where the rubber meets the road. Get it?? Road? Tires?? I kill me... Anyway, here's the offset with the modified Lesu wheels. A little less than half of the tire sits outside the fenders.


And here's the HH side. They tuck in quite a bit more and I really like it!


The slots in the wheels are more of a kidney bean and the Lesu rears are more of a circle, but it's hardly noticeable so I think I'll be sticking with the HH wheels for the front of this truck.

[XSRCdesign]

That's much better... like no question

[chino63]

I concur with that guy. ^^^