Lifted/linked F-350

[JHTreyIII]

Originally Posted by badhoopty

all i did was dremel out a recess in the mirror for the magnet, glued it in, and then i just glued another on the backside of the body where the mirror goes.

pretty simple.

Probably just one of the little small round magnets would be my guess.

[Bulldog]

Originally Posted by JHTreyIII

I have a buddy that did this with magnets. His just snap on. You hit something they just pop right off. He's got the same truck. If he's running a really difficult course and is worried about losing them, he just takes them off.

Cool rig man, it's a monster!

Just when you think you're a genius using a borrowed idea, a better idea comes along from another genius that you'll end up borrowing. It used to be about ball bearings...now a'days, it's about magnets.

If you go to home depot or lowe's, there's a ton of magnet options. I'd put magnetic tape on the mirror, and see if you could get some half inch or probably smaller rare earth magnets on the interior. And two on top of each other is twice as stong. On the interior...it doesn't matter. shoe goo them in.

[Jeckler]

Transmission raise
The only parts I had to buy for this were 4 M3x25 screws for the shift servo mount. Everything else I scrounged up. Not that there was a whole lot to it.
The transmission was raised 20mm. That's the exact distance when it's set on top of the frame rails. Luckily, the body lift was 21mm.
At first I though this would be a piece of cake, until I started putting it back together. First the radio plate wouldn't sit right. I had to clearance the underside of it to clear the trans mounts. Then it wouldn't screw down. After fiddle-screwing around with it, I finally realized the front mounts simply had to be flipped.
For the trans mounts, I used the fake gas tank that sits under the driver's side in stock configuration. A simple straight plate with 4 holes spaced 10mm apart. For the front I wanted to use both stock lower holes, so made L brackets. I dug up some spacers, a combo of shock shaft limiters and ball ends to keep everything aligned. I also had to come up with longer screws in the back due to the added width because of the Junfac brackets.
The plan was to simply flip the shift servo over, but I soon realized that the piece of plastic on the transmission keeps the linkage from flipping over and with it raised, the mount was in the way anyway. So I had to raise the servo. I took apart the stock battery tray and used one of the tubes. I drilled it out to 7/32, then 1/8th and chopped it up into 4 19mm long spacers. That's where the 4 25mm screws came into play. So I spent a total of $1.40something on this mod.
Next up is paint and a custom headache rack. Trey knows where this is going.

[JHTreyIII]

Much more clearance!! Nice! You want me to make you those brackets out of steel? Drive shaft angles are pretty extreme, any issues there? Some longer upper links might ease those angles some.

What headache rack are you looking at?

[Kylar]

Looks good man, nice build!

[RootBreaker]

really nice!

[701 Technique]

great looking highlift, makes me wish I would have kept mine!

[Non2os13]

that is a big before/ after difference. nice job!

[Jeckler]

Thanks guys. I'll just keep the plastic mounts, they should be fine.
I think I am going to get the SB axles though. While the tires don't rub the links, they do rub the shocks at full articulation. Plus it's a little tippy.
The 20mm makes a big difference on the rocks in the backyard though.

Another option... what would be a good replacement axle that's 10-15mm wider than stock and would give me more steering?

[JHTreyIII]

AR60 Wraith Axles! Do it! Talk about a MONSTER! Haha.

[lonleycreeper]

scx10 axles are about 7mm wider, coupled with wider hexes could work for you. Wk axles are 38mm wider

[Bulldog]

If you research the wk axles and decide to go that route...pm me. I have a brand new set of wheely king axles with aluminum upgrades I haven't listed in the classifieds yet. They will definitely give you a heftier stance!

[Jeckler]

I think 38mm might be excessive. I still want it to look like a truck.
Stock HL is 186mm hex to hex (175mm bearing to bearing) and I've already added 4mm with the Traxxas hexes. I found a couple charts with axle widths, but there doesn't seem to be consistency between where they're measured. Some specify bearing to bearing, others are hex to hex while others are tip to tip.
So I guess I'd be looking for something around 200mm hex to hex or 190mm bearing to bearing.

[JHTreyIII]

Any update on the headache rack?

[Jeckler]

Nope! Notice it took me 4.5 months to respond? That's how much effort I've been putting into it. I did build a new car in the last few weeks, though it can't crawl for crap.
I did finally today strip it for repainting. Used 220 wet and got it ready for primer. It's going to be white this time with our company stickers on it. The equipment guy in my office gave me some small ones to use.
I'd like to replace the front bumper too, but I have no tools for making one myself.
It's only 58°F here today though, so no paint yet.

[tgh117]

A summit bumper, or possibly those new proline ones would be good replacements that are close widths for the body.

[Jeckler]

I'm sure I'll think of something... eventually.
In the meantime, I painted. I was doing good too, primed, painted and only had one minor run in the passenger door on the cab. Just let it sit to dry, right?
Apparently, Mother Nature had other ideas. A gust of wind blew the bed over onto the tailgate, damaging it and both bed rails. So once it fully cures, I get to sand all three pieces down again and do it over. Oh well, maybe it'll come out even smoother this time.

[Jeckler]

23 months later... not this a$$hole again...
I never updated with finished pics, so here it is...


I've done a few more things to it since then too. It's gotten a lot dirtier for one. I also added some homemade sway bars. The links are Traxxas part #6898. Pricy little bastards, but at the time couldn't find just the ends with the set screws. I don't want to know where I can find them now, thankyouverymuch. To install them on the Junfac link brackets, I had to get rid of the kit lockouts, so bought a pair of Junfac lockouts.

The rear bar is sandwiched in between the screws holding the lower frame brace in place with zipties.



And the front bar is in between the transmission case and the tubes on the motor plate. It can't move back due to the case half screw. I also used 3/32" wheel collars so the bar can't move side to side.


The wire used is .055 music wire. It may not seem that thick, but all I'm looking to do is keep it from falling over on its side on any off-camber hill. We'll see how it goes, but I can always double up the wire or just go thicker.
I also glued magnets to the mirrors and in the cab, ala badhoopty. I was going to use a fridge magnet on the mirror side, but it didn't seem strong enough. They're 3/8' Neo magnets. Plenty strong in pairs and will give a little bite if you manage to get a piece of skin between them. I didn't bother hogging out the mirror and I may come to regret that later as they can rotate since they're not sitting in the recess on the body.


And how it looks now...


Finally a video of it when testing v1 of the swaybars...
F350 High Lift at the construction site.

[Jeckler]

Summit bumpers. For the front I flipped the Summit mount, drilled two holes in the top of the F350 front chassis brace and screwed the bumper to it. There is another set of holes about 10mm behind the front set on the frame. After cutting about 10mm off the front of the frame, that where the brace ends up. With the 21mm body lift, the bumper fits pretty damn good. One thing's for sure, I'll never be able to run leafs again.
For the back, I cut the mounts off the summit bumper, drilled two new holes and secured it to the F350 bed with m3 hex screws and locknuts.





I cut 6 or 7mm off each end of the rear bumper. Doesn't look that great from the side, due to the stock bumper cutout in the bed.

[JHTreyIII]

Nice!