Heavy Metal KOH Jeepster Commando (C-101)

[sweli]

Fabbed up a pc of stainless that screws into the end of the R2D2 (4holes) and holds both the remote mounted steering servo and the shift servo.

(forgot to get a separate pic of it)

Trans assembly has to mount at an angle, to better align the short shafts going forward to the winch and rearward to the transfer.
Machined a block of Delrin into a wedge - cradle for the trans.

Black Holmes Revolver (1000kv)
Hitec HS-82MG shift servo (red synthetic grease around output shaft, sprayed with plasti-dip)
Old Hitec steering servo for trial purposes only (new one later)
Shift linkage with springs and stops will allow three position shifting:

• Drive Only
• Drive and Winch
• Winch Only

Three screws on top of trans are access holes to gears.
I keep Mobil1 Synth grease in a small syringe. After a couple of water runs I should be able to remove the hood and get some fresh grease right down on the geartrane.

Front (towards the winch):


Drivers Side (black TLT plate to mount ESC to):


Rear (towards transfer case):

[sweli]

Trans/motor/servos POD is in.
(pulled the motor and shift servo for the pics)

Alignment to winch:







To the transfer:


Trialed a CEN boat CV joint with cut dog bone (I know, it'll be the weak link)
I'm looking into others.
End to end, I need around 40mm ingaged, 35-36mm disengaged.

[sweli]

.........a few updates.............

• Tweaked the transfer case mount to better align the input shaft with the output shaft of the transmission.
• Chopped and welded a MIP driveshaft to fit the rear end (WOW is it short)
• Added some oversized sliders that wrap up and around the rocker panels.
• Wheels are Delrin Gearhead six spoke. I bought the spacer plates, but ended up reversing the wheels for offset to prevent rubbing the exo. (may go with something different down the road)

Tweaking the shocks in. Soft and Med internal springs are not enough. Played with external helper springs.
Right now the fronts have a half of soft spring under the piston and 5/16" long, stiff spring from the local hard ware above.
I need a different stiff spring in the rears, so those are not dialed in yet and are sitting high in the pics.


Sliders:



Better closeup of the steering arm:



General..........




Flex (123 block in pic):


Bottoms up:

[sweli]

INPUT NEEDED -
everyone's got an opinion, so jump in an voice it

Body is 12.5:1 scale.
1.9 wheels are 24".
4.5 Rockbeasts are like a 56" tire to this body

Should this become a 1.55 build?
On one hand, the axles look like 1tons under this. So oversized tires fit in (I feel).
On the other hand...............
1.55 wheels would be 19"
3.28 Baja MTZ's would be 41"
4.13 Mud Slingers would be 51"
4.19 Mud Hogs would be 52" (on sale now for $14/pair!)

I do need a wheel that has a decent amount of negative offset or I can put a spacer in.

chime chime..........

[sweli]

Does anyone know if you can reverse Gear Head UTE wheels - flange on the outside?
The outside face has a raised area with tooling dimples to look like more bolt heads.
They would work, if I could reverse them. Not sure if the spacers alone would be enough.

[cb44v]

Stay with 1.9s. If your going for that radical 1 ton look . My koh rig is gonna have those mtz's on it I think they are the s"@&$.

[DaveFL]

My input on my Jeepster. The 1.9 look huge even say if your looking for a 1 ton build. 1.5's are still big enough that they look like 37"+ I used my Losi MRC wheels on the axle to get a look at the size. and it was too much.

I ordered some 1.5 beadlocks from Rc4wd, they where still big, but since then I traded this wheels for white wagon wheels. Going to put a little nit and grit in it for scale look and these seem to work perfect although I would still like to have smaller tires. To get an idea on my 1:1 Jeepster body 35" will fit it, but thats dur to some cutting on the body, but they still rub and are impractable. 33's are the tire of choice. Lot of Builds over at Jeepster commando club most folks the have 1 ton builds still running 37's only 1 I know of ran 40's But it was more extreme than the one your building, and it was a Bullnose not a Jeepster.

Good luck man. Love the build!

[sweli]

Some pics for consideration..............
(mainly looking at tire diameter here)
I got the ride height down. Here it is 90% droop. Will probably end up with 80% droop when I get the spring rate dialed in.



With 3.76" OD Rock Creepers (off my Tundra CC01 build):



With 4" Flat Irons



With 4.45" Rock Beasts:

[cb44v]

I think the rock beast. But I feel like the body needs comp cut or something. Still it looks amazing. Thumbsup!!

[sweli]

Originally Posted by cb44v

I think the rock beast. But I feel like the body needs comp cut or something. Still it looks amazing. Thumbsup!!

I'm leaning towards the beasts too.
May start with it as is, then consider cutting and shutting them down to fit a 1.55 wheel.
That will get the wheel size more inline with the scale at 19".
The 4.45 would become 4.15 (or smaller) and 52".

[DaveFL]

Im saying Creepers man. They look more scale for a 1 ton build on a Jeepster. To get an Idea in real life WHen I cut built in sheet metal flares out on my Jeepster to add new Plastic flares and then the lift. On a SOA giving me 5-6" of life a 35 would not fit in there at all. So you think in real world 1 ton? Seen a lot of 1 tone Jeepsters using full width's most are running at least 6" and some even maybe 1" Body lift.



Heres a pic of a 1 ton build to get a idea of the tire size to body ratio

On the RTI

[sweli]

Originally I liked the oversized beasts, but now I am thinking a little smaller.
Although not quite as small as the 3.76 creepers.
Might cut and shut the beasts to 4" and stretch over some 1.55 non beadlocks.

[CM9000]

Sick rig. Any vids yet?

[sweli]

Still have not totally decided on the wheels/tires, but the guys I run with in Michigan like the look of the Pit Bulls. Prob start with them and possibly cut+shut them to fit a 1.55 wheel.


Got the trans/motor/steering/shift module in.
And all worked well.
The front shafts aligned great. The main shaft to the transfer was off about 4mm.
Got the torch back out and warmed the transfer mount up a little and got it better aligned.
Some stubby pcs of silicone fuel tube in the drive cups.
Adjusted the springs and lock collars on the shift linkages.

.......and viola...............

Short.......showing crazy steering linkage that drops below the shock mount, and curves in and around the shock............

[sweli]

Here's the R2D2 in action.
Older Futaba 3PDF set up as 3postion third ch. (love these old radios!.....converted to 2.4ghz)

[Spizo43]

This is going to be my favorite build yet! I used to refer to the American Jeepster Club when I had one. Did a frame on a '67 and the club helped a lot! I have the metal classic toy and have been thinking of doing this build myself so I am watching this one closely. Might do a styrene build since I don't have access to a welder right now. This thing is coming along nicely and I can't wait to see this bad boy completed!!!!!!!

[sweli]

Wow, thanks for the words Spizo!

I thought about making a vac mold of this body, just to shed a few pounds off this beast!
Would love to have a 1:1 of these for summer days.

[sweli]

Have not weighed this yet, but it's a pig!

I played with the slipper to get it to lift it, but at about double the weight, the clutch kicks in.
This is when dry. I'll have to see after a dunking




Here I am holding down on the stinger with 10-15lbs of force to get the slipper to kick.

[fly]

WOW you have a lot of time into this rig! It looks great and that winch is crazy! Does yur rear axle hit the body since the rear quarter panel is there?

[sweli]

Thanks Fly!

I set chose a shock mounting point and length so they would come close, but not hit.
It comes really close, but does not hit.

The Ultimate Scale shocks came with soft and med springs. Neither would support the weight of this pig. So I picked up what would be stiff and extra stiff from the local hardware.
(Century Spring Corp. 7/32 dia., C-650 is 0.020 wire and C-652 is 0.028 wire.)
I used the 0.028 extra stiff and set them up for 60%droop. With the weight, it still settled to 75% droop.

I considered longer shocks, but the rear drive shaft is SHORRRRRT, and will not take any more driveline angle.


While on the flat:





RHR Flexed:






LHR Flexed: