RCCrawler Forums - 1966 Ford F100 Body (Pro-Line) on CC-01 Chassis

1966 Ford F100 Body (Pro-Line) on CC-01 Chassis

I had ordered one of Pro-Line's new 1966 Ford F100 body shells (Stampede) for a CC-01 project (LandFreeder kit) but it was on backorder for quite a while so I completed the kit as a Ford Ranger using the LandFreeder body shell and liked it so much I decided to keep it as is. Well the body finally showed up and by coincidence a CC-01 chassis showed upon eBay at the same time. It didn't have the body, motor, ESC or wheels & tyres which suited me just fine as I had all those bits anyway.

Now to raid the old spare parts box to see what I could find. I had some stainless tube and M3 threaded rod and rod ends that were ideal for making the rear 4 link set-up. Pretty straight forward to do. To attach the upper links to the axle I used a rod end mounted on one of the existing bolt holes on the back of the diff (which was dead centre) and added a brace made from M3 threaded rod that fitted through the other bolt hole on the back of the diff. Simple cheap and solid (see photo). The stainless tube also came in handy to make up the steering links. Found a pair of 75mm alloy shocks for the front. For the rear I decided to buy a pair of 85mm shocks to increase suspension travel. Drilled holes in the chassis tub to let the top of the shock poke through and made up shock mount mounting plates that bolted to the inside of the tub. To attach the shocks to the axle I simply cut off the ends of he original plastic link arms and bolted them to the axle housing. I had some Tamiya thin headed M3 bolts that fitted inside the housing and still cleared the axle shafts and then threadlocked some thin nuts on the outside. I was surprised at just how solid this turned out to be. Articulation is pretty good and in fact I decided not to bother doing the droop mod.

Another rummage around the spares box produced a 45t crawler motor and a Dynamite Tazer 10T ESC. Ideal for a CC-01. I had bought a set of RC4WD 10 hole steel 1.9 wheels and Prowler XS tyres for the CC-01 Ford Ranger but decided they had the right retro look for the 66 Ford. The wheels & tyres I had originally fitted to the Ranger actually looked pretty good so they're staying on the Ranger. Tyre clearance is pretty good with this body.

Now for fitting the shell to the chassis. The Pro-Line body is fairly narrow but fitted over the CC-01 chassis OK except for the pinched in part just behind the cab. I had to trim a bit of the front of the rear wheel arch areas on the tub away and also the parts of the main tub where it goes from the main section to the wheel arches by a few mm. I added some reinforcing plates from thin ABS sheet which may not be really needed as the cuts didn't seem to weaken the tub very much if at all. As I'm using a NiMH battery pack there was a small problem with clearance between the pack wires and the body shell. I trimmed one half of the battery retaining clip and cut a small slot in the tub overhang to allow the wires to clear the shell. BTW a small servo horn screwed to the tub makes a great wire retainer. The rest was just standard stuff. I used Tamiya Cobalt Green which seemed suitably retro.

I'm pleased with the outcome but just don't ask me to justify having TWO CC-01 Ford pickups. You can see that the 66 body is noticeably smaller than the LandFreeder (Ranger) body in the comparison photo.

John