Cherokee's Cherokee rebuild

[cherokee95]

I'm still alive and so is this Cherokee, it has stayed pretty much unchanged since I built it. Probably has over 200 hours run time on it now. Finally starting to warm up so it's time to get rigs ready to play. This thing always road too high and couldn't really sit much lower with the way the suspension was set up. So I made some changes yesterday.

How it started life a few days before scale nationals in Montana in 2010


After day one and my miserable failure in the rain.


Playing the next day


cut a hole in the rear chassis plate for the shocks to pass through.


Flipped the old bracket to the top of the plate and re-drilled and mounted, the shocks were always too far back before.


Shocks would hit the frame rails in the old lower mount so I made some small brackets out of 22 gauge steel


Got them all mounted up


About where it rode before


where it sit's now


Actually tucks in the rear now, before the tires wouldn't get anywhere near the rear wheel wells.


Need to make some new inner fenders since I broke the old ones. Also need to finish the damn front bumper. I cut and bent most of the parts, but have never braised them together.

[cherokee95]

Finally got some inner fenders made this week.



Cut out and added a sheet to the back to make sure I had clearance for the shock towers. Really basic, but effective.

[cherokee95]

Also slapped in an HPI driver and took her out for a test run of about 4 hours today. Lower CG works much better. I really love that the rear tires tuck now, trimmed some off the body to make room. Just realized I forgot the damn nut covers for the wheels lol.

Next is to finish the front bumper I started ages ago, build a rear and then paint a new Cherokee body....Most likely gold to match my 1:1.

[cherokee95]

Finally made some progress on the front bumper the other night. The way I made this with a plat on the bottom, I'm going to have to mount a separate plate to the chassis to hold the winch. Shot some primer on it last night and satin black tonight. I'll get some pics of it mounted tomorrow after work.





Then added some reinforcement bars last night after work



The joint on on the main bar to the plate looks like crap lol. It was the first one I've done since I made the sliders when I built this rig

[jason916]

nice , whut did you use to make inner fenders?

[cherokee95]

About damn time this thing get's a bumper and a winch. Bent and drilled a winch mount plate today and got it all mounted up. Will use the stock controller until it fries on 3s and then I will order a HeyOK unit or use a Sidewinder.

Next on the list is a rear bumper after that's done it's time to paint a new body and put some new wheels on for that oh so fresh look.

[cherokee95]

Took the old girl out to the park today and racked up a few more hours. Had to put some new scratches on the bumper.

Got the winch wired up too. Remembered that the 3 racing controller does not play well with 3s. I used a Castle Sidewinder Micro and a separate 3 cell pack and set it all up on channel 3 of my radio. Need to get some better winch line and a new hook....LURC will have to come to my rescue next payday.



Like the rear tuck, but have to get the rear bumper done now.

[cherokee95]

Most of the rear is done now. Need to add some reinforcement bars for the ends near the wheel wells, add mounting tabs for body mounts also trim the wheel well ends a little.

Minimal but functional


Tight to the rear of the body


Bottom bar is angled in to help the departure angle


Would like this gap to be tighter, may bend a few thing to make it smaller before or get lazy. It's actually straight when the body is at the correct height.


The added weigh really get the ride height where I want it. Next is a new gold body (same color as my 1:1) and a set of LURC wheels. Waiting on scale hardware, winch hooks and winch line from Patrick as well.

[cherokee95]

Originally Posted by jason916

nice , whut did you use to make inner fenders?

Thanks. I used black styrene sheet.

[the_ocho]

looks like a cool little rig, can I make a suggestion. I'm not sure how strong your steering servo is but with the big spacer on your axle side of the drag link you are causing a lot of leverage on your steering knuckle. this will weaken it and cause it to fail eventually but a more short term problem is it will not let you have the full potential turning. my suggestion is to shorten that spacer and maybe add some to the other end on the servo side, If you split the difference and do half on each end you will reduce the overall stress a ton. looking at the angle of your track bar it looks like you can come down a little on the knuckle side of the drag link to get them parallel anyway.




Anyway keep up the good work.

[cherokee95]

Always intended to change it, but never have. Surprisingly has held up just fine to a 7955. Of course it helps to properly set your EPA's.

[cherokee95]

Got my goody box from Patrick at Locked Up RC the other day. Not new to most anymore, but this scale hardware is just perfect. Also need to get my new winch line and winch hook on.

I may only get Sunday of this week and the weather is not going to be that good, may see if I can get the new body painted up.

Tossed on a new set of Swampers to match all the other new stuff. I want to change tires to something else, but the way I have this set up limits my tire size.



Hubs are not right, I can't find my Rogue Element ones....too many drawers full of stuff lol. Probably going to order some LURC pro hubs next payday, I really like the lower profile.

[ToyotaKing88]

Are the scale hubs drilled and tapped deep enough that you could shave some material off the backside to make them shorter?

Sent from my Phoneamathingy

[cherokee95]

Originally Posted by ToyotaKing88

Are the scale hubs drilled and tapped deep enough that you could shave some material off the backside to make them shorter?

Sent from my Phoneamathingy

Probably, but these are Toyota hubs I robbed off a bruiser build for pics.

[cherokee95]

Cut off the roller fairlead and put on a new MSD hawse I've had forever. Replaced the super crappy 3 racing line with some Locked Up RC 130lb test and a new LURC winch hook as well.

Next on the agenda (thanks to the ocho) is to ditch the huge spacer on the PS knuckle and lower the panhard mount to match.

Want to get the new body painted, but it's been too windy and raining to get that done.

[cherokee95]

Work has been crazy busy, so I haven't had any time to do any work. Had a bit of a rain day today and I'm just getting started on fixing the drag link and panhard mount.

Already have the spacer out and and a new drag link bent. Next is to make a new lower mount for the panhard to get it back in line with the drag link. Plan is to braise a mount on the right of the F-350 link mount.



Before


After

[cherokee95]

Got my latest box of scale porn from Patrick at Locked Up RC today! V2 Adversary SLW wheels, agile rings, LURC super narrow hubs, 2 sets each front and rear pro hubs and hub tools.

Now I just have to decide if these are going on the Cherokee or if I should leave the 8L trails on it. Any Opinions?

[cherokee95]

Got the panhard mount sorted and bent the panhard for diff clearance. Front suspension is now sorted and has no bump steer.



Also got the new wheels mounted up. These new easy Mount wheels from Locked Up are so much nicer and faster to get done.

[blakeski]

not much of a jeep guy but this rig is simple and looks clean, nice work.

[cherokee95]

Originally Posted by blakeski

not much of a jeep guy but this rig is simple and looks clean, nice work.

Thanks man