Tommy R's Gelande II D110

[Tommy R]

Hey y'all,

So about 4 years ago we got a group of scale guys together to crawl. I was running my green Jeep LJ, but my motor was acting up and it left me DOA. Fortunately, my buddy Ray happened to have a second rig with him....an RC Model X (or whatever) Defender D110. He let me wheel it all day and I had a revelation that day.

You see, that truck was super top heavy. The ground clearance was minimal. There was a ton of weight (possibly literally!) on the rear end. The tires weren't aggressive. The dampers weren't damping. It may have been one of the least capable scalers I'd ever driven.

And I loved every second of it!

Here's a video of that day:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-A96mkeXs0

I'd gotten so wrapped up in SORRCA competition that I had succumbed to building rigs that just barely met the letter of the law. I didn't like that I was doing that, but I wanted to be competitive. Driving Ray's D110 made me realize where the REAL fun is with scalers: trail runs with rigs that look AND perform like their 1:1 counterparts. I soon decided to sell my Jeep (though I wish I'd kept it now) and have been itching for a D110 similar to Ray's. After a while, RC4WD released their Gelande II Defender D110, but the price was a bit steep. Prices recently came down, however, so I finally pulled the trigger!

Here it is! A box!!


In relatively short order I had the rolling chassis build and it went pretty smoothly. A couple points...

• The track bar needed to be moved to the other side of the chassis mount. This fixed the bumpsteer, but also increased room between the track bar and the servo arm.
• As has been documented before, the interior is from a shorter D90 so custom syrene work will be required to do this one properly.
• It is easy for the suspension to bind somewhat depending on how you install everything because not everything aligns perfectly. I paid close attention as I was tightening things down and the drivetrain rolls very freely.
• The rear of the body rests on the framerail, but it prevents the body from sitting low enough to screw the body to the chassis. I've got some pics below to illustrate.
• I also picked up an RC4WD ARB front bumper (c'mon, I HAD to!), but it doesn't fit straight away. I've got pics of that, as well.

So first off here you can see that the rear of the body is resting on the chassis. It can't go any lower without clearancing.


But here you can see that the body needs to come down several more mm in order to be screwed in.


Then there's the bumper issue. Wouldn't this look so cool installed on the front of this truck??


Unfortunately, the bumper contacts the body before the holes line up. I can space out the bumper mount a couple millimeters or drill new holes in the mount, but was hoping to keep it as tucked in as much as possible for a better approach angle.


Since I've been out of the loop in the crawler world for a while I'm not sure if these are common/known issues or if my situation is unique. Guess it's time to do some research and come up with some solutions!

[OSRC]

Had the same bumper issue. Did some creative bending and got it to just clear.

Nice project!

[Tommy R]

So I trimmed the body in order to get it to fit. Kind of disappointing that's required for such a pricey kit. And did I mentioned it only has the interior from the D90??


Got some rock sliders in from CCHAND (or however it's spelled!). They look awesome, but that tiny hardware is a killer!


Looks nifty installed, though!


I need to get some styrene, but it's time to look into making a proper interior for this thing. By the way, there's no provisions to secure the interior to the chassis or the body. What the.....???


Now to mask all the windows. Using vinyl around the edges and liquid mask for the large areas.

[justinart24]

Looking great dude! I have wanted one. You just using a Cell Phone for pics or do you have a DSLR?

[Tommy R]

Originally Posted by justinart24

Looking great dude! I have wanted one. You just using a Cell Phone for pics or do you have a DSLR?

Thanks, man! Just using my iPhone 6 for now. I may need to look into a better video/still camera because I soon plan to up my game with my youtube channel.

[Tommy R]

Progress! Got the paint laid down over the last couple days. Still need to do the wheels, though. I'm thinking of doing some mild weathering on this one. Not make it a rust bucket (it's aluminum anyway!) and all grimy, but give it a realistic looking amount of patina and dirt. But the more modern look of the bumper and sliders make me want to go with more of a restomod look (older body style with some modern technology). Thoughts?





Yes, I will replace the bumper soon!






But once again, I've run into fitment issues. Added the rear marker lights to the body and now THEY hit the bumper. Looks like the bumper will get a trim soon. *sigh* And have I mentioned how half ass parts of this kit are? Tons of unused parts..... Plenty of steps not shown in the instructions... Mounting holes on the body that aren't even used.... No mirror inserts... And did I mention the interior is for the 2 door D90??? ;)

[Tommy R]

Worked on the interior today. Did I mention that it sucks RC4WD doesn't offer a full interior with this kit? Anyway, I started out with some heavy wall styrene.


Added some fenderwells and some corrugate for the floor of the bed.


Then I decided to make a split rear seat out of the stock rear seats by cutting and gluing.


It's held in place with a magnet because down the road I may decide to make a sleeping area to make this rig look more like a true overlander.


And I'm going to sell the RC4WD steelies so for now I'm running Locked Up RC wheels.


I also installed some RC4WD fender liners. I was going to use the rears, but they weren't really doing much once I built the interior so I'll likely just give them away.


I've also begun determining battery/electronics placement. Next, however, will be to paint the interior and fender liners.

[thispiece]

Most recent pictures aren't showing up.

[Tommy R]

Originally Posted by thispiece

Most recent pictures aren't showing up.

Really? Crap. I'm transitioning from smubmug to Google pics for my hosting, but even though they show up fine for me, I guess something else is wrong. I'll see if I can figure out what's going on...

[Tommy R]

I just changed a sharing option. Can someone please tell me if the pics are showing up now? Thanks!

[hillbillyrc]

I'm not seeing them tommy.

[Tommy R]

Ugh! I have the album I'm linking from shared to the public. Replacing the hyperlinks in the post to see if the pics will now show up... Fingers crossed.

[hillbillyrc]

Working now the cargo area and inner fenders look good.

[thispiece]

I see them now.

[Tommy R]

Great! Thanks, y'all!

[Tommy R]

Came across this stuff so I could make some mirror inserts...






And this rig just screams for a rear tire/jerry can carrier so....

[Tommy R]

Interior is painted and installed. I'm pretty much done with that portion of the truck now.


Weathered the interior a bit with some blackwash.




Random scale goodies...






And I just received some new Locked Up RC scale hubs this morning. MUCH better....


I love these wheels, but they are temporary because they don't really match the style I'm wanting for this rig. But what I need it out of stock right now so these will work in the meantime.

[mccustomize]

I think the wheels are horrid and you should donate them to me Looking forward to our trail run Saturday!

[Tommy R]

Originally Posted by mccustomize

I think the wheels are horrid and you should donate them to me Looking forward to our trail run Saturday!

LOL! I'll keep that in mind!

Unfortunately/fortunately, I have a crawfish boil to attend in the afternoon so I don't think I'll be able to meet up with y'all afterall. I may just try to squeeze in a morning run instead.

[Tommy R]

So on Thursday I finally got the D110 up and running. The wiring is a mess under the hood, but worked temporarily. I have to lengthen some wires and reposition some items and it'll be a much better fit.


First order of business was to take it to our local group's drifting test session. It doesn't slide well. Go figger...


But I also tried it out in the front yard a bit.




Initial impressions? Holy crap, these foams are horrid and aren't remotely capable of properly supporting the weight of this rig. Wait, let me clarify... They seem to support the raw, static weight of the truck reasonably well, but as soon as you turn the tires fold over like mad. So I tore them down, tossed the stock foams, and installed some C.I. high density inners (forgot the name for them) and some firm RC4WD outers from a different set of tires. The front wheels also have a full strip of wheel weights. These tires are PACKED now and don't seem to fold over hardly at all now. I may have even gone too far, but more testing will determine that.

Then on Friday I got chance to take it to a local trail (Bull Creek in north Austin) for a quick shakedown run. Here's some pics.




Looks like the sidewall support is WAY better now. FYI, this rig is right at 9.5 lbs as you see it.




Secondary impressions after the first real test run? The foams work much better....maybe even too well, but that's okay. In this case I'd rather they be too stiff than too soft. The front bumper is an approach angle killer! I knew this going in and that's okay. This rig isn't supposed to be a performer. The steering is....weird. I think it's a combination of issues. The Hitec 7950 is on 7.4v and while it's several years old (2011), it's pretty slow. But the more concerning thing is the lack of steering throw and how the suspension jacks fairly significantly as the steering reaches its limits. I'll just need to spend some time going through it and seeing what I can do to improve it.

Suspension-wise, this thing lumbers around like crazy. I've heard the stock SCX dampers are similar in length and I happen to have some so maybe I'll try them out. The ride height is also a bit too tall and it would be nice to be able to lower it some with a progressive spring setup.

The 55 turn 3s setup is about perfect for this rig, I think. It's got enough wheelspeed to keep a brisk walking pace, which is about all the wheelspeed a truck like this *should* have. The tires have a reasonable amount of grip, but I plan on upgrading them to something stickier at some point. Wheels will likely be replaced at the same time to complete the look I'm after.

Oh, and I need to install some lights, build some body armor, and I'm still on the fence about adding any dirt or patina....