Project 50 Shades of Grey - 2 Door Cherokee Build

[adamk]

I've been out of the RC world for a couple years now and recently fired up my old tube chassis buggy that I built and did some trail driving. The bug bit me again and I decided I wanted to build another crawler.

My inspiration for this build is my 1:1 crawler. It's a 92 2 door cherokee on full widths and 40s. It's been named 50 shades of grey, not after the book, but because it is so faded that it has many shades of grey.




I started with purchasing a used Deadbolt for $100. It was well equipped and a good portion of the parts will be carried over to this build. Some of the parts included:
Sidewinder 3
Castle BEC
Holmes Sport motor
Aluminum trans w/ steel gears
King shocks
Holmes servo
MIP drive shafts
RC4wd Boggers on axial beadlocks
Overdrive front gears



I was just looking around my local hobby shop and came across the 2 Door XJ body. I bought it on the spot. While it's fairly accurate, it needs some help in certain areas.




After assembling it, I started to lay it out on the chassis. The front and rear links have been shortened 1/2" each for a total wheelbase of just under 11". The rear will get stretched a little longer to better suit the body and match the 1:1 version.



I have already placed and order for some parts and they should be arriving this week. This build will span over a couple months as it's wheeling season for the full size version and I'll be working on this here and there as time allows.

[StomperCrawler]

Where in the world did you find an upgraded Scx10 Deadbolt with Castle, Holmes, MIP, and Rc4wd upgrades for $100?!? I'm gonna shop there from now on. LOLZ

[adamk]

Originally Posted by StomperCrawler

Where in the world did you find an upgraded Scx10 Deadbolt with Castle, Holmes, MIP, and Rc4wd upgrades for $100?!? I'm gonna shop there from now on. LOLZ

Haha, a buddy of mine has way too many crawlers. In order to fund his new build he had to liquidate some and I jumped on the chance at this one.

[StomperCrawler]

Originally Posted by adamk

Haha, a buddy of mine has way too many crawlers. In order to fund his new build he had to liquidate some and I jumped on the chance at this one.

Huh... guess I need to rethink my friendship search strategy's priority list.

[adamk]

Leaf springs and hangers arrived so I got those installed and the wheelbase set. I also made a forward motor/trans mount. Now I'm on the hunt for a transfer case. I've found a 2 speed that I like but haven't pulled the trigger on it yet.

[adamk]

Been making slow progress here and there. Got some bondo work done to fill in some lines. Made a transfer case with a 1.8:1 ratio. This puts my final gearing before the axles at 23.5:1 which is quite deep. I may switch to a lower turn motor but I'll see how this goes first. I got the front suspension figured out. It's a 3 link with panhard bar. I also made a bumper/servo mount. V1 had some issues so V2 is on the printer now. I also started on the exterior cage but will have to redo it as I made a mistake in some of the bends that I didn't catch until it was all brazed together and laid on the body.