1st gen Durango IFS TRUE SCALE (you're going to want to see this)

[jonnywachter]

Hey guys, I've been a member forever because I have always been fascinated with scale rigs. I used to race professionally for Team Associated for 10 years until I eventually grew out of the sport and focused on my career in mechanical engineering. Fast forward about 5 years of being out of the hobby, I wanted to get into something more fun and naturally I turned to the scale build side of R/C since I have the ability to design my own parts and truly make something completely unique.

I picked up an scx10 ii builders kit knowing I would barely use any of the parts but it was nice building it and getting familiar with how a "scale" rig went together. Its been about a week since I built the kit and I have already had it torn apart multiple times getting measurements and calculating exactly how I want to tackle this project.

The first stage of this project is to build a completely scale front IFS kit that will bolt directly onto the scx10 ii chassis, along with all new rear shock towers and supporting pieces to correct the geometry of the chassis.

So here it is, I built the chassis up, got the body mounted and stepped back and laughed, the ride height is almost comical, I cant have this.



Messing around with the suspension I removed the springs and realized with the shocks completely bottomed out, the ride height is where I want it.











So I hit the drawing board and got to making measurements and a list of all the parts I'm going to have to make.



Turns out I thought Id be limiting the front travel going IFS but it actually gains another 7mm of travel from the stock 30mm of travel. Here are some images of the front end I have started on. This is still very rough and I only have a few hours into it. I'm hoping to get a lot more done this week so you guys can see progress quickly.







Id love to hear some feedback on what you guys think, I'm optimistic that this front end will preform very well.

[RadioFlyer]

Awesome first post.

This is very interesting.

[robbark34]

That looks awesome dude

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[Crawler Cads]

Subbed, very keen to see this progress

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[MartinKyx]

Looks great so far, looking forward to see how it evolves

[coffeeaddict17]

I'm very excited to see how this turns out. I've been thinking about an IFS front for a long time.

[DukeMinnix]

removing my comment for benefit of the OP. AMAZING SKILL AND BUILD.

[B-MOW71]

Subscribed! I really want to see how this turns out!

[rkj__]

As others have said, I'm very interested to watch this project evolve, for several reasons. I don't think I've seen a Durango build before. Anything with custom work is always cool to see.

Also as mentioned, you would certainly be able to sell a handful of bolt-on IFS kits if you are interested in that.

[HeroSlayer]

Sounds like an awesome build. I would like a 1/10 version of my Dakota

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[JatoTheRipper]

Nice! I'm looking forward to seeing this build progress as well.

[Brake Weight]

Subbed for the 3d skills. Looks like a fantastic and motivated start.


In the last pic, will a CV/driveshaft clear the lower A arm at full droop?

[jonnywachter]

Thanks for all the support everyone! Id like to eventually make the kit available to the public, I'm not sure how community guidelines work here though.

[CODYBOY]

Originally Posted by jonnywachter

Thanks for all the support everyone! Id like to eventually make the kit available to the public, I'm not sure how community guidelines work here though.

Looking great Jonny!! I really like seeing a new member willing to step out of the box and share it with all of us.
You asked how the forum works in regards to how you share and eventually market your fruits of labor. As long as you are in the design process and are willing to share it you will be fine with how you're doing it now.
Once you get to the point of having a product to offer be careful not offer it for sale, or talk about prices with out having a venders star!

Once again great job, keep up the good work! You have a lot of guys on here licking their chops or this one And welcome to RCC!!!
Ernie

[jonnywachter]

Ernie, thank you for the info, sounds like we will cross that bridge if we come to it!

On another note, I ordered the axles for the front end. With how I see this design going i'm trying to use as many axial kit parts as possible for ease of assembly. The front pumpkin will obviously be much different than the sock unit. I just wish there was a good option out there but I'm not coming up with much as far as drive axles. The only way I can think of making it possible is having to modify/ machine the center style drive shaft.

[DukeMinnix]

Originally Posted by jonnywachter

Ernie, thank you for the info, sounds like we will cross that bridge if we come to it!

On another note, I ordered the axles for the front end. With how I see this design going i'm trying to use as many axial kit parts as possible for ease of assembly. The front pumpkin will obviously be much different than the sock unit. I just wish there was a good option out there but I'm not coming up with much as far as drive axles. The only way I can think of making it possible is having to modify/ machine the center style drive shaft.

I've heard HPI nitro RS4 utilizes the same gearing ratio, may want to look into that? I don't know for sure, just a thought may help.

[jonnywachter]

I have seen the rs4 conversions, it's not really what I'm looking for to pull off the scale look.

[JohnnyAnguish]

Yeah, I'm in to watch this one. If you come up with a half-way decent bolt on IFS for the SCX-10ii platform you'll be a hero around these parts.

[Brake Weight]

Seeing how you have the geometry angled underneath reminded me of an old truck I saw once. So I did some googling and found a couple of different examples. I didn’t find what I was looking for.

The steering knuckle would be fixed to the lower arm causing the wheel to follow a circular path and not a linear.


Pushrod style.

[rkj__]

Originally Posted by JohnnyAnguish

Yeah, I'm in to watch this one. If you come up with a half-way decent bolt on IFS for the SCX-10ii platform you'll be a hero around these parts.

Out of curiosity, why is there any demand for IFS? Is it simply for "scale" reasons, to better mimic 1:1 vehicles?