Knightkeeper Tacoma build

[tigris99]

Never did share a pic of the battery situation. Added what was needed in the skid plate cad file so the battery tray is part of it. Only issue as previously mentioned, 1300mah pack so far the is the biggest I can run.

Also, front bumper brazed and painted (last night). Found the most amazing use for small rare earth magnets, holding this in place so o can braze. Unlike regular magnets, these can handle some heat without issue. And having like 30 of the little things, can secure shape and secure to my vise if needed

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[tigris99]

Bumpers and headache bar finished and installed!!!

I remembered I had some shackle mounts from the old days. Long m3 screws but with the head for d rings to attach. I designed to bolt the bumper on, completely forgot to braze on something for d rings still I was installing it. Then remembered these and tried them, PERFECT!!!

My "hitch" with recovery shackle was supposed to be here today for the rear, delayed till Wednesday it looks like. Makes it look like a 1:1 rig that has the recovery hitch installed instead of a trailer ball (something I have behind my back seat in my 1:1 from before my BAMF steel bumper).

Drop bed was designed with holes specifically for the headache bar, so some CA and stuff it in lol.

Was sitting here admiring my work and realized I had some KC inner fenders sitting in a parts box still, decided to see how far off they are from fitting and really not much work to modify in CAD to be able to fit, so I MIGHT print some. But lexan enduro inners would be lighter, not as scale looking though.

Few remaining details like hitch, print a couple rotopax, still can't decide on roof rack matter and finish the lights.

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[B-MOW71]

Man, them bumpers look great! Fits the look and should help protect the body!

The bed and accessories turned out great! Whole rig looks bada$$!

[Panther6834]

Bumpers look good...but, I'm really diggin' that ecto plasma green (it's been slimed).


~ More peace, love, laughter, & kindness would make the world a MUCH better place

[Goro Majima]

Brazed bumpers and headache bar add to the look! Would love to see this in a comp run.

[tigris99]

Other than reinforcing the rear bumper a tad and something for roof rack she's ready for full test and tune!!! She's a little rear heavy, like the bias a bit more front but we'll see how she does. Obviously the full spread of trail/overland scale parts isn't helping but I printed them all as light as possible. My backyard current pile of mixed rock isn't exactly a great test being all the sharp edged overhangs currently.

If I'm lucky, I'll have time tomorrow to hit the city park near by to check the basics.

Played with the lights in the back yard a bit tonight to make sure "they all worked properly" lol. Found the light pods on amazon, stumbled accross them, use the same LED as the injora set I have in the bumper on the Knightrunner, but smaller/way more scale looking housing. So I bought all but 1 pack they had left. Come in a set of 4, so I have 10 more for future build use and likely use some to replace the KC light bar set up that's more for looks than function.

Has DRL amber front, perfect indicator to see that it's powered up. Rest of the lights are on aux channel.

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[tigris99]

Ok so my "city park storm drain test course" run yielded some not surprising but definitely needs corrected, some unexpected, and some amazing results.

So I'll start with the bad:

Even with bed weight shocks push it up and it'll endo too easily. Rear axle only has the SSD diamond axle brass third member, no other added weight. Not suprised at all byt this, the shocks got switched to full stock element, no droop springs inside. Hopefully don't need added weight to get proper droop using the desert lizard springs.

My only concern is this also proved helpful on climbs as once front came over the suspension opened up. So there is an issue there. Need to take the hilux up the same lines and see how that suspension reacts.

Somewhat unexpected:

PETG AS I WAS AFRAID OF IS WAY TOO BRITTLE. Stronger than PLA MY HAIRY WHITE A$$!!! So I'll run this body shell, take my time printing a white Tough PLA body or the same green in PLA Pro+ (both Inland brand, duramecs version and slesuns version are as strong but seem a bit less consistent in print quality) repaint same color. All parts on the body are easily removed except the lights.

SIDE NOTE ON BREAKAGE THOUGH. The tumble down that cause of how jagged and far it is to the bottom has broken things on the other 2 rigs, but I can't stand up with the rigs to catch them.

My joint welds seem stronger than the solid printed areas. No cracks anywhere, this is where I expected failures besides the thin spots up front .

Thankfully I have multiples of every decal!!!

Now the good:

CLIMBS LIKE A MOUNTAIN GOAT. Need to bring get a tad more weight to the front which I have a solution for when it gets steep but the dead damp grass may have been more of the issue than the weight. All the Rock Beast Haters can be educated cause even with wet tires this thing has the same grip as my hilux on 4.75 hyrax on these climbs. Actually give a slight favor towards even these C1 rock beasts (1.7 stretched onto 1.9).

Side Hilling!!! OMFG!!!! I expected this thing to struggle with the heavy ass body. Even with all the weight on my knight runner at the axles and lighter body, 6mm wider stance (but stock ride height) it can't touch this thing. Knightrunner is getting a fox belly!!! BEST PART, torque twist comes into play only on climbs. On what I have pics of, can go either side about the same.

Couldn't find a line that put my skid plates, front or sides to the test. Unlike stock IFS or stock side plates, this thing doesn't hang up on everything. Knightrunner with the front skid fixed that, gotta do a modified version of these for it as well. As is the Hilux. Why brands make side plates the way they do (or element made the flat bs front skid stock) is beyond me.

REAR BUMPER DIDNT DIE, lol. You can see the distance it took for one tumble, dampened initial hit as it bent under the body and all was fine beyond that.

Now the to do list:

Body is whatever, got glue and "welding" to keep it together while I patiently do a new shell.

REAR SUSPENSION. Going to try to avoid adding weight, but I do have brass rotor looking injora weights on hand, also brass linkage brackets on hand. Not hard to shave them down if needed using a spare wheel hub, drill and hacksaw blade. This is ONLY if changing to semi droop on the shocks doesn't work due to lack of weight.

Semi droop (or in other fields we call it a negative spring) and see what that does to performance. Fixed issues without compromises on the Hilux but the hilux is solid axle, not IFS.

Go to dual foams in the tires, NEEEEED MMMMOOOORRRE sidewall support lol




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[tigris99]

My wife calls my scale garage my doll house, so printed a doll to help me tune the Tacoma!

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[Goro Majima]

Love it haha. These tiny truck garages are pretty much their version of doll houses.

[B-MOW71]

Looks like you're getting her figured out. I hear ya on the Rock Beast! They are my favorite tire and are the best that I've found for my terrain. I've got three sets of them and getting ready to buy another set!

Those light pods on the front bumper look great! I tried to 3D print some like them, but didn't turn out as good as them. I'll have to jump on the Amazon and get me a set of them.

Ha! Dollhouse, I hear the same thing! Looks like you have a good mechanic now!

[tigris99]

Originally Posted by B-MOW71

Looks like you're getting her figured out. I hear ya on the Rock Beast! They are my favorite tire and are the best that I've found for my terrain. I've got three sets of them and getting ready to buy another set!


Those light pods on the front bumper look great! I tried to 3D print some like them, but didn't turn out as good as them. I'll have to jump on the Amazon and get me a set of them.



Ha! Dollhouse, I hear the same thing! Looks like you have a good mechanic now!

I have 4.75 and 4.5 for the knightrunner. 4.5 looks better but damn she can crawl on 4.75 lol. 4.5 I gotta be more picky on my lines, but that was pre- flat skid and such, so we'll see. Then of course Class 1 for this. Can't say the best or not overall for here but comparable and I love the look being true scale tire.

Ya the lights are nice, just ordered injora tagged ones because the pack also had a pair of the dual emitter versions. Fall/winter is coming, be able to light things up for me and everyone else lol.

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[tigris99]

More reinforcements arrived today lol.

Have an idea for the rear shocks matter, hope it works as good in action as it sounds in my head. The whole matter of desert lizard springs fitting perfect matter, came up with a combo inside and out that may just do what I need to.

The help already got the rig moved and is on on top of it. Well underneath it but still.

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[tigris99]

Decided to bring this with to work trip with weekend to Margaritaville at LOTO

after some serious try, tear on the bench, switch try again, think this rear shock craziness might work. Had limited space to check the rear lift at all but way better for sure.

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[tigris99]

I swear, I'm finding every weak point this damn this has.

The shackle mounts which were also the bumper mounts were made out of some crappy steel or something. They both got snapped off pretty easily. M3 screws now.

RS800 steering servo is freaking mean, so now the upper and lower control arms are on balls and m3 screws into the knuckles. My knightrunner took ages for one to wear bad enough to start poping off. And haven't popped a upper yet on it....

Hopefully I'm out of bugs to work out lol, more so done breaking anything besides the body for a while.

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[Goro Majima]

You're determined to get it dialed in, that's what it's all about.

[B-MOW71]

Good to hear you're getting the bugs and weak points worked out in the test and tune sessions!

Sounds like it's going to be a beast when it's time for competition!

[tigris99]

Originally Posted by B-MOW71

Good to hear you're getting the bugs and weak points worked out in the test and tune sessions!



Sounds like it's going to be a beast when it's time for competition!

Man I hope so lol, all this work and cussing.

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[tigris99]

Ok after a brief test tonight, my shock idea for the rear failed. Improvement but still lifting too much.

Made gears start turning. I have been curious about dravtech set up and the whole losi mini springs thing. Was something that made me go 75/25 droop on the hilux. Stiffer shorter spring.

Short springs only expand so far, element springs for example are pretty much the full length of the shock full extended, remove load they will expand till that point. Even a pen spring style mod, the stronger main spring will overcome it and weaken it, so only works for a short time if the main spring rate is too high (aka to support this lard ass body).

Now this is only a problem because of the GKS rear suspension. Normal rear like my knightrunner this is much less of an issue due to less rear travel available.

So stole the shocks off the hilux, got the front about 80% sprung (I have 100mm DL set too, so have some tad longer springs to work with) on the medium springs. Looks like the front will sit exactly where I want for resting height. Tuning the rear is a cake walk, short or mid length mediums, rest droop.

Honestly didn't expect this to be that challenging but GKS and IFS are both a good bit different from everyday straight axle.

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[tigris99]

I could almost shed a tear right now. DESERT LIZARDS TO THE RESCUE!!!!

As mentioned spring change to the front shocks, direct swapped the shocks in the rear from the Hilux and....

FREAKING PERFECT. Little bit of sprung travel in the rear, almost 0 lift when descending a steep section.

Ride height where I want, full shock travel used except need to put the med sway bar in the rear if I want every last bit back there.

Almost thought about ordering green versions now that this did work out but would be too much green going in.

All she needs now is the stiffer foams in the tires.

Front bumper change done and installed. Center d ring up high, looks like a bulls nose ring lol.

Makes me happy. This thing has been one hell of a challenge.

Going to Elephant Rock State Park Saturday. Yes the name is a pretty clear idea of what's out there lol.

Now I need to get back to the poor Hilux. In really sad shape now with a pile of parts stacking up behind her.

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[Goro Majima]

Awesome, sounds promising on your revised suspension.

The dude taking a leak though LOL.