Tundra High-Lift

[Rogue]

With the Christmas money I got I bought my self a Tamiya High-Lift Tundra. Since I had a four day weekend Christmas weekend and a four day weekend this weekend for New Years I began my build. Since I have never done a build thread and had the time to take pictures along the way I figured I would do my first build thread. I should have done it day by day as far as updates, but usually by the time I quit working on it I was too tired to post.

First mandatory picture is of the box.

Second mandatory picture, all the parts laid out.

And the build begins.
After building the trans a couple of times I finally got it right and got it completed. I knew that I should have waited until the next day to start the build, but was too excited to get started. It has been a while since I've build a kit from Tamiya, and I forgot how much information they pack into each step. Once together everything operates smoothly.

After getting the tranny built, time to install the frame rails and front bumper.



Next step was to get the axles built.
I'm still unsure if I will keep the 3 speed tranny and axles in favor of the axial axles and a RC4WD R2 two speed tranny. For now I chose to keep it fairly stock and change things as time and testing goes on.
Picture of the axles built.

Front Axle will be sprung, but the rear will get the 4 link treatment.

Shocks built, installed and front axle installed.

I will have to see how these spring break in. Built buy the instructions they are way to stiff and I will have to pull some of the leaves out to soften up the suspension. I may go to a 3 or 4 link in the front also, but would like to keep the looks of the springs up front.
Rear axle installed buy the shocks only.

The starting of the 4 link process.
I went through several variations of where to mount the links.
First try...
Lower links to the skid plate, and bottom of axle. Upper links to above axle and to spring mounting for rear. This set up worked really well, except for the fact that I made it have no ground clearance.







Flex shot, stuffs the rear tire well!

The second...
I tried to get the lower links mounted higher and mounted them to the rear front spring mounts also. This gave me more ground clearance, but caused a lot of axle walk. Tried to triangulate the links more then ran into problems with the axles not lining up with the body. Also started getting the body painted. I chose a pearl blue from Pactra. I plan to add a second color, but at this time was unsure as to what and were it would go.



My final solution was to use TLT suspension mounts and modify the real axle to mount them on the leading edge of the axle, much like the taps on an axial axle. I also redid the upper mount to get more triangulation. On the upper links they are still mounted on the rear, sping mounts. As for the lower mounts, I use Kyosho radio tray posts mounted to the skid plate to get the lower links up higher. This set up I have no axle steer or swing. It is just a hair longer then I would like, so I may have to make some custom links to get the tires/wheels to line up perfect. Now at full stuff the rear of the tire just rubs the rear fender. Also with consulting from the boss (my wife) I chose to put a silver stripe down the side.



Flex shot!



Tire just rubs at full articulation.

[4ONDFLR]

looks sick! i really want one but just cant come off of the $400 or whatever it is.... but keep it up

[Rogue]

Originally Posted by 4ONDFLR

looks sick! i really want one but just cant come off of the $400 or whatever it is.... but keep it up

Thanks! Yea the price tag is steep, but it is a good quality kit. Few things bug me about Tamiya though, for the price you should get bearings and shocks that are able to be sealed so you can run them with fluid.

[1mopar]

looks real nice keep it up man

[scale808]

Nice job...kinda looks like my tundra.....but blue and black...mines is leaf front and 4link rear 2......

[Rogue]

Well once I got the suspension worked out to where I know it'll be a good start, I started the electronics.
For the esc I went with a Castle Creations Sidewinder.
Steering for now is a Towerpro 995 as is the winch.
The shift servo is an old Airtronics kit servo that came with an M8 that I bought years ago for racing.
All controlled with a DX3R.
The motor I put in there is a Integy 35t. After driving it I think that I may go to a 55t at least. It should crawl well with the three speed, and it flies in third gear. I was drifting it around in my kitchen last night. I would keep it but it does seem to get hot and I don't really want to burn it up. The side winder doesn't get hot at all though, just the motor. I'll have to keep an eye on it and see, as third gear is really a lot of fun.

I knew right away that I wanted to get rid of the bell crank steering, so I installed the steering servo where the shift servo was to be installed. I had to use some extra parts that I had laying around, but was able to make every thing work.
It's a little fuzzy, but I raised the link from the knuckle to clear the spring.


I wanted to have a winch and keep the three speed, but I do not have a 4+ channel radio, so I used a 3 position switch mounted in the back window to switch from the tranny servo to the winch servo. I know that this takes away from some of the scale look, but function won out over form on this. The other switch is for turning off some of the lights, but more of that later.


It works pretty good, but plan to change the switch out for a double pole double through switch so I can switch the power and signal wires. I have it now were is just switching the signal wire. It works well, but 2-3 times the winch has started moving buy it's self. If I just switch the + wire then for some reason the shift servo does not work. So I think that switching of both signal and positive wires will be the best solution so I don't have the winch start buy it's self while competing.
Winch was installed in the extra spot next to where the shift servo is suppose to go. I had to use some something to get the servo up high enough to clear the steering servo.

In this picture you can see where I drilled a hole in the body/grill to feed the winch line through.


Starting on the lighting I did everything myself. Bought a hole bunch of LEDs from Radio shack and started soldering. Right now I have 14 LEDs in total. I plan to add a few more for rock lights after I start doing other work. The brush guard has 4, front bumper has 2, head light assemblies have 3 each and the tail light assemblies have 2 each. When power is on the head light and tail light assemblies come on. By flipping the additional switch in the rear window, it turns on the bumper lights, and brush guard lights.
Hear is a picture of the mass of wires coming off the bumper and brush guard.

Hear is a picture of the wiring of the tail lights and you can see where I installed the batteries. I'm using a 3 cell 2200mh for the motor and the stock Losi MRC battery for a receiver pack powering the lights and servos.

The LEDs work really well. Hear is a sequence of pictures showing the LED's on.

Close up of head light.

Just the head lights.

All lights on.

This picture is with all lights off in bastment and only the lights from the LEDs. (Excuse the mess)

Once I had all the LEDs out of the way I finished up with a couple coasts of clear on the body and started adding a few scale items.
I really like the wheels that come with the kit and will probably use them with some Pro-Line Flat Irons when I get a chance to pick up a couple sets. The Crazy Crawlers that have been in most of the pictures are ok, but the wheels look like crap, but they are only until I get the Flat Irons in.

These metal stickers that come with the kit are really nice!

Few scale items.

I still need to get some out door pictures to show off the paint, looks much better in the sunlight, the by light in the basement or flash from the camera.
I plan on making my on rock sliders out of break line and possibly redoing the front and rear bumpers with my own design.

[Rogue]

You guys posted while it took me way to long to post. I'll have to do a build thread differently next time.

Originally Posted by 1mopar

looks real nice keep it up man

Thanks

Originally Posted by scale808

Nice job...kinda looks like my tundra.....but blue and black...mines is leaf front and 4link rear 2......

I was watching your thread. I like the looks of the springs you used up front. I also looked at how you did you four link and just couldn't tell from the pictures how you mounted it all. Looks like it'll be a good rig also!

[Benzbuildr]

nice build. man i really like this tundra, but that trans being that low just kills me. :-(

[Rogue]

Originally Posted by Benzbuildr

nice build. man i really like this tundra, but that trans being that low just kills me. :-(

Yea, one thing that I really don't like. I love the three speed option, but it does hang down way too low. Also it is very heavy and put a lot of weight up high. I'll see how it does, but I'm almost sure that it'll get swapped out for a RC4WD 2 speed trans.

Originally Posted by Syd

VERY nice rig bro! i like it

Thanks!

[tOm™]

nice job it give's me idees for my own tundra i like the switches on the rear window lol

[4x4crawler]

Nice paint work. Would it be trouble to post a pic of the upper link mount on your rear axle please?

[prusik333]

Very nice articulation, I like how you did the winch, sweeet

[Rogue]

Originally Posted by tOm™

nice job it give's me idees for my own tundra i like the switches on the rear window lol

Thanks. The switches do take away from the scale look of it, but we do compete in a series here and I wanted to keep the use of the three speed. I'm not liking the low hanging trans though, so I may change it out for a different one.

Originally Posted by 4x4crawler

Nice paint work. Would it be trouble to post a pic of the upper link mount on your rear axle please?

Thanks, I'll try to get a picture up later tonight, just got home from a comp and I'm worn out. I also got some better pictures in the sun while it was out for all of about 2 hours today.

Originally Posted by prusik333

Very nice articulation, I like how you did the winch, sweeet

Thanks, trying to make it as capable as I can.

[jms222]

looks very good, you should try making some fender flares for it.
great job on the paint! looks good

[Rogue]

Originally Posted by 4x4crawler

Nice paint work. Would it be trouble to post a pic of the upper link mount on your rear axle please?

Here's a picture that I had. I'll get a better one here if you need a better one.

[Rogue]

Some pictures that I took yesterday while the sun was out for just a little bit.

[twisted concept]

Your rig is looking really really good...what tire and rim combo are you using?

[Rogue]

Originally Posted by twisted concept

Your rig is looking really really good...what tire and rim combo are you using?

Thanks, as far a wheels and tires go. Right now it has HPI vintage 5 spoke wheels and RC4WD Crazy Crawler tires. They do work pretty well, but I'm not real fond of the wheels. The offset puts the wheel a little to close to the steering knuckle and just rubs. I plan on using the stock wheels and getting the Proline Flat Irons. I have them on my 2.2 scale rig and really like the way the have performed. I may also get a set a aluminum beadlocks for it some time, just not sure which style I want.

[tpliquid]

nice build.

how come you did not lift up the tranny?

[Rogue]

Originally Posted by tpliquid

nice build.

how come you did not lift up the tranny?

Thanks

I built it as stock as I could just to see what it would be like since I've never had a high-lift before.
I knew right off the bat that I would not like the leaf springs in the rear, so I 4 linked it right off the bat.
I have started the process of modifying it. The tranny and mounts were the first to go under the scalpel.
With work being so busy, I really haven't had time or energy to do much.
I hope to have some updates soon with some of the progress that I have made, along with some that are in the planning stages.