Tommy R's TTC Build - "Big Oly"

[Tommy R]

Well, I spent more time tonight than I'd hoped getting this thing running under its own power....but it's alive! Running a 10t HH puller (21/84 ratio) on 3s makes for loads of wheelspin.....more than I could utilize indoors. I think it'll be perfect for a TTC event. Although I'm also considering a standard HH 35t on 4s as an alternative since the pullers are nearly impossible to get now.

Here's a few pics of it in its current state. It's still far from finished and the current wiring is temporary, but I had to try it out. Too bad it was dark and I had to crawl in the garage.









I'm having some sort of interference issue, unfortunately. Whenever I turn the steering at all, the motor makes a horrible racket and slightly surges. I later noticed my pinion was loose, but that doesn't explain the glitching. I'm running a HH TorqueMaster and 10t puller. The video is uploading and may not be done 'til tomorrow. I'll post a link soon, though.

[Tommy R]

Okay, the video is uploaded. The "popping" sound is the motor and it does it whenever the steering is turned when the truck is stopped. I'm zoomed in at first and then zoom out to show the wheels turning while the popping is going on. I thought it was possibly the drag brake so I dropped it from 100% to 70%. It seems to be marginally better now, but still acts up.

The can of the motor just barely touches the chassis frame rail. Could that be the cause of interference like this?

http://tommyr.smugmug.com/gallery/10...45164589_zY6nD

[Tommy R]

Goods and bad news. I got the truck running enough to run our in our scale comp today (poor turnout, only 4 participants). It had no working winch, it had no scale accessories, it had not seen dirt yet.... It was effectively untested other than playing around in the living room. But it ran and it's overall performance was not bad. That's the good news.

The bad news is that the leaf spring anti-wrap bar broke a brazed joint and allowed so much axle wrap that the front driveshaft started popping off. The steering is very loose and with all the linkages involved, it appears to have lost a lot of torque and gained a lot of slop. The steering is very loose and unacceptable. The linkage can also overextend its throw and bind requiring the truck to be backed up to unbind itself. I think this is made worse with the wheel wideners. The puller stripped out an Axial CVD within about 2 minutes into my first run. I then swapped both for stock cups. Super 300s are cool, but are crack money at $150/pair!

And overall, it just looked more like a comp rig or something than a scaler. I hope it looks more like a scaler as I do more work to it. I think it will. I'm just a bit frustrated with it at the moment.

I will repair my CVDs and sell them. I will rebuild my anti-wrap bar or use a new design I'm kicking around. I will re-evaluate my steering and may do away with the behind-the-axle tie rod. But if these things don't improve it's performance and reliability it'll get links and coil springs up front. On the bright side, the leaf springs held up well. And boy howdy, that HH puller has some power!!

Unfortunately, no pics and what little video I've got didn't come out all that great so no new images to share. I'll get some later this week....

[GLADIATOR]

this is a nice build tommy

[War Pig]

Well Tommy, first I must say that the rig turned out looking AWESOME! I absolutely love the body and chassis color combination, plus the whole rig has a nice look to it. Sorry about the front suspension not living up to your expectations. I have a feeling that you will have a coilover/link suspension on the front sooner than later......I just don't think leafs are just not going to hold up to that kind of power. Hopefully you get it dialed, it turned out great.

PS....the super 300's are worth $150.

[team3six]

man thats too bad. Im sure youll get it worked out. Looking forward to seeing it all tuned and dialed in.

[Tommy R]

Originally Posted by GLADIATOR

this is a nice build tommy

Thanks, man.

Originally Posted by War Pig

Well Tommy, first I must say that the rig turned out looking AWESOME! I absolutely love the body and chassis color combination, plus the whole rig has a nice look to it. Sorry about the front suspension not living up to your expectations. I have a feeling that you will have a coilover/link suspension on the front sooner than later......I just don't think leafs are just not going to hold up to that kind of power. Hopefully you get it dialed, it turned out great.

PS....the super 300's are worth $150.

Thanks, Tim. I appreciate that. I kinda like the color, too. Can't wait for Bowtie to finish my custom stickers! I saw a preview and they looked great. The performance issues I'm having are inherent to leafs, I think. The whole front suspension seems loose. This makes sense because in order to reduce bind at the shackles and hangers, most of the hardware can't be tightened all the way. I'm using nylocks and they're holding, but there is slop in the suspension that I don't think I can do anything about. It's a shame, but I think there are too many issues with running leafs and I suspect they will be going away sometime soon. I think a high powered rig like this simply needs to control of links and coils.

For the front axles, I think I'll first try modifying the stock axle cups and see how they do. I'm sure they will introduce some driveline slop, but they're free. I can always step up to Super 300's later on. If you have any reasons why I should just step up sooner, though, I'm all ears.

Originally Posted by team3six

man thats too bad. Im sure youll get it worked out. Looking forward to seeing it all tuned and dialed in.

Thanks, Norm! I'm looking forward to seeing it dialed in, too....and with some of your scale goodies on it! Your rig is looking bad azz, by the way! Really wish I could swing a trip to Montana this year. It'd be so cool to see everyone's rigs, but more importantly it'd be cool to meet face to face with all the friends I've met here.

[Tommy R]

BOWTIE really came through with the decals! Allow me to officially introduce you to my version of........Big Oly!


I've got one hell of a co-driver.


Now the resemblance to the predecessor is more obvious....


Oh, and I've pretty much decided to scrap the leaf setup. I'm bummed about it, but I just don't see this rig performing the way I want with my current setup. For a rig that is slower or lighter, I think the leafs would be great. I may keep the stuff for another project, but not sure. We'll see...

[Z71HULK]

Lookin good Tommy! I'm diggin the Big Oly theme!

[Tommy R]

Originally Posted by Z71HULK

Lookin good Tommy! I'm diggin the Big Oly theme!

Thanks, Dusty!

[Grizzly4x4]

Love the Big Oly theme Tommy! The rig is looking great.
Sorry to hear about the troubles with the front suspension though.

I have one leaf spring truck and I too noticed that the slop in the shackles would cause looseness in the steering as the axle would move side as it tried to steer.

I'm not sure what is up with that glitch when you steer. I have one Torqumaster ESC in my rock racer with a 21T HHH motor and it works perfect. I don't think the puller motor would be the cause. Maybe the motor touching the frame could cause that. Try insulating it by putting some electrical tape between the frame and the motor maybe.

Can't wait to see what happens for round 2 of the build.

[LIKES2CRAWL]

***UPDATES***

[STANG KILLA SS]

wow, ric and tommy the stickers just polish this thing off. looks amazing!

[Tommy R]

Thanks, y'all. I appreciate the kind words.

Unfortunately, the truck is still sitting untouched (and broken) after the comp a few weeks ago. To be honest, my focus has been elsewhere. I've finally gotten serious about making my biggest lifelong passion a reality and I'm going to build a vintage style hot rod from the ground up. Big undertaking and finding the right body to start with has been draining! Hopefully soon I'll find some time and energy to work on Big Oly again.

What I can tell you is that I will be linking the front with coilovers, narrowing the track width (no more wideners), and other than that I've got a LOT of finish work to do on it. Lots of work still ahead.....

[SStone]

The TJ was awesome, but this thing is a beast.

[Kanyon-crawler]

Very nice build
Tommy!

[Tommy R]

Thanks, y'all. I appreciate the kind words. One of these days I need to get the inspiration to finish it!!

[Tommy R]

Looks like the time has come to get back to work on this hoopty. First things first is to ditch the leaf spring setup that didn't work at all like I'd hoped. I also did away with the pseudo behind-the-axle arrangement. First of all I picked up a Hand Brothers Honcho 3 link setup, but couldn't use the servo mount. So I brazed a mount to the chassis for the chassis end of the track bar. I hope to get the servo mounted up within a day or two.


As you can see, I bent the track bar link so I can get a lower ride height. It only has about 1/4" of bump travel right now before the axle housing and track bar hit. I've got a couple ways to gain more travel, though. Not to mention, the ride height will be taller than what is shown.


A side shot. The rear ride height is pretty good and about where I want it. The front needs to come up some more, maybe another 3/8" or so. This rig will not be a low rider. I just don't think that would suit the style I'm after with this build, not to mention I'm hoping not to dovetail the body....though I bet I will have to. It's sitting at a 13.5" wheelbase right now, which is great, but it just looks too long to me, particularly up front. Maybe I'll shorten the links some...


I've got some goodies that should be here before the end of the week. We've got a scale comp in a week and a half. The truck won't be 100% completed by then, but it should at least be finished enough to run. Fingers crossed....

[Tommy R]

I shortened the wheelbase by shortening the front links. Knocked it down from over 13.5" to under 13.25". Of course, this required relocating the track bar, which ended up letting me re-use my orginal servo mount. Here's how things are looking now.







I still have some tweaks to make for more bump travel. The track bar hits the top of the axle and the pitman arm contacts the tie rod, but otherwise things are looking good so far.

[Gimp]

This truck is bitchin Can't wait to see it all finished up!