Guerilla Gorilla

[DrewHammer]

I started this project a long time ago and I feel like it's time to revive it. Now that the aftermarket has caught up with what I need to complete this I'm ready to work on it again. I've come to love my twin hammers and it's KOH/ULTRA4 style but it's limited and challenged by it's ground clearance due to size and 1.9's. This project originally stated as a shortcourse truck but is going to be rebuilt as an ULTRA4 rig.

I'll spare the history behind it but I milled this chassis out about a year ago from 3/16" steel ultimate being 3mm thick with lightening pockets. Although it's still a bit on the heavy side it is all low and helps bring down the CG. It is set up to use an exo center diff and while this may prove to be challenging with only 1 gear reduction in the transmission there's enough motors out there I can find a KV appropriate for this. Tons of design work went in to play on this so I could move the components around to achieve my goals. I moved the trans back and flipped it to get my CG and CVD locations correct, I also moved the steering servo around a bit which will require a new bellcrank but no big deal.

Specs will be as follows.

VP currie rear axle
VP center diff mount
Set screw type lockers in all 3 diffs with custom shafts for front and center so I can use CVD's on both ends
Some low KV 4 pole sensored brushless. Probably the lowest KV ROC412 with an MMP
Twin hammers trailing arms with custom upper links
Mostly stock exo front end with an aluminum bulkhead and maybe some RPM arms or something
Custom cage with mix of solid rod and tube


I built a couple cages for this chassis but I'm going to throw the newest in the trash. I'm extending the wheelbase a bit by using twin hammers trailing arms instead of the ones I made for this. To avoid confusion I'll leave out old build photos other than the individual components.

Sorry for the quality of some of the photos, the new ones will be much better.

All work done on a manual Bridgeport mill.

Dimensioning the plate I started from


Mounting pad for the trans to maintain the correct motor height.


Starting the pockets.


Ready to push through the bandsaw.


Blasted and bent for the front bulkead kickup.


Some nifty little cone washers I made to get the steering posts where they should have been. I was a machinist for a long time and these holes by far were the most challenging I have ever done. They're counter bored and at an angle. Doing one side was ok but locating it to counter bore the other side was a challenge.


Bellcrank clearance with a 550 can


Front suspension, motor mount and motor bolted on for mockup. I'll be using a different motor for this build.


Cage mounts bolted on.


Link mounts.


More pics over the next few days.

[Mega Fattie]

Im into it. Keep up the good work!

[ngward79]

Wow , that's some top notch fab work. Sub from me !

[Bulldog]

Following for sure!