Low Life Buggy

[dondraper25]

Finally getting around to upgrading the dog bones in the SSD Diamond axles on our Low Life Buggy. What a difference in steering radius! This should have been done a long time ago.

[dondraper25]

It was spool day in my house hold last night. We installed spools front in rear in this buggy, and we built the rear axle for my daughters Barbie Buggy.

My one word of advice for those who don't have experience tearing down these differentials, make sure you get all of the factory paper gasket off the ring gear, to ensure the new locker / spool seats flat.

[dondraper25]

We installed new lower suspension mounts last night. The same mounts you would find on a Axial Bomber. We have plans to mount a sway bar in the front of this thing, with the help of info we are learning in these forums.

We also test fit the LS1 we got from the Scale King. We just want this thing to look and perform the way a real southern rock bouncer would. It's not mounted yet, but we are working on it. More to follow.

[doubler]

Just a suggestion. Move your upper shock mounts in....

[dondraper25]

Originally Posted by doubler

Just a suggestion. Move your upper shock mounts in....

Ugh, great call, and I did after I took this darn photo. That's my bad.

Thank you, good eye.

[dondraper25]

Nothing too serious to report, but a change none the less.

The Low Life Buggy was designed to run the Maxxis Trepador's by Axial. But we are finding that since the LLB is so low, that we need to get as much ground clearance as we can. So below you'll see the cut (rear) Interco Bogger's by Pro-Line, again nothing new to you guys. I took a snap shot of the difference in size, in case y'all had never had a chance to see the two lined up together. The cut tires will be on the back, and the non cut up front. We think you'll find the difference quite noticeable under the skid plate. You'd find if you watched a lot of Madram11 or Busted Knuckle or High Octane Films videos, that a lot of the rock bouncers run Boggers. However most run the TSL's. Which as soon as we receive our Pro-Line Denali wheels, we will switch to those.
If you haven't followed any of our other builds, I tend to get bored with things fairly quickly, so changes are made often. It's a curse.
Hope you all are well.

[distinctive pd]

Looks better with the boggers! Keep up the good work!

[dondraper25]

Originally Posted by distinctive pd

Looks better with the boggers! Keep up the good work!

Thank you! What do you think about cutting the front to match the rear?

[DEED]

What did you come up with/decide on for rod ends?

[dondraper25]

Originally Posted by DEED

What did you come up with/decide on for rod ends?

DEED, thank you for the question. I am sticking with the Traxxas Rod Ends for now (Part #: TRA5347). Honestly I had a bag full of them. So I will run them until it's time to re-fit or get more. My buggies are built to replicate what the big boys are running down south. I want them to be as close to the real thing as possible. But at the same time, I want to be able go out to the biggest nastiest hill climbs, and for the suspension to stay together. I'm willing to sacrifice a little on the looks side, if it keeps my kids and I out on the trail a little longer.

Again we appreciate you checking in with us, and look forward to shooting the breeze with anyone who will.

Nick

[dondraper25]

Just a quick update. I am currently transitioning out of the service. I'm all moved in to my digs in TX and looking forward to get back to work in my new shop! However I need to get through the holidays first. We haven't done much to the LLB lately, but there are some plans in the works.

The front end is going to get chopped off and rebuilt. Need to bring the shocks more in board to fix suspension bind. Also I'd like to finally get the 3D printed LS motor between the frame rails. The interior needs to be finished, and panels for the exterior as well. Then tear it all apart for paint.
We have been taking a ton of video of this thing whilst shock tuning. I hope to get some time during my terminal leave to edit them, and post it for y'all to check out.

RCCLTW!

[dondraper25]

The Low Life buggy is getting a full tear down and rebuild. We aren't sure if we are going to re-name this project or go with LLB 2.0 or the LLB Remix? My son is in charge of the naming.
Anyway, we are going to stick with the cockpit design for now. The back half will be rebuilt to make room for a trailing arm suspension, and dual shocks on each corner, along with some scale components. The front will also be dual shocks on each side, and we will make room for that sexy LS1 we got from the Scale King last year. I also want to add a winch and other scale accessories. The drivetrain and steering electronics will all get updated. Big power, but tunable, and brutally strong, those are my goals. We will stick with our tried and true SSD Diamond axles but with a full rebuild of course. Maybe even a surprise in the rear. Not telling my son about that one yet.

The point of this buggy is to make it one hell bent scale hill killer. My son and I have been toying with the idea of holding a bounty hill type event, to see what the turn out would be like. So far there are hundreds of RC aficionados in San Antonio. Heaven! Add to that the terrain around here, shoot we could hold a whole dang series of events! Just around the city!
It's wishful thinking I know. I would just love to link up with some others who are only in to the RC Rock Bouncing scene like we are.

Here are some pics of the LLB in it's current state. We are slowly building up our little work shop. So much better than working in the kitchen!