Joe's flatty The revival!

[razor rc]

i wanna see that thing at states again. it was great running "fallow the leader" with joe. I wanna wheel whit him again. (maybe barbie will be there next year)

[mjh]

Awsome............

[MuddinJeepXJ]

i love it i must have one

[spiderxx]

My hats off to this project.
Imo you took it to the next level "Realistic R/C Rock crawling".
New Tubs $5.99 lol!
Good Job man.

[Stormin2u]

Originally Posted by Metal Masher

Don't feel that way. I made it with the specific intention of damaging it. For me it was a quickly body. I did it in only a few hours. That's why i like metal though, I can just make another

Every time I see this feel kinda sad it looked so nice in fresh paint

[Metal Masher]

WOW I guess I need to check this more often. I didn't realize there were so many responses!

Originally Posted by MtnMan210

I am loving the metal bodies you've done. I just may have to try one myself. I don't know if I missed the pictures or not but how are you attaching the body to the rigs?

The body is pretty much sandwiched between the cage and the frame. There are "feet" at the base of each bar.

Originally Posted by bigred

That is awesome, I used your technique and built a few bodys for me and my dad for our road cars....... we've always driven pretty hard and have done some damage to lexan bodys but this just takes it to a new level. Thanks for the inspiration..........unbelievable fun. The only thing is I'm left to fix the damages after were done. Oh well......

Awesome! I'm glad to see more people trying there hand at this. Do you have any pics?

Originally Posted by Fracture

man that is some insane fab work and trail damage! Respect!

Thanks! that really means something coming from you! you're FJ is truly awe inspiring!

Originally Posted by razor rc

i wanna see that thing at states again. it was great running "fallow the leader" with joe. I wanna wheel whit him again. (maybe barbie will be there next year)

Don't worry it'll be there. I bit more refined though

Originally Posted by Stormin2u

Every time I see this feel kinda sad it looked so nice in fresh paint

Just wait, I'm building another body but this one will probably have a little more protection

[breitenbach14]

friggin awsome i tried to make make a body like that and i couldnt get any of the crinkles out of it and yea ill try again that is crazy, all that carnage a stuff keep it up

[Metal Masher]

Truthfully I don't get them all out either. I just make them less obvious by working the metal with something hard like a socket over the folds. once the paint is on it's hardly noticeable.

[Metal Masher]

Well after beating on this thing for almost a year i figured it was time for a re-vamp.

One of the things i did recently was to ditch the crappy wheels i had in favor of some stampede's. to make them work I needed to get some wheel wideners and scored a set in a trade. The new set-up makes it a little wider but I like how it looks




Now it's pretty obvious that the poor flatty is in need of a new body so off came the old one





The tranny set-up was always temporary as being under the frame made it way too low and I always got it hung up on things. I also wanted to lower the ride hight a bit so once I stripped the chassis I mocked it up with the ride hight I was shooting for.



then I cut out some new lower link mounts



and welded them to the frame



I have tons of clearance now!



for the upper links I welded a plate inside the frame and ran a bolt through it



finally I wanted to make the shock set-up a bit more realistic so I bent up some shock hoops to put the shocks in a more vertical position.



I'll go into the new tranny set-up later

[51WillysJeep]

The re-build is coming along AWESOME so far..!!! I've ALWAYS loved this rig..!!!!! Its just Looks SO real, ( all beat up and abused) - My Hats off to you my friend..!!! Excellent work..!!!

[Metal Masher]

Thanks man! I got you're PM, i'll get back to you on it in a bit.

Well the next thing I have been wanting to do for some time is to move the tranny up into a more natural position under the hood but I would need a way to transfer the power to the wheels. After looking at the parts out of an old 3 speed, I realized what i was going to do.

I started by grabbing the shafts I would need



I'm not sure what they are for in the tranny but after a little trimming I had an input gear



and an output gear



Here is how they will be laid out




Then I took what was left of my battery trey from my AX10, and cut it down to make side plated for the T-case



with gears installed



Input side from tranny



back side



Now to mount it into the chassis I bent up some sheet metal into a cross member, drilled and tapped it, and welded it to the chassis





Here is the T-case in it's final position





And here it is with the tranny in it's new spot





I Still have excellent ground clearance and the DS angles are real good as well



Finally here are some poser shots of the rolling chassis






Next is the new body!

[hellbentrodder]

Great job! That T-case is awesome.

[MoParmonster]

Looks awesome

[BigSki]

I had the joy of watching this Jeep run 2 weeks ago. You have to be there to appreciate hearing the body getting mangled! Hopefully you'll be out for the 10th, I'm looking foward to it.

[Metal Masher]

Thanks man! Sorry I won't be at the next comp. I have a family reunion that day. I'll try to make the next one but I won't know for sure until it gets closer.

[RockCrawlingKid]

that tcase is sweet it reminds me of an r2. come to think of it you could make it look like a dana 300 or an atlas tcase if you rounded the sides off

[The Real Dogman]

That is the craziest lowbuck build I have ever seen!! Great work!!!! We ahve a guy here that puts monster can skins on his Betty B17 body just for the sound and fun so I an truly appreciate the sound factor

Very innovative build!!!

[Metal Masher]

I never intended it to be a low buck project but i suppose it is. I've always used what i had lying around so it seems natural to me.

Well I don't have any progress shots of the body , I was in a hurry to get it done before the PA Jeep show a couple weeks ago, So here is the completed rig before I ran it.






Yes the "Willys" is actually embossed into the metal


The new body has some refinements to it. I added a little more detail like the lettering on the back. I cut the front fenders off the original truck to get a better mold of them, I added more bracing this time to help with the weak spots I had in the old body, and the radiator support is of a heavier gauge metal to help keep it from collapsing like the last one.

Her is a not so clear shot of the underbelly




One last thing, the skid plate to the left in the upper photo is actually the battery trey



I had to put it there because the tranny now occupies the original location. The 2 cell LiPo fits perfectly and is easly removed by simply removing the 2 back screws and hinging it down.

I'll get some after run shots up soon

[crawler_king]

Dang... Looking better than the original!
Cant wait to see it at the states! Hope to see you there!

[countryboy4life]

Looks freaking sweet man!!!