DCV/Pro - Project Colossus

[RivBlueNoma]

Originally Posted by BitHed

...another specatacular shot RBN...

Thanks but credit for that shot goes to fellow club member Nishru, the dude seems to know how to work a camera.

[TK421]

I can't get the link to the pics on the VARCOR site to work :(

Lou

['04 Rubicon]

Originally Posted by Riffister

Mark, that rig was bad-a**! I think the rest of us were scrambling just to not look stupid.

I got some shots of Colossus yesterday, they are posted on the VARCOR website!http://www.varcoffroaders.com/forum/...&t=92&start=40

Thanks Chris. Appreciate the pics, the second one below is my new desktop background!

Originally Posted by Robb

Colossus, and maybe moreso it's operator, are just incredible to watch!!! I have never seen such a "point and shoot" style of driving, simple and to the point, and the rig just conquers the obstacles in front of it with ease!!
At our last comp, I had a -4, 34, -5, and I was proud to do that well........and Mark was right there beating me at every stage! Great rig, plus a great driver, and you have an almost unbeatable combination!!!
Congrats on a great build Mark!!

Thank you for the comments, Robb. I don't know why but it seems like they mean more since they're coming from you. I can't say enough about how well this chassis and wheel combination handles. I know that you were right on my heels every stage, you and that dig setup have it going on for sure. I need to get the dig in Colossus to keep up. 8-)

Originally Posted by RivBlueNoma

So YOUR the guy who had to have the oh shit handles like mine. Nice looking rig! I can tell you from experience, these chassis can take a REAL beating.

That's right, I'M the guy! Thanks, and sweet pic!

Originally Posted by TK421

I can't get the link to the pics on the VARCOR site to work :(
Lou

I posted the only ones worth looking at below. J/K. There were some really nice looking trucks and some tough competition out there, the link works for me fine, check em out if you can.


Colossus Comp 3

[RivBlueNoma]

Whats the red blob in there, Waterproofed electronics? That slick rock looks like fun.

[Riffister]

Yup...the red blob was indeed a balloon. It was raining off and on all day, and the rock was fun........but it didn't look too slick when Colossus was running! If he gets this truck dialed in any more...I'm gonna get a petition started to make him run in Super class!

['04 Rubicon]

Yeh, that's a balloon, with the MM and CC BEC in it. It was a quick job before the comp due to the rain, but it worked. I just redid the waterproofing last night since I had to move everything to make room for the VF Dig.

Here are some crappy (cell phone) pics of the dig and the moved and waterproofed electronics. I hope to get the dig installed tonight but I think I'm going to have to move or put new shorter upper links in the rear cuz it looks like they might hit the dig. Plus I'm waiting for a HS225MG servo to come in as well. Not sure when that will get here. I certainly hope it comes in before I leave Friday morning for the TCS ECC. Sucks having to install 2 days before a huge event and pray that everything works out.

Pics

['04 Rubicon]

Fortunately, all my servos were sitting at my door when I got home last night. I was so excited that I immediatly mounted it, set the EPA's before mounting the link, and tested it out. Very nice after some tuning.

Now the problems, I should have looked before fine tuning the servo linkage, but it does not fit in the DCV/Pro with the servo mounted in it's stock form. Bummer :-( . So, got to looking and realized that it would be easy to just flip the servo around and change the linkage from the disconnect the other way, however, the stock allthread that came with the VF dig was too short. So I used a 3/4 inch 4/40 bolt. It worked great, until I stripped the thread on the linkage connector, shoot, now what to do. So I drilled the whole out, and tapped for a 6/32 and switched to a 3/4" 6/32 bolt (which come to find out is much stronger and helped it disconnect and connect better). With the added length of the linkage bolt due to moving the servo, the 6/32 bolt gave it extra ooomph to move the disconnect.

***Note: I cannot stress enough how important it is to set the EPA's prior to connecting the linkage, the stock EPA's on the 225MG are way to high and will burn up the servo. Just move the dig to freewheel and center the servo horn. Then set the dig to 4WD and look at the position of the linkage and set the epa to just less than that position (you will increase it later for better performance, this just helps to keep from burning it up). Now repeat the same but only after placing the dig unit in rear wheels locked position. Once you are comfortable with the EPA's, connect the linkage to the servo horn ( I used the second hole down with the servo mounted like this to increase swing, there seems to be plenty of torque). Once it's all connected and tightened down, test it out. Here is where you will slowly increase the EPA's for 4WD and Rear Lock paying close attention to the behavior of the dig unit and listen to the servo, it will tell you when to back off the EPA.

Hope this information helps someone else trying to mount the VF Dig in a DCV/Pro chassis, if anyone has any questions, just ask.

Here are some more cheap cell phone pics, I'll get better ones after I get the camera back. I still have a tiny bit of rubbing of the upper link on the dig servo, but I moved it back one hole which helped, however it seems that my front articulation had decreased somehow, look at the last two pics comparing front to rear articulation. I don't think it was this bad before, and I do not have enough time to mess with it before ECC, so I'm going have to run it as it is and see.

So, after a bit of adjusting of trim and EPA's, the VF dig is fully operational, and I must say, Colossus is loving the Dig!! I hope to test on real rocks for at least five minutes before running it at ECC.

Colossus 'Diggin' It.

[darkstar]

04 Rubicon - Quick question... for the upper links, are you using the stock 106mm links (that were on the bottom)? I havent recieved my bent links yet, and I tried to build my DCV/pro and noticed my upper links were not long enough! hehe.

Any tips would be very appricated.

[winkscrawler]

Originally Posted by Osirus

04 Rubicon - Quick question... for the upper links, are you using the stock 106mm links (that were on the bottom)? I havent recieved my bent links yet, and I tried to build my DCV/pro and noticed my upper links were not long enough! hehe.

Any tips would be very appricated.

The stock lowers work about perfect for the uppers on that model with the mounting locations.
Mine here:

[darkstar]

yeah, that is what I ended up doing, my 30deg bent links are on the way, so I will have the extra set to use for the rear of the tuber. So far its a fun build!

['04 Rubicon]

Originally Posted by Osirus

04 Rubicon - Quick question... for the upper links, are you using the stock 106mm links (that were on the bottom)? I havent recieved my bent links yet, and I tried to build my DCV/pro and noticed my upper links were not long enough! hehe.
Any tips would be very appricated.

The stock lowers were used as the uppers. However, if you plan to run a VF Dig in it, they will not work in the rear. I had to make new links for the rear as the stock ones would bind up on the dig unit, and if I moved them back, it would mess up the rear caster. I will update this post later on with some pics from ECC and review of the whole event. It was a blast for sure.

[darkstar]

Thanks for that info on DIG, I was going to get one, but now I know it will require some modifications, no problem though.

['04 Rubicon]

Alright, found some time to post up some pics and a short vid from ECC and do a short write-up.

First of all, the ECC event was a great time. I met so many people from RCC that I see on here every day so it was nice to put faces with names. Thanks to TCS and Fishmaxx and all those judges and everyone else for hosting the event. The sponsors were great too, everyone left with a prize, I ended up with some Aces Donuts, War Wagon body (which I gave to H3Resq), JPcustoms body reamers, R2 teflon bushings, and some TCS Koozies. I also brought home one other special item that can't be disclosed yet!

The only thing I did to the rig since the last set of pics was make some shorter rear upper links, the binding on the VF dig servo was too much, the new links resolved that.

Now on to the comp. Poor poor Colossus, had a miserable showing. :-( However, most of it was my fault and not the rigs.
To begin with, on the first course, I must say I was a little nervous as the course was pretty tough and for the first time, I had to run a course with a time limit, which was 5 minutes. So that added a little 'hurry up' attitude that I didn't need. Also, a big factor throughout the whole comp was learning to drive this dig unit with my stock DX3. It's not that using dig was hard, but the DX3 3rd channel switch doesn't work like I need it to. It does not stay in the 1st or 3rd position (to be fixed with a new switch soon) but returns to center, in this case, that's freewheel mode. What this did was force me to hold the 3rd channel switch forward to keep 4wd engaged, release it for freewheel, and then hold it back for rear lock. Needless to say, not ever running it before, I got confused easily and would let off with my thumb by mistake. I got better as the day went on, but that first course was horrible, I timed out on gate 5 I think.
Course 2 was going along pretty well but after gate 3 or 4 I lost front wheel drive due to a stripped locker so that hurt big time. I knew I should have put the Freakstuff lockers in before the comp, but didn't, live and learn.
By Course 3, I replaced the front locker with the Freakstuff one and was good to go. I was going along good and those damn copper rocks that were so slick got me, I slipped and trying to recover stepped on a gate marker, those 10 point cost me big time.

So after all that, I ended up in 43rd, what a joke. Oh well, It was still worth the trip even if I'd gotten last place. Just meeting all of the guys from RCC, seeing all of the other trucks, and getting to talk and crawl with some of the best drivers on RCC was awesome.

The fun time was freecrawling on Sunday when we all got a chance to drive the Finals course and mess around. The best was when Gatekeeper asked me to freecrawl down the river a ways from the comp courses. Myself, GateKeeper, SpyderMonkee, H3Resq, Sven, and Swell Searcher all had a good time on some larger, super slick copper rocks. It was cool getting to chat with those guys and drive their rigs. I picked up a few tips and learned a bit too. Watching Austin drive his rig is simply amazing, I couldn't figure out how he does what he does, but after driving his truck, I can understand why he does so well, it sticks to anything, and is super hard to make it flip backwards, the geometry on his chassis's are right on, especially the GC-2.

Overall, the ECC trip was sooo worth it, I wish all my VARCOR guys could have gone just for the experience. I'll be waiting for the next one for sure.

Video clips - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpZFKfXoges.

Here are some pics of Colossus from the ECC.

[BitHed]

...great post Rubicon...Thanks so much for that...Inspiring...its good to see you learning as you go