Freds Tuber

[fred0000]

again, just like my trail crawler, somewhere to keep and document the progression of my crawler, feedback and coments are welcome.

when I got it it was the ARTR kit, all set up RTR with basic radio and a waterproof XL5 ran it like that for a few weeks then decided I wanted to change a few things.





I was not a fan of the height (why the ARTR comes with the ridiculisly long RTR shocks is beyone me. I would have been happier with RTC shocks, so I bought some shorter all aluminum RC4WD shocks. and installed an integy tube cage at the same time (plan on building my own tuber..one day)





still running a stick pack, that lasted about a day haha, now on lipos

the tuber looks so incomplete and messy without skins so I skinned it, with good'ole soda cans





it has been like this ever for the past little while, I am very pleased with it, it now sports some much nicer Panther Cougar tires.

[CrawlHer]

thats a pretty sweet looking chassis. is it a direct bolt on chassis?

[fred0000]

Originally Posted by CrawlHer

thats a pretty sweet looking chassis. is it a direct bolt on chassis?

it is completly bolt on, all the stock suspension is in there now, the shocks are held more vertical then stock (and no other mounting locations) so I wasn't able to use my BTA steering because of it.

[fred0000]

been wheelin it hard, love it still nothing much has changed, have been getting frustrated with the lack of steering power, so I bought a HS-7954SH today, going to install that tomarow and give it a try, will have to run without a BEC till I can order one, killed my hobby budget today :( so I hope i'll be good without a BEC for a week or 2.

took it out today and bent an aluminum servo horn, and mannaged to bend a high clearance link, now it sits a little cock-eyed, anyone ever try to bend a link back to normal? (30*)

[Aggie01]

With a servo like that you will definitely need a bec. I have a HS 7950th and without a bec it is a total wreck.

and your link problem. If you tried to bend it back it would probably break. Especially if it is aluminum. I would drive it a bit cockeyed and get some new links ordered, or order some delrin from McMaster Carr.

[fred0000]

I installed the servo and it feels like I would need a BEC to take advantage of this servo, i'll be ordering a BEC ASAP. i was afriad that straigtening the link might fatigue the material and just cause it to fail sooner. i'll run it as is and get some new ones to replace it.

[fred0000]

installed the BEC, what a huge improvment, glad I got one, got another one on the way too dont know what i'll use that one for yet, maybe my scaler. I think I am going to try to straighten that rear link, its bent enough to have the rear axle "steered" about 10-12 degree's

[fred0000]

I was super excited to get my BEC, it meant that I could go crawlin again with something other then my scaler, so I wired it all in lastnight, its hard to stuff all that crap into one of these things, it'll get an overhaul/cleanup once the rainy season pics up, the tin can skins are all torn up i'll be re-doing it with plastic file folder's a color sceme is in the plans, but i'm not saying till I know for sure, not sure if the beadlock rings and links will take well to paint.

anyway I took it out for a crawl today and had a major breakage within 15min. I usualy bring my spare set of CVD's and spare driveshafts, but never C's this is the 3rd stock MIP pin i've broken, the half-pin that was left slid out and came around and snapped the C at the same time, the sound was amazing.
while it was running the steering servo was a huge HUGE upgrade, I can do things I could only ever dream of before, doesn't even feel like I need dig anymore, I can wiggle the front end and slide it downgrade to get it pointed where I want, and use it to shift weight very easily and prevent tips that would just end bad normaly, very excited. I will get it fixed and take it out toamrow, Gunnar's pins are going in this time

[fred0000]

the new steering servo has been great, I dont know how I lived without one before, I just ordered something i've always been kinda "why do you need that!" about, and i'm excited to try it, the price was to good to pass up, I ordered a dig unit, it looks like its missing the servo mount but thats ok. wouldn't work in my application anyway, it is the HR dig unit, it looks like you need to use a new outdrive for it, I hope I can grind my robinson racing 1 piece to work with it. I have a micro servo sitting on the shelf, has anyone used these digs with a micro servo? the threads I have read about them suggest atleast a HS-645MG, but if someone has succesfuly used a micro with the HR dig, i'd try that rout first. kinda bummed out that i'll have to "un-mirror" my tranny but oh well.



looks like everything i'll need is there. got it off of ePay for $22 shipped.

i'm also going to remove the 4 link plates that came with my scaler and put 3 link in it, I think the 4 link is better suited in this crawler.

[ROCKWHORE]

very nice looking rig fred we will need to go for a crawl some time

[fred0000]

Originally Posted by ROCKWHORE

very nice looking rig fred we will need to go for a crawl some time

thanks, sorry I fcked up our plans for todays crawl I was really looking forward to it.

while I was workin on some of my other crawlers I took my bent lower link off to straighten it out, at first I wasn't going to incase i'd fatuge the aluminum, but i t was starting to drive me nuts.



doesn't look to bad, but the axle was out like 12-15 degree's, I didn't straighten it out 100% but it is much better.

I have yet to get a scale but here is a shot of the amount of weight I run on my wheels, some say its to much, but I love the way it performs, the weight bias front to back isn't terrible either (due to the orientation of all my electronics and battery), I can still "downhill" about as good as I can go up, alot of people overlook that when weighting their crawlers. you have to go down, as well as you go up

[fred0000]

i've been putting off a complete teardown/overhaul on this thing, some stuff needs replaced, some upgrades need installed, axles and tranny are in desprate need of a decent grease job, the driveshafts are sloppy as ..... one of the setscrews stripped out, and I broke a drill bit drilling it out, i've run it with the broken bit in there for the past couple months
I got a BTA steering kit a few months ago that has been sitting since it wont work with the orientation of my chassis, so i'm going to atleast install the highsteer arms for a bit more steering angle.
I also got a RCscrewz kit a few months ago, might go ahead and install that too. going to re-skin it with a plastic file folder, the tin doesn'y hold up.
I also bought a venom 55t crawler motor, i've always wanted to try one.
I will also be removing the 4 link plates from my scaler for this build, its time to get rid of that sloppy 3 link.

edit: oh yeah, I will finaly install the beef toobs, that have been sitting on my bench for weeks!

onto some teardown pics, once you start there is no tunring back, so I just dove in, and now I have to do it



saving the tin skins as templates for the new (you can see the toy RC shocks above (my CC01's LR3 body), the springs fit perfect on these SPARK shocks, lighter spring rate, so I might give them a try)



I guess I wasn't watching close enough, I accedently snipped the signal wire on the ESC easy fix, just doesn't look as good





screwz and new motor





thanks for lookin

[fred0000]

box-o-stuff



bare chassis



let the fun begin...

[fred0000]

got some work done this evening, took appart my scaler to get to the parts I want for this build

delrin skid of unknown origin, I was just going to use the stock skid but it flexes bad when I get bound up, so I thought i'd put this one in place.



and un-known 4 link plates



I also dissassembled and rebuilt the tranny aswell as the rear axle, its a tad late so i'll do the front axle tomarow. don't want to fire up the dremmel for the beef toob install right now.

[Crawling Calvin]

Skid, and plate for sure, look like they are TCS Crawlers in origin

[fred0000]

Originally Posted by Crawling Calvin

Skid, and plate for sure, look like they are TCS Crawlers in origin

thank you! and they are, imagine that Giveaway - TCS Crawlers - Pair of 4 link plates - Your one stop crawler store!

can't wait to drive it with the 4 link, i've always used the sloppy 3 link, other then the scaler that these 4 link plates came on

[fred0000]

I was trouble shooting, and fartin around with the highsteer knuckles to see if I could get a setup that works ok, I came up with this, is there anything wrong with it? I didnt want to flip the horn straight up like lots do.



looking for some input, that would be awesome.

edit: aslo the "outside" tire apears to turn alot sharper then the "inside" tire, is that normal with highsteer knuckles?

[fred0000]

here are some top down shots, steered to the left and right.





if someone has a better idea that would be awesome, and not BTA, I have a BTA kit and it wont work on my application, thanks

[Duuuuuuuude]

As long as nothing hits, it should be fine.

[ax-10 crazy]

Originally Posted by fred0000

I was trouble shooting, and fartin around with the highsteer knuckles to see if I could get a setup that works ok, I came up with this, is there anything wrong with it? I didnt want to flip the horn straight up like lots do.



looking for some input, that would be awesome.

edit: aslo the "outside" tire apears to turn alot sharper then the "inside" tire, is that normal with highsteer knuckles?

With correct ackerman that is correct, but with zero deg knuckles they turn the same at all times.

PS:How is that 55t motor and did you get it from shavers?