Cheap SOB Crawler Build

[chris.martell]

Are you planning on running faced wheels?

[winnerone23]

Rovers with optional sipping



A little something like this... half cut off lugs and half finishes shaved.

[MRCrackhead]

Good idea on the knuckle bushings.

Front axle is coming along nicely.

Good work.

[hpiguy]

Originally Posted by chris.martell

Are you planning on running faced wheels?

If you mean a solid rock ring, not at this time, just what came with it for now. But I may look at making / buying some at some point if I get more serious about pure crawling. I have an idea for them that just might work though, we'll see. For now, I just want to go crawl, hopefully this weekend!

Originally Posted by winnerone23

Rovers with optional sipping

A little something like this... half cut off lugs and half finishes shaved.

Thanks for the pics Troy, that helps for sure. Got both front tires cut, and one side of one tire sanded before I had to come back into work.

Originally Posted by MRCrackhead

Good idea on the knuckle bushings.

Front axle is coming along nicely.

Good work.

Thanks, I appreciate it.

[chris.martell]

By faced wheels I meant a wheel that the hub bolts to the face of the wheel. It helps get your track width narrower than 11in. It does require a slw hub or some sort of hub like them

[hpiguy]

Originally Posted by chris.martell

By faced wheels I meant a wheel that the hub bolts to the face of the wheel. It helps get your track width narrower than 11in. It does require a slw hub or some sort of hub like them

Oh, I hadn't thought about that. Aren't you allowed 12.5" track width in the shafty class?

[chris.martell]

I think so bro but thats way to wide imo. 10 and 7/8 to 10 and 3/4 is about perfect. It's all about clearing gates which are 16in min. Driving tru them on a diagonal would be tricky at 12.5. The 5.12 was 10 and 3/8 outside of tire to outside of tire

[hpiguy]

Ah, that's why, makes sense. Hmmm, I'll measure in just a bit when I get home, I have no idea how wide it is right now, but I'm guessing around 11.5 or so.

[chris.martell]

DEracing Borrego wheels are super cheap 6.99 for 2 wheels and are very easily modded for a slw hub if you dont mind gluing on your tires

[hpiguy]

I'll look into them, but I'd have to buy SLW hubs also, as I don't own any. I'm at 11.75 right now, I have some pro line beadlocs that look like they'll get me around 11.25 or so, I'll check later on. Also, as you add positive offset on the wheel to narrow the track width, don't you lose some of the steering gained by all the front axle work from the tires digging into shocks and such?

[chris.martell]

Not if you have enough caster and dont rush yourself take your time and tweak and tune. But your servo/4 link plate will need to be modified to not rip the tires.

Do you plan on comping this rig or driving it for fun? If you don't plan on going to comps just leave it and have fun driving

[hpiguy]

Originally Posted by chris.martell

Not if you have enough caster and dont rush yourself take your time and tweak and tune. But your servo/4 link plate will need to be modified to not rip the tires.

Do you plan on comping this rig or driving it for fun? If you don't plan on going to comps just leave it and have fun driving

For now, just for fun. If I enjoy it, I do plan to hit some comps, but not until next year though. I tried crawling years ago (hence the join date and low post count, still have my Bender SW2 ) and just couldn't get into it as I'm more of a go fast guy. But I've enjoyed it a lot more recently. So I'll get it close for now and work on my driving, then buy wheels and cut the plate later on, and possibly a new chassis if I stick with it.

[hpiguy]

Man, shaving tires is a lot of work, filthy too.

[chris.martell]

Yes it is but I think its fun

[hpiguy]

Yeah, it is kinda fun. Two down, two to go, and I'm outta gas after working all night. To be continued....

[winnerone23]

If not the Slw hubs, cause you don't know what size to buy..

Check out lattice innovations, Shift hubs.. pm Bc-brian for a set.

I enjoy shaving tires myself.. I cut lugs while I watch tv .. when I have them all ready, I hit the shop to make a mess..

[MRCrackhead]

Before you mount those freshly shaved tires, narrow your stock rims.

That will stand the tires up a bit, and narrow the track width for you.

I cut on the back of the beadlock on one side, trimmed out some of the middle, and then CA glued them back together.

Since I cut the one side flush to the back of the beadlock, the screws are long enough to help line the halves up and tie them together.

Never had an issue, and I love them.

Can't remember if I have pictures on my build thread or not.

I have the same wheels you do (kinda....lol).

Almost free.......

[hpiguy]

Just finished the other two tires a moment ago.

Originally Posted by winnerone23

If not the Slw hubs, cause you don't know what size to buy..

Check out lattice innovations, Shift hubs.. pm Bc-brian for a set.

I enjoy shaving tires myself.. I cut lugs while I watch tv .. when I have them all ready, I hit the shop to make a mess..

Thanks Troy, I'll check those out. Same here, except no shop.

Originally Posted by MRCrackhead

Before you mount those freshly shaved tires, narrow your stock rims.

That will stand the tires up a bit, and narrow the track width for you.

I cut on the back of the beadlock on one side, trimmed out some of the middle, and then CA glued them back together.

Since I cut the one side flush to the back of the beadlock, the screws are long enough to help line the halves up and tie them together.

Never had an issue, and I love them.

Can't remember if I have pictures on my build thread or not.

I have the same wheels you do (kinda....lol).

Almost free.......

Yeah, I can do that. Question is, what did you cut them with? I'm pretty limited in what tools I have access to. And do you remember how much you removed from them?

[MRCrackhead]

I used a 4" grinder with a cut-off wheel.

Clamp the guard of the grinder to a flat table so you don't have to hold it steady (my grinder stays turned on without holding the button).

This allows you to lay the wheel on the same table and "push" it into the grinder wheel to make the cut.

Then you can "turn" the wheels with both hands and the cut will be perfectly flat.

I used some various pieces of flat metal to raise or lower the wheel until it was cutting exactly where I wanted.

I don't remember how much I cut out, but my wheels ended up being around 7/8" wide measured at the beadlock face (plastic, not the rings).

Cut the beadlock free from one side, run a screw all the way in through the beadlock ring and plastic wheel to see how much sticks out of the backside. This will determine how much you can remove without that screw hitting the screw coming from the other side.

I had a 2mm tap, so I tapped the plastic holes after the cutting was done just to make it easier to run the screws in, but that may not be necessary.

I used 3 bolts to make sure the wheels were lined up correctly, and glued the edges, tightened those 3 bolts, and then ran a bead of glue around the joint for extra piece of mind.

Let them dry, pull the screws, drill new vent holes (old holes got cut away), and install tires....

[brado]

Looks great so far. What is the name of the chassis