RCBro's Rock Spider AR60 style

[Highlucks]

Last year I set about retiring my old Sportsman rig XR/AX10 based with a DNA Slingshot chassis. I was always against the use of AR60 axles in 2.2S rigs because of their inherent width. But after some research and help from friends I had to give them a try. The main reason for trying them was to run the dif. pumpkins in the same orientation as my Pro rig. This would prove to be difficult but not un achievable.

I want to say thanks to:
Holmes hobbies For having me on the team and providing the horse power.

Rcbros For the killer chassis

Team - Ottsix Pins for the wins.

Classicutcustoms For the awesome trans

Dlux for knuckles and ofna stubs, really great gear man.

Onetencrawlers for all of the small parts to bring this thing together.

[Highlucks]

Rear Axle, was the first job on the bench, cause it was the easiest.

• Full width AR60 housings.
• Stock rear shafts
• UD gears
• HH Crawlmaster spool.
• VP bearing caps
• LURC 0.185 hubs
• Stainless steel D'Lux style rear truss with some personal tweaks
• Fast Eddie bearings.

Shave the diff cover for a smooth look and less hang ups.




Above is the original version of the rear truss, this was changed to the below to allow for better link separation.

[Highlucks]

Next came the front axle a bit more involved that the rear cause I need to figure out the axles and knuckles. I picked them up in an XR10 purchase a couple of years ago and they had sat ever since.

• Full width AR60 housing
• Stock wraith inners with Dlux ofna outers
• Dlux full brass knuckles with G10 arms
• Overdrive gears
• HH Crawlmaster spool
• Vp Bearing caps
• Axial SCX10 adjustable C hubs
• Stainless steal Dlux Style front truss. with delrin upper link mount.
• Fast Eddie bearings
• 0.600 Dlux ofna hubs

I started by taking apart XR length ofna shafts to add the AR60 shafts. Simple job of knocking out the small pin in the uni to break the axle down to its 5 components. There is a great write up here and here on how to do this.





This clearancing of the unis was a bit rough. As proved on its first comp shake down with an exploded uni at the second gate. More on this later.



Back together and ready to go in.



Fully assembled, Uni's, Knuckles and hubs.



All buttoned up, I must have stopped taking photos half way through building the front.

[Highlucks]

Onto the chassis and Trans.

Will (Rcbros) and Tom (Sourdojack) did a fantastic job with this chassis. I have wanted one of these for a long time and it was a welcome relief when they were made available in mid 2015. Thanks guys it really is a brilliant platform to build around.

I got with Barry at CCC for one of his berg geared trans. We discussed them at length and when advised it had an almost identical reduction to the axial trans I was sold on it. I previously had a hulksta box in the old rig but it was just too slow for my liking. Even with a 28T pinion. Those who have seen me drive know I am not the slowest on the course and drive my rigs like Jason in a Nationals rental.

I had some stock lightened berg gears from my pro build so put them to use in the new trans. Machining on this unit is very nice and everything buttoned up very well. The small foot print and narrow size made this trans great to work with. Though it was still very tight in the Executioner chassis.

• Rcbros, Rock Spider chassis
• Classicutcustoms Trans
• Stock berg gears, with holes in them

Gears in






Because of initial placement into the chassis I had to clearance the adapter plate for the front lower links. Easy job for the Dremel.











First try at fitting the transmission.






It was initially installed as above but having the front drive shaft at a huge angle crossing from left to right in a very short distance. Turned out to be less than awesome so the trans was flipped and more holes drilled into the skid to mount it. This in the end opened up a new can of worms, more on that later. but as you see below the trans once again had a date with the dremel so that I could squeeze it into its now spot in the chassis.
The skid was starting to look like Swiss cheese by now.

[Highlucks]

Now that the main assembly was out of the way, it was time to move onto the links. Thanks to the wonders of modern technology (Failbook) I was able to discuss with Tom in real time what I was trying to do. With his help I had it pretty much nailed for the original set up. Thank man your help is always appreciated.

Straight uppers and front lowers
20* single bend rear lowers.

Because of the increased distance between the link mounts on the AR60 axles I had to use drilled out bent Losi rod ends for the rear lowers. These have now been flawless since November, actually I think they have been the only flawless part from the initial build.

Rear lower links are 130mm eye to eye (add 5mm for a bend)
Front lower links are 110mm eye to eye.


Ne real info on the shocks, SCX10 Alu bodies built by Hulksta with RCBros light weight springs

Uppers I do not have lengths for but can get, they were made to suit the desired pinion angles

[Highlucks]

Now the fun of the rear drive shaft. This was a challenge no off the shelf drive shaft was able to run smoothly across such an angle. I tried Junfac, MIP, even the Traxxas Max shafts nothing worked. Then it struck me. We clearance universals for more steering, why not do the same to a universal drive shaft for more pinion angle. I started scratching around in my drive shaft box and the only complete uni style drive shafts I had were to suit a CR01 from 3 racing. Yep I had the same thought you just did when I saw them.
But holy snapping duck sh!t batman, the uni portion of them is tough as Rocked up Ricky's hat. I killed three Dremel branded carbide burs just trying to dent the first ear these things were seriously hard. I had Four to do so something a lot more substantial was required for the task of clearancing these unis. Out came the 5" grinder.

Once clearanced and the two uni's reassemble I set about getting the length required. Down the track I discovered that the cross pin was not a great fit so knocked them out again and refitted them with some blue loctite.
Little known fact a typical CVD style drive shaft Junfac, MIP etc. have 14 individual parts to make them. The drive shaft I ended up creating had 20 in the end

I took an old VP Ti 3/16" link and trimmed it to the required length. Then added flats to each end so that the existing drive shaft grub screws had something to bite to. I also drilled and tapped four M4 grub screws to anodised portion of the existing drive shaft. Loctite and Heat shrink was finally added over the four M4's for a little extra security

Now I know you are still saying "but 3 racing....?" tThese shafts have survived some hefty 4S abuse since being installed and I am now happy to say they have passed the Dukes of Hazard testing and should last me a good while.

[Highlucks]

Electrics.

Holmes Hobbies BR Mini, BEC Removed
Holmes Hobbies 13T 500 Puller Crawl
Castle Creations BEC 7.4V
OMG Servo I forget the name
Futaba 4pl with R2016GF RX.

The electrics package was assembled by a good friend Dave (Colgout) at Pizza Electrics. Thanks man you did a stellar job.

Wheels and Tyres

Voodoo Silver, Narrowed by one row, by me.
Ci 5.5 Comp cut narrow. Soft Front Medium Rear. Inner and outer had additional narrowing ~ 8mm and inners were channeled.
Mr. Vertical wheels with ALTD896 Faces.


Now a good portion of this build happened in the wee hours of the morning leading up to our 2015 state titles. The build was fraught with errors. Which in most cases had me fixing the night before's mistake the next night. But we have all been there and done it. Its part of RC Crawling Just ask Nabil. The difference with him is he built a rig the night before and managed to win the inaugural running of 2.2S at a US Nationals level. Winning is an understatement he absolutely decimated. but I digress.

Cock ups include, swapping the front axle for the rear with the OD/UD gears still installed and wondering for a month or two why I had no steering. Yep good effort, eh.

Smashing a front uni on gate 2 of course one at the above mentioned state titles and having to go home to build a new one. I doubt it was a batching thing but more to do with over machining them and having EPA's set too high.

Yep, still wondering why I have no steering a couple of months on. Yep the penny finally dropped. dickhead.

Thinking that with my driving style I would be OK with 1/8" 7075 front uppers. I was wrong.

All in all though it was a fun and educational build. One that I am more than happy with the final result.

I will update soon with some current build phtos but for now here is some shots from our recent RC4WD CrawlANZ Australian Nationals.
Images from the first course of the day. I was going quite well until i drowned the electrics on the third course.

[RcBro]

Always awesome to see people go against the norm and build things! Looking forward to see updates on this bad boy.

[Highlucks]

Thanks Will.


Small update and current pics.

My tierod took a heavy hit when playing around so it had to be changed out. from 5mm6061 hex bar to a 3/16" VP wraith tierod.











Wheels got a fresh coat, painted on the inside to replace the white vinyl skins. Don't mind the rust, last comp was on the coast with a lot of salt spray.


















Hectic Flex

[Robbob]

Originally Posted by Highlucks

I got with Barry at CCC for one of his berg geared trans. We discussed them at length and when advised it had an almost identical reduction to the axial trans I was sold on it. I previously had a hulksta box in the old rig but it was just too slow for my liking. Even with a 28T pinion. Those who have seen me drive know I am not the slowest on the course and drive my rigs like Jason in a Nationals rental.


It was initially installed as above but having the front drive shaft at a huge angle crossing from left to right in a very short distance. Turned out to be less than awesome so the trans was flipped and more holes drilled into the skid to mount it. This in the end opened up a new can of worms, more on that later. but as you see below the trans once again had a date with the dremel so that I could squeeze it into its now spot in the chassis.
The skid was starting to look like Swiss cheese by now.

Two questions ......

Whats Barrys trans and Hulksters some out to for reductions? I thought the Hulkster was already close to the stock Axial.

Other ..... could you have flipped the axles over to straighten the driveshafts out better?

But love seeing the outside the box thinking and making things work for ya.

[Highlucks]

I could have and would have if I did not get it to work, but wanted to mirror the pumpkin placement of my pro rig.

I am not too sure of the actual numbers on the reduction. but having run them both the CCC is a much faster option.

And Thanks

[Highlucks]

Some shots from our monthly round on Sunday. Was a good day and I managed to take the win. I did tear one of the front tyres though, but nothing a little CA can not fix.

[snapon boy]

Very nice build. What body is that?

[Highlucks]

It is a Chev C10 from Proline PRO326700 that was discontinued many years ago. After extensive googling of the part number. I ironically managed to find 5 down here and bought them all. Occasionally there is a copied version that pops up on ebay. But they are usually offered prepainted. From this seller.

[snapon boy]

Thank you I'll have to keep my eye on it. It I find more than one I'll message you.

149 r/c worx team driver

[Highlucks]

No big updates to speak of but at our competition in March I tore one of the front tyres on the knuckle arm. So glued it up and added 1mm of additional spacing to the front hubs. I managed First place at that comp and third at our most recent one.

[Highlucks]

Some photos from yesterdays monthly competition round. Was a great day and this little rig was driving really well. Despite managing to break my chassis in four places on the first course. I was able to "fix" it and keep it going for the remaining four course. I finished with -183 and first place for the day.

[Robbob]

And still won? Great Job!

[Highlucks]

Here is the "fix"

Super glue, cable ties, a washer and longer screw for the chassis/skid mount.
Revo rod ends and some SS all thread for the side brace.

[Highlucks]

I can not say enough about the customer service from RCbros, after seeing the carnage from last round William offered all new chassis plates under warranty with very few questions asked. Top notch service from a top notch vendor.

Unfortunately I did not have time to install the new chassis and just managed to survive another comp with the repairs. But I still managed another first place finish with this little rig. The course shown below was brutal with no one other than me finishing.


We have been testing some new wheels recently. They are constructed from Grade 5 6al4 Titanium in the spokes and G10 for the rings
They went great at our most recent comp after the second revision. We changed from the white 1.5mm G10 rings when they started to fatigue after just two packs. To the beefier 2mm black G10 rings. In the original version they weighed in at 12 grams per wheel.