C*H*U*D's Ridgecrest

[billj]

Originally Posted by C*H*U*D

Everything except for the chassis



and the motor....





and the steering servo...





and the tires and wheels...




ESC is going soon too...

Like DickyT said "Evolution"

[C*H*U*D]

I've been having some difficulty finding time for this, but was able to get some things done while the mill was running this morning.

After flipping the rear housing, it was time to flip the front. Since I had to remove and swap the C's and knuckles, it was a good time to finally install these. Dan got them to me super fast, and I'm just now getting to them :



I wanted to install these without having to mess with the diff cover, but I was afraid of accidentally pushing them in too far, and having a tough time getting them out.

I found out that if you use the stock dog bone, it installs them to almost the perfect depth.





The only thing I wish these had was an additional threaded hole for the screw on top of the axle. I think this would make for a much stronger connection for the 4-link truss, and shouldn't be too difficult to do along with the threaded holes on the end. I had to use a shorter screw, and I don't really trust it to hold so eventually I will drill and tap this myself.

Other than that, these are great! It was a great feeling to bolt the C's on with two M3 X 6 button heads, and not have to worry about stripping the plastic housing



While I had the axle off, I made a quick trip to the belt sander. I noticed that all the fancy ribs had a not-so fancy habit of getting stuck on every little corner of rock I was trying to get over. Sorry Axial, but the logo had to go too

[Josh_Br]

Belt sander -- nice mod! Love it, love it!

[Chris_The_Battery_Man]

I was thinking of doing a thread like this when it came out myself. I was concerned about the width however. After seeing Dr Franks sporty, I decided to go with full width wraiths on my new sporty. Perhaps I should re-visit the budget ridgecrest build

Nice work man. Keep it up

[C*H*U*D]

Thanks Chris...the width always concerned and intrigued me at the same time. I always thought with the right wheel, the width could be brought under control. The rears are nothing special and not the real test...the fronts will be since the kingpin angle will actually be pointing to the outside of the tire, instead of at the contact patch. I won't be going as narrow on the front as I did on the rear, but it will still be different from the stock Ridgecrest wheels. We'll see.

[C*H*U*D]

For all the haters, that had nothing but negative things to say about Axial and the Ridgecrest when it was first announced, this win is for you

[waltgpierce]

Juan,

Congratulations! A 1st place against all of the "Crawl Space" regulars/heavy hitters (a former national champ; Colorado State/Series champ).

Wow, Wow, Wow

[Josh_Br]

Sweeeeet!

[C*H*U*D]

Originally Posted by waltgpierce

Juan,

Congratulations! A 1st place against all of the "Crawl Space" regulars/heavy hitters (a former national champ; Colorado State/Series champ).

Wow, Wow, Wow

Thanks Walt! Come out next Tuesday...I miss hanging out with you

Here are the final changes I had to make before last night. After flipping the axles, the rear driveshaft was too short. I thought about swapping in my extended Sporty Junfac shaft, but I wanted to stay with the budget build and decided to extend the stock rear instead.

First thing to do was cut the male end:



I was shooting for roughly 3/4". I cut a piece of aluminum rod just like I did for the front shaft. I then applied a good amount of 5 minute epoxy and let it sit. Then I drilled and tapped for M3 screws. It looks a bit Frankenstein, but worked well and cost next to nothing:



This is how she sat after everything was done and ready to comp:



I was able to take it out for about 5 minutes during lunch before running it for the first time. I couldn't be happier with how the chassis ran, but I still want to make some changes. This truck has become one of my favorite to drive, and there is still a bunch I want to do with it. It's going to be a fun summer

[Hittman]

This actually turned out to be a really good looking sportsman rig. Very nice work on the win bro

[C*H*U*D]

Originally Posted by Hittman

This actually turned out to be a really good looking sportsman rig. Very nice work on the win bro

Thanks! I knew there was a capable crawler in there somewhere, and I really just wanted something different from the normal AX-10 setup. I don't think the AR-60's have any advantage, and they are more difficult to setup but I don't think they are totally inferior either.

One thing I did notice was the difference the Beef Tubes made. The AR-60 is pretty stout by itself, and I actually went with the tubes just for the tapped M3 screw holes. However I've never had a front end feel so solid. Definitely a must for these axles...Thanks Dan

[C*H*U*D]

Not the most impressive showing yesterday, but the Ridgecrest did have the only 2 perfect runs in Sporty, so that was encouraging. I blew out the output shaft on course 4 which ended my day early



Overall I think this truck has a bunch of potential, and I haven't really started tuning it yet. My Sporty is all apart right now getting a new XR-10 mod, so I plan to swap out this motor/transmission for the Sporty's. It has a Holmes Torquemaster 45T. I'm hoping with the motor swap and pinion swap, the bottom end will be a bit smoother and more manageable. The 4S should still give it the punch when I need it.

[DickyT]

Originally Posted by C*H*U*D

45T... 4S.

[donhd04]

Originally Posted by C*H*U*D

Just to put everyone back on the same page, my Ridge is meant to be a crawler.

The Ridge actually comes with a decent chassis for us crawlers. It's a bit heavy and bulky but does a decent job. However, I've wanted to do this project since the Wraith was introduced, so here we go.

First things first...the motor/trans has to fit. I wasn't too worried about this since this chassis is based off of the F-4 which was designed around the Axial transmission:



Since the transmission was coming out, it was a good time to replace the internals. Classic Robinson parts were slated to go in:



I went with the extended Robinson output gear. Since this truck is destined for 2.2s, dig is not allowed. I bought the Dig output, but it will not work with the standard housing. This output will be saved for a class 3/TTC truck, and the stock output goes back in:

chud which gear set did you order for the tranny? The wraith or the old ax10. And do you of anyone making a steel or aluminum spur gear? Im not running dig as rear steer is a definate for me on this one. Also Im looking at lockers and gears for the axles too. I wanna keep speed close to what it is now but maybe a smidgeon slower. Im going brushless with this at 3000kv so not terribly fast.

[C*H*U*D]

Originally Posted by donhd04

chud which gear set did you order for the tranny? The wraith or the old ax10.

For right now, I'm swapping my Sporty Transmission into the Ridgecrest. It already has the Robinson upgrades, and I want to use the 45T Torquemaster too so a simple swap is the easiest. The Sporty is getting a new front axle soon, and when the time comes, I'll order a new 45T Crawlmaster for it.

[project_mayhem]

When you flipped your axles, did you also flip the locker and gear and then reverse the trim on the transmitter? I swapped the front and rear axles. It still goes forward after the swap. A lot less torque twist. Just curious if it helps even if i change the rotation direction of the drive lines.

[C*H*U*D]

Originally Posted by project_mayhem

When you flipped your axles, did you also flip the locker and gear and then reverse the trim on the transmitter? I swapped the front and rear axles. It still goes forward after the swap. A lot less torque twist. Just curious if it helps even if i change the rotation direction of the drive lines.

I just flipped the axles and left everything inside alone. I changed the speed controller at the same time, and didn't have to change anything on my transmitter. I just figured I had my motor wires switched too since it should have gone backwards but it didn't.

[project_mayhem]

Originally Posted by C*H*U*D

I just flipped the axles and left everything inside alone. I changed the speed controller at the same time, and didn't have to change anything on my transmitter. I just figured I had my motor wires switched too since it should have gone backwards but it didn't.

K, we did the same then, lol. I was expecting a direction change too. I guess it's because you're changing the tire direction too, so the pinion switches direction when flipped as well. Cancel each other out. Works much better now. Need better drive shafts though.

[C*H*U*D]

Originally Posted by project_mayhem

Need better drive shafts though.

I agree. I like the universals, but the shafts themselves are a bit too weak for a 2.2 crawler/basher. I've been running the epoxied aluminum shaft for awhile now and it seems to be holding up well. Even my extended shaft is holding up.

[doc.hamilton]

Juan,
Thanks for the very informative posts on the Ridgecrest!!! I purchased mine with the sole intention of creating a "crawler". So far I've swapped the battery and electronics. Next is to upgrade the C-hubs - knuckles - dropouts - steering links. Run that for a while and see where it takes me. I'm really new to crawling but find it very relaxing - the perfect midday stress reliever!

Cheers,
Todd