Project Wide Scale Truggy

[mreecew]

Ok so Im starting this build with my ridgecrest, It's my first rc crawler. A few of the guys in my offroading team have them and got me hooked! So about 2 months ago I picked one up. I've decided I wanted to build it like a scaler but Im not as big of a fan of trailing and due to the WIDE axles I decided I was going to try and make it a scale truggy.

Heres some pictures from when I got it.

First real time using it other than around my garage to get a feel for it. And the c hub screws loosened up but it didn't brake the knuckle or even lose any hardware, it was to be expected that it would happen.

[mreecew]

Next thing was cutting the tires and getting some muscle. Started with cutting ever other set of center lugs, I eventually moved up to everyother row of tread.

And the muscle, I got a towerpro mg946r servo which was iffy at times, the specs weren't great but the strength was better than stock, 208oz/in at 6.0v. Not to mention the longer servo wire made it so I could relocate the battery forward to help with crawling.
And it also got an axial 55 turn to really get some torque going.

Here are a few pictures from when I finished the motor and servo




As you can see the body was very quick to start getting destroyed, considering I didn't like it and I knew a new body was in the future.

[mreecew]

Cut the tread rows and made the stock steering compatible with knuckle over. I simply heated and bent the drag link to give it a bend to help with the angle and clearence, I've since flipped the servo horn back over.


Shortly after cutting the tires and modifying the steering my buddy sold me a set of axial 8 holes and standard aluminum rings with losi rock claws mounted on them, unfortunely 2 of the tires had pinholes and would allow air out but not in. I tried sealing them but it didn't work all that well, so I cut the foams and ran them like that. They still worked ok, not as good as the ripsaws but they worked better with the new body I was getting second hand for $5.













I had to recut some of it because it was cut just to clearence 2.2's, apparently looks didn't matter. I cut it to go with the truggy look, competition cut is what they call it in 1.1.

Before


After


Couple action shots also

[mreecew]

Got bored one day with 10 feet of 3/16's brake line I brought home from work and started making an exo cage.




Also added some stickers to give it the racer look.

[mreecew]

A couple of my buddies invited me to go up to a compition they went to at a shop with a few courses and I figured I'd go and give every course a shot, so I decided to add some weight to help crawl.

I added 4.5oz to the bottom of the battery tray and 1.5oz to the steering servo. Without wheels, tires, battery and body this is the ballance I achieved.


While I was there I tried almost every course until I got onto one of the scale courses, which was a tight fit and while trying to negotiate around my friend I got the passenger side tire stuck in a tight spot and when I tried to turn into it the steering servo made all kinds of "pretty noises" and that was the end of the towerpro mg946r, Im still not sure exactly what failed but a few of the gears were in rough shape. I ended up buying a lhs electronics ls50d which has similar specs but was higher speed and also seemed to be made much better, the aluminum steering arm was donated by my buddy who wasn't using it.

[SuperMotoGuy712]

A few of your pics aren't working but this looks great. I saw a pic of your rig in another thread and was wondering what you used for that cage. Pretty sweet.

[mreecew]

The other day a friend of mine got some 2.2 mickey thompsons for his wraith, which meant that his white compound rovers would be up for grabs so I picked those and threw them on my rims, with no foams and half full of airsoft bb's (a little lighter than steel bb's, but they don't rust and get stuck together and I'm using them to not only add weight but take up some space in the tires, white compound is a little soft to run just air). Also came up with a quick way to fill them.

Take off one ring.


Position funnel between bead and rim then pour slowly.


He also got some aluminum c hubs and a sunshine systems light kit.




I took the grille sticker off and with a q tip and some brake parts cleaner to clean off the paint so I could mount a couple lights in the grille.

[mreecew]

Heres some pictures from memorial day weekend. The girl in the pictures is my girlfriend she want's one of her own to crawl with me and our friends.

[mreecew]

FINALLY UP TO DATE, as of last night. Wanted to make it more scale and have a full frame, so to the work bench I went.
Started with making a basic extension hoop that mounts to the shock mounting holes.



Then when I went to make a rear piece I took into consideration a bumper and decided to move the one I had made to the back and then make a stinger style extender for the front.

[mreecew]

Originally Posted by SuperMotoGuy712

A few of your pics aren't working but this looks great. I saw a pic of your rig in another thread and was wondering what you used for that cage. Pretty sweet.

Thank you, lol yeah its just 3/16's brake line. Im not quite sure why some of these pictures aren't coming up though

[mreecew]

Lol more frame pictures










Here it is as of now.

[mreecew]

Got some new parts on the way and installed. Got my axial black springs in the mail and installed and they perform just like I was hoping. Also got a hot racing steering linkage, unfortunately I got to run 2 batterys through it this weekend because I spent most of the time figuring out what was wrong with it. It would intermittently act like it had lost its bind. The lights would stay on but the steering would lock up in place and the throttle would go full throttle for about half a second and then come to a dead stop and it would get fixed if you just turn the rig off then back on but it happened every 3-8 minutes of use. Thought it was the ESC at first, because it was flashing and chriping, so that got swapped out, nothing different just another esc from a scx10. That didn't fix anything so I tried a sr300wp and dx3e out of a buddies twin hammers and everything cleared up got almost an hour and 15 minutes out of it without any issues! So I ordered a flysky gt3b transmitter and gr3c reciever for it and things should be back on track. Oh and my girlfriends ridge should be showing up from the big brown truck today! We are both terribly excited, it's her first rig.

[SuperMotoGuy712]

It's because of your lights. You should have a BEC I'm pretty sure. A high power servo will do the same thing with out a BEC. I'm still new at this so this might not be an entirety accurate statement, but from what I think I've learned is there are more volts going through your esc than it can handle, causing it to glitch and probably get a little hot. A BEC will regulate the power and put it where it's supposed to be at the proper voltage.... Anybody feel free to correct that statement who better knows what they are talking about lol

[mreecew]

Ok that kind of helps, would you by chance know what a good BEC set up would be?

[Ninja]

Yes what you are experiencing is referred to as a "Brown-out" and it is caused from lack of current to the receiver. An external BEC will fix the problem. The popular choice is a Castle Creations BEC Pro. It can be programmed with a computer using a Castle Link programmer. The programmer will also be handy to program your stock Axial ESCs and any ESC you may get from Castle Creations and some from Holmes Hobbies as well.

[mreecew]

Originally Posted by Ninja

Yes what you are experiencing is referred to as a "Brown-out" and it is caused from lack of current to the receiver. An external BEC will fix the problem. The popular choice is a Castle Creations BEC Pro. It can be programmed with a computer using a Castle Link programmer. The programmer will also be handy to program your stock Axial ESCs and any ESC you may get from Castle Creations and some from Holmes Hobbies as well.

Ok so what exactly would I need for a bec? Like what specs i guess.

[redsawacs]

just a standard 10 amp castle creations BEC will do. Hook the power leads to the ESC leads (red to red, black to black) and either plug the servo lead into the "Battery" slot on the receiver or cut it and splice it directly into the power leads on the servo. when you run a BEC, you have to remove the positive lead from the ESC to the receiver so the receiver is not getting voltage from the ESC and battery voltage through the newly installed BEC. directions come in the package

P.S. I dig the Rig!

[mreecew]

Originally Posted by redsawacs

just a standard 10 amp castle creations BEC will do. Hook the power leads to the ESC leads (red to red, black to black) and either plug the servo lead into the "Battery" slot on the receiver or cut it and splice it directly into the power leads on the servo. when you run a BEC, you have to remove the positive lead from the ESC to the receiver so the receiver is not getting voltage from the ESC and battery voltage through the newly installed BEC. directions come in the package

P.S. I dig the Rig!

Thanks very much!

[mreecew]

Been a little while getting things all sorted out but we're good now! It turns out the new flysky gt3b and reciever worked out great and seem to have fixed the issue, but just as a secondary safety I got a CC BEC for it. It was easy as hell to install and I haven't a single complaint. I also did a little bit of an overhaul on the suspension.

[redsawacs]

Just keep in mind the voltage on the BEC can be adjusted using the Castle link. I set mine to 6.2V in order to get 6.0v out of the receiver...using a traxxas receiver