VFD Capra...Can I Still Call It A Capra?

[Kingmeow]

Originally Posted by mjensen

I had really hoped to have the Capra done by now and I already had a new project planned using the TRX6 my dog got me for Christmas (not sure how he could afford it but I suspect he might have been dealing doggy treats down at the local dog park)

I would look at the cat. I think the cat made your dog do it. Cats are mischievous but they always have smile on their face.

In all seriousness, I hope your family eventually find peace in losing so many years of memories. It's very hard to just shrug it off but concentrate on the fact that nobody got hurt. I know it's easy for me to say, someone on the other side of the fence.

I wish you the best.

[mjensen]

Originally Posted by Kingmeow

I would look at the cat. I think the cat made your dog do it. Cats are mischievous but they always have smile on their face.

In all seriousness, I hope your family eventually find peace in losing so many years of memories. It's very hard to just shrug it off but concentrate on the fact that nobody got hurt. I know it's easy for me to say, someone on the other side of the fence.

I wish you the best.

I don't have a cat but my neighbor's cat does seem to spend a lot of time hanging out here. You might be on to something.


Thanks everyone! Fortunately my Mom wasn't injured or worse and all that was lost was "things". I only live a couple of minutes from her house so keeping an eye on the process hasn't been a problem. And I have a sister that's about a half hour away who my Mom is staying with so she's well looked after. She's pretty feisty so I expect given a little time she'll bounce right back.

Thanks Again!

[mjensen]

Because of bad weather I've had some time to work on the Capra and actually had it running for a short while but the extended top shaft from the spur gear to the transmission proved impossible to get to run true. Because there is only one bearing on the motor mount side and a small amount of play in the bearing pocket there's nothing to keep the multi piece shaft aligned. I went through 3 sets of VFD transmission shafts trying to find something that would work but it wasn't happening. ( If anyone ever need any VFD shafts, minus the top shaft, let me know. I'll never use all the one I have.) Anyway, I checked around at local machine shops to see if I could find someone to turn me a custom length shaft but no luck so if anyone out there is a machinist or has access to a metal lathe please let me know. I have the details of what I'm looking for that I can send to anyone that might be interested in giving me an estimate of what it might cost. I also have some 1/4" 4140 chromoly rod that I can supply if material is an issue.
Thanks for your time.

[mjensen]

The Capra is finally back together and running. There's still work to be done like figuring out a radio box, cleaning up the wiring, paint, and I still haven't found anyone to machine a new top shaft for the transmission. In the meantime I printed out a carrier to add a second bearing to the motor mount plate which took care of most of the wobble in my bodged together shaft. Hopefully the shaft will hold together long enough that I can run the truck and see how well things hold up, what I might have to change, and how well it actually crawls. With the motor moved 10mm forward from stock, the weight bias isn't bad with about 58% on the front wheels with a 1500 3s battery. I may ditch the rear steering which would improve that even more. I'm also planning on going back to 90mm shocks as the truck still sits quite high. I'll know better once I get some testing in which will hopefully be this weekend.

[Fricker08]

Glad to see this thing back together, hopefully you can get out and get some run time in soon! This still blows me away.


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[mjensen]

Originally Posted by Fricker08

Glad to see this thing back together, hopefully you can get out and get some run time in soon! This still blows me away.


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Thanks again. This weekend didn't work out, typical Maine early March weather but it's supposed to warm up later in the week so fingers crossed.
I'm kinda of excited to see if it is an improvement over the stock Capra (or even as good) or if it turns out it's a complete dog that was just a fun project to stave off boredom. It's all good either way.

Your 6x6 project has got me impatient to get my TRX6 out also. I haven't even had a chance to put a battery in it yet with all the fire stuff going on.

[Fricker08]

Yea man I know how that goes. Especially up here in Oregon. I had excellent weather yesterday and got soaked today lol
I’m sure it will be as good and if it is, then at least it’s a hell of a lot easier to work on. I’ve got rid of both my Capra’s but I’ll own another one sooner than later even if it’s just for the axles.

I didn’t realize you had a trx6 also. I bought the 6x6 as a novelty, but now that it’s on the gspeed... it freaking blows my mind every time I take it out. It out performs my lcg truck in certain situations so bad it’s honestly like cheating lol but it’s a blast to drive.


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[mjensen]

Originally Posted by Fricker08

Yea man I know how that goes. Especially up here in Oregon. I had excellent weather yesterday and got soaked today lol
I’m sure it will be as good and if it is, then at least it’s a hell of a lot easier to work on. I’ve got rid of both my Capra’s but I’ll own another one sooner than later even if it’s just for the axles.

I didn’t realize you had a trx6 also. I bought the 6x6 as a novelty, but now that it’s on the gspeed... it freaking blows my mind every time I take it out. It out performs my lcg truck in certain situations so bad it’s honestly like cheating lol but it’s a blast to drive.


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The TRX6 was a Christmas present from my dog, or a least that's what I tell everyone. (Somehow it seems a bit wrong to say I bought a present for myself.)

Your 6x6 looks great! I like the Unimog body a lot, more than the Mercedes. If (when?) I decide to make changes to the TRX6 that body will be one of the first things I check out. I also have another VFD transmission that's really looking to get squeezed into somewhere it isn't meant to be.

[mjensen]

Th weather still isn't great so I took some time today to see if I could do something about how high the Capra sits. Shorter shocks would be the easiest solution but that's not in the budget at the moment so I decided to try to make some new upper shock mounts. I was limited to mounting the shocks 7mm higher without making a new hood and since the hood was a real pain to print that's what I went with. I added some extra mount holes on the rear so those shocks could be laid down a bit more to get the rear level with the front. I think it came out OK. The lower links are fairly flat and if you look just behind the front wheel you can see that the front lower link is about even with the skid under the motor. I think the only way I'd get the truck much lower is if I swapped to straight axles.

The weather is supposed to warm up by Thursday so I might finally get to drive the thing (I've been saying that for months. Maybe this time it will happen).

[Fricker08]

Originally Posted by mjensen

The TRX6 was a Christmas present from my dog, or a least that's what I tell everyone. (Somehow it seems a bit wrong to say I bought a present for myself.)

Your 6x6 looks great! I like the Unimog body a lot, more than the Mercedes. If (when?) I decide to make changes to the TRX6 that body will be one of the first things I check out. I also have another VFD transmission that's really looking to get squeezed into somewhere it isn't meant to be.

Haha ain’t nothing wrong with that.
Right on man that’s awesome. A vfd in there would be wild. Good luck on your endeavors!
I think the shock mounts did good. The links look like the set perfect


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[mjensen]

I was finally able to get this truck out for a test drive although it was a short one since my latest DIY transmission shaft had issues and rather than ruin the bearing pockets on the transmission and motor mount I figured I should quit. It did run for 7 or 8 minutes so I was able to get some comparisons to my mostly stock kit Capra. For one it definitely climbs better than the kit Capra. It also side hills better in spite of being narrower. The Holmes Crawlmaster in the kit Capra runs really smooth but suffers from the stock Capra gearing. The VFD Capra has a Fusion in it and is even smoother but I'm sure that's down to the VFD having a 48 to 1 final drive ratio (I think...it's been so long since I built the transmission I don't actually remember). All in all I'm pretty surprised at how well the VFD Capra turned out considering how poorly planned this build was. But for now it's going on the shelf until I can find someone to turn me a top shaft for the VFD transmission. In the meantime I've picked up a few things for another build. I'm not going to do a build thread, much to the relief of everyone that's read through this year long mess I'm sure. Maybe down the road I'll have some pictures to post over in the 6x6 forum.
I want to thank JSterrett again for making me the frame rails. They were perfect.

[GA Dawg]

I'm no machinist, but I do have a lathe. All you need is a piece of 6mm rod turned down to 5mm on the ends with one end threaded and a couple of cross-pin holes drilled, right? If so, I can't make any promises, but I'm willing to give it a shot if you can give me some measurements of exactly what you're needing.

[mjensen]

Originally Posted by GA Dawg

I'm no machinist, but I do have a lathe. All you need is a piece of 6mm rod turned down to 5mm on the ends with one end threaded and a couple of cross-pin holes drilled, right? If so, I can't make any promises, but I'm willing to give it a shot if you can give me some measurements of exactly what you're needing.

That would be great! I have the shaft drawn up in Fusion 360 if you use that. If not I can draw it up on paper and scan it so you have the dimensions. I also have some 1/4" 4140 rod I could send you that I picked up back when I was first trying to find someone to turn this. I've posted pictures of the stock shaft so you have some idea what you're getting into. I'm basically looking to just add 10mm between the bearings. Everything else is the same as the stock shaft. The stock shaft is turned down to 5mm between the bearings but it doesn't need to be as it's only meant to space the bearing apart so if you decide to use the 1/4" rod I have the center section wouldn't need to be turned. Let me know what you think and what it might cost, time, materials etc. I really appreciate you taking the time to look at this.

[JSterrett]

Originally Posted by mjensen

I want to thank JSterrett again for making me the frame rails. They were perfect.

Not a problem. I've almost gathered the parts for my VFD Capra build, still trying to source a pair of axles, which are surprisingly hard to find at a reasonable price, lol.

[mjensen]

It looks like I finally have a longer VFD top shaft on the way thanks to GA Dawg so I decided I'd take another look at a chassis design I did back when I first got the Fusion motor. It was meant strictly for the VFD with the longer shaft but it never went beyond a sketch and some dimensions on a piece of paper and in the end I went with my original design which was figured around a stock VFD with some changes to 3D printed parts to allow the longer motor to fit. This version has fewer printed parts and allows the use of the stock Capra fuel cell as well as some of the rear cage parts. It also moves the battery forward and adds a few more top link mounting points. I threw it together with 3D printed parts to see how everything fits together and I kind of like the way it looks. I may try to do something with it at some point.

[mjensen]

Originally Posted by JSterrett

Not a problem. I've almost gathered the parts for my VFD Capra build, still trying to source a pair of axles, which are surprisingly hard to find at a reasonable price, lol.

It's nice to see you didn't give up on my drawings although I'm sure you can make improvements. I posted some pictures of another design above so if you decide to tackle the longer motor route let me know.
I hear you about the axles. I ditched the rear steer on the VFD Capra and trying to put together a stock rear Capra axle even with the stock plastic housing wasn't cheap.

[Den72]

Can you elaborate on how you mounted this. I really like this "funny car" style of accessibility

[mjensen]

Originally Posted by Den72

Can you elaborate on how you mounted this. I really like this "funny car" style of accessibility

If you mean the part of the cage that flips up it just pivots on the 2 screws that normally went into the cage parts that surround the fuel cell. In this picture they go into some 3D printed parts that support the 3D printed fuel cell. If you look at the last pictures I posted you can see the cage is pivoting on the stock cage/fuel cell parts. It only actually works because I had already removed the lower rear part of the cage to clear the rear steer servo.

[mjensen]

I swear the RC Crawler Gods don't want to see this Capra on the rocks. After months of looking I finally found someone, GA Dawg from here at RCC, to turn me a longer transmission shaft and the USPS managed to damage the package and lose the shaft out of it somewhere between Georgia and Maine. It's a bit frustrating but what can you do. I may revive this at some point but for now it's back on the shelf.

[GA Dawg]

The next time I build some suspension links I should have enough leftover to try again. This is another in my long line of frustrations with USPS.