Mike D's bomber upgrades/build

[xmikedentx]

Thought I'd post up a bolt on build, a little more mild, compared to some of the others on this site, hence the "upgrade" title. This is also kind of intended as a hints and tricks thing too, as I'm new to the crawler world, and figure this new axial model might bring a few more newbies in

I saw some of the review videos on you tube, so I bought a 16t pinion at the hobby store with the RR10. Drove about 3 min with the stock pinion, and then threw the 16t in.

All stock!:


Drove that around, and was a bit happier, for another 3 min, then stripped out the servo horn. Went back to the store and picked up a Losi TLR1557 25t, an in that went.



So I wanted to spruce up the front end a bit, and like the 1:1 tea version of the bomber, so I went with the regular Vanquish knuckles in Orange, to emulate the orange Reid racing knuckles. And much like the 1:1 version, there was a nice benefit to them. They raised the tie rod up!



You can see on the left, how much higher the tie rod is. I'm sticking with the stock drag link and tie rod, to act as a kind of servo saver. The stock plastics don't really seem to bother me yet, and I'm eventually going to go to a two speed, so I want to keep the stock tactic alive!


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[xmikedentx]

So after driving around for a bit, and not being able to jump anything, I did a lot of research on here (thanks everyone!) and decided to go with a Holmes Trailmaster pro 3300kv. I almost got the Trailmaster sport 2700kv, but by the time you added in the leads and sensor wire, it was the same price as the TM pro. I, as well as everybody on here, wants my rig to go fast and crawl well. So I wanted to be able to gear down, and decided on the 3300. I'm very happy with it on 2s top speed wise. Any faster, and my repair bills will start to add up!

The surgery:


I put in the second servo mount parts to add an anchor point for a zip tie.


I decided on the monster max esc, since I've had great luck with their stuff in all my other cars, but turns out I had some serious glitches with it, same as everyone else around here. So went back to the hobby store and picked up the 10A castle BEC. I was kind of intimidated by it, since I've never messed with one, but following the pictures on the instructions, it went petty well.



I plugged the wires from the bec into the top slot on the receiver, and the wires from the MMP ESC go to the 3rd spot on the stock receiver. Solved all my glitching problems, and am stoked on the performance of the Holmes motor.

I also cut out the on/off switch by soldering the red and black wires together and heat shrinking them.
The sensor wire is coiled up next to the esc and zip ties to the strap holes on the recover box cover.




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[xmikedentx]

So one of the cheapest and best thing I've done to the car is get rid of the slop in the upper shock mounts. I had some leftover ball joints from my Yeti XL, so I tried those in the top cap, and wow! Press fit! Axial part # AX31024



I also moved the drag link behind the servo arm to clean up the look on the front end, and save some rubbing on rocks.

[xmikedentx]

Here's a YouTube video testing it out in the backyard. 2S and 3300kv.

http://youtu.be/YfVmXsiFsJI


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[xmikedentx]

Went to Pegasus in Montclair, geez do they have a hell of an inventory. Dropping a grand could be done in 5 min..... Showing a little restraint, I walked out of there only 100$ less in my wallet with Vanquish Ti front links, upper and lowers. Also picked up the Axial 30780 universals.





I can tell they are going to help with the steering and turning radius, but the stock steering links/servo are holding me back a bit. When I put the bomber in reverse, the wheels pull in even farther, almost rubbing the new lower arms, but going forward, there is a gain in wheel angle, but the stock steering links are bending a bit. Time for steering links and a nice servo. (In due time )

I played around on the crawling course they have, and that brought to light a few areas for improvement, to say the least. Climbing the wall, the bomber was constantly looping out, and getting a bit of torque twist.



So, placed an order with super shafty for beef tubes and a swaybar. I'll update the thread when that comes in!


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[xmikedentx]

Got the order from Super shafty, pretty darn quick! Installed the beef tubes up front to help add some weight up there. The tubes went in nice and smooth, pressed them in the last little bit with a larger Allen wrench. Nice and snug!



I also ordered the dlux universal sway bar. This has been the only sort of "fab" I've had to do, and was easy and fun. Cut the all thread to where the rod ends were just shy of hitting the gas tank mount at full bump. I also got out the flap wheel and ground some flat spots in the torsion bar, for the set screws to grab on onto. Very happy with the
end result:




The only issue I see, is that the axle housing hits the bar at bump, but it hit the mount holes anyways at bump, without the swaybar installed, so no travel was lost.



Has anyone ran this swaybar in the middle holes?


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[F1GHTF1R3W1THF1Re.]

If you take a look at my build thread, I run the same rear sway bar. Used fuel tubing as a bushing so the sway bar stays centered, if not the sway bar will slide off center and the ends will bind off the chassis, limiting travel substantially.

[xmikedentx]

Originally Posted by F1GHTF1R3W1THF1Re.

If you take a look at my build thread, I run the same rear sway bar. Used fuel tubing as a bushing so the sway bar stays centered, if not the sway bar will slide off center and the ends will bind off the chassis, limiting travel substantially.

Yea, saw that, I'll end up doing shrink tube or something to help the side to side movement on it. Thanks!


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[xmikedentx]

Mailman came today, got the Team KNK 8mm offset brass hubs. Turns out they were just a hair short for the stock rims to fit the new SSD titanium steering links. I'll be ordering the 10mm hexes for the front, and just move these to the back. The rod end and rim will self clearance.




Also, the toe was out pretty far when I installed the SSD Ti links, so I did a bit of massaging. I put the driver side of the link (shorter bend) in the vise, and bent it a bit to effectively shorten the tie rod. This also helped the tie rod push out farther in front of the axle, because the tie rod was hitting the axle at full steer, acting like a steering stop. I also took a bit of metal off on one of the ends with a flap wheel, maybe 1/16" of an inch. This combined worked like a charm.

It took quite a bit of force to bend that Ti! I put a 3/4" DOM cheater bar on it to get leverage. The steering links are definitely not the weak link anymore!

Before:


After: The pic angle kinda stinks, there is a slight toe in now.


Also upgraded to the Axial Servo horn, it was longer than the Losi, so I can take advantage of the universals larger steering angles. This thing turns great now!




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[Mudman]

That's a sweet looking rig.

[xmikedentx]

Originally Posted by Mudman

That's a sweet looking rig.

Thanks man! It's getting there! Now to decide the next things on the wish list.....

[Mudman]

haha ah yes, the never ending wish list. Mines is extensive.

[xmikedentx]

Stock servo stripped the plastic gear, so in with a Hitec 7954. What a difference so far just running around the yard, and it's only at 6.0 volts on the bec.



Has anybody found a replacement gear for the stock tactic?


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[84yoda]

Yes, on ebay someone sells a metal gear replacement for the plastic gear.

[xmikedentx]

On to the two speed!

The install went easy, until the end, read below. I went with the SSD, but I'll need to go to the hobby store to get a linkage, as the setup from the yeti does not work with the bomber.
Parts:


Press the bearings in:


View of the stock shafts and gears that you will be replacing:


At the top of the pic is the upper gear shaft, with the old stock one below. Notice the second smaller gear:


Slide in the new upper gear shaft, the lower gear shaft is still the stock one, remove this now:


And replace the lower stock gearshift with your new 2 speed with shifter fork assembly:


All done, now screw the plastic t-cases back together.






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[xmikedentx]

Here's where the issue was:


The shift linkage is a bit too long, as the kit was designed for the yeti, so off to the hobby store I go. I'll update the thread when I get a shorter linkage.


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[Stuck]

Cant you just flip the servo around? As it sits now you could use 2 rod ends and a 3mm set screw between them but it looks like that still may be too long.

[xmikedentx]

As it sits in the pic, the lever is pushed all the way forward on the trans, so when pushed back, it would be where the lable of the servo is.

However, it might work if I go straight to the servo horn to the shift rod. My only concern is that the servo horn travels in a arc, and that might side load the shift rod a bit. Worth a shot though!


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[Mega Fattie]

Cant you get a threaded rod and just screw the end links onto it until its the length you need? Maybe cut the head off a 15-20mm long machine screw.

[xmikedentx]

Went to the hobby store, and picked up some 440(?) all thread. Easy fix and set the end points on the Tactic controller.



So this two speed is awesome! Dumb torque on the low end, and I was shifting on the fly to go into high gear.

I'm running stock spur and diff gears and a 16t pinion on 2s. Great crawling speed, and just enough to start breaking parts in high gear!


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