Ab's Ding-Oh-No-He-Didn't

[AbstractZen]

OK so tell me if you've heard this one before. Two Honcho's walk into a bar . . . oh wait. This is a build thread, right? Fine. Whatever. So I've been lurking for a while and really enjoy seeing these awesome scale builds were dudes make their own bodies and roll cages and what not. So what's a budding scaler to do? I order my very own Dingo kit and build it up just like the directions tell me to (well, kinda). I was going to take pretty pictures of the build and explain what all was going on and how I worked though some of the problems, but I was way too excited to get this thing rolling, er crawling. I have no plans. No "inspiration". I'm just going to modify things that bug me and see how this wonderful little truck evolves.

The color was originally going to be red/black similar to what most people paint their Dingos, but my wife wanted me to do this different as I paint all my RC's red and black. So to appease her, it was to be black with candy purple. Well, I have never used candy paint before and the first coat ran like it stole my wallet and looked "turrible". After 5 more not quite as "turrible" coats, it still looked like transparent purple vomit (don't ask how I know). I just decided to back it with black and cross my fingers. It turned in to this really dark brown and actually looks pretty cool. I guess I outran my bad luck that time.





Body off shots to come soon. I've got more splainin to do . . . .

[Die-Laughing]

Lookin' good brotha!

[Roman5150]

I got a neat violet purple color on my dingo.

[AbstractZen]

Originally Posted by die-laughing

Lookin' good brotha!

Thank you much! Pretty boring now, but it's only 1 day old.

Closer shot showing the accidental brown. The whole hood is black.


I didn't have a speedo or motor specifically for the Dingo so i had to a little searching. I recently traded an old OFNA touring car with stock TC4 electronics for a XXX-SCT with a spare stock esc. Unbeknownst to me, this is the same speedo used in the Losi Night Crawler. I knew it was lipo ready, but was thrilled when i found out it had a "crawler" mode! It works great in this thing. Shorty antenna purposefully bent so as to not stick through the body. Gotta keep it scale, yo!


Hold over from a Slash 4x4 that I sold some time ago. I knew the servo, radio & receiver would come in handy one day.


Overall chassis layout. That, my fellow crawlaholics, is a 13 year old Trinity P2k Pro! Still works great after cleaning up all the copper although I should probably replace the brushes . . . . I bought it new back in the day and didn't use it much at all. The battery wires were butchered, so i removed the balance tap from a lipo pack and soldered it to the esc leads.

I mounted the rear shock hoops on the inside holes to A: support the battery bracket better and B: allow me to lean the rear shocks in a little more. I'm still new to crawling, but I'm pretty sure that having the shocks leaning in are beneficial. Just not 100% sure why. Anybody care to school the new guy on this new fangled suspension gee-om-ah-tree?

[AbstractZen]

Originally Posted by Roman5150

I got a neat violet purple color on my dingo.

I checked out your build thread and that's pretty much exactly what I was going for. I've never used candy paint before and I know it needs to be backed with a lighter color to get the desired effect. i just wasn't expecting it to be so thin. What did you use to get your purple to turn out like that? All my local hobby shop had was candy purple. Looks nice btw.

[nitro_star]

with any candy it's ideal yo back with silver the white or black.
the silver makes it "pop" and the white or black makes it solid.
looking good btw, colour turned out good. its different.

[AbstractZen]

So I've been driving this thing around for almost a week now (when it hasn't been raining ) and I have to say, it's a lot more capable than I thought it would be.

I converted the rear to a 4-link setup using extra kit parts and hardware, but I noticed that the rear pinion is at a steeper angle than it was stock. Anyone know what the correct length is for an aluminum upper link that fits the Dingo wheelbase?





Any problems with this? I didn't think there would be, but I thought I would ask to be sure.

I also tried relocating the battery tray to the front, but can't quite get it to fit as the esc is a little too high. I'll spend more time on it this weekend and see if i can come up with anything.

I'll also try and get some action shots next time I'm out. There's a great set of large rocks in the park near my house that are perfect for crawling.

[Devil Inc]

The rear pinion angle is fine, if it were the front then I'd be worried. It can mess with your turning radius, unless you clock the c-hubs to compensate for the additional angle.

[AbstractZen]

Originally Posted by Devil Inc

The rear pinion angle is fine, if it were the front then I'd be worried. It can mess with your turning radius, unless you clock the c-hubs to compensate for the additional angle.

Thanks for the info. Now that you mention it, that makes sense in the front as it would rotate the hubs forward and I can see how that would mess with the steering.

[2012Honcho]

Nice clean wire job!! Good ESC, I am running one in my ax10...gotta love the drag brake. How do you like the rip saws?

[meatmonkey]

I used Traxxas 105mm tie rods for an old style T-maxx for my uppers front and rear.

Fronts had to be threaded all the way in for proper caster.

The rear tilts the pinion almost as much as yours to keep the driveshaft above the links.

And the more dirty pics the better.

[ridepate]

Looks good man!!
You can get some alloy-chubs that allow you to clock the drive-angle on the front w/o affecting the caster. Negative caster- / \ This will happen when you clock-or rotate the front to get a better driveline angle without the alloy C-Hubs. But there is a limit of how much with those too.

[Full_Throttle]

Looks good! I like the all black... err... purple... err... brow whatever. First build huh? Welcome to your new addiction.

[AbstractZen]

Originally Posted by 2012Honcho

Nice clean wire job!! Good ESC, I am running one in my ax10...gotta love the drag brake. How do you like the rip saws?

Thank you and yes I was pleasantly surprised by how well my "freebie" esc performed. This thing pulls a stoppie if I go to neutral from full speed.
I don't have anything to compare them to, but they seem to work well so far. I can say that I'm not looking for different tires at the moment. If that tells you anything.

Originally Posted by meatmonkey

And the more dirty pics the better.

Workin' on that one. Agree completely!

Originally Posted by ridepate

Looks good man!!
You can get some alloy-chubs that allow you to clock the drive-angle on the front w/o affecting the caster. Negative caster- / \ This will happen when you clock-or rotate the front to get a better driveline angle without the alloy C-Hubs. But there is a limit of how much with those too.

Thanks for the info.

Originally Posted by midlandrc

Looks good! I like the all black... err... purple... err... brow whatever. First build huh? Welcome to your new addiction.

And again, thank you. We'll just call it brown.

[Optiskate]

I like your build. I was going to use Traxxus turn buckles for my 4 link. Never considered using the plastic links to turn the pinion angle up. I may have to try that on mine.

[AbstractZen]

Originally Posted by Optiskate

I like your build. I was going to use Traxxus turn buckles for my 4 link. Never considered using the plastic links to turn the pinion angle up. I may have to try that on mine.

I figured the stock 3-link was so flexible, why not just 4-link it with the equally as flexible extra lower links until I could get aluminum ones.

[Optiskate]

Originally Posted by AbstractZen

I figured the stock 3-link was so flexible, why not just 4-link it with the equally as flexible extra lower links until I could get aluminum ones.

The thing that bugs me with their wishbone 3 link is the heim joint on the axle end. They aren't designed to handle a side load on a real 1:1 rig. You would absolutely never run one as run in an Axial kit. I know a lot of people will say its not a big deal or its just an RC crawler and it will never break, but I was able to pop the ball out of the hiem joint just lightly dinking around with it. If I were to mind up the rear axle it would wrap up (the links prevent wrap... but on leafs you get axle wrap) and pop that joint apart. Like I said, it took almost no effort. My only issue with the plastic stock arms or the traxxus turn buckles is that they eat up your misalignment in your joints. Your joints should sit in a neutral position. I suppose you have those angled ends that come in the kit and with an aluminum link you could use them. Perhaps even with the traxxus turn buckles you could use them. Who knows. I probably think way too much into this stuff, but I'm used to working on my 1:1 Jeep where this stuff matters.

Do you notice any binding or limiting of your suspension with the stock plastic uppers and the joints misaligned like they are.

[AbstractZen]

Originally Posted by Optiskate

Do you notice any binding or limiting of your suspension with the stock plastic uppers and the joints misaligned like they are.

I tend to over think things sometimes as well. I'll just sit and think too much, or do a TON of research and not actually try things. This was one of those "just try something" moments and it worked out pretty good. I ran it through the full range of articulation by hand after the upgrade and didn't see any binding or contact. Haven't hit the trail with it as it rained all day yesterday and some today . . . .

[Optiskate]

Originally Posted by AbstractZen

I tend to over think things sometimes as well. I'll just sit and think too much, or do a TON of research and not actually try things. This was one of those "just try something" moments and it worked out pretty good. I ran it through the full range of articulation by hand after the upgrade and didn't see any binding or contact. Haven't hit the trail with it as it rained all day yesterday and some today . . . .

And here I was thinking that I was the only one who did a massive amount of over thinking.

That's really good to know. I actually went to try to 4 link mine just like you did yours right before replied. I quickly found out that I didn't have a screw long enough to go through the link mounts.

[AbstractZen]

Originally Posted by Optiskate

And here I was thinking that I was the only one who did a massive amount of over thinking.

That's really good to know. I actually went to try to 4 link mine just like you did yours right before replied. I quickly found out that I didn't have a screw long enough to go through the link mounts.

I used one of the flat head screws that was meant to mount the battery plated up front and one of the plastic nuts until I could get the right hardware.