Azindy's version of a rockrod

[AZINDY]

First alittle back ground info. I picked up my used honcho a few years ago, it was mostly stock except for 2.2 badlands and a DX3E remote. Since then it has been a 50s chevy panel truck & then turned into a raptor truggy. Here is a couple pics of my honcho inorder from when I bought it till the last setup it had...







I will post again shortly with info on new build. Just finished typing up the whole build so far and pressed the wrong button, now i have to type it all over again . But here is a teaser pic of the new body to hold ya over for a few.



Be back after a quick stiff drink & a smoke to retype the build again.........

[AZINDY]

Currently the rig has a 20t axial motor with a losi mini crawler esc (came with that esc). I 4 linked the front axle and moved it alittle farther forward too center the front wheels in the wheel wells. Then one night while drinking crown royal I decided to make a servo which from a spare servo I had. My wife was kind enough to braid 3 strands of 10# fishing line together for winch line & it works great, haven't snapped it yet. Then it got a flip open body with straps on the rear of the cage and body pins in the front. Plus I added some cheap home made inner front fender wells too.

This is how the chassis looked under the raptor setup.

[AZINDY]

My wife & son got the proline ratrod body for me as an xmas gift. I know my wife & son are awsome, and they have the same addiction as the rest of us LoL. At first I thought about doing a ratrod styled flat paint job, but then I started thinking that a burnt copper would look good too. About 2 weeks ago my wife got me an Iwata NEO airbrush for our wedding anniversary, I have been messing with a crappy plastic air brush for years. So i decided to try out the new NEO on the rockrod. Now the only slight issue is the scx10 axles just weren't wide enough to give the rockrat the proper stance IMO. Lucky for me, i found a set of barely used wraith axles locally for a good price and snatched them up. Ok so the width is handled, now its time to strech out the wheel base. I wanted the center line of the front axles to be close to centered under the head lights & the rear axle just past center line in the rear wheel wells. This ended up at @ 15in wheel base , with most of the weight placed just infront of the trans.

mock up of rear axle to start figuring out new 4 link bars lengths


New 4 link bars i made from 8-32 allthread and stainless steel tubing. Thanks to everyone on RCC who has explained how to make these.


Lower bars finished & upper bars mocked up

[AZINDY]

As I'm sure some of you have noticed, the shocks have been mounted lower then normal on the stock hoops. This was another mods done by prior owner to fit the 2.2 tires. Honestly i figured the hoops would break shortly after I bought it because of the screws running through the uprights on the hoops. But that was a few years ago, they still haven't snapped, and this truck gets driven hard by both my wife and myself. Now back to the build...

While i have been going through all my spare parts & RC salvage yard to fit the wraith axles to a honcho chassis running the ratrod body on 2.2s, I came across a set of rs10 chassis side plate. The rs10 plates have 2 ears on each plate that can be cut off to make shock mount extension brackets that bolt up to stock honcho shock hoops and add several more mounting points. I will show these brackets after i get them cut off and set up. Once these are on, the suspension & axle swap part of the build is complete other then making some drive shafts. I have already made the steering linkage, but i need to make another cross bar for the front wheels with the stainless steel sleeve now that i know how i want it.

Mock up steering linkage


I just started building my rock rat a couple days ago, and I'm happy with the progress so far. Hopefully it will be ready for a test run in the next few days. There is still several things to do, the shock relocation brackets, make drive shafts, figure out body mounts, and design a better layout for the winch & electronics. Then there is the front stinger, new rock rails, undecided on a rear bumper, and maybe a drop bed and interior to build also. But I will be happy if I just get a set of rock rails and a stinger built, .

Here is a couple pics of the roller with the body on it, just to get an idea of what its gonna look like





Let me know what ya'll think, good or bad I can handle it

Always open to suggestions and tips too

[gearhead79]

That paint job is killer!!!!!! Nice job

[AZINDY]

Thanks, I am happy with the way the paint job turned out. Paint bodies is one of my favorite parts of the hobby.

[AZINDY]

Thanks, this paint job was the first one I have done with my new airbrush & using liquid mask. Which btw, I wish I would have started using liquid mask years ago, that stuff is amazing to work with!!!

[Johnnysplits]

Originally Posted by AZINDY

drinking crown royal

[AZINDY]

Well I'm going to be smoking some pork this afternoon, and working on the truck while I tend to the smoker & have a few drinks. So I should have some updates on the build late tonight or tomorrow.

[AZINDY]

Well it's 2am and I just finished smoking a pork shoulder form my wife's super bowl party. While I was keeping an eye on my smoker I did manage to get some buold time in after my family went to sleep. I think the new lay out for my electronics will look alot better then before. No promises but I will try to get some picks uploaded tomorrow.

Go Broncos!!!!!!

[AZINDY]

Tonight I got the servo winch mounted in the rear of the chassis. Then I made a guide tube for the winch line. It runs from just in front of the spool, down between the motor & trans, under the battery, then it runs up beside the electronics tray and ends behind the grill. Also mounted the esc & mocked up some drive shafts. Trying to decide how I want to mount the body now.

Also been thinking about rewiring my power supplies, to loss some weight. Currently I have my 7.2 stick powering the esc only and a 4 AA receiver pack supplying the rx, steering servo, and winch. I wired it like this awhile ago cause it started glitching real bad when I was only running my stick pack. But I would like to figure out what caused my issues, fix it properly, & just run one power supply.

[AZINDY]

Figured I would put a few updated pics of the build up.

Here you can see the plate that the winch mounts to on the rear of the frame. Plus the small extension I added to the cut factory battery plate, the esc & rx box will be on this shelf now with the battery mounted across the frame below the electronics shelf. Oh ya I forgot, a friend stopped by with a broken rc buggy and gave me a set of shocks for fixing his buggy. I mounted the new shocks on the rear axle.



I have the trans & motor removed so I could make the stainless steel guide tube to run the winch line from the rear of the chassis to the front.





Mocked up the electronics shelf & battery location, with the winch tube in place, and the motor & trans mounted back on the chassis.

[AZINDY]

In these pics you can see the tube clears the drive shafts and the suspension. This was a tight squeeze and not the easiest tube to bend free hand. But well worth the extra time taken to get a nice tight fit.

[AZINDY]

I might try to pick up a CC bec for my build. Pretty sure I blew the bec out of my esc, and that is why I had to run the receiver battery pack for the rx and servos. After doing some research, I think adding a CC bec to my set up will allow me to use just my stick pack again to power everything. Which will get rid of some unneeded weight.

Hoping to stop by a friends shop tomorrow and cut the tabs off that rs10 chassis for shock relocation brackets. Make a battery plate from some of his scrap aluminum. Might even make a set of maxx shafts if I have time.

Was hoping to have it ready for some testing this weekend, but it's looking like another week or so before its ready. On a side note, I am picking up a wraith from a friend by the end of next week too. It's nicely modded and a good price imho. That way my wife has her own rig to drive when she feels good enough to join us. Hopefully we will both have new rigs to test out very soon.

[micro racer]

That is an awesome truck! I love the paint on the rat rod!

[AZINDY]

Thanks micro racer, I am pretty happy with the way this truck is turning out so far. Debating stretching the rear of the frame a little, cause right now it ends just infront of the axles center line.

[micro racer]

Instead of extending the chassis, I think that shortening the wheelbase slightly would be a little better. It would "extend" the chassis, since your reference is the center of the axle, and it would shift the rear wheels to be more centered in the wheel wells of the body. Just my $.02...

[AZINDY]

The pics are at an odd angle, the rear wheels are actually fairly close to being centered in the wheel wells. But thanks for the suggestion, it's nice to know I'm not the only one reading my thread. Plus I need to add about 2in to put the rear of the frame close to the body. If it wasn't for my ocd it would be fine. But since I know the rear of the frame is a lot shorter then the body, it kinda drives me nuts LoL.

[AZINDY]

Been busy putting a stereo in a friends 53 Ford truck, so I don't have any updates on my build. But I did pick up that wraith for my wife & she loves it. Happy wife = happy life ;)

[AZINDY]

My wife's wraith came with a nice set of aluminum wheels, but she didn't like them. So I swapped around our wheels and tires last night. Now the rockrod is sporting some DC mud country tires & nice aluminum wheels, pics coming soon. Plus I have done a few things to her wraith, but I will start another thread soon in the wraith section for her ride.