Dudley Deadbolt's Adventure Thread by T-money

[NaZ-T]

Originally Posted by sjc115

Awesome! Can you post the link for the thread that talked about making the grill?

PinchFlat's SCX10 thread

PinchFlat's Honcho to Deadbolt Conversion

[NaZ-T]

Dudley made it out for another "Trail" run, this time with some friends.

The trail, "Little Cottonwood Trail" Its a nice trail that is very well traveled. This trail has many small trails that loop off of it or branch off to the river that runs next to it. These loops and off shoots is where you'll find the best terrain to play on for your R/C's.

On this outing Dudley covered 1.2 miles round trip (.6 up and another .6 on the return). He ran pretty good, but on one or two of the hard lines the lower links were flexing pretty good again, making it hard to get the right tire placement needed. Just as we turned around a screw backed out of the steering, a quick fix with nothing more than a 2mm allen wrench. Also on the way back down the 3-link popped off again. I popped it back on and continued on. Both the 3-link and flexy lowers will be addressed with some alum links in the near future. For now we're going to milk them for all their worth.

Pics from the trail

[Natedog]

Originally Posted by NaZ-T

Dudley made it out for another "Trail" run, this time with some friends.

...on one or two of the hard lines the lower links were flexing pretty good again, making it hard to get the right tire placement needed. Just as we turned around a screw backed out of the steering, a quick fix with nothing more than a 2mm allen wrench. Also on the way back down the 3-link popped off again. I popped it back on and continued on. Both the 3-link and flexy lowers will be addressed with some alum links in the near future. For now we're going to milk them for all their worth.

Great thread with great pics as usual.

Back when I had that Y piece three link, a 3mm flat washer under the head of the screw will stop it from popping off, may need slightly longer screw though. I also installed a spare shock o-ring somewhere in that stack of screw, washer, plastic ball, Y link...iirc it was between the 3mm flat washer and the plastic ball to take up the excess play that developed.

[CrawlSD]

This is a great thread full of great ideas and beautiful mountain scenery. Thanks for posting.

[NaZ-T]

Originally Posted by Natedog

Great thread with great pics as usual.

Back when I had that Y piece three link, a 3mm flat washer under the head of the screw will stop it from popping off, may need slightly longer screw though. I also installed a spare shock o-ring somewhere in that stack of screw, washer, plastic ball, Y link...iirc it was between the 3mm flat washer and the plastic ball to take up the excess play that developed.

I've seen that, and ran that fix on my Honcho years ago. It's a great fix while on the trail or when your tight on funds. I would probably have done the washer trick, but with the lower links flexing I figure the alum kit will address both issues in one purchase.

Great tip to add to the thread. Thanks Nate.

[mr. losi]

thanks for this thread...i am down to this truck and another g6 for my son...

[NaZ-T]

Got out with Dudley again. This time we headed to the high Uintas of Utah, to one of my favorite crawling spots,... Cataract Gorge!!

No trail here, just a great spot to drive for a day. One of the thing I love about Cataract Gorge is the scenery, it absolutely beautiful. Of course getting up to the mountains for cooler temps in the heat of summer is a major plus too.

I only drove Dudley for a few minutes and covered .2 of a mile before retiring him for the day. The chunky terrain was wreaking havoc on the lower links and the front 3-link was popping off every 20 feet and basically making Dudley undriveable. I could've done the "Washer Fix" but, I had my Ultra4 car to play with. So Dudley spent most of the day lounging in the back of the truck. Alum links will be a must before the next outing.

Not much drive time but I did get some good pics before I became irritated with the links.

View looking across the gorge and some of the great rock at this spot.







And some by the waterfall (there are some great lines right next to the waterfall)









My favorites

[sjc115]

Wow. That landscape is absolutely gorgeous. I look at these pictures and wonder why I am still living suburbia...

[celt]

Be careful Dudley! It's a long way down.

[Natedog]

Originally Posted by sjc115

Wow. That landscape is absolutely gorgeous. I look at these pictures and wonder why I am still living suburbia...

Precisely!

[NaZ-T]

As I stated in my last post Dudley is in need of his some repair. The stock lower links are very flexy and the 3 link on the front is popping off regularly. Alum links here we come!!

This will only be the second "Wrench Session" Dudley has seen (first was the electronics relocation) The simple fix is to grab the alum link kit that Axial offers (ax31142). It covers every link on the rig including the steering. This is what I would recommend to anyone looking to upgrade.

I however have owned many Axial rigs over the years and have a bunch of aluminum links kicking around. I dug through all my links and played around with different rod ends and after a bit I had a full link kit. I ended up using some 87.5 links with the larger Axial rodends (ax80057) for the lowers, and 94mm links with the short rodends (ax80005) for the uppers. Looks to be about 1mm longer than the stocks links but they bolted up great.
Once again unless you have a ton of links just laying around I'd recommend the Axial kit (ax31142)

A few pics of the links.

[NaZ-T]

It seems like every time I take Dudley out on a "Trail Run" we end up making our return trek in the dark, so I think it's time to prep Dudley for some lights.

The front bumper already has spots for lights along with the light bar on top. The new grill I picked up from PinchFlat has light buckets too. For now I was able to get some rear light buckets installed into the body. I plan to add more this weekend

Rear light bucket were pretty easy. Axial's has some small oval light buckets in there light bucket kit (ax80045) that are prefect size for the Deadbolt body. I just cut out the area where the rear light stickers are test fitting along the way. Once the holes were finished I just bolted in the Axial buckets.

Turned out pretty good IMO. Next I need to decide if I want to use the stock light bar on top or find something lower profile, and of course install the LED's.

[JohnRobHolmes]

Isn't it amazing how capable the RTR rigs are these days compared to a decade back? Add some metal links, and they really get places! Cool thread Tbags!

[JonnnScott]

Those lights belong in the rear like that. Should come that way from Axial

[axial 4x4 crawler]

This is a really cool thread, Nice job on those rear lights btw!

[NaZ-T]

Originally Posted by JohnRobHolmes

Isn't it amazing how capable the RTR rigs are these days compared to a decade back? Add some metal links, and they really get places!

This "Stock" rig surprises me almost every time I take it out.

Originally Posted by JohnRobHolmes

Cool thread Tbags!

Tbags,... Now that bring back some great memories

[NaZ-T]

Originally Posted by JonnnScott

Those lights belong in the rear like that. Should come that way from Axial

That would be nice. It'd make light kits a lot more tempting for this rig.

Originally Posted by axial 4x4 crawler

This is a really cool thread, Nice job on those rear lights btw!

Thanks!!

[NaZ-T]

Hittin the trails regularly with Dudley has been great. It's so nice to get out into nature and of course bringing an R/C to play just adds to the experience. This time out Dudley and I hit up Cecret Lake with a few friends.

Cecret Lake is another beautiful alpine lake at the top of Big Cottonwood Canyon in Albion Basin, just a little ways past Alta Ski Resort. The trail is 1.0 miles to the lake. Our adventure took us round to the far side of the lake to play on some big rocks for fun crawlin. With the trip up and around the lake and the playing along with the return journey, Dudley's GPs logged 3 Miles on this outing.

The trail starts out pretty mild for the first 1/2 maybe 2/3 but as you near the lake the terrain starts to get a lot more challenging, but not to hard as Dudley and friends were able to make it all the way without assistance. The first 2/3 of the trail have 3 of 4 water crossings that, for a waterproof rig, are fun to splash though. Once you near the upper half of the trail the views are amazing along with the beauty of the lake. I'm pretty sure Dudley and I will be making this journey again before the summer is over.

Pics of course

Why wrench in the house when you can wrench in the beauty of mother nature.





Views from the parking lot





A few of the water crossing

[NaZ-T]

A couple shots of some of the trail obstacles









Some of the views as you near the lake

[NaZ-T]

And a few pics from Cecret Lake.