SkaldidDog's "Buck-Nasty" Wraith

[TeamBosing]

Nice Truck!

[SkaldidDog]

Originally Posted by TeamBosing

Nice Truck!

Gracias!

[SkaldidDog]

Today I'll make new bushings for my HD universals. Aluminum bronze is the first material I'll test.



Don't hurt your neck looking at this. I'll rotate it later.

J

[SkaldidDog]

Done. That bushing's done.

Man I love cutting this stuff so smooth and easy. The thinbit worked like a champ.










Will upload more to photobucket later. What a pain via mobile.

[SkaldidDog]

All buttoned up and done. It's nice to have smooth steering again. I'll crank out another set of 8 for backups and I shouldn't have to make them again for some time.

[sic1to]

Very nice!!! Love the uni's

[ittybitty]

Great work on the bushings Joel...always enjoy seeing the in process photos

[SkaldidDog]

Originally Posted by sic1to

Very nice!!! Love the uni's

Thanks Sic.

Originally Posted by ittybitty

Great work on the bushings Joel...always enjoy seeing the in process photos

Thanks IB. I decided last night to move the battery under the drivers seat and shift the ESC rearward and downward. Should dramatically improve handling yet compromise steep climbs due to less front bias. Hope to knock all of it out by Fri night. Making some shock changest too. Evolution is fun.

J

[Calderwood]

You should put that blue star to use and start selling those bushings.

[SkaldidDog]

Originally Posted by nigels_world

You should put that blue star to use and start selling those bushings.

I'd like to and I'm sure many would like and benefit from that but I don't want to deal with irrational folks that pack their universals with sand, crank their steering to 99 degrees and slam the rig into a wall repeatedly and then bitch about how the product failed. I'd rather be the asshole that never makes anything for anyone than the asshole that makes "crap" parts and doesn't warranty them through 10 nuclear wars for free.

I have endless patience for making parts, and none for dealing with irrational people.

I appreciate your suggestion but I'm sorry.

J

[SkaldidDog]

I'm making some purely performance oriented mods. I raked the upper front shock mounts back to the center hole. I had to re-tune the steering and drag link spacer on the nuckle. The front has about 0.25" more vertical travel and rides lower. I'll have to keep an eye on how often the servo horn meets the front upper link axle mount. They can get in each others way now. I swapped the rear upper shock ball end for the shorter version. This shortened the shock by 0.1". I made some new rear shock spring retainers that won't fall off, spit the springs and fit the Losi springs nice and snug. These also lowered the springs in relation to the shock body.





The big change however is the battery. It's going under the drivers seat. The ESC is also moving all the way back to the firewall and as low as possible. It'll take some creative lexan work to make it all look good but it won't be a problem. This will dramatically improve weight distribution and finally put some weight on the rear of the truck to keep it from being so twitchy. These are just picture to show position. Many parts to make.






J

[Natedog]

Very nice mods, think I'd leave the esc up front and move just the battery otherwise you're going to lose a LOT of climbing ability.

[boosted4lyf]

Joel these mods are great man, and those bushings are a work of art, but back to the scissor lift where can I find one? You could post up a custom milled diamond encrusted beer coozie and I'd still find myself staring that damn lift...

Nonetheless KILLER build champ. I always like peeking in here every few days to see what you've done

[SkaldidDog]

Originally Posted by Natedog

Very nice mods, think I'd leave the esc up front and move just the battery otherwise you're going to lose a LOT of climbing ability.

The ESC is staying up front. It'll just be a little lower and rearward. It doesn't weigh much so its location change will not reduce climbing ability near as much as moving the battery will.

Originally Posted by boosted4lyf

Joel these mods are great man, and those bushings are a work of art, but back to the scissor lift where can I find one? You could post up a custom milled diamond encrusted beer coozie and I'd still find myself staring that damn lift...

Nonetheless KILLER build champ. I always like peeking in here every few days to see what you've done

Here is one like it. I can't find the exact one I have. Mine is many many years old from back in grad school. Mine is like the 4x4" one.

https://us.vwr.com/store/catalog/pro...mber=12620-904

[Natedog]

Originally Posted by SkaldidDog

The ESC is staying up front. It'll just be a little lower and rearward. It doesn't weigh much so its location change will not reduce climbing ability near as much as moving the battery will.

Yes, battery is going to be huge reduction in climbing, just thinking to keep it well balanced...it all adds up. A gram here and there = an ounce, etc. but you know that.

[Erin]

I have a set of tomy's slw brake rotors you are welcome to have for some scale knuckle weight holders.....

[Erik D_lux]

Originally Posted by SkaldidDog

I'd like to and I'm sure many would like and benefit from that but I don't want to deal with irrational folks that pack their universals with sand, crank their steering to 99 degrees and slam the rig into a wall repeatedly and then bitch about how the product failed. I'd rather be the asshole that never makes anything for anyone than the asshole that makes "crap" parts and doesn't warranty them through 10 nuclear wars for free.

I have endless patience for making parts, and none for dealing with irrational people.

I appreciate your suggestion but I'm sorry.

J

Its funny, I have this convo all the time.

In 1:1 you can buy a $500 part, break it on your first run and thats life in a severely abusive hobby

In 1:10, you get to severely abuse the part for 6mths, break it and then demand a free replacement.

The mentality in the hobbies is severely different.

How are you liking those Kyosho shocks? I would love to try them but like to run the same shocks on all my cars and my pocketbook does not like the idea of changing 3 cars right now.

I think I would just try a hardened steel on those joint cups. Works for xr shafts..

[SkaldidDog]

Originally Posted by Erin

I have a set of tomy's slw brake rotors you are welcome to have for some scale knuckle weight holders.....

I appreciate the offer Erin but I'm going to go without weights for now.

Originally Posted by Erik D_lux

Its funny, I have this convo all the time.

In 1:1 you can buy a $500 part, break it on your first run and thats life in a severely abusive hobby

In 1:10, you get to severely abuse the part for 6mths, break it and then demand a free replacement.

The mentality in the hobbies is severely different.

How are you liking those Kyosho shocks? I would love to try them but like to run the same shocks on all my cars and my pocketbook does not like the idea of changing 3 cars right now.

I think I would just try a hardened steel on those joint cups. Works for xr shafts..

Shocks are good. They have no bladders so can't run them inverted.They are smooth. Don't leak so far. Big bores just take forever to break in. I lost patience. Common theme. I had some steel joint cups but they were cut wrong for the C-clips. If these fail too quickly I'll go steel.

[SkaldidDog]

New ESC location looks like this. I'll trim the end of the CF ESC plate.



New battery tray ready to be born. Work holding done.



Bye bye endmill cutting edges.

J

[howsyouraspen]

Wow, your work and machining is completely unreal. This whole build is inspiring. Wish I had access to some of that sweet machining gear.

Nicely done.