Crawler Changes for "The US Indoor Championships" in Indianapolis IN

[TJ Steve]

Thought I'd do an informational thread on my Crawler. I haven't done an update in a long while, and I'm making a few changes before the big championships at The Rox Box in Indy. My rig is working well, but I think I can make it a little better
Here's a pic of it now. I've added a driver...............


I've shaved the sidewalls of my Rovers, and siped the crap out of the tread. Also added two more vent holes in my wheels, and put some vent holes in the tires. This was one of the more noticable improvements.





Pics aren't the best, I'm a little shakey, but you should get the idea.
I instaled a Vanquish rear link mount, and have a front one on order.
I've also got a Hitec 7980TH on the way to replace my 7950TH which is going on my scaler.

[dude26]

I love the driver !!

[jacobflyin]

You are telling me putting holes in the wheels and tires made more difference then gluing the driver in

[rjsl59]

like the driver, I wanted to try shaving the sidewalls but am too chicken, what grit did you use to do that?

[EverettY]

Looks good. BTW What chassis is that?

[slowride1]

it is his own chasis

[TJ Steve]

Originally Posted by jacobflyin

You are telling me putting holes in the wheels and tires made more difference then gluing the driver in

Not sure, I can tell you though, he has a attitude!!!

[TJ Steve]

Originally Posted by rjsl59

like the driver, I wanted to try shaving the sidewalls but am too chicken, what grit did you use to do that?

Thanks man! 80 grit 1/2 x 1/2 dremel drum type wheel. You got to be careful not to eat right through the sidewall! High wheel speed seemed to work best.

[TJ Steve]

Originally Posted by EverettY

Looks good. BTW What chassis is that?

Yep, it's my own and has gone through a lot of changes. If you check out my threads I've posted you can see the history from starting out with a progress chassis.
Here's a picture of the present frame without the topper.

[Stormin2u]

It's looking good to go TJ, I hope you get a fantastic result at the Rox Box buddy.

Fire for effect.

[Harvo]

It's looking great. Having never been to the Box I'm assuming that treaded tires do better than pins right?

What about the bodiless thing? Do you think throwing a body on would help with roll over recovery on the indoor course?

These are all things I've been thinking about in preperation

[TJ Steve]

Originally Posted by Harvo

It's looking great. Having never been to the Box I'm assuming that treaded tires do better than pins right?

What about the bodiless thing? Do you think throwing a body on would help with roll over recovery on the indoor course?

These are all things I've been thinking about in preperation

Thanks for the compliment Harvo!
To answer your questions................................
I've not got much advantage on you as far as the Box goes. I live an hour and a half away from the Box. I just got started in this hobby the first part of last year,and started out building a scaler. I got a great deal on an XR10 and got diverted from my scaler build (about 85% done). Most of my time since then has been building and improving my crawler. I got to crawl at the Rox Box twice, and once at a 4 Wheel Parts location on the East side of indy. Starting out fresh and not having anything, with the two builds I had used up most of my extra funds. Being as how the Box is so far away too, I didn't put out the extra effort to get down there like I should have while it was still open on a regular basis.
My friends that have been crawling down there for quite some time, mostly seem to prefer Sedonas. Some of them have been running Boss Claws, but say they don't work as well if it is cold. Being the experimenter that I am, I have been playing with Rovers, Rock Beasts, and Rock Grabbers. All I can say is the Rovers have worked best out of those three.
I may try a set of Sedonas before the 24th. Since the Box hasn't been open much since the latter part of last year, and my funds have been going into my Crawler, I built this in my garage.

Steve's Garage


As far as Body vs. Bodiless on roll over ability, there's too many variables.
Design, weight bias, weight placement, tires, particular spot you roll over, driver abilities. What ever you are more comfortable with is my advice on that one. Looking forward to meeting you.

[Harvo]

Originally Posted by TJ Steve

Thanks for the compliment Harvo!
To answer your questions................................
I've not got much advantage on you as far as the Box goes. I live an hour and a half away from the Box. I just got started in this hobby the first part of last year,and started out building a scaler. I got a great deal on an XR10 and got diverted from my scaler build (about 85% done). Most of my time since then has been building and improving my crawler. I got to crawl at the Rox Box twice, and once at a 4 Wheel Parts location on the East side of indy. Starting out fresh and not having anything, with the two builds I had used up most of my extra funds. Being as how the Box is so far away too, I didn't put out the extra effort to get down there like I should have while it was still open on a regular basis.
My friends that have been crawling down there for quite some time, mostly seem to prefer Sedonas. Some of them have been running Boss Claws, but say they don't work as well if it is cold. Being the experimenter that I am, I have been playing with Rovers, Rock Beasts, and Rock Grabbers. All I can say is the Rovers have worked best out of those three.
I may try a set of Sedonas before the 24th. Since the Box hasn't been open much since the latter part of last year, and my funds have been going into my Crawler, I built this in my garage.

Steve's Garage


As far as Body vs. Bodiless on roll over ability, there's too many variables.
Design, weight bias, weight placement, tires, particular spot you roll over, driver abilities. What ever you are more comfortable with is my advice on that one. Looking forward to meeting you.

Nice practice spot Looking forward to meeting you as well !

[jcboof]

Hey Harvo, Sedonas have definitely been a real good tire there, but I'm not sure how many people have actually tried a dialed in set of pins. I haven't crawled there in over a year but I've always ran Sedonas. Rovers also work really well there too. Far as a body goes, choice is yours. I've done well with both, but in certain sections there the rocks have lots of holes and bodies tend to fare better if you end up on your lid. But if you end up on te smooth concrete floor in that place, you are at the mercy of god. Ask anyone who watched me in the finals at Midwest last year how well trucks roll over on the concrete there! LoL!


Truck is looking great Steve! Chassis looks like it was inspired by Egressors chassis which is cool as heck!

[slowride1]

you dont want to meet him he is a strang bird lol lol lol.

you no i9m playing stve

steve is a good guy just mlook he build me a corse in garge so i can beat up on him at his house lol lol lol

[jcboof]

I clapped my Rover a few weeks ago and got to test them out and I must say that they really work good. They weigh about 1.5oz less than my rovers. My truck was set up entirely too light to make use of the foams I had stuffed in them but they still held the line really well, they just didn't have the forward traction I was hoping for. More weight or softer foams would have helped immensely.

[TJ Steve]

Originally Posted by jcboof

Truck is looking great Steve! Chassis looks like it was inspired by Egressors chassis which is cool as heck!

Here's the Egressor version before it mutated into what it is now............

[jcboof]

Originally Posted by TJ Steve

Here's the Egressor version before it mutated into what it is now............

Damn thats slick!! Who's cutting your chassis??

[Krawler23]

The thing that rocks about those chassis is that they basically dont have a skid which = less contact with rocks which = less hangups. I would like to try one out, although the cog is higher.

[TJ Steve]

Ok, Here's a little more of what else is going on now.......................

I added a little more auxiliary weight to my front vanquish half knuckles. They weight in at 4.75oz. each. Front wheels have one wrap of stick on lead weight, and weight 8.95oz. each.


I pulled these off the rear axle and at this point, think I will leave them off. I'm likeing how it is handling without them.



Got one of my "Goodies" in the mail today........................



I can hardly wait to get it installed

Total weight of the rig as it sits with one of my little 430mah batteries is, 5.88lbs.