J2TT Cliff Climber
 

I just got this yesterday. Had the Reign chassis sitting around and luckily had all the parts to build it up the way it is now. No emergency trips to the LHS! It did take some time digging through my parts box and finding the right links. When that was over I went through some trial and error on getting the suspension to work right. All it needs now is a battery mount, tires, and a painted/mounted body. I will use the bug body. That body will have to go through a major fix up as you can see from the hundred holes on sides =P The chassis and body was originally intended for my TLT project that was canceled. I don't usually mess up, nobody is perfect =)

Anyways, this rig won't be completed for a while. If anyone was wondering how it would look on a J2TT then here you go! Yes I do like it much better than the stock setup. I can't stand that tiny chassis and the ugly wheels and tires.

Here are some pics and let me know whatcha think.

http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/5888/biglittle.jpg

http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/1...ture016ogj.jpg

http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/7689/picture017vjt.jpg

Looks like a good start, what did the wheelbase end up at? From the pics it looks close to stock? Keep us posted. "thumbsup"

Thanks. Its going to be better. I originally wanted to do a scaler badly, oh well maybe sometime in the future. This one is going to save me money and fabbing!

The wheelbase is about 10 1/4".

Just messing around with it:

http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/347/ccby.jpg

http://img505.imageshack.us/img505/5059/hrcc.jpg

Maan, paint that body.. It looks like a hot rod or something like that ISH! :) i def. like that body on with those wheels/tires.

Thanks! I kinda dig it myself. I'm actually thinking if I should go on-road with this! But damn the locked diffs =P Even though I like to build more than run I still want this functional. Maybe it might have to be a drifter =( If it does go on-road I will throw on some better wheels and tires. Something like a staggered setup.

I need to cover up these damn holes then paint the body on the outside. I keep forgetting to buy shoo goo!

The wheels aren't properly mounted. The stubble on the hexes need to be trimmed down so the wheel can sit in.

If not on road how about a dune buggy, set it up with paddles in the back and narrow fronts? You could almost build out the rear gearbox to be the motor.

A dune buggy sounds cool. But would a narrow driven front help? I want both gearboxes functional until the sand destroys it =P I also think 1.9 paddles would be hard if not impossible to find. I want to stay far away from 2.2's even though they will improve the performance.

If anything else I still want to do a trail rig after messing with it as a 1.9 crawler.

Here is how it currently sits. I had to do some adjustments to get it as low and narrow as possible. I'm shooting for the volksrod look =P

This is just temporary I think!

http://img37.imageshack.us/img37/8452/picture037c.jpg

These say 1.5 rim but I've seen them mounted on 1.9 rims before. Not full on paddles but they would look cool.
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXLDX7&P=7

That is exactly what I was thinking of when I made the above post. If you look at the bottom of the page in the link they tell you what to use for fronts and those would work also for what I was thinking.

Driven fronts most likely would not help much if they are skinny but it would look cool. IMO.

The Volksrod idea is cool too, go with what feels right to you, just throwing ideas out from looking at the pics.

After I heard dune buggy I immediately thought of the sand scorcher. I always wanted to do those with a Grasshopper or Hornet chassis.

I would like to see a pic of the paddles on 1.9's. I tried my mini cooper wheels on and they rub.

Unfortunately I can never really get the true volksrod look. I want it slammed with the proper wheel/tire combo. In certain angles it looks a little goofy to me. Right now I have my eye on the HPI Vintage wheels. I believe these would really set it off.

Thanks for your suggestion guys. I tried throwing on TLT wheels and it could be passed as a mud bogger. I also tried Stadium Blizter wheels and it reminded me of the Blizter Beetle. A touring car body fits great too (I redid the wheelbase a bit to touring car specs).You can pretty much do anything you want with these axles!

Took me forever to track down this pic on my harddrive and I don't remember who or where i got it from.
http://i43.tinypic.com/zx4ocl.jpg

Thanks for the pic! It looks pretty cool on 1.9's. I did some more looking around and it shouldn't be too hard to mount Frog fronts and rears on the axles. The front Frogs can be driven with minor mods. But I wonder how well.

If I was to go that route I would like to turn the rear axle around. What good is a dune buggy without that engine poking out the rear!

This is how it sits now. The 7.2 battery fits pretty good.

http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/5...ture038syp.jpg

http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/7899/picture043m.jpg

Those tires do look good on the 1.9's, glad to here you have a way to drive the wheels, it has been so long since I had a frog or grasshopper that I don't even remember what inside of the wheels looks like. Do a search for flipped rear axle, someone on here did it but I don't remember who or what build it was.

I was looking through Tamiyclub for beetles only and came up on a TA02 with frog fronts and rears. It's just a plastic bushing slotted and glued to fit into the axle pin. The rears are just blackfoot mounts.

I'm gonna go through all the CC threads and see what I'll find. I know I've seen it too, but I didn't pay too much attention to it =P Now that I own a CC it's a different story =)

I flipped my rear axle, and so did Rag6. Here is his thread.
http://www.rccrawler.com/forum/duratrax-cliff-climber/177937-rag6s-first-crawler-scaler.html
Mine would be kinda irrelevant since I made an entirely different chassis.

Thanks for the link. I just did a quick mock-up right now and its pretty straight forward. Now I hope I have the parts to lock out the steering =(

From doing this I do have a complaint. It seems like all the weight is now on the left side. 2 motors and a servo. Well I don't know just how balanced the axles are.

Now you guys got me seriously thinking about the baja look.

Do you guys happen to know what's the wheelbase on a Sand Scorcher, Frog, Grasshopper, or a Kyosho Beetle?

Here is a quick pic:



http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/6720/picturehuw.jpg

I don't know about the wheelbases. You know what would really work good for a bug build, tamiya tamtech GB02 front suspension. The tamtech is a 1/16 scale but would be plenty wide, and the 2wd front doesn't need to be strong. The main positive thing is that it's a trailing arm setup. I've always wanted to use the GB02 front suspension and some driven tranny out back to make a poorboy Sand Scorcher.
http://i27.tinypic.com/2drt6he.jpg

Now howcome I didn't notice that suspension on the tamtech. That would be the perfect setup. I can see a lot of fabbing in order to use it. I think you should go for it and build one! If it does come with the proper width for 1/10 use it should be sweet. Why not just extend the chassis. Mounting other wheels may be a problem?

The easiest way imo is just get a grasshopper for like under a hundred, throw a body on and be done. But where is the fun right?

Anyways have the main stuff finished already. I just need to decide the type of wheels and tires. That will determine if it's going to be a crawler, baja, or street rod. Already finished flipping the axles and it was pretty easy. I like how there is some space in between. I can now make a plate and mount the esc and rx on the rear axle.

You can get just the tamtech front suspension for $20 plus shipping. They're already discontinued, thought of buying the frontend before they are gone forever. But I don't need any more unfinished projects.

Where can you get the front suspension? I like the way this build is going! I want to start something new!