B-MOW's IFS Trailwalker

[smog]

Nice mod, steering slop is the worst. I did not realize Bowhouse RC was up here in Canada. I somehow recall ordering my Bowhouse parts from Amain

[svt923]

That is quite the good looking steering setup B-MOW, can’t wait to hear how it does out on the trail.

Originally Posted by smog

Nice mod, steering slop is the worst. I did not realize Bowhouse RC was up here in Canada. I somehow recall ordering my Bowhouse parts from Amain

BowHouse is based in the US but the aluminum parts are machined in Canada.

[B-MOW71]

Originally Posted by smog

Nice mod, steering slop is the worst. I did not realize Bowhouse RC was up here in Canada. I somehow recall ordering my Bowhouse parts from Amain

Thanks smog!

Yeah, like SVT said, the parts ship out of the US and I believe they are in North Carolina. I always order my Bowhouse parts off of their website. Parts are always in stock when I need them and I can get them quicker since they are closer to me in Ohio.

Originally Posted by svt923

That is quite the good looking steering setup B-MOW, can’t wait to hear how it does out on the trail.

Thanks SVT!

The parts are machined nicely and fit great! Hoping to get some warmer/drier weather to get some run time on it!

[SIK_BOY]

What a great build! Nice job on that body too. Im glad to see this ifs work so well for you. Have you experienced any issues with the gear set in the front diff yet?

[B-MOW71]

Originally Posted by SIK_BOY

What a great build! Nice job on that body too. Im glad to see this ifs work so well for you. Have you experienced any issues with the gear set in the front diff yet?

Hey thanks!

I only have a few runs on the Trailwalker, but the front diff seems to be great so far. It spins smooth and is very quiet.

Once the weather gets better, I'm hoping to get some more trail time on it and I'll be able to give a better report on it.

[B-MOW71]

Took the cover off, blew the dust off and rolled the TW back into the garage. She's been sitting untouched in the other garage for too long. Time for some new stuff and a quick drive.

So since I built this I've never really liked how the rear end and bumper turned out. I used the VP rear plastic bumper and it tucked up in behind the body without being seen. I didn't really like the looks of how I cut the body in the rear to look somewhat similar to a 1:1 Chevy pickup.

I've been eyeing the new Enduro SE bumpers ever since they came out and thought that the rear bumper just might fit the Trailwalker body better. So I ordered the SE bumpers and bumper mounts to see how they would look.




Before pics of how it looked. I had installed the VP rear plastic bumper and it tucked in right behind the body. After I trimmed the body up, there was still too much body hanging down that would/could get hung up on obstacles.






Trimmed up the rear of the body and slid the SE bumper into the mounts. Doesn't look too bad and gives it a nice scale look. Though it does hang down way too far in the rear.




After some mild trimming and sanding I was able to install the bumper upside down and it tucks nicely in behind the body. The bottom rail of the bumper is exposed and should give protection to the body.

Also cut the body out for the license plate area. A perfect spot to add my RC Plate Shop scale plate!






Forgot to show how much of the body I cut off.



As for the quick drive, well it's raining once again in the great State of Ohio, so test drive on hold until further notice.

While it's in the garage I'm going to install the Knight Customs 3D printed IFS lowering parts. More on that later.

[B-MOW71]

Next up is fixing the IFS ground clearance. The stock IFS has a less than desirable amount of ground clearance at the center of the diff case/skid plate. A couple years back, Knight Customs offered a fix for the ground clearance and offered a 3D printable mount that raises the the diff case up to give more ground clearance in the center. I did this same mod on my GK-Knightrunner build and more of that can be found here: B-MOW's Element GK-Ecto-Knightrunner Build

Back when I built my Knightrunner, I printed an extra set of lowering/raise blocks and front skid plate. The first set I printed were printed in the flat position. I found out that that print orientation was wrong. I had problems with the block splitting as I tightened down the mounting bolts. I found that printing it at an angle helped strengthen the block and helped with the splitting.




Here's a look at the stock ride height. Very little clearance and you really had to pick your line wisely in order to clear obastacles.




This pic shows the difference in height of the stock block and the 3D printed KC block. A significant difference and will raise up the diff case up into the chassis rails farther than the stock blocks.




An FYI that has helped me with threading screws into 3D printed parts. I have tried to use a tap to make threads, but ended up destroying the threads when I would back the tap out.

I found that a little Chapstick on the threads of a screw and slowly threading into the 3D printed part works better. The Chapstick wax helps lubricate and the heat of the screw being threaded into the hole helps make nice even threads.



More on the way in the near future!

[tigris99]

B, just a heads up. Raise or not, the front diff ground clearance is identical. The only difference comes in the fact with stock shocks and keys the shocks are now in a 13mm lower position. Same as adding longer shocks to the stock set up. But the suspension itself without a shock attached is no different with or without raise. But the raise does create high centering problems stock doesn't have (but better CG in exchange) because it loses that same amount at the frame.

The actual fix is the KC front skid that's in the overland pack. Fixes the hang up issues that are actually just caused by the joke of a stock front skid angle. The ifs raise has a new front skid with it, that's what does the magic.

Sent from my SM-S906U using Tapatalk

[B-MOW71]

Originally Posted by tigris99

B, just a heads up. Raise or not, the front diff ground clearance is identical. The only difference comes in the fact with stock shocks and keys the shocks are now in a 13mm lower position. Same as adding longer shocks to the stock set up. But the suspension itself without a shock attached is no different with or without raise. But the raise does create high centering problems stock doesn't have (but better CG in exchange) because it loses that same amount at the frame.

The actual fix is the KC front skid that's in the overland pack. Fixes the hang up issues that are actually just caused by the joke of a stock front skid angle. The ifs raise has a new front skid with it, that's what does the magic.

Sent from my SM-S906U using Tapatalk

Yes you are right and I should go back and clarify. The lower a-arm length of the suspension does not change and the ground clearance from skid to ground is the same. The mounting blocks are only moving the whole IFS up into the chassis rails resulting in lower the front of the chassis rails.

I normally run the the lower a-arms parallel to the ground to keep the axle shafts/dog bones level. Similar to how I ran my off-road buggies back in the day.

With this setup, I'll run the a-arms at an angle to the ground creating more ground clearance at the skid. Not exactly how I like it, but will give a little more clearance. I did download the KC Overland kit for my Knightrunner and will be using the front skid from that. The front skid does have a "flatter" angle to help with hang ups.

I did notice a new problem now after it was reinstalled. I had fuel tubing on my shock shafts to create a bump stop so that my tires would not hit the body at full compression with the stock IFS. Now with the IFS raised up into the chassis, the tires hit/rub the body at full compression. Can't and will not trim the body anymore and adding a longer piece of tubing to the shock shafts would seriously limit the shock travel. More decisions need to be made! Always something in the world of tiny truck building!

[twade984]

I Like to see updates to the trailwalker, one of the most surprisingly capable rigs imo. Even on stock tiny tires. Not to mention a body so ugly, I can’t help but like it


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[tigris99]

If you don't have the stock shock keys for ifs in, you can use those to lower the shock, softer front springs if need be to get her to sit where you want and keep the front from coming up too much.

I could see that being a total pain with that beautiful body. I will warn you though, if you don't do a lot of trying to crest sharp ledges (thus high centering issues) or running creek beds or the like with a bunch of just the right size rocks to annoy you, you're going to get a bit addicted to the raise. For trail or large rock type formations it definitely shines having that bit lower COG.

Sent from my SM-S906U using Tapatalk

[B-MOW71]

Originally Posted by twade984

I Like to see updates to the trailwalker, one of the most surprisingly capable rigs imo. Even on stock tiny tires. Not to mention a body so ugly, I can’t help but like it

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Yeah, I wish there were more Trailwalker builds out there. They are fun to drive and do well out on the rocks.

I agree on the body. It does look oddly ugly, but with a little paint and love, it can look pretty good!

Originally Posted by tigris99

If you don't have the stock shock keys for ifs in, you can use those to lower the shock, softer front springs if need be to get her to sit where you want and keep the front from coming up too much.

I could see that being a total pain with that beautiful body. I will warn you though, if you don't do a lot of trying to crest sharp ledges (thus high centering issues) or running creek beds or the like with a bunch of just the right size rocks to annoy you, you're going to get a bit addicted to the raise. For trail or large rock type formations it definitely shines having that bit lower COG.

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I've tried multiple ways to get this to work with the IFS. I've tried the stock shock keys in and out and still no luck in getting it too work. No way in hell the body is getting hacked on!



Anyways, I'll have an update soon on the direction I'll be taking this Trailwalker.

[soze]

Unfortunately, you will need to hack more fender and limit the shock travel if you want to use the Trailwalker body. I even used 4.19 KM3s! I'll tell you what though, the Trailwalker with IFS, Knight Customs IFS mod, and 4.19 is a suprisingly fun and capable combo! I'm actually going to be converting my Trailwalker to a Trailrunner soon probably though. If you ever noticed on the Knightrunner, it comes stock with spacers on the shock shaft to limit the compression travel.

[B-MOW71]

Originally Posted by soze

Unfortunately, you will need to hack more fender and limit the shock travel if you want to use the Trailwalker body. I even used 4.19 KM3s! I'll tell you what though, the Trailwalker with IFS, Knight Customs IFS mod, and 4.19 is a suprisingly fun and capable combo! I'm actually going to be converting my Trailwalker to a Trailrunner soon probably though. If you ever noticed on the Knightrunner, it comes stock with spacers on the shock shaft to limit the compression travel.

I did have to limit the shocks back when I first built this so that the tires wouldn't "eat" into the fenders. I wish I could trim and hack more of the fenders, but that would change the look and not be what I had planned on.

I do have the KC IFS mod on my Knightrunner. I built it out of a Gatekeeper kit and added the IFS to it. I was able to cut enough of that body away and still look like a Tacoma. The build works great and is fun to drive.

I always like watching your Trailwalker out at CDM. It works so well with the IFS. Looking forward to seeing your Traillwalker transformation.