OS's Gatekeeper

[OSRC]

Managed to sell off a truck, and it left a hole on my shelf... Can't have holy shelves, so I ordered a Gatekeeper to mess with. Not a huge fan of the cage itself, but the rear suspension looked like fun. And I like building stuff, so ordered a kit and got wrenching!

Not going to detail every step, other guys for more loquacious than I have already tackled that. Just a few observations as I go.

These hard plastics are awesome. Far more stiff than the stock cheese. My power driver was dead, so I did it all by hand. Holy moly, my arm/wrist was killing me when I was done! I use the kit grease to lube the screws - very much needed it with this thing. Only change I did was drilling out the skid where the 2 long screws that hold on the lower trailing link mounts go. Far too much plastic to screw through, the inner mounts hold everything nice and secure once tightened.


Finished the transmission, of course with max overdrive. Nothing to see here, just a standard transmission kit. Great, durable little trans. Assembled the axles with some brass goodies - SSD knuckles, rear axle weights and a STRC brass diff cover up front. Everything fits perfectly and spins nice and smooth. Difference between the stock housings and the "hard" housings is very noticeable. I hate the gray though, just looks funky to me.


And that it's so far. Great little kit, going together well. Off to build some links!

[Yto1312]

Cool stuff...
What motor and esc are you using?

[B-MOW71]

Nice to see another Gatekeeper build!

I agree on the gray color especially on the axles! I'm not sure if it is just the lighting, but they look a ton grayer than my hard axles I bought earlier this year. Mine are just a lighter shade of black with just a hint of gray. Maybe Element changed their plastic process since then!!

Anyways, looking forward to following along with your build!

[GA Dawg]

Maybe try dyeing the hard parts black.

[OSRC]

Originally Posted by Yto1312

Cool stuff...
What motor and esc are you using?

1080 and a cheapo 35t motor. 9.99 Gool IIRC.

Originally Posted by B-MOW71

I'm not sure if it is just the lighting, but they look a ton grayer than my hard axles I bought earlier this year.

Probably the lighting. Ever since I swapped over to LED shop lights, my pics come out terrible. My phone camera doesn't like the LED's at all

Originally Posted by GA Dawg

Maybe try dyeing the hard parts black.

Never even thought of that, might be worth a try though I'm not going to tear it all down now. Doesn't bother me that much. Parts feel someone nylon-ish, so they should take dye well.

------------------------------------------------

Moving along slowly...

These are some of the nicest shocks I've ever stuck on a crawler. I greased all the o-rings with some leftover Gmade shock lube and it seems to work well. Super smooth and silky, and love the color.


Got the suspension all finished up. I found the multi-piece shock towers to be overly fiddly...with how hard the plastic is, molded in holes would have been ok. It's all solid though once mounted up.


An SSD diff cover showed up. Not sure what happened, I must have left it in my cart and forgot about it and added the STRC one later. Oh well, no worries. Put the SSD up front and the STRC out back. Front suspension has quite a bit of bump steer, I'll have to do some tuning. Looks like the steering arm and panhard are not quite parallel - I chose to use the uppermost panhard mount for more clearance. Should be an easy fix, there's a 5mm spacer on the steering arm - swapping to a 3mm should fix it right up.


Love this rear suspension...it's super smooth and has gobs of travel. I spent a bit of time shimming the swaybar to eliminate any lateral movement and with the hard rod ends and metal pivot balls, there's no slop at all. Not yet anyway, we'll see how it holds up after a few runs. Associated should really whip up some diffs that fit the axles. With an IFS front and the trailing arm rear suspension, it would make a hell of a prerunner truck.

[smog]

Glad to see you picked up a Gatekeeper OS. Look forward to seeing whatcha do with it. I weighted my Gatekeeper axles in the same same fashion. It’s worked so well in my Kit Enduro I just had to. Looks bloody sexy to boot...

[soze]

Originally Posted by OSRC

Front suspension has quite a bit of bump steer, I'll have to do some tuning. Looks like the steering arm and panhard are not quite parallel - I chose to use the uppermost panhard mount for more clearance. Should be an easy fix, there's a 5mm spacer on the steering arm - swapping to a 3mm should fix it right up.

You've got the steering arm mounted wrong on the knuckle. It should go on the bottom of the mounting point and not on the top like you have it in the picture. That should correct the angle of the steering arm + panhard.

[Yto1312]

Are you going to use wider wheel hex?
Whats the widest hex that could fit the standard shaft?
Planning to get one but no clue which one.

[OSRC]

Originally Posted by soze

You've got the steering arm mounted wrong on the knuckle. It should go on the bottom of the mounting point and not on the top like you have it in the picture. That should correct the angle of the steering arm + panhard.

I do indeed! Thanks for pointing it out. I got it sorted, but it's still mounted up top.....if it interferes with the tire, I'll sort it again.

Originally Posted by Yto1312

Are you going to use wider wheel hex?
Whats the widest hex that could fit the standard shaft?
Planning to get one but no clue which one.

No, planning on stock (6mm) - might be able to squeeze a 10mm on the shaft though I'm not sure there's enough thread for that.

[Yto1312]

Cool thx. I get the 8mm wheel hex first and see how it goes.
Dope looking rig btw.

[OSRC]

Electronics in... using one of the small batteries from my Capra - works out pretty good since I don't use them for any other rigs. The are small enough that I could fudge the receiver in next to the battery on the tray. It's squeezed in there pretty good, but it all fits perfectly. Battery is offset to the side opposite the motor to equalize the chassis weight-wise. Not that I measured it or anything, but it's the working theory.



Sorted the front too. Soze pointed out that the steering link was not mounted correctly (and that I'm an ijit.) Thank you sir! Having said that, after some strong coffee (I build in the mornings, not always awake) and pensive analysis, I decided that Element was wrong and I'm only about 50% ijit. Stock, there's a 5mm plastic spacer between the steering arm and the link, and the link is mounted under the knuckle mount. Don't like, I removed the spacer, left the link mounted on top of the knuckle and the seas parted and the sun shined! I was getting a bit of binding from the panhard...for some reason it uses angled rod ends on both ends (Maybe I built it wrong again, IDK..I only nominally follow directions anymore) I removed the angled rod end from the axle side, installed a straight rod end and a 3mm spacer so it just clears the axle truss and now it all cycles perfectly.

Sitting at ride height...


...and full squish. Much better and no more bump steer. Steering link is way up there and out of the way too.


Onto the chassis...

[Yto1312]

Now i need a strong black coffee reading through the bump steering link.
Btw did you solder the motor cable in reverse? I saw john holmes recommends it.
Just want to reconfirms it before i solder mine.

[OSRC]

The motor I used has zero timing, so the motor wires can be soldered on either way with no effect on motor performance. Most of Holmes motors are zero timing as well. If you are using a motor with built in timing, you have to be sure the motor rotation matches the drivetrain so it runs efficiently. 0 timing motors negate that. So I just made sure the motor was spinning the right way for the drivetrain/ESC and soldered it up.

[Yto1312]

Thx for the info...
Currently building the links on my kit. Gonna do a slow build and planning for upgrades.

[OSRC]

And finished.

First, a word about the cage. Holy overkill. 16mm machine threaded screws were a bit much. Tapping screws would have been fine, especially for the panels. I dug around and used a combo of 12 and 10mm screws to assemble the cage, using only the 16mm where I thought it needed the strength. It's very sturdy, not worried about it coming apart in any way.

Minimal stickerage...and the number 2 since it's Enduro number 2. Predator TSL's should give plenty of bite. Thinking of a few ways to add something in that hole up front in the cage.




Lots and lots of flex...maybe too much. Suspension is going to need some work, the kit suggested 30wt oil, I used 40 and it's a bit too stiff up front and a bit too soft in the rear. I see 30/50wt in the future, and maybe some 5mm shock limiters internally. Eventually, always like to take a run first and see how it does.


Pics of the steering linkage. Plenty of clearance mounted up top!


Just the chassis alone looks great. Might be another body in this trucks future...


Enduro group photo... same colors, same tires, Maybe I need to branch out sometimes....

[Phyro]

Now you just need a trailer to pull with the 4Runner. Great looking build .


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Yto1312]

I dig those wheels and tires...

[autorista]

Wow great results and photos of the build too. It's been 30 years since I last wrenched on an RC and posts like yours helped me to decide and get a GK kit. I'm way early in the process, just the chassis so far. I agree with your observation on the rear trailing arm mounts and the 3x16mm screws that hold it to the frame. The holes in the motor mount arms are best as through-holes so the screws thread on the trailing arm mount only. I also lightly skimmed the chassis rail holes with a drill bit to be sure screws thread into whatever you're attaching to the frame and don't start catching on the rail.

[B-MOW71]

Great job! Your color scheme always looks great!

Nice to see that they made a beefy cage to hold up to the abuse that some will give it, but I agree, the 16mm screws seem to be a bit much! 10-12mm should be more than enough screw to hold it together.

It's going to look great out on the rocks!

[Topher Builds]

Looking good OSRC, nice write up about the bump steer as I’m sure others will run into that situation when assembling.

I am a fan of the GK chassis myself and am hoping to see more of them with other bodies on them.