Wyatts GateKeeper Adventures

[xwaz]

Just as the Title Suggest and my other Thread of my VS410 Journey. This is to document why journey with my Element based trucks which have both been GateKeepers.

It all started when back at the end of 2020 I wanted to get back into RC after shelfing my scx10 and TF2 a few years back. I really wanted a buggy and I thought the gatekeeper looked super cool so I picked one up.


I found the stock tires looked kind boring for the tpe of truck and didn't perform well in the winter conditions of Colorado. So I picked up some Predator Krawlers and mounted to the stock beadlocks.

Back in the simple time before a full RC addiction, I could just grab the truck and go crawl without a second through of adjusting everything before leaving.


A few months later I picked up some cheap beadlocks. I thought they were gonna be gold, they in fact were not.


For some reason I then put the stock wheel and tires back on to run them.



I found a super awesome crawler course while visiting friends back in my college town.


At One point I put a Fusion 1800kv and a Savox 1223SG Servo in it. I can't remember exactly when but I think it was around the time of the wheels.
It got taken out for another truck and I found the Hobby Wing 10BL120 and Quickrun 17.5t Sensored Motor as its a fully sensored BL system for less than $100. I still love that system and gave it away to a buddy to run his bomber, and its works perfectly. Panels also got Painted since I got sick of looking at the silver and green.




I felt it looked much better but started to lose interest in the Gatekeeper cage.
Then a trailing arm broke while out.



I happened to have a set of Club 5 Element Links and a Mojave Body Laying around.



It went to Moab, and did one run total like this before I changed it again.
Never even got pained since the cab broken falling off my work desk.



I wanted the GK cage back but wanted it to be different.
So I came up with the Stubby GateKeeper with a shorted rear cage, frame and links and pushed out front.




I much preferred the rear end look after taking the 1.3" out of it.


It went out to a local Dam stop that's good in the winter. for testing, when I pushed the front axle forward 3/4" I couldn't get a panhard to work so I tried a 4 link with servo still on chassis, it never really worked as everyone would expect. but drove well enough at speed I didn't mind.

[xwaz]

Chapter 2 More Changes. Comp Truck?
Luckily by now the RC Bug was in full swing, I learned a lot, and was at least better at taking pictures.
But this time the GateKeeper case came off again for a Proline Bronco Body, I love the way the body looks but hate that is doesn't fit anything other than scx10 with the post raised up to the sky.

But the GateKeeper was reborn again as a C2 style Comp truck.



The Bronco worked amazingly.


To Not drill holes for body posts I designed and print some rock sliders and made reinforcement panels on the body to bolt them together.


However I struggle profusely to not have the spur gear grind on the body and make the worst noise in RC. Eventually losing interest in the project again.
So Back to a GateKeeper!

Still Linked and Back to an 1800 Fusion gear way up.

I enjoyed this layout quite a bit.


I thought it might even stick around like this for a while.


Looks good with the short rear!


Well that lasted a month...

[xwaz]

Chapter 3: Comp Truck For Real this Time

I wanted to fully try Comping for a season and had gotten a Team Garage Hack Titan Kit for element trucks, I built it up with a forward motor mount and Creeper T case and stole the axles, links and shocks.


Its a Roller!


It can turn and winch.


It Can Drive!


Parts List,
NSDRC RS700
NSDRC RS400 Winch ( Amazing by the way)
Holmes Puller 500 Team 20X
Holmes BR Mini
Futaba 2106GF


Body Going on


Welded Up Bumper the Day before the comp, but had to go to another event at 4pm and ended up finishing the bumpers at 1am the day of the comp.


Day of the comp, 0 Minutes of run time on the truck. Ready for the first course.


It worked super well, everything about it.


As this really isn't a GateKeeper anymore its the end of the thread for this truck, I was able to drive it to a 3rd place in the winter comp series and a few first place finished in other local small comps.
though I did try the hard grey axle housing and found they were too brittle in the cold on a test day.


The GateKeeper Og Chassis lives on as Stubby my element based, AR45 axles (Now F10T) Extra short Mojave Build


I thought this was the end of my Gatekeeper Journey. The cage still lives on the parts selve incase I ever have a need for it.

[xwaz]

With Amain Blowing out the Gate Keeper RTR for 269 I just figured I had to grab one while I could, I missed when the kits were 190 so I didn't wanna miss this one.

So a new gatekeeper entered the Hobby Room.
Changed to some Incision Wheels and my old gatekeepers stock tire, yes I have held on to these for almost 3 years now. Why I have no idea but they look scale and aren't the worst tires ever. And they are more of a placeholder than anything.

My Goal with this truck is to make it look good enough that I don't wanna rip it apart like my last one I started by making some number panels on the side to be cut from aluminium.


Next Up was a roof panel, and light buckets, they happen to be Phoenix taillight buckets.


Fast Forward a few days, it got paint, panels, lights, Antennas, a spare mounts, HW 1080 G2 Holmes 550 21T Sport and Wheels and Tires.




When I built the truck I never really intended to drive it much, I knew how it drove, and didn't find I had a need for it to be the best driving truck possible.
That all changed with a local U4 series starting and it was based not on RC Rules but Fullsize class, It turned out my gatekeeper is a perfect 4800 legends class. So I figured a test run was in order.
I put on some Vanquish Bully XD127s with holy Rings, and Rock Beast XLs and removed the spare. It looks ready to Race!

Yes one light is out, I broken a wire and haven't remade the whole harness, it stays that way until present.



A little more testing at work.


Race Day!


Turns out my GateKeeper is Fast, Like really fast, winning the class outright and being faster than all Unlimited Class trucks except my Bomber.

I never went over the Antennas and I feel like I should they are small gauge wire zip tied to the cage, they are 22AWG, flexible, durable and move around really well when bombing through the fast sections, its a method I plan to use on other Cage trucks in the future.



Messing around after some Tamiya rally racing.

[xwaz]

Chapter 5
TrailKeeper

The Gatekeeper has remained as it was and just been driven. I took it out yesterday with a buddy of mine that also just picked one up, his first one he recently put some of the new 4.9 trepadors on his and that has me thinking about a set for mine.
But I put on some RC4wd Compass 1.9 (great tire but do not like tire spin or high power) on some SSD Steel wagon wheels with Gold Rings.



This was my first time just trailing and not racing my GateKeeper, I was a bit worries as its running a fairly fast motor and a 75/24 gearing for speed. But even with that it still was able to crawl quite well with the big 550 motor, bounce up stuff, and never got hot, so I see no reason to change it.


The Proline 4.9 Trepadors look pretty perfectly sized on a GateKeeper.


I put the spare back on those those Scale Points and a tow strap incase we got stuck.


We put about 2 miles on the GKs without a single issue from either trucks and ran some super fun lines.


There is another U4 Race being held this weekend I plan to run the truck in as well as I want to get it out crawling a few more times before snow comes down.

[durok]

THIS was a fun thread!

Great to see all then modifications and trail pics...

[xwaz]

Originally Posted by durok

THIS was a fun thread!

Great to see all then modifications and trail pics...

I am glad you enjoyed! Hopefully there will be more to come soon! I can't leave well enough alone most of the time.

[B-MOW71]

Great thread and right up! Man, Gatekeeper #1 sure has had it's changes over it's short life! The rig looks great in it's current state!

Gatekeeper #2 looks great too! Looks great in it's nearly stock form with the scale bits and rock rash on it! I like the use of the VP rear light buckets for roof lights! Simple, yet looks the part!

And man, you have some beautiful terrain to play on!

[xwaz]

Originally Posted by B-MOW71

Great thread and right up! Man, Gatekeeper #1 sure has had it's changes over it's short life! The rig looks great in it's current state!

Gatekeeper #2 looks great too! Looks great in it's nearly stock form with the scale bits and rock rash on it! I like the use of the VP rear light buckets for roof lights! Simple, yet looks the part!

And man, you have some beautiful terrain to play on!

Thanks! Both are still great trucks, in very different way. Hopefully #2 actually stays as a gatekeeper for at least most of its life.

The terrain here in Colorado is had to beat. It is braggin to say that most of these photos are really close to town and the good stuff is up in the mountains. If you are ever in Northern Colorado I am happy to share some trails

[B-MOW71]

Originally Posted by xwaz

The terrain here in Colorado is had to beat. It is braggin to say that most of these photos are really close to town and the good stuff is up in the mountains. If you are ever in Northern Colorado I am happy to share some trails

Would be sweet to have terrain like that so close to home! Someday I would love to head out west and stop by and see that Colorado terrain!

[xwaz]

Sadly No driving updates, I Missed the last U4 Race as I was up cutting a Christmas tree.



But after seeing how good the 4.9 Treps looked on the GK I decided to pick up some of the 4.85 Baja Pros from Proline. and they look to be just about the perfect size.




I mounted them up on the same SSD Steel Wagon Wheels as before since I like the Gold Rings on them with the Silver and Blue paint. Hopefully I can get the GK out soon to test them out. I really like how the 2.2 versions do on my RYFT, Bomber, and Baja/Rock Rey so I can only imagine they will go well in the 1.9 version as well.

[xwaz]

Took the Gatekeeper out for a run this weekend. We ended up going about 3.5 miles that day up a nice rocky trail. I expected some snow being that everywhere in the canyon up to there has a couple inch on the ground. But we were clear of snow all day.


This was the first run on the New Proline 4.85 Baja Pros (Predator), they took about a mile of "spirited" driving to break in but they gripped up really well in the low 40s and up to the high 50s we had out on the run.



Most importantly they look really cool. The 4.85 and wide tread really works on the Gatekeeper. For me I like them more than the look of the Treps on my friends GK.



This was about as much snow as we got into.

It was great to be able to compare the 2 GKs, they are both built a bit differently and I chose the Baja Pros, Tim chose the Treps, His are G8 mine a predator. I am brushed, he is Brushless.


Can't Complain about being at 7500 feet in the Sun, high 50s in middle of December.


Coming back down a root and rock staircase. This trail is awesome! Hidden as well so very few people on it.

[smog]

Great pics, looks like a fun day. The Baja Pro's are pretty gnarly and they suit the rig and terrain perfectly

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