Paying off a debt.... The Rebuild!!!

[Chaotic Crawlers]

Earlier this year when I bought my house and gutted it for a remodel, I relied heavily on my core group of friends to help me with it.

C@tfish was heavily involved in all the construction that we did.
He is a contractor and I couldn't have done it without him. From smashing down exterior walls to plumbing to putting it all back together, he was involved in almost every step.

He did all of this for free not to mention he didn't even charge me for materials he used when we did the drywall.


I told him that I would pay him back by rebuilding his dying and worn out comp rig.

It's taken me some time to get around to it due to both of us being extremely busy, but I have officially started the rebuild.


The goods:

chaotic Switch SMASH chassis
Dlux tubes
RCbros lockers
Dlux al rear shafts
Dlux bully universals
Dlux knuckle weights (lots of it)
Dlux wheels
Chaotic Titanium links
Traxxas 2660 Bug Bores with mini T springs
Dlux spring cups
Chaotic Titanium steering links
BROOD chaos 35t matched pair with ST armatures
Hitec 7950
Wicked monkey skins
Tekin FXR's
Futaba 4pk




This rig was literally pieced together last year while driving to a comp with all leftover parts floating around in my toolbox.
I have called it the mutant ever since.
She has been ride hard and out away wet....


Here is where I started today







It was worse than I thought once I started tearing it down.

[Beerman Crawler]

Look forward to watching this build

[pajey]

whoa those hexs are really corroded. Can't wait too see it coming together.

[Chaotic Crawlers]

Thanks guys.


I picked away at it today while watching football.

I waited most of the day for his answer on what to do with the gear cases.

He finally gave in to my pressure and agreed to use brand new gear cases that I have sitting here.

Now that we have that figured out, I am just waiting on a couple more parts from Dlux before I start building the axles.
Hopefully tomorrow night

[Chaotic Crawlers]

So the direction with this build is to give him a strong and reliable rig that requires little upkeep.

I am not going bananas with the lightweight craze. I will save weight where I can, but since he is hard on things, it will get steel screws and rod balls throughout.
The rig will probably weigh in around 5 lbs. when it's all said and done.

I started by picking up some big bores earlier this week along with some mini-t spring kits and Dlux no preload spring cups.

Got them built in a matter of minutes

[Curcal]

Dlux custom knuckles? Say whhhhaaaaaaa?

[Erik D_lux]

Cool. I didnt know you were doing a build thread.

C@tfish should be stoked. Its been a long time coming for him.

70* of steering will help....

Shock oil will help....

Knuckle weights will help.....

The list goes on. It will be cool to see how he does with the new car.

[Erik D_lux]

Originally Posted by Curcal

Dlux custom knuckles? Say whhhhaaaaaaa?

I think he is just talking about my machining on the Bully knuckles?

[Chaotic Crawlers]

Assembled the chassis last night.




I then decided to mount all the links and shocks to it so it is ready to go once the axles are ready.

[Erik D_lux]

Better bring those shocks by.....

[ittybitty]

Originally Posted by Erik D_lux

Shock oil will help...

The DLux delrin spring retainers look good...the shims seem to be a nice setup also

[jaloos]

Originally Posted by ittybitty

The DLux delrin spring retainers look good...the shims seem to be a nice setup also

Agreed.

With that setup on the cups could they not have the slot for removal of the retainer without removing the end off the shaft? The wind of the springs around the retainer would keep them on no?

Lovin that chassis, can't wait to get my grubby hands on mine, lol.

[Curcal]

Originally Posted by Erik D_lux

I think he is just talking about my machining on the Bully knuckles?

Thought that might be the case with the parts listed, but when it come to you I never can tell. I can only handle one Dlux innovation per month, so you've got me all booked up through at least march of next year. hahahaha

[Chaotic Crawlers]

Originally Posted by Erik D_lux

Cool. I didnt know you were doing a build thread.

C@tfish should be stoked. Its been a long time coming for him.

70* of steering will help....

Shock oil will help....

Knuckle weights will help.....

The list goes on. It will be cool to see how he does with the new car.

Knowing him, he will drain the oil back out to make it feel more comfortable.

And the shocks are built... I'm not taking them back apart.
Besides, he would probably just dent a shock body if they were lathed. The truck needs to be able to handle a medium sized asteroid shower because that's how he drives.

[TSK]

Looks like the cabs is...






Wait for it...






Wait for it...





Attached to the cahssis with screws, spacers and standoffs

[Chaotic Crawlers]

I finally have all the parts to get some steam behind this build.


Nick reminded me this morning that we had purchased a set of RC4WD lightweight hardened gears quite some time ago for a different build.
So this was a perfect opportunity to finally use them.




I picked up my last parts from Dlux last night as well.

I had him make me some red G10 beadlocks in the standard V cut.
I also asked him to add something unique to the design and we came up with this.

[Chaotic Crawlers]

One more before i grease these up.

[Erik D_lux]

Yeah, those wheels turned out sick!

I am glad I thought of them and I am glad I thought of the black screws that set them off so well.

4 more days to go.... I am a bit stressed for you...

[Erik D_lux]

Is it just the pictures or do those RC4WD gears not countersink all the way onto the 4th gear? Hopefully they do, there usually isnt too much room right there to work with.

[Chaotic Crawlers]

Originally Posted by Erik D_lux

Is it just the pictures or do those RC4WD gears not countersink all the way onto the 4th gear? Hopefully they do, there usually isnt too much room right there to work with.

They do set in all the way.

You have to line them up before tightening them down.
I caught it after I took the picture.
Everything spins free... As a matter of fact these spin much better than the stock ones did.



I've got the axles all built up. I just need to drill the holes for all the set screws tomorrow night.
Then it's on to making a roller.


I also got confirmation from brood that my motors have shipped as well