Coming soon .....GMADE GOM-GR1 Rock Buggy

[Jeepiac]

Sooo, I get home from Crawlapalooza last night, carry in 7 rigs, 50 pound tool box, 2 giant totes and a bunch of stuff I just had to buy because it was cheap. Tried to relax for a minute, but this big box was staring at me with vicious eyes. I ended up doing the quick look through just to see what little I could see without opening the parts bags. I'm honestly worried about the tiny lockers. I know I wont actually know until I have ran it weather they will hold up or not, but they are awfully small imo and it doesn't appear that the axles will go in very deep. Am I being a Harley and tearing it apart before I even build it?
No bad smells coming from my kit like Josh was bitching about with his. I wonder if they did something to his kit to add some smell just because they knew he would totally bash it anyway lol.
Anyway, mine will be a crawler not a basher. 13t Holmes and probably a 1080 esc on 2s. I'm not a power hungry type and I hate breaking parts, so hopefully this will be a good combination. As with any kit from any manufacturer, it's only as good as the guy building it. I have not seen what I would call a bad kit from any of the bigger manufacturers. I've seen a lot of nice quality kits build wrong though, and some do need a little tinkering and modifying to make them what they should be, but that's half the fun for me.
From all I've seen, I really think there might be a couple small bugs to work out, but most new kits always seem to have some tiny issues at first anyway, but I think it's going to end up being a purdy dang good unit in the end

[Dustinf]

Originally Posted by Jeepiac

Sooo, I get home from Crawlapalooza last night, carry in 7 rigs, 50 pound tool box, 2 giant totes and a bunch of stuff I just had to buy because it was cheap. Tried to relax for a minute, but this big box was staring at me with vicious eyes. I ended up doing the quick look through just to see what little I could see without opening the parts bags. I'm honestly worried about the tiny lockers. I know I wont actually know until I have ran it weather they will hold up or not, but they are awfully small imo and it doesn't appear that the axles will go in very deep. Am I being a Harley and tearing it apart before I even build it?
No bad smells coming from my kit like Josh was bitching about with his. I wonder if they did something to his kit to add some smell just because they knew he would totally bash it anyway lol.
Anyway, mine will be a crawler not a basher. 13t Holmes and probably a 1080 esc on 2s. I'm not a power hungry type and I hate breaking parts, so hopefully this will be a good combination. As with any kit from any manufacturer, it's only as good as the guy building it. I have not seen what I would call a bad kit from any of the bigger manufacturers. I've seen a lot of nice quality kits build wrong though, and some do need a little tinkering and modifying to make them what they should be, but that's half the fun for me.
From all I've seen, I really think there might be a couple small bugs to work out, but most new kits always seem to have some tiny issues at first anyway, but I think it's going to end up being a purdy dang good unit in the end

Your not being Harley like. That's a legitimate concern. The machined lockers they sell look really nice, so at least there is something better to replace them in they go.

I have a feeling this truck will need some tuning and adjusting to get it performing how each person wants, but like you said, that is half of the fun.

Unless we are talking about the Twin Hammers... trying to get that to run perfect went beyond enjoyable tinkering.. but I still love the truck. I just wanted to much out of it.

[JatoTheRipper]

There's a GOM build thread on the Tamiya Club forums. Even they are seeing Harley's bias. Harley swears he didn't show any bias. I would disagree.

[Jeepiac]

Originally Posted by JatoTheRipper

There's a GOM build thread on the Tamiya Club forums. Even they are seeing Harley's bias. Harley swears he didn't show any bias. I would disagree.

I cant watch one of Harley's non-Axial build videos with out getting pissed. He's a really good guy and until he went West we were in the same club, but he forms an opinion overly soon on a lot of things during his videos imo. When you cut the tape on the box then say its a stinky pile of shit, you might be a Harley. He even beat it up over the stickers. His comments do influence buying and building for a lot of people. Hell, first thing I did when I opened mine was sniff the tires I do think it's funny that Gmade Korea shared the first episode of his build. Maybe they should bring in a translator before they share one of Harley's bash sessions? His bashing has given me the incentive to build one bad ass SOB out of this thing, I do know that much.

[Jeepiac]

By the way. Where is everyone seeing the upgrade parts? I can't seem to find anything.

[Dustinf]

Originally Posted by Jeepiac

By the way. Where is everyone seeing the upgrade parts? I can't seem to find anything.

Gmade

It's the Korean site.. they havnt released them for US distribution yet.

[JatoTheRipper]

Originally Posted by Jeepiac

I cant watch one of Harley's non-Axial build videos with out getting pissed. He's a really good guy and until he went West we were in the same club, but he forms an opinion overly soon on a lot of things during his videos imo. When you cut the tape on the box then say its a stinky pile of shit, you might be a Harley. He even beat it up over the stickers. His comments do influence buying and building for a lot of people. Hell, first thing I did when I opened mine was sniff the tires I do think it's funny that Gmade Korea shared the first episode of his build. Maybe they should bring in a translator before they share one of Harley's bash sessions? His bashing has given me the incentive to build one bad ass SOB out of this thing, I do know that much.

I don't know Harley. I never met him. He makes good videos. Maybe working at Vanquish has rubbed off on him. Anybody and everybody in the VP Army have better than thou egos.

[Brake Weight]

Lol. Harley said, 'Let them eat cake.'

[soze]

Originally Posted by Jeepiac

I cant watch one of Harley's non-Axial build videos with out getting pissed. He's a really good guy and until he went West we were in the same club, but he forms an opinion overly soon on a lot of things during his videos imo. When you cut the tape on the box then say its a stinky pile of shit, you might be a Harley. He even beat it up over the stickers. His comments do influence buying and building for a lot of people. Hell, first thing I did when I opened mine was sniff the tires I do think it's funny that Gmade Korea shared the first episode of his build. Maybe they should bring in a translator before they share one of Harley's bash sessions? His bashing has given me the incentive to build one bad ass SOB out of this thing, I do know that much.

I do hope you do just that. I think this chassis definitely has the potential. The more people that get creative, the better support this truck will get, and the more variety we'll have in general in regards to parts and trucks. Win-win all around for hobbyists.

[Jeepiac]

Originally Posted by Dustinf

Gmade

It's the Korean site.. they havnt released them for US distribution yet.

Ok, I'm up to speed now Thanks!

[Jeepiac]

Originally Posted by JatoTheRipper

I don't know Harley. I never met him. He makes good videos. Maybe working at Vanquish has rubbed off on him. Anybody and everybody in the VP Army have better than thou egos.

He really is a great guy, but I do think there might be a little bit of ego that oozes out once in a while.

[Ditchrat]

Originally Posted by mikemcE

Have to agree, and I did on YouTube .
Sad back in the day Harley was the man!


Hang up and Drive

Was he really? Or is he just the type of guy with an excellent speaking voice who is entertaining to listen too?

I recall watching the budget build series thinking this guy is the bolt on king with marketing placement every step.

[Mopar man]

Funny you see a lot of videos of him building or bolting on parts but hardly any videos of driving or testing of his projects. I take his opinions like any other ass holes. Every one has one.

[Jeepiac]

Ok, I couldn't stand it any longer, so I started on mine. built the axles, transmission and t-case. Transmission and case went together ok. Bolts that directions call for are not present. Had to dig around through all the hardware and use what I could to get things together on the axles. Mainly for the trusses and bearing caps. I also have a bearing left over from the transmission/transfer case parts. I actually tore them both back apart because when I saw it laying there I thought I had screwed up and left one out lol. Now for the fails. The main plate for the slipper that installs first on the input shaft doesn't fit as tightly as it needs to. Will not set flat and kind of just wobbles around which causes the spur to wobble. I messed and messed with it and it wont level out. Biggest problem so far is the strap that holds the motor. It doesn't! You can twist the motor without a whole lot of effort. Might have to drill and install a set screw to help hold the motor plate in place or maybe put a small strip of emery paper under the hold down strap. I went into this expecting some bugs, but this sum bitch has cockroaches. I will work my way though and continue to fix the issues as I come across them, and I hope Gmade fixes the quirks in the future kits instead of just coming out with their option parts to fix what shouldn't need fixin in the first place. Looking at their option parts, I doubt they do this though. I see they have a couple of stiffeners for the chassis, so they already know there is a problem on the ass end of this thing But rather than address this in production, just sell the parts to fix and make more money I guess. Hate to say it, but even though I've always liked Gmade, I'm starting to side with Harley on this one. Yeah, I'm back stepping from previous comments, I know. I just built a Wraith Spawn two weeks ago, and compared to it this thing is really looking like a sub par hunk of shit, and I don't like Axial, so don't think I'm a fan boy. I said earlier I have never seen a bad kit, but I may end up eating my words after all the modifying the axles will take to make them reliable and the steering is gonna take work also. I guess they think you don't need steering when you have dig. I know I'm saying the axles are going to be a problem without even running it, but after being in this hobby for 30 years you know what works and what doesn't. Big brushless on 3s will eat these lockers really quickly. More option parts Gmade gets to sell then. I think they know every hiccup in the kit and a guy might as well just buy everything they offer right at the start and save the trouble of doing it after its already been built. To put thing a little more clearly. I'm pretty disgusted at this point. I do tend to be a little picky about things, but I really had my hopes up on this one, and really didn't think there was going to be issues like I'm finding. But eventually I'll make a good crawler out of it....I hope... Just be prepared to hear me bitch and whine every day or so till I get it all sorted out

[Dustinf]

That's unfortunate. I havnt had any major issues like that yet. But I also havnt driven it or finished it.

It will be interesting to see what we are able to do with this rig.

It's such a crazy hobby... every kit I own has a box in my spare room. And in each ones box is enough parts to almost build another vehicle.

At some point you realize you bought an scx10 for the frame rails alone.. and everything else gets put into a box and stored.

I have a feeling the gom will be the same thing for me... May be worst as I start replacing everything for the aluminum version.

[Dustinf]

Option parts are finally up on their us website. But none are in stock yet.

I really want sway bars on this thing asap..

[wurster]

So far I like this kit. Did not find it hard to build the axles or trany and tcase. Waiting on a shift servo to finish the build. Only thing I don't like is the t bone front axles. Hopefully they or some one will come out with better

[soze]

Originally Posted by Dustinf

Option parts are finally up on their us website. But none are in stock yet.

I really want sway bars on this thing asap..

I see a lot of option parts I want to get.

I ordered the sway bars and trailing arms off ebay already.

There are several parts that seem to address the issues Jeepiac mentions.

[txbart]

I built my axles last night. Ok build, nothing exciting & nothing disappointing that I didn’t expect.
The steering due to the drive bones needs fixing fast, so I did a bunch of trials with wraith parts on the front axles. Wraith c-hubs look like they fit, but they don’t. The Ar60 C’s have too big a diameter or the GOM tubes have too small a diameter, take your pick. The knuckles are the same story, wraith knuckles are just slightly too big for the GOM c-hubs.
I haven’t put a set of wraith uni’s in with the Gom C’s & knuckles yet, but when I put the Wraith knuckles on the Gom C’s I put the Uni in with it. It kinda worked, but you could tell by the way the knuckle was swinging that it too was a bit off. I think the Wraith Uni’s are just a bit wider in the space between the axle bearing & knuckle bearing.

I haven’t put a set of Wraith ring & pinions in the GOM housing yet.

Comparing a completed Wraith axle to a completed GOM axle, shows the GOM axle to be maybe 2-5 mm wider than the Wraith axle.

Update: Wraith Uni’s with GOM C’s & knuckles is a no go. The Wraith uni’s Are too wide for the space.
Scx10 ii c’hubs fit too loosely on the GOM axle. Without the screw installed on the SCX10 ii C, it will turn freely on the Gom axle. You can feel the notches as you turn it around, but it doesn’t require a lot of force to turn it. It seems like it could work with a layer of masking tape around the GOM axle, but I’m not a fan of those kinds of solutions.


I think a wraith style C-hub, designed specifically to clamp to the GOM axle will give access to already designed wraith knuckles & Uni’s. I’m not sure how deep the tang on the uni’s Is seating into the lockers, so that detail might make my point moot.

Other option to fast (not wanting to wait for R&d on the GOM) axle upgrades is a panhard mount for Ar-60/Wraith style axles.

[Dustinf]

Well I ordered front and rear aluminum trailing arms, sway bar set, brass knuckle bushings, shock brace... spare tire mount... just to start.

I really wanted CVAs and driveshafts but havnt found them available yet.

I'm pretty sure there are a dozen drive shafts on the market that will fit this though. I've used junfac's on other rigs and really liked them, so I will wait for those.