Sawback of another color

[Jeepiac]

Just about done with my Sawback, so I thought I'd share. Color didn't turn out like I'd hoped, but it's one of a kind
Stripped all the chrome from the frame and painted, Junfac cv's, Brxl esc, Junfac center caps, homemade rear bumper and roll bar and a lot of diamond plate Can't forget Al Bundy Still have to finish the axle links, exhaust and sliders and then try to take some good pictures. And the stuffed aminals in the background AINT mine The kid and I share a play room

[JatoTheRipper]

That looks great! I love the diamond plate fenders. Nice work.

[Jeepiac]

Originally Posted by JatoTheRipper

That looks great! I love the diamond plate fenders. Nice work.

Thanks! Can't wait to take it out and see how it does. Most enjoyable kit I've built so far.

[Jeepiac]

Took Booger out for it's first run today and wow! I'm really impressed with the ability of the Sawback Even though it was a fresh scratch free rig, I beat the living chit out of it and it took everything I threw at it and liked it Never even put a battery in my 2.2 rig cause I was having so much fun with this little 1.9 scaler. The bouncy suspension, bangs, clangs, and the loud tranny are all what makes it cool to me.

[Jeepiac]

Took Booger out to Goat Hill today and I'm loving this thing more every time I run it. It always gets some looks when it goes where it shouldn't. I've run about ten packs through it and not a single problem. Just a lot of scratches Crawls so good I've changed my mind about shooter shackles. Only true dislike is the skid plate, but I'm thinking it wont be to hard to make a new one. It'll raise the tranny a little but I don't think it'll be enough to make a noticeable change in the cg. At least I hope it doesn't. Nothing a little more lead down low wont fix. It's only at 6 1/2 pounds anyway But it seems to do better with the extra weight.

[genetix_drftr]

Was great to see another Sawback locally. I am also impressed with how it performs. After seeing your in action i will be adding lots of weights to mine as well. i have been thining about ordering the Scalerfab skidplate. as well as the junfac front axel skid plate. I cant wait to get it out on the rails again. Are you going to be doing any comps with it this season?

[Jeepiac]

Nice not being the bastard of the group for once in a sea of Axial's I kept eying your Sawback and thinking to myself I know that Jeep lol. I would stay away from the axle skid plates. The diff hangs up bad enough as it is and I'm sure skids will probably make it hang up even worse. In my opinion the best investments are cv's throughout, tires and foams. And I'm still undecided about shocks.(aluminum chubs are probably a good idea too) Mine gets to wheel hopping pretty good at times, but it ads to the realism I think I showed you all the points I added weight to. If not pm me and I'll let you in on some more secrets to my setup
Don't want everyone to know what kind of crazy crap I've done lol
But at 6 1/2 pounds it seems to work great.
I built Booger for class 1, but I'm remodeling the Bronco and I'm thinking it might end up being a way better class 1 rig when I'm done with it. One way or another I'll probably be running one of them at all the local events.
I really don't care about comps, but it's a chance to play with my toy lol.

[genetix_drftr]

I think I remember all your weights I am hopefully getting some actual beadlocks next week and will be getting weights soon as well. I've been looking into brazing tutorials and may be making a cage soon as well. Hopefully I can make it out again soon. I want to try out some of the more technical parts of the course. Thanks for the help.


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[Jeepiac]

You're welcome. Learning how to braze is worth the time. Just be warned! If you buy one of those little hobby torch sets with the tiny little bottles you better buy a truck load of the oxygen bottles. I have one for emergency repairs and it's barely good for that.

[Jeepiac]

Even though the Sawback is my favorite crawler the skid plate/tranny mount pisses me off at times, so I fixed it today. WOW! What a difference it made!
As always you'll have to forgive my crappy pictures, but they get the point across. Not pretty, but getting rid of that hunk of plastic hanging underneath is what matters. Nice smooth belly should slide over the rocks purdy good It actually sets just a hair higher than the bottom of the frame rails. Unlike the aftermarket one I almost bought

[knightsy]

Did the new plate alter the drive shaft angles much?

[Jeepiac]

It raised the transmission about 3/16" and gained about 3/8" clearance under the chassis (not counting those stupid wheels). With the suspension fully extended the drive shafts are at a fairly steep angle (cvd shafts) but they still turn smooth. Also haven't noticed any change in the center of gravity. I'm sure it raised it, but very minutely, and the aluminum plate is way lighter than the hunk of plastic it replaced.

[Jeepiac]

P.S. I used small pieces of 3/16" brake line for torque spacers between the plate and chassis. 7 bucks for a 60" line. I make everything outta brake line and the tranny mount is made out of an old aluminum clip board I had laying around

[knightsy]

Thanks Jeepiac; you've convinced me to do something similar. Actually I had already started to sketch out a machined aluminium plate (got a milling machine ) which will be a "tub" like yours but will also accommodate anti-wrap bars like the OEM plate does (removing the rollers) and deal with extending the front of the chassis so the front wheels are in a more prototypical position - poking out in front of the grill.

[Jeepiac]

Cool! Glad I could help. Don't forget to post pictures when you're finished

[Jeepiac]

Tried out the new tranny mount in the real world today and this is hands down the best mod you can do to a Sawback! Video sucks, kid cant seem to stop shaking the $30 camera, and yes you might hear a gun shot or two in the background. We were running around in thin rocks that liked to flip up and grab the axles, but the chassis never hung up

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ah6L9LZ050

[knightsy]

Nothing wrong with the video - it told the story - the tranny mount works! Can't wait to get mine built.

[genetix_drftr]

Looks great man. I need to get some materials and try and make my own.


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[Jeepiac]

After going to a comp today and getting pissed at myself because I couldn't pick a line to save my life, I came home and started butchering on the poor ol' Sawback. Figured I'd better make it crawl even better than it already does to make up for my lack of skills. SOOOOO I reversed the front shackles. Got everything bolted up and I think it's going to be an improvement over the stock setup. Front shocks are going away for now because the flex is WAY better with the new setup. Once I get the rest of the cobbling done I'll post some of my famously crappy pictures

[Jeepiac]

Ok, been tinkering a little bit and I think everything is going to pan out in the end. Reversing the shackles throws the pinion angle way off. Just enough to cause the driveshaft to jump when the suspension is unloaded. Not bad but any catching at all aint good. Made a shim and installed it between the main leaf and the axle just like we do in the real world to adjust caster on straight axles. The alignment pin isn't long enough the go into the spring perch now but getting everything aligned before tightening should work out. I flipped the bumper and mounted it on top of the frame because with the rear spring mounts mounted in front the bumper wont seat up against the frame like it should. Thought about nothing the bumper but it hangs up a lot as you all know, so on the top of the frame it is, even though I don't like the way it looks. Anyway, after shimming just one side the drive shaft freed up and turns smooth throughout suspension articulation and compression, and this thing has some flex for a leafer Mounting the bumper isn't pleasant with everything turned around, but it's doable with a little profanity and throwing shit. Wheel base is almost exactly the same as stock, but the twisting of the axle is what caused the steering servo to hit the receiver box. A little trimming, patching and some hot glue fixed the problem. A chassis mounted servo would have also fixed the problem, but I like the weight to be on the axle so it's staying where it's at. For some reason I cant upload pictures at this time. I'll try to add them later.