|
| LinkBack | Thread Tools | Display Modes |
01-02-2009, 10:58 PM | #1 |
Rock Crawler Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Wisconsin
Posts: 570
| Hybrid 2.2 crawler, I guess!
Hi guys. I decided to start building another crawler, even though my Hustler equipped Clod is not done. (It's really close!) So, this time I've got the itch to try and do a 2.2 crawler. I was looking at the Axial AX10 and the Warthog chassis. To be honest, I really liked what I saw. The Warthogs look really nice, so I ordered one. I had a plan to get an AX10, until I started looking around at the hop-ups. As soon as I saw the Hot Racing axles for the AX10, I was glad I didn't buy a complete kit. Not much would have been left of the original AX10. Anyway, after placing a couple large orders, some goodies arrived today, thanks to RPP Hobby. Great service! I'm very happy with them. They'll get more of my business later. I couldn't help but tear into the bags, even though I am now waiting on my other order to give me the remaining pieces, which will be here next week. So, the plan is to run Hot Racing axles under an HBZ Warthog chassis. Pretty simple, right? I intend to do some kind of droop suspension, if I can, and I also want 4WS, which I know isn't legal for comps, but this crawler is just for me and my own enjoyment. I don't plan to do any comps anytime soon. The rest, I will work out as I go. I saw the Vanquish Revolvers and knew they'd look good on my crawler, so I bought them, and a weight kit for the front wheels. Not sure if I'll need the weight, but better to have it and not need it, then need it later and not have it. These rims are really cool. Keeping with a little orange color, I found STRC's knuckles for sale and bought them as well as their AX10 skid plate. I don't know what I'll do for batteries yet, but they'll be mounted, most likely, to the center skid plate somehow. I was curious to see what the axles where really like, as far as quality goes. I tore into them right away. The geartrain seems pretty darn beefy and everything spun nice and free. Quality seems really good, for these parts. I'll have to see how well the locker holds together. It looks like the aluminum could wear after a while. Time will tell..... I was a little disappointed that the axles didn't come with bearings in the tubes. Also, a lack of knuckles, and somewhat cheap fasteners. No matter. I have bearings laying around, and when my order from Tower arrives, I'll have the stub shafts, more bearings, and hopefully everything else I might need to complete the axles. For now, I'm going to replace the hardware with some stainless screws, and loc-tite a few things, as I've read some screws like to back out. The amazing thing, to me, was the size of the Warthog chassis! It's smaller then I expected. My Clod makes it look like a mini, but I'm actually diggin' it like that. It'll be a lot of fun to run around inside the house on a rainy day, not to mention, outside too. This build might be a little slow, but that really depends on how quick I get the parts I need and how many snags I might run into. That's all for now! More updates as I progress. Last edited by Espeefan; 01-02-2009 at 11:01 PM. |
Sponsored Links | |
01-03-2009, 08:40 PM | #2 |
Quarry Creeper Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Duchesne
Posts: 377
|
what site did you get those wheels from? do you have a link? thanks
|
01-03-2009, 09:04 PM | #3 | |
RCC Addict Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: never been
Posts: 1,317
|
very interesting build... Quote:
http://www.vanquishproducts.com/vpreproco.html | |
01-04-2009, 11:10 AM | #4 |
Rock Crawler Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Wisconsin
Posts: 570
|
Thanks guys. Yeah, it should be an interesting build for sure. I bought the wheels from RPP Hobby, and most of the other stuff in the photos. I wouldn't think twice about doing it again. Great service. I tried to find a link to RPP with the rims I bought, but now I cannot find the Revolvers with orange rings listed anymore. Other styles are listed, however, so maybe I got one of the last sets of orange rings and raw alum. centers. To make matters worse, Vanquish's website listed everything out of stock, at least until the new year, which is now, so when I saw the rims on RPP, I ordered them right away. Vanquish should have these available now, I think. |
01-08-2009, 11:44 PM | #5 |
Rock Crawler Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Wisconsin
Posts: 570
|
I was feeling really ambitious last night, and with some new parts arriving, which I had been waiting for, I came home from work and started wrenching on the Warthog. I was up till 3:30am working on the crawler, and enjoying the build. The first thing I did was finish up working on the axles. I replaced all the supplied screws some stainless steel socket head cap screws, added some grease to the gears, and then put the knuckles on. These are nice axles, but not without some flaws. I really wish they had bearings inside the tubes, where the tubes join to the gearcases. It would also be nice to have some clips to hold the axle shafts in place. When you don't have a steering knuckle on these things, the shafts fall right out because nothing keeps them in place. My other last gripe is way the servo mount fits. It's not a bad mount, in fact I like it, however it's my understanding that the first Hot Racing axles used an upper link mount that was not properly centered. Now the axles come with a spacer to install with the upper link mount bracket, which is fine, but there is not enough extra space for both the servo and the bracket to fit without interferance. I got around this problem by putting some spacers behind the servo mount, right where it bolts to the axle. Problem solved, however this pushes the servo closer to the steering links, which might be a problem later. It looks okay for now, but I will find out for sure, when I start running the Warthog. After a night's worth of work, the Warthog pretty much became a roller. I am still missing some things, but I held off on buying everything at once, so that I could be sure I was getting parts that would work with the chassis. Sometimes you don't until it's mostly built. Shocks for instance...... The axles have some 'clocking' in their design. Not a ton, but a little. Yeah, I know the orange anodizing on the knuckles is a little darker. I'm not sure if I will keep the three link suspension. I would like to go four link, eventually, but from what I can see, this three link set-up works pretty good. Plenty more axle articulation then I will need with this set-up. There are some things that will probably change, and some things that need to be done yet. I want to make a battery tray that sits right on the skid plate. I also need pinions for the motors, shocks, and a few more anodized washers. Oh, and some wheel hexes! I guess I forgot them with the first order. I'll probably relocate the lower links to the inside of the chassis, and if I change anything on the steering set-up, it would be nice to lay the servo down over the axle, instead of it sitting vertically. It may not be worth worrying about. I know there are BTA kits out there too. I'm still thinking about a droop suspension, but with the way the links sit and the motors hanging a little below, I am not sure there would be a huge gain. If shocks extended in a droop suspension, the motors would be further exposed. If I use a conventional sprung suspension, when the shocks compress, the motors would tuck up and the lower links will still be out of the way. I guess I need to play with that a bit and see what I can come up with! |
01-09-2009, 12:16 AM | #6 |
Quarry Creeper Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Fondy, WI
Posts: 498
|
espee! what the heck????? finish the hustler so we can do some super crawlin this summer! nice build. i'm doin a 2.2 moa rig also, but i'm gonna use clod axles i just bought w/ a pimp cane. keep it up! Last edited by jedsled; 01-09-2009 at 12:22 AM. |
01-09-2009, 12:24 AM | #7 |
Rock Crawler Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Wisconsin
Posts: 570
|
Thanks Jed. The Clod is pretty much finished. I just haven't updated that thread yet. I know it's bad, but I'm one of those guys who always has 4 things being built at once and then I am lucky if just one of them runs. The Clod does run however! Hopefully this little beast will run soon too.
|
01-09-2009, 12:43 AM | #8 |
I wanna be Dave Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Henderson/Las Vegas, NV
Posts: 5,032
|
nice looking build. i'm not a fan of those HBZ tubers though. looks like a tuber sitting on top of a TVP... but if you like it, cool.
|
01-09-2009, 12:59 AM | #9 | |
Rock Crawler Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Wisconsin
Posts: 570
| Quote:
Last edited by Espeefan; 01-09-2009 at 01:03 AM. | |
01-09-2009, 05:40 AM | #10 |
I wanna be Dave Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Wayne county. PA
Posts: 2,507
|
why aren't ya using the lower link mounts on the skid plate to get your lowers inboard..............bob .... |
01-09-2009, 09:37 AM | #11 |
Rock Crawler Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Wisconsin
Posts: 570
|
I plan to. I just wanted to assemble it quickly to check all the link lengths, at first. I will switch when I get the chance.
|
01-10-2009, 10:28 PM | #12 |
Rock Crawler Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Wisconsin
Posts: 570
|
Small update - I didn't have much else to do today on my Warthog, so I mounted the tires to the rims. I'm waiting on shocks and wheel hexes now, and the shocks are back ordered, so it might be a while before I get this finished up. At least the the rims look good, even if I can't bolt them to axles yet. |
03-29-2009, 05:55 PM | #13 |
Rock Crawler Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Wisconsin
Posts: 570
|
Finally an update to share! It's been waaaay over due. I was waiting forever to get my speed controllers, motors, and shocks. Those bits and pieces had been on back order since Jan, but the last of them showed up this week, so I dedicated a bunch of time to the Warthog this weekend! The good news is the Warthog is now a running crawler. It took forever, but the first drive was totally worth it. Power management is handled by two Tekin FRX speed controllers, each with it's own Tekin 35T Pro motor. It's an excellent combination and I couldn't be happier with their performance. After seeing my buddy's AX-10 with the Tekin FRX/45T combo, I knew I had found the best brushed system out there. I didn't plan to run more then 6 cells, so I went with the 35T motors instead to keep some of the wheel speed. And boy oh boy, does thing have wheel speed! I've currently got 14 tooth pinions on the motors and it really gets up and goes. I may be looking to get it down to some 12 tooth pinions, but even so, the low end torque is excellent. Originally I didn't plan to run an external BEC, but in the end I decided why not. So I picked up a Castle Creations 10 amp BEC to handle the current draw of the servos. So far it's been working great for me. Space is extremely tight inside the Warthog chassis. It proved to be a wiring nightmare, at least at first. I wanted independant throttle control of the Tekin FRXs, independant steering, front and rear, and adding the external BEC just made it all the bit tighter! Course it doesn't help that the receiver is a larger 9 channel unit either. Needless to say, my upper electronics plate is packed! Times like these make me really appreciate the small size of the Tekins, and because they have such a small foot print, the velcro I used didn't have much surface area to grip. The battery and motor wires proved to be able to peal the ESCs up, so I additionally strapped the FXRs down with a zip-tie, and to prevent any maring of their displays, I slipped the zip-ties through a piece of fuel tube (orange of course), before sinching them down. I also ran my receiver's dual antenna wires through another hunk of fuel tube to keep them isolated from any noise, since they are laying right on top the servo, BEC, and power wires. A couple other additions and changes I made include 4 link mounts for the Hot Racing axles - purchased from CKRC - and an upgrade from Pro-Line Hammers to Chisels! These are really nice tires! Also, I should note my suspension is kind of unique. It's what I call a 75/25 droop set up. There are two internal springs. A longer, softer spring inside the shock body on the shaft end, and one stiffer and shorter spring on the piston side. It's been working really nice, so far. I am not running any shock oil at all. The pressure of the two springs combined seems to provide a nice amount of dampening, but I have not run the truck on the rocks yet. If it's not enough, then I'll be looking to add some light shock oil. Articulation is really good, but perhaps to much, so if needed, I'll be limiting that with some fuel tube inside the shock. The shocks mostly travel down, droop style, when articulating, but if the chassis is really pushed, the heavier springs, top side of the pistons, will compress and give just a little extra twist. It's practically a dual rate shock. I still need to get the body pannels figured out. Paint....or maybe another idea I have. I also want to build a battery pack or two. Custom sub-C 6 cells packs, as I want the best runtime possible! I've seen 2/3A powered rigs run long times, so sub-C cells should push my crawler into the 1 hour plus range? It's so nice to be able to drive this crawler, after what feels like forever. It's only (ONLY! ) been about 4 months, but worth it. My radio is programmed just like my super class Hustler Clod. Normally I drive with the right stick, but the left stick lets me bias the power and speed front to rear, do dig turns, or complete 360s, and with a flip of the toggle I can mix steering, or have total independant control. I need more practice driving with this configuration, but this 2.2 is A LOT of fun to run, so I am sure it'll get lots of use and I'll get better the more I drive. Thanks for looking and let me know what you think! |
03-29-2009, 06:28 PM | #14 |
Newbie Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: wausau
Posts: 5
|
Great job as always! Can't wait to get together and do some crawling. |
03-29-2009, 06:36 PM | #15 |
Quarry Creeper Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Duchesne
Posts: 377
|
dude that thing is so sweet. great job.
|
03-29-2009, 06:36 PM | #16 | |
Rock Crawler Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Wisconsin
Posts: 570
| Quote:
Thanks also, iceman! Last edited by Espeefan; 03-29-2009 at 06:39 PM. | |
03-29-2009, 06:51 PM | #17 |
I joined the Band! Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Sacramento
Posts: 1,303
|
even with my semi biased opinion i can say very nice with no guilt |
03-29-2009, 07:23 PM | #18 |
Pebble Pounder Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: USA
Posts: 171
|
How much does this thing weigh ready to run with battery? Looks kinda heavy.
|
03-29-2009, 09:51 PM | #19 |
Rock Crawler Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Wisconsin
Posts: 570
|
Thanks Tom. I'm loving the Vanquish Revolvers too! Very Bumpy, with a sub-C six cell pack, it's right around 7 pounds, ready to run. I weighed it today because I was curious too. Although I didn't have a super accurate scale (I used a bathroom scale with me alone, then me again with the Warthog), when the skins are on, I'll weigh it at work on the shipping scale there. Till then 7 pounds is a close enough figure I think. It does feel heavy, but 7 pounds is light, in my eyes. What's considered normal, light, or heavy for a 2.2? |
03-30-2009, 11:24 AM | #20 |
Newbie Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Hunt. Bch.
Posts: 34
|
I'm jealous and I work for HBZ!!! Very nice.
|
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
| |